REVIEWS:
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COMMENTS
CANADA BEST BAND OF ALL TIME.MY FAVORITE BAND FROM CANADA.THEY ARE JUST GREAT.RANDY AND BURTON ARE LENNON MCCARTNEY OF CANADA.DOUG.
(reviewed by Casey Brennan)
HIGH POINTS: No Time, Undun, Laughing. LOW POINTS: Key, Fair Warning
The Guess Who's second album, Canned Wheat, was considered a step forward by the band since it was a bit more cohesive and consistent. The 'mellow' Rock of Wheatfield Soul contained a colorful pastiche of many different musical styles (very psychedelic in nature), while this release showed the band carrying their jazz, pop, country 'n' western, folk, and blues influences in a more refined manner. The band is still in their mellow stage here so you won't find any of the Hard Pop/Rock classics that they are known for until the following albums. Well, except for the won't-be-a-single-till-the-next-album "No Time" that is. Later to be found on the American Woman album (heh.. unintentionally repeated myself there), this beefy riff-rocker with sunshine-pop choruses is featured here as a longer version in a very different mix; most notable is the screwy psychedelic beginning and creative drum-beat not found on the single version. I happen to like this early 'unknown' version a tad better, but it really depends on your tastes to which one is most successful. Hell, it's a great song anyway.
The other two singles, the jazzy-pop of "Undun" and the pop-rocker "Laughing", are done in a lighter vein and are very well-crafted as well. A haunting flute-line in the bridge of the former and catchy feel-good harmonies in the latter are good attributes to these great songs. These three hits, which are all found in the first half, are definitely the most striking of all the numbers, but several album tracks do stick out as quite good too - more than your average filler. This is because the harmonies of these guys and Burton Cummings gritty vocals are very good through-out, and most of the tunes are built on memorable (and often sing-a-long-able) melodies.
I'm single-handily pointing my finger at the sun-fried pop of "Minstrel Boy" here, a charming country/folk-styled number that belongs to the heart of the Canadian Prairie. Very sincere, gentle, heart-breaking, and with fine melody and harmonies to boot, it is definitely the nicest-sounding little song on here. More easygoing and nice-sounding pop/rock songs come in the form of "Old Joe", a gospelish number that works pretty well, and "6 A.M. or Nearer" and "Of a Dropping Pin", two light-hearted cuts that have fun and mildly up-tempo choruses. Really nice and catchy, these three tracks also assure that the album stays pretty consistent since they all follow one another. It's not till the final two cuts that we approach the real blunders. "Key" starts off rather normally as a catchy and enjoyable slice of mid-paced pop, but lo and behold, at the three-and-a-half minute mark it turns into a long-winded drum solo that just bores me out of my damn mind like most of them do. Remember "Toad" from Cream? One of the worst examples of late-60's excess, and this one goes on for eleven minutes.
Following that is the 'humorous' album closing cut, "Fair Warning", a track with jazzy guitar chords that has Cummings imitating Georgie Fames accent in a tale that deals with the bad side of the music business. The only problem is that it's very corny (listening to him give generic advice in this stupid accent is a little cringe-inducing) and just painfully lame; this should have been left in the vaults. Despite failing to deliver at the end, Canned Wheat is packed with plenty of good stuff elsewhere - now only if they'll remaster the rest of the bands catalog.
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COMMENTS
[email protected] (Brenda and Mark)
this was actually their fifth or sixth album, depending on whether you count a "split album" as a full album
their first several were:
Shakin' All Over
Hey Ho What You Do To Me
It's Time (this is where Burton Cummings joined the band)
A Wild Pair (split album with another Canadian band)
Wheatfield Soul
then Canned Wheat
(Casey Brennan's review)
HIGH POINTS: American Woman, No Time, No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature, Talisman. LOW POINTS: Humpty's Blues/American Woman (Epilogue).
Going for a harder Rock approach without abandoning the great pop sense that shined through their earlier material, the Guess Who quickly became heroes of Classic Rock radio with this release. A more compact, harder-hitting version of "No Time" (an update of the earlier version) was the single that broke the band through, but it was the two other singles on the album that confirmed their golden status. The classic title track, which starts off with that distinctive acoustic intro where Cummings sings 'say A, say M, uh.. say E..', is the one track that everyone immediately associates with the band when they think of the name Guess Who. Lenny Kravitz, with his new version of the song, is partly to thank for making people remember it (although it's only somewhat decent), but it sounds like the defining song for them anyway.
Cummings vocals are gritty and passionate (don't forget those vocal intonations during the fade-out, which Burton was famous for doing on plenty of songs during this era) in the best way, and the sound, well, is just spectacular, with that thick electric guitar vibrating over top of the rickety rhythm section. Built on two different, but similar melodies, the other hit, "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature", is an excellent showcase on how melodic, catchy, and hard-hitting the band can be at one time. Both driven by folky/poppy verses, the first part contains a hard-rockin' knock-out chorus (ex. No sugar tonight, in my coffee... no sugar tonight, in my tea! - that may ring a bell), while the second part entertainingly intersperses the two main vocal melodies together in call-response style during the very last verse. Three great songs there, and all just on the first side too!
What rises this album to a higher level than Canned Wheat however, is the fact that there are several very noteworthy gems. First there is the underrated "Talisman", an elegant acoustic-folk song that contains what is perhaps the most beautiful melody Cummings ever wrote, along with his best vocal performance. Great little piano-work at the end of it too. Another fine Bachman-Cummings number comes in the heavy-handed "Proper Stranger", a cut driven by catchy acoustic riffing with hard-edged choruses, climaxing bridge, and melodic guitar soloing. The lost 1968 cut (which is slightly out of place - in a good way though) "When Friends Fall Out" is an overly psychedelic number with a stomp-led opening, weird bridge (A journey is plastic...), pretty pop-laden harmonies, and low-key electric guitar soloing. Despite trite and dated lyrics, it's a very tuneful song with great musical twists; it shan't be dismissed.
It sits next to "8:15", a catchy pop-rocker that admittedly sounds a bit soulless, though still pretty enjoyable, during the call-and-response vocals. What makes it a gem in its' own right though is the way it neatly switches into this heavy percussive blues section during the middle and fade-out of the song. The only two undesirable tracks found on here would be the instrumental "696 (the oldest man)", a just-nice track that opens in a hard-rock setting and goes into a jazzy section with some flute-playing, and "Humpty's Blues/American Woman(epilouge)", which is just a standard blues track. It's okay, maybe even good, but how exciting can a normal blues track from this band sound like? The rest of the album is pretty great though. Too bad Randy Bachman would leave after this album because the next one would only have more hits and hooks.
Interesting little rock album we have here, huh? Well, I'll begin by telling you right now, I am drunk off my ass. I'm sorry, the whole World Trade Center thing got me down. So I got drunk. Fitting then, that I cover American Woman? Hey guess what? The song "American Woman" was a fucking ghetto jam! So the boys from the band beat the shit outta the kid who bootlegged the concert that they wrote it at, stole the tape, and "learned" the title track from there! Yeah! "No Time" is next, right? I sure as fuck don't know. Good little rock track, even though my sack contains more balls than this one. But hey, it's 1970 so its all good. And next... hmm... a song called "Talisman" shouldn't be given respect but I like it. It's all progressive and shit. Reminds me of "Vincent". You know, by Don McLean. Good song. And it's my big bro's name!
An interesting little experiment with the key of F# major bore the greatest Guess Who song of all time, "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Mature". Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings were given the same chords to write a song over. So Bachman came up with "Sugar" and Cummings came up with "Mother". And they squished it all together into a little pop single thingy. Sweet. I love this song! Because at the end, right, they sing their individual melodies over each other and it sounds good, G! Okay, and next is this gay-ass Jethro Tull wannabe instrumental "969 (The Oldest Man)" whose title refers to Methusalah, the oldest man in the Bible (God Bless it). I have seriously put this on to go to sleep, man. So goes with the rest of the album. Sure, "When Friends Fall Out" is a rockin little number, but "8:15" fucks that whole atmosphere up.
But then HEY!!!!!!!!! "Proper Stranger" is all rockin' like "Friends" and "Humpty's Blues" is just okay, being all Buddy Guy-esque, which segues into the "American Woman" epilogue which is gay and boring and really, I'd rather be jerking it than talking about it. "It" being American Woman. So fuck off! And don't bother me anymore, you bastard whores!!!!!! I'm kidding, I love you all. Besides, who would take my shit and listen to all my rambling if you weren't here? I'm so drunk. I drank Southern Comfort 100 proof and it was good. I highly recommend it. PEACE!
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(reviewed by Casey Brennan)
HIGH POINTS: Share The Land, Hand Me Down World, Bus Rider, Hang On To Your Life. LOW POINTS: Coming Down Off The Money Bag/Song Of The Dog.
Two new guitarists by the name of Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw were recruited for Share The Land, an album that along with American Woman yields some of the most impressive singles the band ever did. This includes killer cuts like the hit title track and "Hand Me Down World", songs which are only helped out by the new guitarists, who add plenty of great guitar-hooks, licks, and melodic electric guitar solos in them. While you can imagine the guitar-heavy approach taken here, it must not be forgotten that the songs themselves are very melodic and retain a poppy edge in the harmonies. The previously mentioned "Hand Me Down World" is a good example of this as the band combines a great descending guitar riff with falsetto 'la-la-la-la..' harmonies in the background during one of the latter verses. That's pure pop/Hard Rock perfection there. The rest of the song doesn't let down either with its' knuckle-down and sweepingly memorable chorus, Burton vocal intonations (towards the fade-out), and maybe best of all, the trebly Kurt Winter electric guitar solo during that excellent middle break.
In the same tradition, "Share The Land" is an undoubtable hippie-like classic that's struck with superbly engaging harmonies during both the verses and ultra-memorable chorus, plus a piano/electric guitar melody that's just awesome; the sighing, heart-breaking, and stinging sounds that come out of the two guitars during the introduction of the song are just perfect. It's definitely a song that can give you chills up your spine (it definitely does that to me). Kurt Winter, as new as he may be, sure turns out to be a highly competent writer for the band as he knocks us out with the highlight "Bus Rider" too (he also wrote "Hand Me Down World"). This rockin' track, which is complete with honky-tonk piano and more great trebly guitar-soloing, is indeed, a great two-pack punch to open up the album. The slightly slowed-down coda ends the song in fine fashion (Busss Ridder!! get up, get on the bus..), and there are a ton of undeniable guitar hooks through-out.
It's one of the more hard-hitting tracks off of the album, as is "Hang On To Your Life", a fantastic song with a blasting blues riff and a distorted ending that has another one of Burton's obvious Jim Morrison-influenced poems - said in a very Morrison-like manner too. "Do You Miss Me Darlin' " meanwhile, is a Cummings-Winter ballad with a very fine piano melody and an overall great band-oriented sound to it. It's not as much of a knock-out as the other-mentioned tracks, but it's still a well-crafted and heart-warming song. After that we get the three non-singles, all of which can't really hold a candle to the best material here, though they are still fine. "Moan For You Joe" is a nice little jazz-tinged song that comes in-between the more band-oriented Hard Rock (it's a cute little humorous song really), while "Coming Down off the Money Bag/Song of the Dog" is a hokey blues/harmonica driven shuffle highlighted by some dirty guitar licks in the middle.
Finally, the closing nine-minute 'epic' "Three More Days", a jam with an unoriginal main melody (it just resembles a good deal of turn-of-the-decade peace-type songs, so that's not a horribly bad thing at all), contains a spectacular flute solo, guitar soloing, and all the usual good traits involved on the recordings here. Unmemorable and without killer hooks (unlike "Share The Land" for instance), it's just a decent offering from the band. In any case... Wow, Share The Land is a pretty great album, that ranks as an even better successor to American Woman, simply because the band has found a rich sound that makes them all the more appealing. Rich, guitar-heavy, melodic, and catchy, plus Burton's gritty vocals sound amazing against those guitars. A mighty high 8 for this one, which is pretty excellent.
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(reviewed by Casey Brennan)
This underrated and excellent hard rock/pop band come from Canada and had a string of amazing hits from 1968-1975. This 11-song set of tunes features songs from thier early period of 1968- 1970, in which they go from being big popsters "These Eyes" (a classic pop song with gritty vocals by Bachman), to hard rock/pop in "Hang On To Your Life" (a tune with a melodic riff and a Jim Morrison-esque poetic part). Most of the hits are perfect, well-crafted pop/rock tunes with plenty of memorable hooks and great choruses, with Bachman's vocals (which sound similar to John Fogerty's sometimes) adding a rocking flavor to the tunes.
The early hits are calmer; "Laughing" is a catchy tune with harmonising choruses, and "Undun" is a dark pop tune. After that are several hits from their strong American Woman album; "American Woman" is a classic and gritty rocking tune, "No Time" is a melodic hardrocking tune with heavy bass and poppy choruses, and "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature" is a two-part tune with a midtempo beat and hardhitting choruses. "Hand Me Down World" (which is highlighted by a trebly guitar solo and Beatlish la-la-la's), "Bus Rider", "Share The Land" (a rocking peace song), and "Do You Miss Me Darlin'?" are all effective and melodic songs from their Share The Land album in 1970. Classic songs on this set, but for a more definitve view of the band you need their double set Track Record or the new 3-Cd set The Ultimate Collection.
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(reviewed by Kevin Baker)
You know, the Guess Who are simultaneously remembered and forgotten. Everybody knows American Woman and No Time, etc. However, how many people can say they've heard Hand Me Down World or Laughing? Can you? That's what I thought. Of course not, because the Guess Who are only remembered for a handful of songs. Wonderful as they are, the Guess Who are too genuinely good to deserve such a fate. Now, this 18 song lovely is a good compromise between the radio standards and some just as good, but relatively unknown ditties. Of course, the highlights are American Woman, No Time, These Eyes, No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature, and Share The Land, but dang it, that means there are 13 other songs on here!
Laughing is a wonderful poppy number, which tops These Eyes in my eyes, as does Undun. The aforementioned Hand Me Down World has a gruff rhythm guitar track with some protest lyrics telling "The Man" not to screw up the world anymore......yeah. Uh-huh. Hippies....excuse me, sorry. The 60s were a unique time, and I probably would have been tuned in, turned on, and dropped out back then myself. But at any rate, Hang On To Your Life is a harder rockin' number, Albert Flasher has some boogie-woogie piano, Rain Dance has a tribal rhythm section and some echoed vocals, Sour Suite is calm, melodic piano pop, Heartbreaker Bopper starts off with some feedback, Al Gore features some lies, a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and a Jew named Joe...oops, wrong CD. Guns, Guns, Guns is about American hunters in Canada, Follow Your Daughter Home has a polyrhythmic part and almost tropical sounding elements, Star Baby is almost retro-ish, Clap For The Wolfman is about a dj, and Dancing Fool tries to be almost funky at times. This is an ultra-solid collection of songs. Get it!
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