Fogerty still has the voice in 'Legacy'

John Fogerty still has the voice.That's the first thing that becomes abundantly clear when listening to the rock icon's latest album "Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years."Fogerty is 80 years old, but he rips through his old CCR classics with as much energy and clarity as ever.His voice itself remains strong and in tune. The intense tenor, coming through sometimes with anger, sometimes with pain, sometimes with joy, remains.That — after more than 60 years of singing — is incredible."Legacy" isn't a new album at all, really. It's simply a re-recording of CCR's hits. For years, Fogerty fought to gain control of that music, his music.Those fights were public and very bitter. In the 80s, Fogerty was sued over the song "The Old Man Down the Road," which was his only top 10 hit as a solo artist.The charge was that the chorus was the same as a CCR hit, "Run Through the Jungle." Fogerty had written both songs, but didn't own the rights to the latter.So, he was sued for allegedly plagiarizing himself. For years, Fogerty refused to play CCR songs. This resulted in a rather strange scene at the 1993 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremony, where Fogerty refused to play with his former bandmates, Stu Cook and Joe Clifford. John's brother and former bandmate, Tom Fogerty, had died three years earlier. John and Tom had a deep rift that extended from the band's direction to business matters, and they apparently never reconciled.Fogerty — the group's chief songwriter — finally bought back the rights to CCR's music in 2023."Legacy" appears to be a triumph for him, performing his songs, on his terms.Fogerty's family also is heavily involved in this project; his son Shane played, sang and co-produced it.The passion is still there, the songs still sound great, so there's a lot to enjoy here.There is just one thing that sticks with me, though.Fogerty really is performing his hits almost exactly as they were in, say, 1969.He follows the original recordings almost note for note. They have the same guitar riffs, are sung the same way, in essentially the same tempo.That's fine, because the songs are great.But there's really nothing new here. Fogerty re-recorded his catalog, much like Taylor Swift has done (and in fact, these songs are listed as "John's Version," which is, well, very Swiftian).Again, there's nothing wrong with that. But in rock, where artist have often performed and recorded old tracks in new and different ways, it almost feels redundant.This is not "Eric Clapton MTV Unplugged." It's not Bob Dylan performing Tangled Up in Blue in a way where it takes you three minutes to recognize the song.A cynical person would say that Fogerty is simply reheating his classics. Now, I can be cynical. But when you hear Fogerty return all of energy and talent to "Fortunate Son," it's hard not just want to sit back and enjoy the record.And if you listen to it, you will.After six decades, Fogerty still has the voice. Zach Baker is the sports editor for The Courier.