Customer Reviews

The Best of the Guess Who

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Every track is a masterpiece. It's the kind of album that I play again and again, and never tire of. It's an album that I take on every road trip, and play every time. Truth be told, although The Guess Who were a great band, most of their albums were uneven. This collection, however, is masterful, all the great tracks from their early albums (most with Randy Bachman) collected together and thus made irresistible. The early Guess Who combined great lyrics, great Who style music and soulful singing. Indeed, Burton Cummings is probably the most underrated vocalist of the rock era, his passionate emotive style makes Joe Cocker sound like Bob Dylan (check out `No Time'). Best single track is `No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature'. Without a doubt one of the greatest albums of the era, all fans of sixties music should own it.

Its really a shame that the Guess Who did not get more notoriety. Whereas they were not together for a very long, the group put out some great hits like American Woman, Share The Land, No Time, Undun, and No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature. Some excellent singing by Burton Cummings. One minute he's belting out a rocker, another he's singing a soulful ballad. The instrumental support and arrangements are grade a as well.

If you are a fan of music from the sixities or seventies you owe it to yourself to pick up the greatest hits collection.

With a flurry of best-selling rock hits over a short spate of several years, the Canadian group "Guess Who" topped the charts and were on the "A" list for concerts and gigs. Then, seemingly as quickly as they had burst on the popular music scene at the close of the 1960s, they were gone, evaporated from the scene as the group disintegrated and went in several separate directions at the same time. Yet there is no denying the sheer hit-producing power they possessed, or the magically rock music they left behind as a memory of their brief flirtation with super stardom. Many of their best hits are here, from "These Eyes" to "Laughing", from "Undun" to "No Time", from "No Sugar Tonight" to "Hand Me Down World".

Yet, there are many more worthwhile cuts on this collection. Also included here are some provocative lyrics and social commentary, as with both the songs listed above and some of their most memorable work, as in "Hang Onto Your Life", Share the Land", and their most phenomenal and most enduring song, "American Woman", which was a thinly disguised broadside at the blatant hypocrisy of American values in the face of the Vietnam War and the widespread social injustice so controversially debated in the late 1960s, about the time of the urban riots across the country. Incidentally, they used the euphemism of the "American Woman" to illustrate how Lady Liberty, the Statue of Liberty standing in New York City's harbor, was a hypocritical symbol of an arrogant America gone crazy. It is song that is consistently played, and one many of us hear almost daily. Nice collection of the hits of one of the best groups to have come out of the turbulent sixties. Enjoy

Unlike many 60s groups, the Guess Who's sound is summarized by its album titles: "Canned Wheat," "Wheatfield Soul," "Share the Land." Theirs was a hard-rocking, wide-open sound that swept over the 1969-70 music scene like cool Canadian air.

The first six songs (which comprised the first side of the original RCA Victor LP) are classic rock standards: Randy Bachman's rat-a-tat guitar opening of 1970's #1 "American Woman" (which withstood a flat Lenny Kravitz remake), the brisk jazz flair and flute of "Undun," Burton Cummings' surprisingly soulful growls on "Laughing" and "These Eyes." These songs remain fresher on oldies radio than, say, the communal sentiments of "Share The Land" or the pretentious "Hang On To Your Life."

This set could've benefitted from including later hits like "Albert Flasher" (and even "Shakin' All Over" from the band's first incarnation). But these are included on 1990's 2CD "Track Record" set. This budget-priced "Best Of The Guess Who" remains in print nearly 30 years after its release because it captures a solid, workmanlike rock band at its peak. Recommended.

In August of 1999, I had a chance to see The Guess Who in an outdoor concert in Wisconsin. Although Cummings wasn't there, they put on a spectacular show. They sounded as good or better than Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers did on their summer tour. They are a band that nobody really knows anything about. They are the kind of band that most people have only heard of. However, their songs are forever installed into the world of classic rock. When I told friends about the concert, their first remark was: " oh, what do they sing?" That is a question commonly asked by most people. Almost every time, they respond by saying: "oh, they sang that?" or " oh I love that song, that was them?" The Guess Who are extremely under-appreciated, this cd is great, and to a real classic rock fan, a must have.

Canada's very own rock'n roll band from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Highlights their best essential collective works by Burton Cummings & with The Guess Who's best single hit songs like "These Eyes", "American Woman" and "No Time" are most memorable on the radio from the psychedelic mid sixties in this gold nostalgic album landmark compilation here!

Of the numerous Guess Who anthology albums, this one gets the nod as the best, if only because it contains the great "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature," which is perhaps the band's best song. Concentrating on the period in which Randy Bachman (later of Bachman-Turner Overdrive) was the lead guitarist, this album is weakened only by not including the goofy novelty single "Clap For the Wolfman," which features a guest appearance from Wolfman Jack. Nevertheless, the first six songs are close to perfect, and the rest of them ain't too shabby either. A fitting tribute to an underrated band.

I have had this record album since it first came out ... way back when! I have just now chosen to get it on CD. Every tune is great. The band is awesome. Definetly a must have for everyone's collection!

The Guess Who is a Canadian rock music band from Winnipeg, Manitoba that was one of the first to establish a major successful following in their own country as well as abroad in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were the first Canadian rock group to have a No.1 hit in the United States.

This 11 song compilation album contains most of their most memorable hits, including 'Bus Rider' which is surprisingly absent on the 18-song single CD: 'Greatest Hits' and the 39-song double CD: 'Anthology'.

If you're not familar with their work but have noticed this group seems to make everyone's list of most unheralded and unappreciated rock groups of the late 60s and early 70s, buy this CD and see for yourslf WHY lead singer Burton Cummings, musicians Garry Peterson, Domenic Troiano and Bill Wallace are truly the best export from Canada since Canadian Mist.

An EXCELLENT CD to be included in all serious collections of 60s and 70s rock music.

The "True North Strong and Free" has produced many greats in the entertainment field and this group certainly ranks up there with the best. Although their heyday was during the late sixties-early seventies, the hit songs they recorded are still heard quite often on radio stations not just in North America, but all over the world. This collection was released circa 1971 shorly after the release of the "Share the Land" album. This group had a few hit songs later on in the seventies decade; so naturally, they are not included in this collection. However, their best-selling hit singles can be found here; so if you truly want the best songs from the Guess Who, go ahead and buy it!