Label: Wise Buy Records (Europe), WB 885992
Style: Rock, Classic Rock
Country: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Time: 68:51
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 446 Mb
the
Guess Who, Canadian rock group that was the most successful band in
Canada in the late 1960s and early 1970s and that country’s first rock
superstars.
In the late 1950s, lead singer Allan formed the
Silvertones with fellow Winnipeg teenagers Kale, a bassist; Bachman, a
guitarist; and pianist Bob Ashley. With the addition of drummer
Peterson, they became Chad Allan & the Reflections and by 1965 were
Chad Allan & the Expressions. Heavily influenced by the British
Invasion, the group developed a loyal following in Winnipeg, but its
recordings suffered from the refusal by most radio stations in Canada to
play Canadian groups. In 1965 their cover of Johnny Kidd and the
Pirates’ “Shakin’ All Over” was released to radio stations under the
moniker “Guess Who?” in the hope that disc jockeys would be more
inclined to play a song by a mysterious new British band. Whether this
marketing ploy had anything to do with the song’s success is debatable,
but it was a chart-topping hit in Canada and reached No. 22 on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100. Later that year keyboardist Cummings joined the group
and took over as vocalist and frontman when Allan left in 1966. After a
disappointing tour of the United Kingdom in 1967, the group served for
two years as the house band on the CBC TV music-variety program Let’s
Go, hosted by Allan. From 1966 to 1968, when the question mark was
dropped from its name, the Guess Who landed a number of singles in the
Canadian Top 40 but its albums sold poorly.
After acquiring the
band’s contract from Quality Records for $1,000, producer Jack
Richardson placed a second mortgage on his house to finance the album
Wheatfield Soul (1969), which yielded the million-selling “These Eyes,” a
Top 10 hit in both Canada and the U.S. Canned Wheat (1969) followed and
included double-sided hit singles “Laughing” and “Undun.” It was the
next album, American Woman (1970), however, that made the Guess Who
stars. Its title track, the first recording by a Canadian rock group to
hit No. 1 in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100, had
serendipitous origins, beginning as a riff improvised by Bachman while
tuning his guitar after breaking a string during a concert and was
spontaneously augmented by the rest of the group, including Cummings,
who added the memorable lyrics “American woman stay away from me.” “No
Sugar Tonight,” the B-side for “American Woman,” also was a hit in both
Canada and the U.S. “No Time,” which was originally included on Canned
Wheat, was re-recorded for American Woman and became its third hit
single. American Woman reached No. 9 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart,
making it the only Guess Who album to reach the Top 10.
(britannica.com/topic/the-Guess-Who)
01. Bus Rider (03:49)
02. Clap For The Wolfman (03:52)
03. Dancinґ Fool (03:45)
04. Laughing (06:21)
05. No Sugar Tonight (02:47)
06. New Mother Nature (04:06)
07. Hand Me Down World (03:30)
08. Undone (09:08)
09. Share The Land (07:28)
10. American Woman (07:09)
11. These Eyes (07:51)
12. No Time (08:59)
Great Blog. Thanks so much for everything. Just a note on this post. This is not the original band on this recording . Burton Cummings went solo in 1976 and Randy Bachman had formed Bachman Turner overdrive way before this. The drummer and bass player had the copyright to the name and formed a touring band that is on this recording.
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