THE GUESS WHO
''ROCKIN'''
1972
38:47
********************
1 Heartbroken Bopper 04:58 (Burton Cummings, Kurt Winter)
2 Get Your Ribbons On 02:37 (Burton Cummings, Kurt Winter)
3 Smoke Big Factory 03:59 (Burton Cummings, Kurt Winter, Jim Kale)
4 Arrivederci Girl 02:35 (Burton Cummings)
5 Guns Guns Guns 05:01 (Burton Cummings)
6 Running Bear 02:25 (Curly Herdman)
7 Back To The City 03:42 (Burton Cummings, Kurt Winter)
8 Your Nashville Sneakers 02:57 (Burton Cummings)
9 Herberts A Loser 03:36 (Greg Leskiw, Kurt Winter)
10 Hi Rockers 06:50
10.1 Sea Of Love (Don McGinnis)
10.2 Heaven Only Moved Once Yesterday (Kurt Winter)
10.3 Don't You Want Me (Burton Cummings)
********************
Burton Cummings - Lead Vocals, piano, keyboards, harmonica
Jim Kale - Bass, backing vocals
Greg Leskiw - Rhythm Guitar, backing vocals
Kurt Winter - Lead Guitar, backing vocals
Garry Peterson - Drums, backing vocals
********************
REVIEW/AMG
Joe Viglione
Rockin' is Greg Leskiw's last of three albums with the Guess Who; he came onboard with Kurt Winter for Share the Land and recorded So Long, Bannatyne as well, the two men slipping into the big shoes of Randy Bachman. This finds Burton Cummings in a definite '50s mode, "Running Bear" and "Nashville Sneakers" being throwbacks to another time. The album predominantly features the songwriting of Cummings, though Kurt Winter does lend a generous hand. As an artistic statement it's all very interesting, but for a band whose bread and butter was the Top 40, this stuff tempts fate a bit too much. Along with the musical about-face, this is also the darkest Guess Who album, featuring a black-and-white cover and a black-and-white gatefold, and when the band's not back in the past, pre-color TV, they are doing boogie-woogie like "Get Your Ribbons On" or going negative with "Guns, Guns, Guns." "Guns, Guns, Guns" does have a terrific melody (though you'll swear Aerosmith nicked from this one as well), with Burton Cummings showing signs of life. "Smoke Big Factory" is the only other tune next to "Heartbroken Bopper" and "Guns, Guns, Guns" that sounds truly like the Guess Who, a good album track borrowing much from Lou Reed's first solo album version of "Berlin." The guitars are innovative and it's too bad the album wasn't full of more of these instead of the travels back in time. The "Sea of Love"/"Heaven Only Moved Once Yesterday"/"Don't You Want Me" medley is another oddity, quasi-psychedelia meets doo wop, stranger than the Zappa-ish "Musicione" track from the Guess Who's #10 LP. When you spin this right next to 1973's Bachman-Turner Overdrive II, you can really feel what both Bachman and Cummings brought to the table, and despite Bachman-Turner Overdrive's reign of hits initiated with that album, neither band achieved the heights of the first four Guess Who albums, including the first one without Bachman, Share the Land. Rockin' is a strange exercise whose best parts showed up on The Best of the Guess Who, Vol. 2.
********************
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Steve Huey
While the Guess Who did have several hits in America, they were superstars in their home country of Canada during the 1960s and early '70s. The band grew out of vocalist/guitarist Chad Allan (born Allan Kobel) and guitarist Randy Bachman's Winnipeg-based group Chad Allan and the Expressions, originally known as first the Silvertones and then the Reflections. The remainder of the lineup featured bassist Jim Kale, pianist Bob Ashley, and drummer Garry Peterson. The Expressions recorded a cover of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates' "Shakin' All Over" in 1965, which became a surprise hit in Canada and reached the U.S. Top 40. When the Expressions recorded an entire album of the same name, its record company, Quality, listed their name as "Guess Who?" on the jacket, hoping to fool record buyers into thinking that the British Invasion-influenced music was actually by a more famous group in disguise. Ashley had been replaced by keyboardist/vocalist Burton Cummings, who became lead vocalist when Allan departed in 1966. the Guess Who embarked on an unsuccessful tour of England and returned home to record commercials and appear on the television program Let's Go, hosted by Chad Allan. However, further American success eluded the Guess Who until the 1969 Top Ten hit "These Eyes"; the recording session for the accompanying album, Wheatfield Soul, was paid for by producer Jack Richardson, who mortgaged his house to do so. Canned Wheat Packed by the Guess Who produced three Top 40 singles later that year. In 1970, the Guess Who released the cuttingly sarcastic riff-rocker "American Woman," which, given its anti-American putdowns, ironically became their only U.S. chart-topper. The album of the same name became their first U.S. Top Ten and first gold album, and the group performed for President and Mrs. Nixon and Prince Charles at the White House. (Pat Nixon requested that "American Woman" be dropped from the set list.)
Trouble was brewing on the horizon, though. Guitarist Bachman, having recently converted to Mormonism, took issue with the band's typical rock & roll lifestyle, leading to clashes with Cummings. Finding the atmosphere unbearable, Bachman left the group in July 1970 and formed Brave Belt with Chad Allan, which later evolved into Bachman-Turner Overdrive. His place in the Guess Who was taken by Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw, and the title track from their next album, "Share the Land," climbed into the Top Ten later that year, and several more singles charted afterwards. The group returned to the Top Ten one last time in 1974 with the novelty single "Clap for the Wolfman," featuring dialogue by deejay Wolfman Jack. Burdened by shifting personnel and loss of direction, Cummings broke up the band in 1975 and tried a solo career. The lineup from the Guess Who's glory years reunited in 1983, and a version of the group with constantly shifting musicians (occasionally original members) continues to tour.
********************
BIO/WIKIPEDIA
********************
TO THE TOP
**********
''ROCKIN'''
1972
38:47
********************
1 Heartbroken Bopper 04:58 (Burton Cummings, Kurt Winter)
2 Get Your Ribbons On 02:37 (Burton Cummings, Kurt Winter)
3 Smoke Big Factory 03:59 (Burton Cummings, Kurt Winter, Jim Kale)
4 Arrivederci Girl 02:35 (Burton Cummings)
5 Guns Guns Guns 05:01 (Burton Cummings)
6 Running Bear 02:25 (Curly Herdman)
7 Back To The City 03:42 (Burton Cummings, Kurt Winter)
8 Your Nashville Sneakers 02:57 (Burton Cummings)
9 Herberts A Loser 03:36 (Greg Leskiw, Kurt Winter)
10 Hi Rockers 06:50
10.1 Sea Of Love (Don McGinnis)
10.2 Heaven Only Moved Once Yesterday (Kurt Winter)
10.3 Don't You Want Me (Burton Cummings)
********************
Burton Cummings - Lead Vocals, piano, keyboards, harmonica
Jim Kale - Bass, backing vocals
Greg Leskiw - Rhythm Guitar, backing vocals
Kurt Winter - Lead Guitar, backing vocals
Garry Peterson - Drums, backing vocals
********************
REVIEW/AMG
Joe Viglione
Rockin' is Greg Leskiw's last of three albums with the Guess Who; he came onboard with Kurt Winter for Share the Land and recorded So Long, Bannatyne as well, the two men slipping into the big shoes of Randy Bachman. This finds Burton Cummings in a definite '50s mode, "Running Bear" and "Nashville Sneakers" being throwbacks to another time. The album predominantly features the songwriting of Cummings, though Kurt Winter does lend a generous hand. As an artistic statement it's all very interesting, but for a band whose bread and butter was the Top 40, this stuff tempts fate a bit too much. Along with the musical about-face, this is also the darkest Guess Who album, featuring a black-and-white cover and a black-and-white gatefold, and when the band's not back in the past, pre-color TV, they are doing boogie-woogie like "Get Your Ribbons On" or going negative with "Guns, Guns, Guns." "Guns, Guns, Guns" does have a terrific melody (though you'll swear Aerosmith nicked from this one as well), with Burton Cummings showing signs of life. "Smoke Big Factory" is the only other tune next to "Heartbroken Bopper" and "Guns, Guns, Guns" that sounds truly like the Guess Who, a good album track borrowing much from Lou Reed's first solo album version of "Berlin." The guitars are innovative and it's too bad the album wasn't full of more of these instead of the travels back in time. The "Sea of Love"/"Heaven Only Moved Once Yesterday"/"Don't You Want Me" medley is another oddity, quasi-psychedelia meets doo wop, stranger than the Zappa-ish "Musicione" track from the Guess Who's #10 LP. When you spin this right next to 1973's Bachman-Turner Overdrive II, you can really feel what both Bachman and Cummings brought to the table, and despite Bachman-Turner Overdrive's reign of hits initiated with that album, neither band achieved the heights of the first four Guess Who albums, including the first one without Bachman, Share the Land. Rockin' is a strange exercise whose best parts showed up on The Best of the Guess Who, Vol. 2.
********************
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Steve Huey
While the Guess Who did have several hits in America, they were superstars in their home country of Canada during the 1960s and early '70s. The band grew out of vocalist/guitarist Chad Allan (born Allan Kobel) and guitarist Randy Bachman's Winnipeg-based group Chad Allan and the Expressions, originally known as first the Silvertones and then the Reflections. The remainder of the lineup featured bassist Jim Kale, pianist Bob Ashley, and drummer Garry Peterson. The Expressions recorded a cover of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates' "Shakin' All Over" in 1965, which became a surprise hit in Canada and reached the U.S. Top 40. When the Expressions recorded an entire album of the same name, its record company, Quality, listed their name as "Guess Who?" on the jacket, hoping to fool record buyers into thinking that the British Invasion-influenced music was actually by a more famous group in disguise. Ashley had been replaced by keyboardist/vocalist Burton Cummings, who became lead vocalist when Allan departed in 1966. the Guess Who embarked on an unsuccessful tour of England and returned home to record commercials and appear on the television program Let's Go, hosted by Chad Allan. However, further American success eluded the Guess Who until the 1969 Top Ten hit "These Eyes"; the recording session for the accompanying album, Wheatfield Soul, was paid for by producer Jack Richardson, who mortgaged his house to do so. Canned Wheat Packed by the Guess Who produced three Top 40 singles later that year. In 1970, the Guess Who released the cuttingly sarcastic riff-rocker "American Woman," which, given its anti-American putdowns, ironically became their only U.S. chart-topper. The album of the same name became their first U.S. Top Ten and first gold album, and the group performed for President and Mrs. Nixon and Prince Charles at the White House. (Pat Nixon requested that "American Woman" be dropped from the set list.)
Trouble was brewing on the horizon, though. Guitarist Bachman, having recently converted to Mormonism, took issue with the band's typical rock & roll lifestyle, leading to clashes with Cummings. Finding the atmosphere unbearable, Bachman left the group in July 1970 and formed Brave Belt with Chad Allan, which later evolved into Bachman-Turner Overdrive. His place in the Guess Who was taken by Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw, and the title track from their next album, "Share the Land," climbed into the Top Ten later that year, and several more singles charted afterwards. The group returned to the Top Ten one last time in 1974 with the novelty single "Clap for the Wolfman," featuring dialogue by deejay Wolfman Jack. Burdened by shifting personnel and loss of direction, Cummings broke up the band in 1975 and tried a solo career. The lineup from the Guess Who's glory years reunited in 1983, and a version of the group with constantly shifting musicians (occasionally original members) continues to tour.
********************
BIO/WIKIPEDIA
********************
TO THE TOP
**********
