Rolling Stone (p.76) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Fogerty's documentary roots rock was always rebel music, a counterculture of factory-floor politics via Hank Williams and Dale Hawkins. REVIVAL is no rerun. It is Fogerty getting back to work..."
Rolling Stone (p.108) - Included in Rolling Stone's "50 Top Albums of the Year 2007" -- "The Creedence man has never lost his most sustaining strength, which is the warmth and grit of his voice."
Entertainment Weekly (p.126) - "Fogerty's seventh studio album shows that his soul-scarred voice and knack for killer licks remain as potent as ever..."
Uncut (p.110) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "12 songs, while rooted in an idealist, mythic Americana, also offer rallying cries that are as blisteringly contemporary as Credence's 'Fortunate Son' was back in 1970..."
Dirty Linen (p.72) - "With REVIVAL, Fogerty reclaims his title as one of rock's most passionate and tuneful songwriters, and he sings and plays guitar with a fierceness and abandon that he has not exhibited in years."
Like cowboy hats and political scandal, John Fogerty is a timeless American tradition. Ever since he led Creedence Clearwater Revival to their status as America's first great heartland rock band, John Fogerty has been the musical equivalent of Henry Fonda, Gary Cooper, and JFK rolled into one. Through CCR's breakup and his subsequent solo career, Fogerty's music has adhered to its original template of swampy blues-rock with splashes of country/folk twang, and 2007's REVIVAL is no exception.
Even after four decades of recording, Fogerty's voice sounds remarkably fresh and unchanged. The sound that emanates from the opening cut, "Don't You Wish it Was True," is as pure and unsullied as the utopian wish conveyed by the lyrics. And for a man who spent years refusing to play his back catalog and enduring litigation over his old band's material, it's interesting to hear him acknowledge his past so wholeheartedly; on the sly "Creedence Son "his guitar teases old CCR licks, and "I Can't Take it No More" references "Fortunate Son." By playing to his strengths and reeling out bluesy, rootsy riffs and belting in his patented salty-but-sweet manner, Fogerty reiterates his continued status as an American musical icon.