Doug “Cosmo” Clifford, the legendary drummer for Creedence Clearwater Revival, is back with a long long lost solo project from back in 1985. Clifford will release Magic Window, his second-ever solo set, on April 24th. Clifford recalled the sessions for the album, which was tracked at his Lake Tahoe home studio: “I had an analog studio with a good tape deck, so I could try out ideas without looking at the clock. I’d invite friends in to jam and experiment. I was going to use it to look for a record deal, but I got busy with other projects and forgot about it.”
Clifford went on to say, “Music’s 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.”
Doug Clifford told us that he's also sitting on a nearly-finished 1978 album with legendary Derek & The Dominoes keyboardist Bobby Whitlock that he aims to spruce up sometime in the future. For Clifford, finally completing Magic Window did his soul good: “Thank God I've got this project. I've been on such a high. It's like listening to somebody else. Y'know, it was a labor of love — another dream come true. Y'know, but this time, I'm not just the drummer in the band; I'm the writer, the singer, the producer — all those things.”
Clifford, who along with bassist Stu Cook, finally retired Creedence Clearwater Revisited earlier this year after a 25-year, globe-trotting run. Clifford, who's singing days are a thing of the past due to cancer treatments, revealed that the physicality of the road was just not an option for him anymore: “I've got Parkinson's disease now and it's developed very slowly. And I at least got outta there. . . I wasn't gonna do what so many other guys — y'know, you think, 'Yeah, I've always been able to get through this (bleep) — I usually have.' I could tell things were going to change , and I didn't want to be up there with the boys and Stu and have to walk or crawl off the stage.”
