Saturday, September 19, 2009

The GUESS WHO (Canada)


IT'S TIME
-LP
1966 (Quality)


Re-Up!


"This album holds as one of the best ever garage albums because vocally and instrumentally the Guess Who were way ahead of the pack." - Jason


"Canadians are not waving a big flag about their own bands and how great they are, as does London, England. Everybody's looking for the latest thing in London, Seattle, or Athens, Georgia. That never happened with Canada. So when a Canadian band came out, it was pretty much a well kept secret." - Randy Bachman


"Before the Guess Who became one of the top album rock acts of the '70s, they were a darn good British Invasion-influenced garage band...Chad Allan and Randy Bachman wrote strong melodies, and the band usually sounds inspired and full of verve. They would have been a fun band to see live, sure to have the kids on the dancefloor...The third album, It's Time, is the most successful as the band welcomed Burton Cummings into the band and toughened up their sound considerably, drawing more from garage rock than the British Invasion. " - Tim Sendra



"There is no doubt that It’s Time was the best album from the early Guess Who. This 1966 LP was the first Guess Who record to feature the wild Burton Cummings. It’s Time was the third Guess Who album in 3 years, featuring mostly original/self-penned group compositions.

The album featured a nice balance of personalities: the original band leader Chad Allen, who favored a moody beat style tempered by a rough, hard edge Rolling Stones-influenced Burton Cummings (future band leader along with Randy Bachman and vocalist on American Woman). Special praise must go to Randy Bachman as well: he conjures a very dirty, fuzzy guitar tone throughout the record. Every song on this album is well-crafted and one can hear the clear influence of the Who, beat era Kinks, Rolling Stones, Zombies, and Byrds. Songs like "Clock On The Wall", "Believe Me" and "Don’t Act So Bad" are a long way from Guess Who radio classics These Eyes, Laughing, No Time, and Share The Land. "Clock On The Wall" is the killer undisputed classic on this record. At the time, Neil Young made special note of this single for it’s dramatic Cummings’ vocals and heavily reverbed guitars. "Believe Me" is also an excellent piece of Kinks-style garage grunge with some interesting keyboard work. Cummings’ vocals come thru again with the Animals-influenced "Seven Long Years" and the raunchy Pretty Things-like "Don’t Act So Bad". Chad Allen really shines on the acoustic beat downer "Guess I’ll Find A Place" while the Bachman-penned "And She’s Mine" has an appealing rural folk-rock Byrds feel. And while the album cannot hide its influences, It’s Time really is a classic piece of Canadian rock music." - Jason


Chad Allan (vocals, rhythm guitar)
Randy Bachman (lead guitar)
Burton Cummings (vocals,Keyboards)
Jim Kale (bass)
Gary Peterson (drums)



Tracklist:
1 Alright
2 And She's Mine
3 As
4 You Know He Did
5 Baby Feelin'
6 Clock On The Wall
7 Don't Act So Bad
8 Believe Me
9 Seven Long Years
10 One Day
11 Gonna Search
12 Guess I'll Find A Place

Download (192 kbs, 60 mb)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey great site!...eh?
but can't download this cool early Guess Who disc...

Dgrador said...

fixed!

Jeronyme said...

Brilliant!!! Love the early Guess Who. "Gonna Search" + "Don't Act So Bad" are probably the two first 60's Punk numbers I've ever heard (many many years ago). They made me go berserk then.... still do!
Thanx a lot !

Anonymous said...

Awesome!
Huge Guess Who fan, but haven't heard the early stuff. Sounds more raw...which I prefer.
Thanks, and great site! Canada rocks dude!!

John

Anonymous said...

hey thanks for fixing the link!...
working now!...

freQazoidiac said...

great album for sure. I have the same reissue on CD. been looking for this on wax for years..it was deleted as soon as it was released. Quality records had no faith in the band..ending up selling their contract for $1000 bucks a year later. A solid variation of song themes..When I spin "gonna search" at the club, people go nuts. No one realizes it's the same band that sang "these eyes'. (a good song though in it's own right) Nice notes inside this CD issue..i have the full graphics booklet and a higher bitrate available on my Music (kdx) server if anyone needs to know. Keep up the good work at this blog :D thanks for sharing

Sébastien Desrosiers said...

Thanks so much for this underrated LP.

Drop by Patrimoine PQ anytime for some rare 60's stuff from Quebec.

Oh, robot said...

This isn't in direct response to this post, but I just had to say that I fucking LOVE your Canada-Ness!!!!!

Oh robot will forever be a staunch supporter of what you do!

PS> If I haven't said it yet... I'm glad you're back! Lord knows, if I ever end up in your side of the world, I'm looking you up pronto!

Speaking of Canada, have you heard the Almighty Defenders yet?

I kinda like it, but I wouldn't play it for the ladies... unless they were "dirty ladies" which would make it alright.

Otherwise, I'm having a few (MORE) cocktails tonight and I felt like talking. Rock on!