“Proud Mary.” It sounds like a great deal of overdubbing was used and that technical perfection was sought at the expense of everything else. The vocals move but in a studied way: Fogerty’s voice has none of the sway of his masterpiece. The recording is perfectly clean, with each track separate and distinct. On “Sailor Man” some of the stylistic nuances of the album emerge. “Sailor Man,” the second cut, retains something of the “Proud Mary” beat but offers us both piano and sax and a Beatle-like backing chorus. The album opens with a rather lame imitation of their own earlier work called “Pagan Woman.” almost as if they didn’t want to throw the new stuff at us too soon. On it they introduce John Fogerty’s piano and sax playing as regular features while the use of background voices is expanded, and the range of the lyrics widened. Pendulum is Creedence’s attempt to prove that the album can be their medium too. Over a three-minute span tightness and orderliness can be virtues: over 40 minutes they can be deadening.
His taste is too predictable, his mind too tight, and his hand too heavy. There appears to be something about John Fogerty’s approach that is ideally suited for the demands of a three-minute single and out of place in the context of a 40-minute album. The flaws lie not in the album’s technical qualities but its stiffness. The tunes are good, the lyrics adequate with a few exceptions, and the musicianship of everyone in the band has improved. Pendulum is yet another promising but unsatisfying album from America’s best singles band.
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