Laughing (The Guess Who) (LP 4320 - 4336)

The Guess Who  Wild One (Vinyl, Pickwick Records, 1972) **

The Guess Who?  Wheatfield Soul (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1969) ***

The Guess Who  Canned Wheat (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1969) ****

The Guess Who  American Woman (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1970) *****

The Guess Who  Share the Land (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1970) ****

The Guess Who  So Long, Bannatyne (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1971) ***

The Guess Who  Rockin' (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1972) ***

The Guess Who  Live at the Paramount (Vinyl and CD, RCA Records, 1972) *****

The Guess Who  Artificial Paradise (Vinyl - two copies - NZ and USA presses with different covers, RCA Records, 1973) ***

The Guess Who  #10 (CD, RCA Records, 1973) ***

The Guess Who  Road Food (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1974) ***

The Guess Who  Flavours (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1974) **

The Guess Who  Power in the Music (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1975) **

The Guess Who  All This for a Song (Vinyl, Hilltak Records, 1979) ***

The Guess Who  The Best of The Guess Who (Vinyl and CD, RCA Records, 1971) *****

The Guess Who  The Best of The Guess Who Volume II (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1973) ****

The Guess Who  The Best of The Guess Who - Live! (Vinyl, Compleat Records, 1986) ****

Genre: Pop 

Places I remember: Amoeba Music, Marbecks Records,

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: No Time (Live at the Paramount)

Gear costume: Share the Land (Live at the Paramount)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: Live at the Paramount, which we'll eventually get to, was my entry drug into the world of The Guess Who and my obsession persists still.

In my brain The Guess Who exist as pre Live at the Paramount and post Live at the Paramount, but in reality it's really pre and post These Eyes - their first huge hit.

Pre These Eyes (which is on Wheatfield Soul), the band had a different line-up with a different lead singer to Burton Cummings (who was in the band primarily as keyboardist). In fact, they even had a couple of different names - Chad Allan and the Reflections, Chad Allan and the Expressions. and The Guess Who? (with the question mark). The last name was a fluke name - used as a promo to somehow suggest it was a British group and the name stuck.

My first album, Wild One, is a compilation of those pre Wheatfield Soul years between 1965 and 1967. The band sounds in awe of The Beatles, as so many others did. Generally, it's a fun set of rock'n'roll material, but it doesn't sound like The Guess Who post These Eyes. 

I've written about the album previously here along with the compilation The Way They Were, so I won't count those two again.

The single was huge, but the parent album Wheatfield Soul didn't have the same success. Apart from the attempt to mimic The Doors on Friends of Mine, the songs show a lot of early promise. Burton Cummings is now the sole singer, and he does a great job throughout the album (apart from that weird rip off of The Doors where he tries to imitate Jim Morrison).

The four-piece line-up for this and subsequent albums was now solid with Randy Bachman (guitar), Jim Kale (bass), Garry Peterson (drums), and Burton Cummings (guitar, keyboards, vocals).

Canned Wheat, also from 1969, sealed the deal with lead off song - No Time. The album also features two Guess Who classics - Laughing and Undun. Jim Kale in the liner notes says, "Regardless of what transpired previously, this is the beginning". He's not wrong - this is their first great album.

Side two has no classics on it but there aren't any weak songs either. Old Joe, for instance, is a spirited performance, especially by Burton Cummings, and Randy Bachman's guitar on Of A Dropping Pin is tasteful.

The only blemishes are the eleven minute Key which serves as a vehicle for individual solos. Randy's is fine but I've long gone off drum solos. Fair Warning is a weird spoken word conclusion that doesn't hold up to repeat listens.

Sidenote: bizarrely the back cover information includes in the small print an RCA copyright date of 1962!

American Woman, the first of two albums from 1970, is a beast! Randy's guitar is huge on the title track, but the drums and bass line are brilliant too, as is Burton's impassioned vocal. 

This one has the songs at a consistently high standard without any filler at all. Apart from the title track, the highlights are many: a redone No Time, No Sugar Tonight, 969 (The Oldest Man), When Friends Fall Out, 815, Proper Stranger all make this a five-star classic! 

It was a fitting album for Randy Bachman to end his Guess Who tenure on. He'd leave the band shortly after, but he left behind a triumph.

Their second album of 1970 saw Randy's replacements, guitarists Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw, seamlessly integrating into the band. The songs were brilliant, again - so much so that five songs from the album, Hand Me Down World, Bus Rider, Do You Miss Me Darlin'?, Hang On to Your Life and the title track make up an entire side of the 1971 greatest hits compilation, The Best of The Guess Who.

NZ cover

So Long, Bannatyne struggled a little to continue the forward momentum created by the five-piece band on Share the Land. There are some good songs on it, like Rain Dance, and Pain Train, but other songs sounded a little rushed.

Rockin' was the last album to feature Jim Kale and Greg Leskiw. It's a Guess Who album without a clear, commercial single hit. Instead, Burton Cummings often returns to vaudeville fifties style rock'n'roll that sometimes works but it veers away from the great Guess Who material of the past a little too much. The album also has the 'comedy' track Herbert's a Loser which is weak!

And so we come to Live at the Paramount - the one that launched me into the world of The Guess Who. 

What. An. Album!

The vinyl version is obviously the one I heard first and the CD with the additional tracks is one of those rare albums where more is more! Everything is bigger and brighter as they rip through their set.

The album/concert features new boy Donnie McDougall on rhythm guitar and it's another seamless transition. It's also the last album to feature Jim Kale on bass. Again - there is no better way to sign off than on this blistering concert momento.

The extended version of American Woman is sublime and one of the greatest air guitar songs ever!

Artificial Paradise was the band's tenth studio album (which makes the title of its successor interesting). Bill Wallace has replaced Jim Kale by this time. 

It's the usual mix of ballads, rockers and world music (they had long embraced musical instruments from India). It's solid without being a classic. Highlights: Bye Bye Babe; Follow Your Daughter Home; Orly.

#10 (their tenth album for RCA) was their second (and better) album of 1973. Glamour Boy was the big hit, but this Burton Cummings dominated album has some strong material. 

Road Food is similar in that it had a couple of hits (the novelty song Clap for the Wolfman and Star Baby) and the rest was okay - again dominated by Burton. Even his piano was moved more to the fore by this stage.

Flavours was their second album of 1974 - they certainly maintained a solid work ethic. Kurt Winter and Don McDougal had departed - being replaced by Domenic Troiano. Unfortunately the ballads were getting increasingly soppy by this stage. 

In hindsight, Road Food was the last gutsy album by The Guess Who as Flavours hints at the solo Burton Cummings albums to come (already reviewed here).

Their final album before Burton put the limping dog that the band had become out of its misery was the weak Power in the Music. If ever an album was given an ironic title, this is it. Sadly, nothing particularly powerful was going on by this stage. Burton sounds semi-interested on a few songs (Dreams is a good example of what he could still do if he was interested).

After a couple of years, Jim Kale resurrected The Guess Who name (a.k.a. Jim Kale's Guess Who). All This for a Song is an album from 1979.

Kale is joined by Don McDougal and two others without any history with the original band. The album begs the question - are The Guess Who The Guess Who without Burton Cummings vocals. The answer is - nope. They are a rock band with a mainstream sound. All good Jim, just don't call it The Guess Who.

That just leaves the two compilations and a live album of the reunion of the band in 1983 to go.

The two compilations: The Best of The Guess Who and The Best of The Guess Who Volume II are where casual listeners should begin. Between them they cover both important bands and have all the hits and near hits. The Best of The Guess Who focuses first on the foursome including Randy Bachman, and thereafter has the five-piece without Randy.

Gary Hill of AllMusic sums it well: "It is sometimes hard to believe that the same group that brought the world the jazzy 'Undun' and the CS&N-ish hippie anthem 'Share the Land' is also responsible for the rocking 'No Time.' This 11-track collection paints a very entertaining picture of a multi-talented band and is a perfect introduction for the casual fan."

Volume II contains recordings made between 1970 and 1973. It's the weaker of the two collections but still contains some superb Guess Who songs.

In 1983 the unlikely event of a reunion between Randy Bachman, Garry Peterson, Jim Kale, and Burton Cummings happened. 

The double  Live album documents the moment adequately, but it's no Live at the Paramount.

Where do they all belong? Those Best ofs are the best place to start and then Live at the Paramount - all three are indispensable.

Tuff E nuff (Johnny Otis) (LP 134 - 135)

The Guess Who Wild One (Vinyl - Pickwick, 1972 ) ** 
The Guess Who The Way They Were (Vinyl - RCA, 1976 ) ***  

Genre: Canadian pop/ rock

Places I remember: Wild One - Real Groovy Records (Auckland); TWTW - Music Box Record Exchange (Hastings)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Species Hawk




Gear costume: Tuff E Nuff is a load of hunky fun, as is This Could Be Love with youthful Burton Cummings vocals. On TWTW, Silver Bird and Palmyra hinted at greatness to come. The Answer road tests the distinctive harmonies.

Active compensatory factors: These two are bracketed because they both pre date Wheatfield Soul, their first 'real' album.

Wild One features the Chad Allan led version of the band. Strictly speaking, it's a compilation of material done between 1965 and 1967 but because of the narrow focus it sounds like a bona fide studio album. 

Weirdly, their first hit, a 1965 rendition of Johnny Kidd & the Pirates' Shakin' All Over is not included in the package. Nor are other singles of this era!

Just to weird it out some more, Chad left in 1966 and so the band effectively continued as a quartet for the next four years with:

• Burton Cummings (keyboards/ vocals)
• Randy Bachman (guitars, backing vocals)
• Jim Kale (bass, backing vocals)
• Garry Peterson (drums, backing vocals)

The Way They Were is also an oddity, including as it does some good stuff recorded before Wheatfield Soul with Jack Richardson but not released until 1976 (after the original band called it a day).

Hope you're keeping up! 

That's the background. What about the music?

Wild One's sound is nowhere near the Burton Cummings' led band that we all know and love. Instead it's a tentative series of songs in thrall to American rock of the mid sixties, looking for a distinctive voice. As such, it sounds a lot like New Zealand music of the time. Outsiders both.

Chad Allan sounds like the American teen idol that, I guess, he wanted to be. Randy Bachman tries out surf guitar and some psychedelic licks at times, but it would have been going out on a limb to think these guys would evolve to mega stardom.

By the time they recorded the material on The Way They Were the band had taken a quantum leap forward. Burton had become a much more assured vocalist and Randy's guitar style had also undergone a transformation into a more distinctive heavy riffing style.

And the songs had improved! No more covers - Cummings/Bachman had become a thing.

Where do they all belong? Wheatfield Soul would prove itself to be a game changer.

You got rave reviews and you’re front page news (The Guess Who)

 

I'm still on a bit of a Guess Who kick.

I came back from San Francisco with a few more of their albums including #10 and Glamour Boy has been a song I can't seem to get enough of.

#10 came out in 1973 and was the 10th studio album by The Guess Who to feature Burton Cummings as the lead vocalist.

I remember the song being on the radio a lot in 1973 when I was in my first year in the fifth form. I have no idea why I didn't buy it at the time because the group and the album were pretty cool in the early seventies.

The song wasn't a huge hit though and it holds a quirky place in the band's history. Quirky because it is a hard song to pin down. Written by Burton, it's tempting to try and see it as a personal song about fame and the price paid a la Roger Waters' The Wall but that reading doesn't really hold up in a convincing way.

Rather than being a personal song it's probably better viewed as an observation on some plastic pop star, obscure or famous. For some reason I can't help thinking it could be about the androgynous Ziggy Stardust!

Whatever - Burton Cummings voice is the real star on the song and I'm a sucker for the middle bit of Billy Shears drama on the extended album version.

People, taking me for a ride (Guess Who)

Burton Cummings has a great rock and roll voice.

I picked up a mint copy of The Guess Who's  Artificial Paradise album (1973) from New Plymouth's Vinyl Countdown on the weekend. Only cost me $3 which was a bargain.

The album does crop up a lot in remainder bins which is a bit of a mystery. Although not really - I liked the band in the seventies but it's taken me 40 years to own this album. Gotta be a reason for that huh.

I'm listening to it as I write; it's a good (not great) Guess Who album with a naff cover (to my eyes). It attempts to present itself like a envelope from a mail order company so it looks fairly cheap and nasty but I'm not sure that's what the music required.

During the early 1970s the band were at a series of crossroads with the departure of Randy Bachman and a subsequent period of revolving door musicians. Amid all this the band did manage to peak on the sublime Live At The Paramount album.

Stylistically the Artificial Paradise album is all over the shop. There are hard driving rock and roll songs (Bye Bye Babe is a great opening track), ballads (Lost and Found Town), the quirky Follow Your Daughter Home, the downright weird (Hamba Gahle-Usalang Gahle) and the nifty pop single Orly (a non hit at the time bizarrely).

No thematic cohesion, dodgy packaging but the sound is great. The band were certainly a cohesive unit and the recording is spot on.

And there is always Burton's voice. He can do it all - of course the ballads but he is a much better rock singer than he is given credit for. Try Orly again and remind yourself of his immense talent and ability to sell a song.

Would you let it ride? (BTO)

Another Keegan compilation CD didn't rate with him unfortunately. It was my Heavy Metal/Rock CD.

Here's the track listing of the CD I called the...

The Heavy Rock one

Waste your tears – The Answer

Let it ride – Bachman-Turner Overdrive

Easy peasy – Black Spiders

White trash millionaire – Black Stone Cherry

Burnin' for you – Blue Oyster Cult

Fever – Bullet For My Valentine

Soap on a rope – Chickenfoot

The book of heavy metal – Dream Evil

Save us – Dream Evil

Heavy metal in the night – Dream Evil

Oh well – Fleetwood Mac

Iced Earth – Iced Earth

One more time – James LaBrie (from Dream Theater)

Curl of the burl – Mastodon

Spectrelight – Mastodon

Blood and thunder – Mastodon

 

Trampled underhoof – Mastodon

The profusion of Mastodon tracks is because Keegan requested a sample of their work. The Dream Evils are there cos I love their stuff.

I have noticed that Randy Bachman and Fred Turner are still touring together!! Amazing.

I loved the stuff they did as Bachman-Turner Overdrive. I didn't pick You ain't seen nuthin' yet, not because I don't love it, but Keegan would surely know it (who doesn't?) and they did other great songs worthy of inclusion.

When Randy Bachman left The (mighty) Guess Who he started out again with a band called Brave Belt. This eventually morphed into Bachman-Turner Overdrive and included at one time THREE Bachman brothers - main man Randy, drummer Robin (a.k.a. Robbie) and second guitarist Tim. C.F. 'Fred' Turner was on bass and vocals. 

Let it Ride, a Bachman/Turner composition) was a single off the second BTO album, with vocals from Fred.

For me, their sound transports me back to the seventies - riding around in my mum's Chevette - with the stereo blasting. Turn this one up!