Rockin / Flavours [Import, Original recording remastered]

The Guess Who | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 19, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Bmg Int'l
• ASIN: B0001NBLA4
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72,413 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Heartbroken Bopper

2. Get Your Ribbons On

3. Smoke Big Factory

4. Arrivederci Girl

5. Guns, Guns, Guns

6. Running Bear

7. Back to the City

8. Your Nashville Sneakers

9. Herbert's a Loser

10. Hi Rockers

11. Dancin' Fool

12. Hoe Down Time

13. Nobody Knows His Name

14. Diggin' Yourself

15. Seems Like I Can't Live With You, But I Can't Live Without You

16. Dirty

17. Eye

18. Loves Me Like a Brother

19. Long Gone

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yet another odd pairing...really odd, May 14, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Rockin / Flavours (Audio CD)

To rehash the same criticism yet again, why pair an album released in 1972 with one incarnation of the Guess Who with an album released in 1974 that is very different in sound and has only two members of the band in common with the '72 album? Sure, it would be nitpicking if the two albums weren't so dissimilar, but ROCKIN' is both different from and also head, hands and feet way, way better than FLAVOURS overall! The underdog first: FLAVOURS sole redeeming feature is "Dancin' Fool," already available on umpty-ump "greatest hits" collections BMG has made of the band. The rest of the album is a hodge-podge of styles, which itself isn't all that different from the way the Guess Who put together previous recordings (look at the differences in musical styles throughout SO LONG, BANNATYNE and ARTIFICIAL PARADISE, for example). But this time out, it's as if Burton Cummings and crew just took half-realized ideas and stuck 'em together without much thought. The nadir is "Seems Like I Can't Live With You, But I Can't Live Without You," an UN-parody of George Jones-style country-and-western that cries out for a raspberry in the middle somewhere and gets none.

ROCKIN', on the other hand, is one of the G Who's best albums ever. "Heartbroken Bopper" and "Arrivederci Girl" should've been stable-mates with songs like "Mississippi Queen" on the radio of the '70s, and "Guns, Guns, Guns" is about the best anti-hunter (or, more accurately, anti-AMERICAN hunter) song ever. There's more, though; "Smoke Big Factory" features some of the most gorgeous harmonizing the band ever put to tape, while "Your Nashville Sneakers," "Running Bear" and "Get Your Ribbons On" show off the band's sense of humor and, in the case of the first song, their ability to swing as well as rock. If there's any one criticism I have, it's that ROCKIN' is much too short an album----so you gotta play it again!

I don't know what the reasons were for this peculiar pairing, but I suspect that whoever was serving as archivist/compiler surmised that ROCKIN' was a strong enough album to pull the less-compelling FLAVOURS with it and made the descision based on that. If I didn't already have ROCKIN' on CD, I probably would buy this two-fer using that logic. But I do, so I won't need to.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great music, but subpar sound, sadly, November 27, 2004

By 

The Green Man (Stone Bank, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rockin / Flavours (Audio CD)

Yes, what you may have read about the sound quality of the 4 two-albums-on-one-CD reissues of Guess Who RCA-era albums is true. The sound is not quite up to the standard of original CD reissues. But, you can compensate fairly well with a graphic equalizer or bass and treble controls on your stereo system. (Of course, you probably can't do much about the sound when playing on a portable CD player these days, since some marketing genius decided that bass-boost was the only tone control that anyone needs anymore.) But what about the actual muusic offered here? Well, the first album is "Rockin'." Released in early 1972, it is the first RCA-era album by the band that did not contain any USA top 40 singles. Concert-goers will recognize the 2 singles that flopped ("Heartbroken Bopper" and "Guns Guns Guns"). But, those 2 songs really give you a pretty good pictue what else is here. Mostly plain and simple rock & roll--fun and wholly satisfying. Included are the only 2 cover versions ever included on an RCA album. Side 2 of the LP opened with an apparently alcohol-soaked version of "Running Bear" that shows the band getting silly in the studio. Side 2 closes with the 3 song medley beginning with the "Sea of Love" cover playing in the background as if it was coming from a jukebox, followed by the serious ballad "Heaven Only Moved Once Yesterday," and concluding with a truly fantastic rocker, the outrageous "Don't You Want Me" (probably one of the funniest jealousy songs ever written). 4 stars for "Rockin'." The other LP here is "Flavours." It was originally released at the beginning of 1975 as the follow-up to their suprise comback LP "Road Food" in 1974. Opening with the band's last top 40 hit "Dancin' Fool," it features some of the best songs they ever recorded. Catchy tunes with intriguing lyrics abound. "Nobody Knows His Name" describes Burton Cummings ancestor's immigration to Canada. It gives you a feel for how it was to tear yourself away from your roots and try to establish try a new identity in a foreign place. "Seems Like I Can't Live With You" was the band's tribute to country rock that actually worked well enough to appear on a top 100 countdown of popular songs on a country station I listened to at the end of 1975. "Long Gone" drips with venom, but obscures who is being attacked by lacking the necessary specific details. It could be Burton striking out at Randy Bachman's success with BTO at the time, or it could be directing rage at one of the music critics who dismissed the Guess Who as just a singles band without checking into the depth of quality of their RCA albums. Based on the songs alone, I would give "Flavours" 5 stars as being one of the band's best albums, but it is dragged down by one inescapable detail: Dom Troiano's jazzy guitar never meshed with the Guess Who for my taste. He is obviously a quality player and his songwriting collaberations with Burton here are great, but he was in the wrong band. I find it revealing to note that the various reunited versions of the band have always avoided performing any of the Troiano-era material. (I have always secretly wished for someone to radically remix the 2 Troiano LPs by removing Dom's guitar and substituting Randy's licks. Instead of endlessly repacking the same hits over and over, how about someone doing some serious work on the band's archive of material? Wishful thinking, I know...) Anyway, 4 stars for "Flavours." By the way, the CD offers the entire package of LP covers and inserts, a plus if you like those kinds of things.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 4 for the music, 2 for the sound quality, July 11, 2004

By 

berkshire_cowboy "berkshire_cowboy" (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rockin / Flavours (Audio CD)

As time goes on, I become more and more picky about sound quality in the recordings I buy. I realize some recordings are meant to be lo-fi (there's an entire genre dedicated to those), but professional/big budget/major label releases should never sound sub par (unless they're meant to). That includes re-issues. The band with the most botched back catalogue has to be the Guess Who. The first time their albums were issued on disc, they weren't available in the States, and some weren't available anywhere ('Flavours', for one). My CD copy of 'So Long, Bannatyne' (BMG, 1991) was clearly transfered to disc from vinyl! I suppose a label could redeem itself by issuing one or two pristine sounding anthologies, but the Guess Who have had tons, and none are spectacular. The best is probably 'The Ultimate Collection', released in the late '90s, but the bass in the mix is annoyingly high. Buddha's reissue of 'Live at the Paramount' is one of the best remasters in my entire music collection, so why can't a label do the same with the rest of the catalogue?

I thought BMG might get their stuff together with these re-issues, but I was wrong. After reading the reviews here, I was very reluctant to purchase any of them, since they're pretty expensive here in the States. I decided to buy this one, because I wanted to have one Troiano-era album on disc, and because 'Rockin'' is one of my favorite mid-period GW albums. As stated in other reviews, the sound is embarassing, period. If it were any worse, BMG would be taking back all of these discs in mass quanities and would be hard at work on the re-re-issues. It's just good enough to be listenable, but it's a frustrating listen. Certain elements in the mix sound strange: the cymbals are too loud, the S's in the vocals are hissy, everything is tinny and cheap sounding overall. A real dissapointment coming from a major record label and considering how badly the Guess Who's catalog has been butchered. The packaging is absurd, too. The booklet is reminiscent of those instruction manuals that are in English as well as Spanish if you flip and reverse it. An OK approach for instruction manuals, stupid for CD reissues.

The bottom line: if your vinyl is still in good shape and you have good audio equipment, transfer your records to disc. I guarantee they'll sound better than these. A solid 4 for the music and a low 2 for the sound quality equals a reluctant 3. This is the sound of a couple great albums being carelessly tossed aside.