as a political songwriter (have you ever really dug the words of 'Fortunate Son'?) comes as no surprise." He later included it in his "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981). In a retrospective review, AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the album "one of the greatest pure rock & roll albums ever cut". He contrasted Willy and the Poor Boys with CCR's previous album, Green River, saying the songs on this album are softer and more upbeat, except for "Effigy". Erlewine went on to state that "Fortunate Son" is not as dated as most of the other protest songs of the era, though he also felt the song was a little out of place on the album, and compared "Poorboy Shuffle" to songs performed by jug bands. In the Blender magazine review of the album, it was called the opposite of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and psychedelic rock, which the reviewer felt was because of the band's performance at the Woodstock Festival. For his Rolling Stone review of the album's 40th anniversary reissue, Barry Walters called it "relaxed" and gave credit to Fogerty for writing a protest song, "Fortunate Son", that has a good beat to it. In 2003, the album was ranked number 392 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time; the 2012 edition of the list had it ranked number 309, and the 2020 edition of the list included the album at number 193. The album was remastered and reissued on 180-gram vinyl by Analogue Productions in 2006. On June 10, 2008, it was remastered and released by Concord Music Group as a compact disc, with three bonus tracks. Track listing Sides one and two were combined as tracks 1–10 on CD reissues. PersonnelPer liner notes'' Creedence Clearwater Revival John Fogerty – vocals, lead guitar, piano, maracas, cowbell, harmonica , producer, arranger Tom Fogerty – rhythm guitar, , backing vocals Stu Cook – bass, washtub bass , backing vocals Doug Clifford – drums, washboard Additional musicians Booker T. Jones – organ Steve Cropper – guitar Donald "Duck" Dunn – bass Al Jackson, Jr. – drums Production Basul Parik – photography Chris Clough – 2008 compilation producer Ed Ward – 2008 liner notes Joel Selvin – 2008 liner notes Rikka Arnold – project assistance Bill Belmont – project assistance