The Guess Who
important work in color
1969: Wheatfield Soul * Canned Wheat. 1970: American Woman * Share the Land. 1971: Best of the Guess Who * So Long Bannatyne * Play the Guess Who. 1972: Rockin’ * Live at the Paramount. 1973: #10 * Artificial Paradise. 1974: Road Food * Flavours. 1975: Power in the Music. 1978: All this For a Song (reunion album without Burton or Randy).
Burton Cummings: 1976: Burton Cummings. 1977: My Own Way to Rock. 1978: Dream of a Child. 1980: The Best of Burton Cummings * Woman Love. 1981: Sweet Sweet.
If the Guess Who’s career was a little worse one could dismiss them as easily as Tommy James and the Shondells (greatest hits only) or James Taylor; if their career was better there would be more to talk about. But as a band with as many personnel changes as the Guess Who’s – a couple of members left or were replaced every few years starting with the departure of Randy Bachman in 1970, careening inconsistency seems natural. Mainstays Burton Cummings (voice, piano) and Gary Peterson (drums) never developed a strong enough focus to keep the Guess Who on a course of high pop craft or deeply personal expression. Wheatfield Soul and Canned Wheat are plagued by ersatz jazz/folk tunes; on American Woman, Live at the Paramount, Share the Land and So Long Bannatyne there are monotonous, hard (kinda) rock tunes and disjointed, dated arrangements. The splendid pop tunes the band made in this period are efficiently collected on The Best of the Guess Who.
On the up side, the mid-career albums display a certain amount of muscle, and Burton Cumming’s voice, which always seems to verge on transcendent, has some of its finest showcases. Rockin’ is a keyboard-led album that best showcases Cumming’s retro piano style (Fats Domino’s cool rockin’ rhythms seem to be the only corollary). Artificial Paradise, with Cummings almost relegated to the background, is an arty album with a lot of pop charm. Somewhere along the way, Cummings actually established a forte of sorts with a spiteful, angst-ridden ballad style that tended to question his role as a precarious pop star: "Glamour Boy," "Self Pity," "Lie Down," "Those Show Biz Shoes," and "The Watcher" represent the melancholic side to Cumming’s slicker pop sensibilities. The last two Cummings/Guess Who albums (Flavors and Power in the Music) are as close as the band got to pop perfection and they remain interesting, even moving, pastiches of pop/rock and roll with Cummings decisively in front, where he belonged. As much talk as there was circa 1978 about power pop and "rock and roll hearts," the last few years of the Guess Who‘s existence were sadly overlooked. A careful retrospective could possible enhance the Guess Who’s status in rock’s canon.
Burton Cumming’s solo career has fared better. His Richard Perry produced solo debut is strong, suggesting that perhaps different producers may have worked better for the Guess Who than the omnipresent Jack Richardson. Burton’s self-produced follow up, My Own Way to Rock, is long on rockers and short on ballads which made it a move in the wrong direction. Dream of a Child is hobbled somewhat by a few ill-chosen cover, bit is enjoyable, as is Woman Love, which is a consistent effort. Almost to be expected, Sweet Sweet was a complete letdown. The double album, The Best of Burton Cummings, captures the best ballads and a few strong rock songs from his solo career. In spite of everything, Cummings still seems an engaging pop entitly capable of nailing it down someday, though he has been sidelined in recent years.
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