For a nine year old like me who was as obsessed by music as my friends were by sports, there were two leaders of the pack: The Beatles and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Thanks to parents and other relatives who followed my direction at holiday times, I owned the complete collections of both groups’ albums by the time their respective runs as bands came to an end. 

The new film shares all sorts of links with Beatles projects. Travelin’ Band director Smeaton’s credits include the behemoth Beatles Anthology of 1995. And then there is Giles Martin, son of George and remix master of Beatles albums who along with Sam Okell—another veteran of recent Beatles updates—showed up to bring the original two-channel 1970 soundtrack up to 21st-century standards. (More on that later.) 

Aside from a TV special originally broadcast in the ‘70s and now MIA, not to mention unauthorized biographies pumped out since the time home video was brought to the masses, there is no qualified, authorized documentary on what is arguably one of the most popular rock & roll bands of the past 50-plus years.

Not that the members are quiet about their respective histories in the band. Rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty left the group in 1971 when the group was at its pinnacle after the release of Cosmo’s Factory, deciding he didn’t have ample opportunities for recording his music. Ironically, CCR followed his departure with 1972’s Mardi Gras, the one and only of the band’s albums to feature songs written individually by all three remaining members. The album spawned the Top 10 single “Sweet Hitch-Hiker,” written and sung by John Fogerty, but otherwise came and went without leaving much of an impression on their fanbase. Soon after, the band split, with plenty of anger and lawsuits between Tom Fogerty and his former bandmates right up to modern times. (Fogerty succumbed to AIDS and leukemia in 1991.) 

There is no reason to dwell on the acrimony that shadows the legacy of the band to this day. Even in the documentary portion of Travelin’ Band, the band doesn’t come across as a four-headed unit as much as it does a vehicle for John Fogerty’s music. JF is rarely seen smiling with his colleagues, who praise him and his music when interviewed by the rock press and, as the April 1970 concert at the Royal Albert Hall draws near, news footage and documentary footage of CCR’s then-tour of Europe.

The concert, which was held a few months prior to the release of the singles-packed Cosmo’s Factory, is the real Royal Albert Hall concert, not the post-breakup alleged RAHC released by Fantasy Records that was, in fact, the band in its three-member configuration. As many times as I saw them on programs like Ed Sullivan and The Johnny Cash Show, this is the first time I experienced the breadth of their talent as a cohesive live band. 

Unlike the unseen Woodstock set that ultimately made it to an audio-only release, the RAH set is on fire, with CCR in their prime. The near-complete lack of stage banter makes room for a solid, head-spinning performance that, while it offers no surprises, is as exciting and pitch perfect as any band of the era. 

Surviving clips of their TV appearances belie the band’s knack for rocking out as a real band rather than simply playing note-for-note renditions of their biggest hits. As distant as they seem in the documentary footage, on stage the quartet has a blast blaring through nearly an hour’s worth of fan favorites.

Smeaton’s cut is interesting and solid enough to hold the viewer’s attention, though I wonder why nothing was done to clean up the ultra-grainy image that is reminiscent of Super 8mm home movies. I understand Travelin’ Band was not produced with a Beatles Anthology-size budget, but over-the-counter video technology could sharpen the heavy grit of the surviving film.

Or maybe it did. Though there are no specific details available about the editing process, I trust Netflix gave Smeaton a reasonable budget to make it watchable. In any case, for film stock that supposedly sat untouched for 50 years, the image is more than watchable, if not exactly on par with Get Back, also produced from half-century-old 16mm film stock that Peter Jackson magically turned into a 4K masterpiece that looks as if it was shot within the past few years.

Sonically, Martin and Okell deserve massive kudos for bringing the excitement of the show to the fore, with just enough crowd noise to remind the viewer it is a live show. My 5.1 system placed me in what sounds like the front mezzanine of a 3,000-seat theater, not an arena, with sonic imaging to match the position of the instruments on the stage and just the right amount of echo in the rear. And, like their Fab Four output, bass and drums are noticeably clear and resonant without dominating the mix.

As Jeff Bridges spoke over the last frames of the show in his best Sam Elliot epilogue voice, I was left both satisfied with the concert and hoping for a more detailed authorized documentary with modern-day interviews and commentaries by current and vintage stars alike. But, considering Fogerty’s bald-faced hostility toward his former bandmates, I suspect Travelin’ Band will be the final word in CCR documentation for some time to come. The concert portion of the show makes it well worth the time.