For those unaware, in mid-1968 a band of four dedicated musicians from El Cerrito, California skyrocketed to fame with their debut single Suzie Q.

It took 10 years of gigging to get there, but by the time Suzie Q peaked at #11 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) was an unstoppable force in rock ’n’ roll.

Over the next 2 years they released a string of 11 million-selling hit singles and 5 studio albums, they toured the world as headliners, including an appearance at Woodstock in 1969, and they were ultimately inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 1993.

In the decades that followed CCR’s 2 year reign as the #1 band in the world, Creedence drummer Doug “Cosmo” Clifford focused his creative energy on producing album projects.

His concept was to assemble a top shelf mix of players, write an album’s worth of original songs, then record, mix and master each album.

When a project was completed, the masters were archived and safely stored in Cosmo’s Vault until the time was right to release them.

Fast forward to 2021 and Cosmo has retrieved those masters and will be releasing them one album at a time on his own label, Cliffsong Records, with the very first release being For All The Money In The World by Clifford / Wright (due out August 27th, 2021 via BFD).

1. For All the Money in the World
2. I Need Your Love
3. She Told Me So
4. Lost Pride Fever
5. I See Your Sihouette
6. Real Love
7. You Keep Runnin’ Away
8. Just In The Nick Of Time
9. Weekends
10. Lonesome Boy
11. You’re Gonna Love Again

Opening on the melodic soft rock of the title track For All the Money in the World and then the 80’s soft rock of I Need Your Love, they back those up seamlessly with the rockabilly-pop of She Told Me So, the smooth pop-rock of Lost price Fever, and then the easy breezy ambiance of I See Your Silhouette is brought forth.

Next up is the beautiful, Bryan Adams-esque, mid-tempo balladry of Real Love which is in turn followed by the finger-snapping beats of one of my own personal favorites You Keep Runnin’ Away, then we get the smooth guitar ride of Just In the Nick Of Time, the euphoric pop bounce of Weekends, the album rounding out on the 80’s-imbed AOR of Lonesome Boy, closing on the gently fervent You’re Gonna Love Again.

As was the case with Creedence, the core members of Clifford / Wright are from El Cerrito, California, each having earned Gold records over the years for playing on million-selling hits.

Cosmo’s original idea was to build the band around a solid rhythm section, and his first choice for a bass player was his old pal Steve Wright from the Greg Kihn Band.

Cosmo and Steve not only had great chemistry as a rhythm section, they also clicked as a songwriting team, crafting well over a dozen original songs for the album.

Completing the Clifford / Wright lineup were keyboard players Tim Gorman (The Who) and Pat Mosca (Greg Kihn Band), with featured guitarists Greg Douglass (Steve Miller Band), Jimmy Lyon (Eddie Money) and Joe Satriani.

After holding auditions for a lead vocalist, Keith England was selected as a perfect fit for the Clifford / Wright songs.

With the band in place, recording sessions were booked in various studios in Nevada and the San Francisco Bay area.

The final result is the 11-song album For All The Money In The World by Clifford / Wright, fresh from Cosmo’s Vault.