C or D:: the Guess Who

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Not that I have any. Title is bad and track sounds like an Aerosmith clone.

2-4-6-8 Motor Away (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 25 October 2022 15:48 (one year ago) link

Clemenza OTM above re: the '71 singles. I get obsessed with 'Sour Suite' every six months or so (or whenever I go through Indianapolis, the '46201' referred to in the song).

The circa-'00 _Runnin' Back Through Canada_ live double is surprisingly good -- Randy Bachman is along and some of the better BTO songs are sprinkled in.

Jeff Wright, Tuesday, 25 October 2022 17:17 (one year ago) link

I like "Sour Suite" too, and there even a fourth good one, "Broken."

clemenza, Tuesday, 25 October 2022 20:14 (one year ago) link

one month passes...

No time for the killing floor

Soda Stereo Total (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 18 December 2022 21:50 (one year ago) link

four months pass...

the "guess who" discover 1989.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L08p0n1BFJ4

Thus Sang Freud, Sunday, 7 May 2023 11:38 (eleven months ago) link

this upon discovering that they and orleans are playing at the nearby tilles center, top ticket $70, and wondering who the heck are in the guess who these days. the drummer, if you're curious.

Thus Sang Freud, Sunday, 7 May 2023 13:40 (eleven months ago) link

yes, that's totally normal i think? i just wish we had another word for it because crush is typically associated with romantic attraction that does involve kissing etc.

Crunching?
A compilation of all the weird stuff on their albums would be one of the stranger artifacts of the era. _Artificial Paradise_ from 1973 is the band spending 40 minutes circumnavigating commercial expectations (except for one conventionally rocking single), ending with "The Watcher", which sounds to me like a Zappa/Rundgren pastiche:

📹🕸

Playlist please

The land of dreams and endless remorse (hardcore dilettante), Sunday, 7 May 2023 16:32 (eleven months ago) link

Whoops, ignore first quoted thing there

And just produce the weird playlist kthx

The land of dreams and endless remorse (hardcore dilettante), Sunday, 7 May 2023 16:33 (eleven months ago) link

Okay, but a lot of the weird stuff is stranger in the album context - like spreading lead vocals around between half a dozen members on various songs when you have Burton Cummings sitting there, or putting these unusual tracks in between run-of-the-mill 50s pastiches and lounge-style piano ballads (although some of the latter are really exceptional).
Anyway, here's a chronological list from the albums I've heard:

Friends of Mine
Maple Fudge
Fair Warning
Hi Rockers medley
Truckin' Off Across the Sky
Samantha's Living Room
Those Show Biz Shoes
Hamba Gahle-Usalang Gahle
The Watcher
Glamour Boy
One Way Road to Hell

Halfway there but for you, Monday, 8 May 2023 21:21 (eleven months ago) link

Some album tracks I at least used to like/love.

"A Wednesday in Your Garden"
"8:15"
"Do You Miss Me Darlin'?"
"Coming Down Off the Money Bag"/"Song of the Dog"
"Herbert's a Loser"

Most of their greatest songs were singles.

clemenza, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 00:49 (eleven months ago) link

Sure, I could come up with another album's worth of "deep tracks" that I love (probably heavy with Burton ballads), but I was spotlighting the weird stuff that I mentioned a few months ago.
Of the songs you mentioned "A Wednesday in Your Garden" is an excellent psychedelic jazz thing, and "Do You Miss Me Darlin'?" is probably regarded as a single now due to appearing on several compilations.

Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 14:25 (eleven months ago) link

You're a bigger fan of the non-singles than I am. I scrolled through their albums up till Flavours (almost all of which I owned at one time) and that's all that jumped out at me.

clemenza, Wednesday, 10 May 2023 01:28 (eleven months ago) link

six months pass...

https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/burton-cummings-randy-bachman-sue-former-guess-who-bandmates-over-use-of-name-1.6628569

You know, I took it to heart when they told us to share the land, so this is very disappointing.

clemenza, Friday, 10 November 2023 19:39 (five months ago) link

If it's any consolation to Bachman, the name BTO probably has more monetary value than the Guess Who.

birdistheword, Friday, 10 November 2023 19:55 (five months ago) link

This is the most generic story imaginable--rock stars sue former bandmates--it's just funny to see Cummings and Bachman on the same side. They feuded for years. Not that that's unusual either.

https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/randy-bachman-writes-about-split-with-burton-cummings/article_5938f364-7e7f-5223-828a-14e54fc58a82.html

clemenza, Friday, 10 November 2023 20:01 (five months ago) link

Using Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship as a precedent, judge rules that one party may continue as the Guess Who, while the other must henceforth use "the Who." More lawsuits ensue.

clemenza, Friday, 10 November 2023 22:35 (five months ago) link

Bachman sued his own brother/bandmate, this is no big deal for him.
He and Cummings could provide case histories for a whole semester’s worth of music business horror stories like these.

Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 11 November 2023 02:53 (five months ago) link


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