Craft RecordingsAs Creedence Clearwater Revival was preparing to break up, drummer Doug Clifford headed into the studio and made what would become his only solo album, Doug “Cosmo” Clifford, which was released in September 1972. The long-out-of-print 11-track collection has just been reissued as a 180-gram vinyl LP and digital download.
Clifford tells ABC Radio that making the album “was a lot of fun,” noting that he assembled a band of “dream players” for the project. Among the guest musicians were legendary Booker T. & the MG’s bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn, future Doobie Brothers member John McFee on lead guitar, the Tower of Power horns and CCR bassist Stu Cook on rhythm guitar.
Doug recalls about making the album, “We cut it all live, so when we had the horn section in there we were a 10-piece band…I’d never been in a 10-piece band before, and it was just terrific.”
While Clifford didn’t write much of Creedence’s material, he was responsible for penning eight tunes for his solo album, which also included covers “by some of my favorite artists and people.” The latter tunes are The Lovin’ Spoonful‘s “Daydream,” The Sir Douglas Quintet‘s “She’s About a Mover” and The Spencer Davis Group‘s “I’m a Man.”
Doug says it was a bit challenging for him to come up with original songs for the project, noting with a laugh, “I was sort of a fledgling, and then all of a sudden we had a timetable and had to have material, so I got busy, and wrote eight tunes.”
Coinciding with the re-release of Doug “Cosmo” Clifford, late CCR rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty‘s long-out-of-print second solo album, Excalibur, also has been reissued on vinyl and digitally.
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