In honor of the 40th anniversary of their debut album, Fantasy Records is releasing the six studio albums of Creedence Clearwater Revival as a quartet. No word yet of their final album, Mardi Gras, which found lead guitarist John Fogerty, bassist Stu Cook, and drummer Doug Clifford as a trio after rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty quit.

Willy and the Poor Boys was the band’s fourth album and the third to be released in 1969, capping an amazing creative output. The album opens with the Stax Records-sounding “Down on the Corner.” John sings and tells the story of the “four kids on the corner trying to bring you up” whom the album is named after. The song is a joyous number, capturing the spirit of playing music for its own sake, offsetting the despair of others who find themselves stuck in “Lodi” again, as sung about on previously on Green River.

“It Came Out of The Sky” evokes the ‘50s with John’s jangly, Chuck Berry-influenced guitar, a driving rhythm section, and lyrics bringing to mind sci-fi movies about aliens. Doug pounds the cymbals during the final chorus. Kids might miss out on the name-dropping as Vice President Spiro Agnew, California Governor Ronald Reagan, and CBS Television newsmen Walter Cronkite and Eric Sevareid all get referenced.

Creedence offers a tip o’ the hat to musician Leadbelly on Willy. “Cotton Fields” is played as a laidback, country rock song, sounding like The Eagles before the Eagles existed. “The Midnight Special” is a traditional song Leadbelly was known for playing. While the band’s hits were popular on the radio in 1983, this deep cut appeared in the opening of Twilight Zone: The Movie and revealed a different side of the band to an audience who barely knew them. Starting as a blues number, John’s distant vocal and the slow, extended playing of the guitar notes are compelling. Then, the rest of the band joins in and it becomes signature Creedence.

“Poorboy Shuffle” sounds like a jugband instrumental, possibly with the washboard and the gut bass referenced in “Down on the Corner.” If you go by the album photos, John’s harmonica leads the way. It crossfades with “Feelin’ Blue,” a rhythm & blues number so authentic it’s easy to assume it’s a cover, but John is credited as the writer. It oozes “smooth” as they shuffle along and create one of the few CCR tunes to make out to.

“Fortunate Son” is the classic antiwar song that drew attention to the inequity between the majority of poor and working class folk who went to Vietnam and those who avoided the draft because they were sons of senators and millionaires. Yet, it transcends that time and still resonates today because it speaks to the inequities in society. President George W. Bush, as one “born silver spoon in hand” and who sent many “down to war,” is a perfect embodiment of the title character.