It is, taken all at once, miraculous stuff. At least four tunes here—“Proud Mary,” “Green River,” “Fortunate Son” and “Up Around the Bend”—literally define rock and roll—as a musical form, as a recurring event, as a version of the American spirit. Few good bands go so far, even once.
Creedence believed that the music they made would always sound different from—in opposition to—whatever else was in fashion at the time, whatever the time might be. They were right. Were “Green River” on the radio today it would jump right off it, something else entirely, just as it did seven years ago. Like the other nineteen tracks on Chronicle, it is rock and roll with no excuses given, no questions asked. There has never been much of that around, and never more of it collected in one place than here.
Creedence Clearwater Revival, Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits, 1976
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