Summer of Love

Background

"Summer of Love" is the seventh track of Revival, the eight solo album of John Fogerty with new material. It was also his first CD with previously unreleased songs since rejoining Fantasy Records in 2005. The song was written, arranged and produced by John Fogerty and recorded by Jim Scott, Seth Presant and Ryan Freeland at NRG Recording in North Hollywood. The album was released in October 2007. It reached #14 in the USA, #5 in Sweden and #6 in Norway.  

As one of the nostalgic songs of Revival, "Summer of Love" pays homage for the year 1967 when Fogerty got out of the army service [July 10th, 1967]. He regards summer of love as a wonderful time. The hippie movement flourished in San Francisco, and for Fogerty's generation, everything seemed to be free and open (Jim Ladd, interview with John Fogerty, KLOS, Los Angeles, September 27th, 2007). 

Fogerty found the Clapton-Hendrix riff by chance. He was in his little music place and had the guitar and the amplifier just roaring and suddenly the guitar lick on the song came out of him. John recorded the sound immediately and gave a name "Summer of Love" to the sound file (Dennis Elsas, interview with John Fogerty, WFUV, New York, November 1st, 2007).

Personnel

Vocals, guitar: John Fogerty

Guitar: Hunter Perrin

Bass: David Santos

Drums, percussion: Kenny Aronoff

Equipment

To get the fuzz sound on "Summer of Love", Fogerty used a Cornford amp, the 50-watt MKII model. He plugged in a PRS Singlecut Trem into the Cornford's overdrive channel, and he even goosed it a bit with a Keeley Katana Boost pedal (Art Thompson, Interview with John Fogerty, The Guitar Player, March 2008).

Trivia

The Rolling Stone magazine released "Summer of Love" as a free exclusive MP3 file on June 29th, 2007 - a couple of days before Fogerty played the tune live in concert for the first time. 

Live versions

John Fogerty performed "Summer of Love" for the first time in front of a live audience at Olympia Theatre in Paris, France, on July 1st, 2007 - a couple of months before the release of Revival. It was heard in 15 concerts in summer and autumn of 2007, including such European festivals as Bospop (Netherlands) and TW Classics (Belgium) until vanishing from the programming by the end of November. 

One of the last opportunities to enjoy "Summer of Love" live was the TV concert Fogerty taped at WTTW Studios in Chicago on November 29th, 2007.  The show was screened on PBS Soundstage in the USA on February 7th and 14th next winter. 

Critical reception

"'Summer of Love' steeps too heavily in nostalgia, riffing unapologetically in Cream's 'White Room,' ---." -Doug Freeman, The Austin Chronicle, October 26th, 2007. 

"The album has a few missteps, though mostly minor. Album closer "Longshot" sounds as though it pulls the riff straight off of Poison's "Talk Dirty To Me" and the off-key hook destroys the glorious psychedelic haze of "Summer Of Love"." -Chad Grischow, IGN, October 26th, 2007. 

"Next is his ode to the “Summer of Love,” with his astoundingly accurate “Sunshine of Your Love” Clapton licks. (For all the people I hear say he’s aping Jimi, I say listen again.) Drummer Kenny Aronoff, a little poppy for my tastes and not the perfectly-matched beat master CCR’s Doug Clifford was, is mostly an asset throughout and wonderfully captures the spirit of Ginger Baker’s playing here, to significantly raise the fun level of this song. (I have to laugh at another comment that crops up about this song: “what does John Fogerty know from psychedelic music? – he played simple rock and roll.” Are you serious?! He was at the top of the charts ’68 to’70, and he grew up in Berkeley. Jeez. And he’s playing Clapton licks now light years better than Clapton plays these days.)" -Charles Andrews, Audio Video Revolution, November 1st, 2007. 

"It is telling the credits on the back of Revival read identical to those on CCR albums: ‘arranged and produced by John Fogerty. ‘ But no lyric sheets accompanied the best Creedence albums and the words shouldn’t have been included here:  the verbiage of “Don’t’ You Wish It Was True” and  “Summer of Love” are not poignant but simplistic ---." -Doug Collette, The Glide, November 26th, 2007. 

"He even parodies Hendrix and Cream on Summer Of Love; as on many of the songs this allows his clear and precise guitar playing to shine through." -Tim Holmes, The Record Collector, December 2007.  

"I love “Summer of Love” which is a tribute to the summer in the year 1969. The song sounds so much like a Jimi Hendrix song with it’s overdriven distorted guitars and feedback that I could almost “kiss the sky”." -Upon This Rawk, September 9th, 2008

"Perhaps it was inevitable that as he aged, he'd turn to romanticizing his own past, yet it's still odd to hear him embracing the 'Summer of Love' when he never, ever was part of the scene in San Francisco; knowing this, it kind of gives away the artifice behind his creation. Still, artifice can be a crucial part of art, and Fogerty is an uncannily sharp musician in how he can mold the past to fit his own world, which he does with 'Summer of Love,' turning it into a fuzz-toned choogle with a sly paraphrase of 'Sunshine of Your Love.'" -Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic. 

Fans' views

"Awesome!!!!!! If this is how the new album will sound, oh boy...." 

"Summer of Love resembles other songs as well --- the basic riff sounds a lot like the one Iron Butterfly-hit --- I love the guitarplaying, but what sets the song apart is no doubt the tremendous chorus. Reach out your arm, touch the moon, touch the sky --- Face to the wind, to be free. These lines have a simple beauty which reflect the Summer-of-Love-atmosphere perfectly. I wish he had repeated the chorus at the end at least one more time. It's such a killer-chorus with gorgeous guitarlicks and it gives the song the optimistic mood connected to the theme."

"This would fit just fine on Bayou Country. Great guitar and just a basic drums, bass backing. I love the ambiguous ending about what the children of the summer of love would find. I think this is John's best guitar playing and singing since CCR. As much as I admire Blue Moon Swamp it is at times unncessaruly cluttered with instrumentation. I can't wait for this album to be released."

"Summer Of Love is a good rocker in the style of Cream's Sunshine Of Your Love and I would put it right up there with that song. Personally, as far as John's own rockers go, I like Walkin' In A Hurricane better than Summer Of Love, and that is just my personal preference. I hear more of Rattlesnake Highway and In The Garden in Summer Of Love even though it does surpass those songs musically and lyrically."

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