I’ve spent the last couple of weeks counting down my favorite albums of 1985 as part of my Decades series. Over the next two weeks I’ll feature ten albums from that year with which I was previously unfamiliar.

First up is John Fogerty’s Centerfield, the singer-songwriter’s third solo album and first in a decade. Following the breakup of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fogerty released two albums on his own before taking a break from the music business. Comeback record Centerfield became a double platinum hit, giving him his only #1 solo album and his only top ten solo single.

That single was ‘The Old Man Down the Road,’ a song that led to a lawsuit by Saul Zaentz, owner of Fantasy Records and the publishing rights to all of Fogerty’s songs with CCR. Fogerty had sold Zaentz the rights in order to get out of a restrictive recording contract. Zaentz claimed that ‘The Old Man Down the Road’ was a rewrite of ‘Run Through the Jungle,’ essentially suing Fogerty for plagiarizing himself.

Fogerty won that lawsuit, then faced another when Zaentz sued over Centerfield track ‘Zanz Kant Danz’ (later retitled ‘Vanz Kant Danz’), a thinly veiled attack with the chorus “Vanz can’t dance, but he’ll steal your money, watch him or he’ll rob you blind.” Another track, ‘Mr. Greed,’ is also believed to be about his financial dealings with Zaentz.

Apart from those score-settling tracks, Centerfield is a short, sweet collection of sturdy heartland rock. ‘Rock and Roll Girls’ and the title track are the best known cuts apart from ‘The Old Man Down the Road,’ but everything here works. I particularly like ‘I Saw it On T.V.,’ a much better precursor to ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ covering the 50s and 60s.

Fogerty and CCR are examples of acts I really should try to know better. I really like everything I’ve heard from both.