Creedence Clearwater Revival - Willy and the Poor Boys

I had to flip a coin between CCR's Green River and Willy and the Poor Boys since both albums are crucial slabs of American rock 'n roll. On a visceral level, I love the aesthetic of John Fogerty and the boys hanging in the shadowy woods on Green River, however, Willy and the Poor Boys really makes a statement here with its smashing down of racial barriers by mere image.

The statement says music is our common ground as human beings and with CCR visually throwing down in a weathered section of town with the fortification of producing two of their biggest hits "Down On the Corner" and "Fortunate Son," the message plastered upon the cover to Willy and the Poor Boys becomes far from subtle by attrition. Brave and utterly appealing from a humanistic standpoint.