The MARK’S VINTAGE VINYL page features something from Mark’s collection of recordings from over the years. Most of it is on vinyl – hence the name – though there will be a few entries from his CDs (remember those?).
The Best of the Guess Who, by The Guess Who
- Fourth compilation album released in 1971 by Canadian rock group The Guess Who.
- By 1971, The Guess Who had enough hits to put together a greatest hits compilation. It was 6 years in the making – their first 4 studio albums from 1965 to 1968 basically were garage rock albums that had little appeal to anyone. In 1969, with the release of their Wheatfield Soul album, with Burton Cummings now clearly the frontman, and with Jack Richardson handling producer duties, the band changed to a polished, psychedelic rock that soon caught on with American and international audiences.
- After 4 studio albums produced by Richardson, the group had landed 8 songs into the top 40 of the Hot 100 chart, including a #1 with American Woman/No Sugar Tonight. Their record company was ready to exploit their success, and their first Greatest Hits album was issued. It peaked at #12 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
- The Guess Who was one of my early favorite bands, and even today, I’d put them in my personal top 25. Their songs each had a different sound to them (from the jazzy Undun to the tender These Eyes to the hard rocking No Time, all with fabulous vocals by Cummings and often with impressive multi-part harmony) – but they all had a distinctive sound that immediately sounded like a Guess Who song.
- For more on The Guess Who, check out my blog post on the band from September 16, 2017. My personal favorite is No Time – a top 10 all time favorite song for me. My post on the band has a video of the band performing No Time. Here – watch Burton Cummings belt out the lyrics to These Eyes – my second favorite song by the band. This performance was from 2000, during their reunion tour that year.
the second album I every purchased. Still have it. Fantastic