With just seven albums released over a four-year period between 1968 and 1972, Creedence Clearwater Revival managed to tap into the roots of rock and roll with songs like “Down on the Corner,” “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” “Bad Moon Rising,” “Have You Ever Seen the Rain,” Fortunate Son,” and of course, “Proud Mary.”  All of those songs, and more, will be appearing on CCR’s 3-CD set Ultimate Creedence Clearwater Revival: Greatest Hits & All-Time Classics, due on November 6 from Fantasy Records.

Despite having such a small catalogue (virtually all of which was collected on a 6-CD box set containing every studio and live album plus copious additional material), the band keeps on chooglin’ with anthologies and themed compilations.  The last significant addition to the catalogue was Fantasy’s 2009 The Singles Collection, containing the A- and B-side of every one of the band’s singles (30 tracks total), plus a bonus DVD of select music videos.  Ultimate CCR offers 40 songs over two CDs, plus a third disc of live cuts.

The two studio discs include the familiar hit singles plus deeper cuts from all seven of the band’s albums.  As for the third disc of all live material, its tracks have been derived from performances in Oakland, San Francisco, London, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Berlin and elsewhere throughout 1970-1971.  Though discographical information is not yet available, it’s likely that many (though not all) of the tracks have been culled from the band’s two official live releases: 1973’s Live in Europe (recorded in 1971) and 1980’s The Concert (recorded in 1970).  Other live recordings have appeared as bonus tracks on the 40th anniversary expanded issues of the band’s albums.  A CD/DVD release of Live at the Royal Albert Hall was mooted in 2011, with Amazon at one point even accepting pre-orders, but the release was (indefinitely?) cancelled and no further word has arrived.  Ironically, the 1980 live album was initially titled The Royal Albert Hall Concert until it was determined that it was, in fact, recorded in Oakland, California!

There’s more, including the full track listing and pre-order link, after the jump!

John Fogerty, Tom Fogerty, Doug Clifford and Stu Cook have hardly been in harmony since the band’s acrimonious break-up in October, 1972.  When chief songwriter, producer and frontman John Fogerty last year told Rolling Stone that a reunion was “possible, yeah…I think the call would maybe have to come from outside the realm … [But] I haven’t really wasted mental energy being angry for quite some time,” surviving bandmates Cook and Clifford dismissed even this tentative olive branch.  “Leopards don’t change their spots,” Cook told Uncut.   “This is just an image-polishing exercise by John. My phone certainly hasn’t rung.” Clifford added that “it might have been a nice idea 20 years ago, but it’s too late.”

Still, the group’s “swamp rock” trademark blend of rock and roll, hippie and southern sensibilities, political awareness, country-western and blue-eyed soul has been often imitated but never duplicated in the ensuing years.  Bay Area music historian Alec Palao dives into the band’s history and influence in his new, extensive liner notes for this package.  Fantasy releases the three-disc anthology Ultimate Creedence Clearwater Revival: Greatest Hits & All-Time Classics on November 6, and you can pre-order below!

Creedence Clearwater Revival, Ultimate Creedence Clearwater Revival: Greatest Hits & All-Time Classics (Fantasy, 2012)

CD 1

1. Proud Mary
2. Born on the Bayou
3. Bad Moon Rising
4. Good Golly Miss Molly
5. Up Around the Bend
6. Suzie Q
7. Fortunate Son
8. The Midnight Special
9. Who’ll Stop the Rain
10. Run Through the Jungle
11. Hey Tonight
12. Wrote a Song for Everyone
13. Sweet Hitch-Hiker
14. Before You Accuse Me
15. Commotion
16. My Baby Left Me
17. Bootleg
18. Pagan Baby
19. (Wish I Could) Hideaway
20. Cotton Fields

CD 2

1. Travelin’ Band
2. Don’t Look Now (It Ain’t You or Me)
3. Down on the Corner
4. It Came Out of the Sky
5. Lookin’ Out My Back Door
6. Born to Move
7. Green River
8. I Put a Spell on You
9. Have You Ever Seen the Rain?
10. Molina
11. Long As I Can See the Light
12. Hello Mary Lou
13. Tombstone Shadow
14. Lodi
15. Walk on the Water
16. The Night Time is the Right Time
17. Someday Never Comes
18. Porterville
19. Lookin’ for a Reason
20. I Heard It Through the Grapevine

CD 3: Live

1. Travelin’ Band
2. Proud Mary
3. Born on the Bayou
4. Bad Moon Rising
5. Fortunate Son
6. Hey Tonight
7. Up Around the Bend
8. Lodi
9. Down on the Corner
10. Who’ll Stop the Rain
11. Suzie Q

Disc 1, Tracks 1-2, 4 and 17 from Bayou Country (Fantasy, 1969)
Disc 1, Tracks 3, 12 and 15 and Disc 2, Tracks 7, 13-14 and 16 from Green River (Fantasy, 1969)
Disc 1, Tracks 5, 9-10, 14 and 16 and Disc 2, Tracks 1, 5, 12 and 20 from Cosmo’s Factory (Fantasy, 1970)
Disc 1, Track 6 and Disc 2, Tracks 8, 15 and 18 from Creedence Clearwater Revival (Fantasy, 1968)
Disc 1, Tracks 7-8 and 20 and Disc 2, Tracks 2-4 from Willy and the Poor Boys (Fantasy, 1969)
Disc 1, Tracks 11 and 18-19 and Disc 2, Tracks 6 and 9-10 from Pendulum (Fantasy, 1970)
Disc 1, Track 13 and Disc 2, Tracks 12, 17 and 19 from Mardi Gras (Fantasy, 1972)