From the very beginning of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s brawny burst of southern, blues and swamp rock to the bitter end, Doug “Cosmo” Clifford was the primary keeper of the beat.

After dabbling in solo recordings and collaborations following the band’s demise, he found a second life in Creedence Clearwater Revisited until retiring from the road in 2019, which was the same year the original band belatedly circulated the complete “Live At Woodstock” collection to align with the infamous festival’s 50th anniversary.

When the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer finally had a moment to himself, it gave him a chance to conduct the ever so ordinary task of cleaning out the garage, but with the extraordinary results of finding an entirely finished and previously unreleased solo album called “Magic Window” (out April 24).

As the authoritative drummer and equally forceful singer tells Chicago Concert Reviews, the rootsy, cross-genre results from 1985 were entirely worth updating for 2020, while the exchange also prompted ponderings of both CCR incarnations and a rare Steve Miller Band moment.

Your newly discovered album is a neat treat for fans in the sense that it wasn’t expected. Did you specifically go looking for these sessions or merely stumble upon them by chance?

Doug “Cosmo” Clifford: It was chance. I was cleaning out my garage in my Reno home. They were in my big cabinets which I use for storage. I didn’t know what was in there. I knew there would a lot of surprises and surprised I was.
 
What was required for you to convert the tapes into means by which they could be matched up with modern technology?

Clifford: They had to be baked, which is a process for old tapes and you literally heat them up in an oven. It was done in Los Angeles and to my surprise all ten reels that I had found were saved.
 
How much updating did you do to the sound and production? 

Clifford: As much as we were able to with two-track tape. It was done on 16-track and they were already mixed masters. My co-producer Russell DaShiell cut a few things out and added some guitar parts here and there and some compression. We then took it to George Horn, the brilliant mastering guru in Berkeley, CA and that’s what you are listening to.
 
What were your musical and cultural points of references when this was recorded in 1985?  

Clifford: If I could remember that I would have remembered that I had this album buried in my garage.
 
Why did you name the album “Magic Window”?

Clifford: The first song was called “Magic Window” and I had such a beautiful view – 1,000 feet above Lake Tahoe and you could see for 60 miles. It was a great place to write and stare out and dig it. That was our working area and it was with us 24/7.
 
This project was a precursor to a tremendous second life in Creedence Clearwater Revisited. How do you feel that band turned out in the end? 

Clifford: Terrific. It was a milestone for our career to come back and tour with that band for 25 years. [Bassist] Stu Cook and I had no idea that Revisited would be a 25-year project.
 
Do you have any intentions to take the “Magic Window” or the CCR material back on the road in any capacity? 

Clifford: Absolutely not. I might create videos to go with the songs.

Speaking of shows, the original band of course played Woodstock and that set was just released in its entirety for the 50th anniversary. Why was so much of that left out of the prior soundtrack editions and did you come to any new realizations about your performance after hearing it all again?  

Clifford: [Singer/guitarist/songwriter] John Fogerty passed on the movie originally. It was a tough gig, but I thought we had a decent set. John is the one who didn’t want the footage released. I’m glad it’s finally out for the fans.
 
After that milestone, what was it like when you briefly kept the beat for the Steve Miller Band in the mid-1970s?

Clifford: I played one live gig with him at Knebworth in the UK for 120,000 people. He was negotiating a new record deal, so he put together a super band and we went over there to help him out. We didn’t bother telling anyone we were the Steve Miller Band for only that one show.

What’s your proudest part of being a co-founder of Creedence and what do you wish would’ve gone down differently? 

Clifford: The fact that we had a dream and we stuck to it. If you don’t work at your dream, it ain’t gonna happen. We worked very hard and it took us ten years before we got our first hit. It would be nice if we could have had a happier ending.

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For additional information on Doug “Cosmo” Clifford, visit DougCosmoClifford.com.