The Guess Who Albums (19)
What The Critics Say
Never mind the initial sense of distaste when you realize that former Guess Who lesser lights/rhythm section Jim Kale and Gary Peterson continue to tour and record under the name of the Guess Who. After all, Kale legally owns the rights to the name. It only takes one audition of Liberty to render a guilty verdict on charges of willful and grievous desecration of rock legendry. The better numbers (title track, "The Razor's Edge") vie for second-division Bryan Adams romantic-scope wannabes that almost escape the tacky, low-budget keyboards that pervade the rest. Terry Hatty is a vocalist of extraordinary ordinariness, ideally suited to deliver the school-of-Foreigner likes of "Anything for Love" and "Still Feels like Love." For a true torture test, try making it through the aptly tilted, ersatz soul of "I Feel Your Pain." There's one cute little novelty thing where "Rock n' Roll Classic" breaks into various "classic rock" snippets of Hendrix, Clapton, Steve Miller, etc. -- kind of a poor man's "Guitar Jamboree." ~ Roch Parisien, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Though this Canadian LP was issued under the Guess Who name, the group still hadn't quite completed its evolution from its prior incarnation as Chad Allan & the Expressions. Indeed Allan himself was still in the band during sessions for the recording, writing one of the tracks, "Guess I'll Find a Place." But a couple British Invasion covers and guitarist Jim Kale's "Don't Act So Bad" excepted, every song was written by Randy Bachman. Even more crucially, much of the material went in a decidedly harder-rocking direction than much of what the group had previously cut, with newcomer Burton Cummings injecting a new raunchiness into the material on which he sang lead vocals. "Believe Me," which is very much in the style of Paul Revere & the Raiders' fiercest sides, is the clear standout, but the moody Manfred Mann-ish "Seven Long Years" and the surly garage rocker "Clock on the Wall" are also highlights. Other tracks go into a smoother poppier mold, like "And She's Mine," which sounds like a hybrid of the milder British Invasion groups and the harmony rock of the Beach Boys. Overall it's the effort of a band still finding their style, something you could say of innumerable releases from the era. But of the many such bands making derivative records such as this, the Guess Who were by this point one of the best such acts, both as musicians and writers. If that sounds like damning with faint praise, it's not meant to. Even if this isn't as original as the best British and American groups of the time, or indeed as Guess Who themselves would later become, it's still respectable and at times quite exciting, and certainly a good listen overall. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
'Hey Ho (What You Do to Me)'
Release Date 3/25/1997
Tracks 11
Label Legend
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
The Guess Who's second Canadian LP of 1965 emphasized, if only in retrospect, how apt a name "Guess Who" was for a band that took quite a while to find its identity. Unlike many such bands, they made some pretty good tracks in the process of doing so, even if the influences behind them might be pretty obvious. On this record alone, there are British Invasion-lite originals that sound a little like Gerry & the Pacemakers with more oomph; mild blue-eyed soul (the title track being an early effort in which Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson were co-writers); "Don't Be Scared," which recalls the Beach Boys' callowest Four Freshmen-influenced harmony ballads; and, most incongruously of all, a very good Randy Bachman-penned instrumental, "Made in England," that's a dead ringer for the Shadows. That and the best British Invasion soundalike, "Stop Teasing Me" (a superior and more forceful re-recording of a track that appeared on the American LP Shakin' All Over), are the best songs on an album that showed more promise than fulfillment. Also if only in retrospect, what it's obviously missing is a better lead vocalist, who would soon be on his way when Burton Cummings joined in time for their next Canadian album, It's Time. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Doug Yule had no right to put the Velvet Underground name on the U.K. album Squeeze; half of Creedence Clearwater Revival and a fifth of the Cars is not Creedence or the Cars. Veteran bassist Jim Kale certainly has paid his dues. But 1971's Brave Belt with Chad Allen and Randy Bachman had more of a right to use the name than Kale and Don McDougal, McDougal having joined the band in 1972 when Kale left! That being said, how does this album rate on its own? Well, Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman wrote the hits, and sustained a career beyond the Guess Who. Live, this band was a competent cover act (with even more changing faces), but tunes like "C'Mon Little Mama," "Raising Hell on the Prairies," "It's Getting Pretty Bad," even a melody like "That's the Moment," they simply miss the mark. This is a great example of how important the creative force of a star, an egomaniac with great ideas and tons of attitude, is to the construction of important art. This is as much the Guess Who as a bottle of cola is a box of Cheerios. And when you go to the supermarket to buy Cheerios you expect to get what you want. If you splashed All This for a Song, new album by one of the guitarists for the Guess Who and their original bass player, you would get high marks for accuracy. Kurt Winter, one of Randy Bachman's replacements, co-wrote three tunes with McDougal, Kale, and drummer Vance Masters, one being the title track "All This for a Song," but it is more like "All the kings horses, didn't the Kingsmen go through this?" In June of 1983, Garry Peterson, Jim Kale, Burton Cummings, and Randy Bachman recorded, with producer Jack Richardson, an album called Reunion which was sold on TV. There are touching liner notes by Bachman, who performs on tunes made famous by his replacements. Now that is legitimate Guess Who music. This is a tough listen, important only because it documents a couple of members of a band in flux. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Too many ballads, very little fire, a going-through-the-motions feel: all combined to condemn this album to instant obscurity. Despite the addition of hotshot guitarist Domenic Troiano (who had replaced Joe Walsh in the James Gang), the Guess Who just seem to have run out of gas on this release. "Dancin' Fool" was passably catchy as a single release, but for the most part, Flavours tastes bland. ~ Jim Newsom, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Road Food found the Guess Who taking a jazzy turn in a different direction from the guitar-soaked sound the group had mined to popularity for several years. Burton Cummings' piano was moved more to the front of the mix for this recording. "Star Baby" was the first single release from the album, and though it is catchy and sounds like a hit, it wasn't. However, the novelty tune "Clap for the Wolfman," featuring Wolfman Jack himself, did hit the Top Ten, providing the band with its last visit there. The rest of the album is uneven, with some snazzy jazzy tunes and a couple of overblown ballads. ~ Jim Newsom, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
This album should have been called "10 Approximately," as it is hard to get a real handle on the comings and goings of the Guess Who and which albums they include in that "ten" number at any place in time since their vague inception. Is The Best of the Guess Who or Shakin' All Over with Chad Allan part of the intended legacy? This band was so in flux that the addition of Bill Wallace here signaled yet another major change; founding member Jim Kale would re-join drummer Garry Peterson in 1979 with their All This for a Song album after Burton Cummings, Peterson, longtime engineer Brian Christian, and producer Jack Richardson played the string out up to 1975's Power in the Music and Flavours albums. The music here is excellent, though, with Burton Cummings showing the yin to the yang of Bachman-Turner Overdrive's first release this same year, 1973. Randy Bachman took the hard edge with him, and Cummings is allowed to go into an Elton John piano ballad area. "Lie Down" hints that Tumbleweed Connection may have been playing on Cummings' turntable, and often. The boogie-woogie of "Musicione," the only song written by the five members of this ensemble, is about as far as the piano-centered group stretches. But this is Cummings in total control, and the album is consistently good despite his tendency toward self-indulgence. Jack Richardson's guiding hand does not get enough credit for keeping this crew on the straight and narrow. "Glamour Boy" is a brilliant poke at the glam of T. Rex, Mott the Hoople, and RCA's own labelmates for the Guess Who, Lou Reed and David Bowie. It is the only song on this album to be included on The Best of the Guess Who, Vol. 2. Though Cummings dominates this outing, writing and co-writing the majority of the tunes, the Bachman replacements have adjusted to the post-Bachman era, one example being "Cardboard Empire" by bassist Bill Wallace and guitarist Kurt Winter, which shows real style. On that particular tune, a Jefferson Airplane-like hook and Cummings' voice are joined by stunning guitar solos. Something totally out of place, though, is the inclusion of a remake of "Miss Frizzy," a rare Bachman/Cummings co-write from the abandoned follow-up to the American Woman album, eventually released on the 1976 compilation The Way They Were. It's shorter and features a more dominant piano than the 1970 original. This "Miss Frizzy" is nice, though the original band version has more charm and shows why Euclid's axiom is, once again, so appropriate: "The whole is equal to the sum of all the parts and is greater than any of the parts." Play this next to Bachman-Turner Overdrive II to see how the personalities truly went their separate ways. #10 is one of Cummings' most personal albums, a far cry from the previous outing, Artificial Paradise, which had him contributing to only four of the ten tracks. The singer gave Don McDougal, Winter, and Wallace the chance to spread their wings on that recording, their work between 1970's Share the Land and 1974's Road Food at a very mellow point here on #10. "Take It off My Shoulders," like "Lie Down," is straight from Elton John's Tumbleweed Connection phase. This band's home was Top 40 radio, and though Live at the Paramount got FM airplay, programmers unjustifiably considered them too unhip for the underground. This is where Burton Cummings really needed to slam home more great 45 RPMs. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
