Guess Who

Guess who got their name from a radio publicity stunt that became such commonplace schtick among DJs that the band eventually gave up and actually changed their name. Yes, no not Yes, The Guess Who, that's who. Holy hell, even i'm getting confused now.

Anywho, they made a lot of music. Since i'm on a roll with this twofer thing, let's listen to The Guess Who's year of classic rock radio station fodder, 1970. That's the year they put out both American Woman and Share the Land, and Canada has every reason to be understatedly modest about them. A bit like Vanilla Fudge, they objectively rock, just not in a balls to your face kind of way (sorry, i might have mixed my metaphors a little too strong tonight).

Up to this point they sort of struggled to keep members or tour properly, and after this Randy Bachman said "i really am going home" and did his own thing (but i don't have any BTO albums, so this is as randy as it gets, wink wink).

Did you know the Nixon administration had the ironic gall to suggest that actually performing the first Canadian single to go number 1 in the u.s. at a white house concert would be "in bad taste." They literally had to go home because they couldn't get work visas for paying gigs. They aren't wrong, and Nixon was a jerk.

In a subtle way, these two albums are the chronological opposite of Seals & Crofts. You can tell that Bachman was the driving force behind their hard rock sound, and once he left Burton Cummings was the softer songwriter of the pair. Not wimpier, but definitely more subdued and esoteric.

There are a few great moments of branching out into folk and jazz, but mostly The Guess Who are unapologetic rock, and i love it.

Totally random piece of information: these are by far the lightest, floppiest records i've ever held in my hand. Noticeably flimsy and it freaks me out a little.

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