Creedence Clearwater Revival drummer Doug “Cosmo” Clifford’s rediscovered, 1985 home-studio album, Magic Window [CD Baby], will be released soon via streaming platforms.
The single, “Just Another Girl” is out today, Friday, April 10. The full album drops on April 24—which is also Clifford’s 75th birthday.
“I had an analog studio with a good tape deck,” says Clifford, who originally recorded the album at his Lake Tahoe, Nevada home 35 years ago (some tracks were updated this year), “so I could try out ideas without looking at the clock. I’d invite friends in to jam and experiment. I made Magic Window with Russell DaShiell on lead guitar. He’s also a good engineer and co-produced the sessions with me. I was going to use it to look for a record deal, but I got busy with other projects and forgot about it.”
Some of those projects included producing albums for Doug Sahm of the Sir Douglas Quintet and Texas Tornados, playing in Steve Miller’s band, and then joining Stu Cook to play Creedence hits as Creedence Clearwater Revisited in 1995. That group performed worldwide for 25 years, amassing many fans and crossing multiple generations to bring the wonderful CCR hits to people. They also released a Platinum certified live hits album. After putting Revisited to rest, Clifford was cleaning out his garage last year and found the tapes for Magic Window.
“I’d forgotten about these tapes, but they were in great shape,” he says. “We were able to transfer them to digital and warm things up. I discovered more than 100 songs.”
The songs on Magic Window took shape organically, over several years. When it was time to record, Clifford invited three friends to his home studio for the freewheeling sessions. Russell DaShiell played lead and rhythm guitars, synthesizer, and sang harmonies. Chris Solberg contributed bass and keyboards, and Rob Polomsky added rhythm guitar to several tracks.
“I grew up in the years rock was evolving,” says Clifford. “Blues, rockabilly, country, rhythm and blues, and folk music were all around me, so I don’t think about genre when I’m writing. I think about groove. The songs all evolved from the groove.
“Music has always been a medicine and a meditation for me. It doesn’t matter if I’m down or up. It works both ways. We’ve seen some trying times in the last few years and we can all use some love and magic. I put my heart and soul into the positive messages on this album. This is a good time to share them with the world.”
HEAR “JUST ANOTHER GIRL”