Pendulum is the sixth studio album by the American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, released by Fantasy Records on December 9, 1970. A band meeting before the sessions saw Tom Fogerty, Stu Cook and Doug Clifford demanding that bandleader John Fogerty allow them greater creative input. With the backlog of John's songs already released earlier that year on Cosmo's Factory, the band entered the studio planning to jam and experiment, but no new songs materialized from this method. John wrote that he regretted this way of working:

John wrote "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" about the band's impending breakup.

|rev2 = Christgau's Record Guide

|rev2Score = A−

| rev3 = Encyclopedia of Popular Music

| rev3score =

Pendulum was released in December 1970 and proved to be another hit for the band, charting within the top 10 in 10 countries, and peaking at No. 5 on the Billboard 200. The only single taken from the album, "Have You Ever Seen the Rain"/"Hey Tonight", was released in January 1971, and reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Robert Christgau of The Village Voice enjoyed the album and rated it an A−, despite criticizing "Molina" and "Pagan Baby" as "slightly subpar," "Sailor's Lament" as "a little more so," and "Rude Awakening #2" as "a pretentious moment I hope—and expect—he [John Fogerty] has the sense never to repeat." However, he praised the other six songs on the album as "so superpar Steve Barri or Tommy James would kill (or least steal) for them. Ho hum, another Creedence album." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said the album "isn't transcendent" like their previous work, but nevertheless called it a "grower," praising John Fogerty's expansion of their sound.

  • John Fogerty – vocals, lead guitar, piano, organ, Fender Rhodes electric piano, saxophone, percussion, producer, arranger
  • Tom Fogerty – rhythm guitar, percussion
  • Stu Cook – bass guitar, double bass, piano, kalimba, percussion
  • Doug Clifford – drums, percussion

Production

  • Ed Caraeff – photography, cover design
  • Russ Gary – engineer, mixing
  • Kevin L. Gray – engineer, mastering
  • Steve Hoffman – remastering
  • Richard Edlund – cover design
  • Wayne Kimbell – cover design, photography
  • Baron Wolman – photography
  • Joel Selvin – liner notes

Charts

Weekly charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|+Weekly chart performance for Pendulum

! scope="col"| Chart (1970–1971)

! scope="col"| Peak<br />position

|-

! scope="row"| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)

| align="center"| 1

|-

|-

|-

|-

! scope="row"| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)

| align="center"| 1

|-

! scope="row"|Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)

| align="center"| 3

|-

!scope="row"|Japanese Albums (Oricon)

| align="center"| 2

|-

|-

|-

|-

|}

Year-end charts

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+Year-end chart performance for Pendulum

! scope="col" | Chart (1971)

! scope="col" | Position

|-

! scope="row" | German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)

| 5

|}

Certifications

References

  • Pendulum Infosite