The Guess Who

Greatest Hits (RCA ’99) Rating: A-
These guys were huge in their homeland of Canada but are primarily remembered by U.S. audiences because of several excellent late '60s/early '70s hits, all of which can be found here along with a fair amount of lesser stuff. Led by Burton Cumming’s ruggedly raspy voice, which somewhat recalls the Small Faces/Humble Pie's Steve Marriott, the first eight songs here have all gotten airplay over the years, and they all still sound great for the most part. The Blood, Sweat and Tears-ish “These Eyes” starts off the proceedings with a classic tearjerker notable for Cummings’ vocal acrobatics, while "Laughing" likewise features crooned verses, heartbroken lyrics, and a lively chorus. "Undun," with its jazzy keyboards and moody late night vibe, is even better, while the atmospheric “No Time” is another personal favorite that showed that these guys could rock out. Fuzzy guitars, moody psychedelic verses, CSN-type harmonies, and a great vocal from Cummings (especially on the fadeout ending) make this a winner all around, and the high quality continues with the scat intro, classic riffs, and Cummings' nasty delivery of the misogynist lyrics (hey, that's rock n' roll) on "American Woman," arguably the band's best known song (it later became a hit for Lenny Kravitz, though his version is rather lame). The "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature" medley is a real treat, too, being two songs in one: the first starts with acoustic guitar, a good groove, and a catchy chorus before part two takes over with jazzy keys and a mellower (but still groove-based) vibe before returning to the original melody at the end. Great stuff, and "Hand Me Down World" continues with paranoid, edgy verses before a catchy pop chorus comes in on which the band's harmonies are again a highlight. Ending a superlative sequence, the hippy anthem "Share The Land" starts with a soulful guitar wail and delivers another sing along chorus, as well as another excellent vocal from the underrated Cummings, particularly on the fadeout (and I'm a sucker for groups like Led Zeppelin and Guns n' Roses who have that knack for ending songs on a high). Anyway, the rest of this collection is disappointing by comparison, and I almost consider the rest of this album (songs 9-18) as bonus tracks to a superb 8-song EP. There's some solid stuff, such as the Todd Rundgren-esque ballad "Sour Suite," the good up tempo groove of "Star Baby," and "Guns, Guns, Guns," which has a cool Crazy Horse-ish type of raggedy quality to it. "Clap For The Wolfman," a light sing along tribute to disc jockey Wolfman Jack (on which the Wolfman appears), is also enjoyable, but elsewhere we get fairly average boogie ("Albert Flasher," "Rain Dance"), muscular riff rock ("Hang On To Your Life," "Heartbroken Bopper") that lacks the finesse of the band's fine singles, and even a woefully misguided attempt at reggae ("Follow Your Daughter Home"). Still, though some of these later tracks are lackluster and even the band’s hits can sound a bit dated, this nevertheless is an extremely enjoyable collection (the best of several on the market) from a band whose métier was the hit single. Greatest Hits can therefore work as both an introduction to, and a summation of, what The Guess Who were all about. Note: The band’s other well-known member was Randy Bachman; tensions between him and Cummings (with whom he co-wrote many of the band's songs) caused his departure in 1970. He went on to form another quality singles band, Bachmann-Turner Overdrive.

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