PAUL McGRATH

Saturday, November 18, 2000

McArthur & Company,

527 pages $34.95

Because my radio buttons are pre-set to three oldies stations, Randy Bachman remains a living rock god inside my car. In this world, the Winnipeg-born rocker continues to play tirelessly in two bands at the same time, one known as the Guess Who, the other as Bachman-Turner Overdrive. The first is a smart pop band whose lead singer Burton Cummings has one of the great rock and roll voices of all time. The second outfit crafts hard-rock anthems of such economy and precision that they can be shouted out, word for word, note for note, by people too drunk to remember their own phone numbers. Now that's songwriting.

Bachman's musical history is unique -- nobody else spent time in the two most successful Canadian bands of all time. Beyond the chart success, he made genuine contributions to music. Most guitarists talk reverently of the solos he recorded for the Guess Who between 1965 and 1970. He was fond of stopping a good rock tune in its tracks to play some nifty little jazz lick before continuing with the teeny pop. The hits he had later with BTO were less sophisticated, but it is that material that is most deeply imbedded in the culture. Their signature, Takin' Care of Business, has become one of the anthems of turbo-capitalism.

To achieve what he did, it was not necessary that Randy Bachman be an interesting person, nor did fame make him one. His musical ups and downs could fill up a couple of hundred pages, but after that there aren't enough angles to the man to carry the rest of this 500-page biography by Canadian music writer and broadcaster John Einarson (Neil Young: Don't Be Denied, Magic Carpet Ride, American Woman). If Bachman has ever thought beyond music and Mormonism, it should have been evident here, and it's not.

Instead, large chunks of the book are full of Bachman's self-motivational slogans or his starkly simple explanations for the difficult questions of his life. Any man who is completely taken by surprise when his wife says, "Don't bother coming home" (as he reports he was) has still got some thinking to do, or some truth to tell, beyond what's in this book. There is one story here, and that is that Randy Bachman is extraordinarily determined and disciplined. Lots of kids in Winnipeg wanted to play rock and roll -- Cummings once listed 250 working Winnipeg bands in the early 1960s -- but Bachman knew how to shut out anything that wasn't music. He could slog it out at solo practice, he loved the five- to six-hour high school dances and he could endure countless thousands of miles on bad prairie highways to play a Legion hall. He was a good mimic, a quick study and a natural music-business strategist. He put all that together to become an expert hit-maker. Any threat to this obsession -- any drug, any kinkiness -- was banished. Friends, wives or family members were hired if they served the mission, fired if they jeopardized it. The list of people wounded and then reconciled only to be wounded again takes up much space in the book, simply because Bachman's single-mindedness has hurt a lot of people.

As tough as it probably was on all those close to him, this intransigence provides the only depth to Bachman's character. Here is the man who was willing to walk away from the most successful band Canada had ever produced simply because his mates were drinking, drugging and sleeping around. It is likely he was the only musician in the Western world who wasn't, thus it was his curse to have chosen the music business and his particular bad luck to hook up with musicians of legendary excess. His Guess Who bandmates Burton Cummings and Jim Kale were just the beginning, and he has spent three decades since then fleeing the excesses of others. Thus we move from decade to decade in Einarson's biography with the same plodding step, as one band after another rises and falls underneath him, as he once again falls from first-class jet cabins to busing the Prairies. Einarson's biography also has a serious structural flaw. Because Bachman is listed as co-author (his contributions are blocks of taped transcript), Fireside Randy is telling his story, sunny side up. There is also a lot of irritating duplication between the contents of those transcripts and Einarson's text, which is not structured in a way that allows Bachman to add texture to Einarson's facts. Instead, it's like going into two separate rooms to hear two guys tell the same story. It's as if the two never saw each other's contributions to the book, and no editor was sufficiently offended by the duplication to edit it out. Paul McGrath, once the pop-music critic for The Globe and Mail, is a Toronto-based music journalist and broadcaster. He once interviewed every member of the Guess Who individually in a single day because they weren't talking to each other.

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On Wednesday, November 22, Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings of The Guess Who joined JAM! for a chat with their devoted fans. Below is the complete transcript of the chat.

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ATIKOKAN CONAN: GUYS: There's mad rumours that you are going to do a club show in the coming weeks, possibly Toronto. It would be awesome to see you guys in a small venue. So, spill the beans, please!

Burton Cummings: We can't really respond to that yet cause it's not official. There is some validity to the rumour but location and time have not been chosen yet.

Anthony James: Is there a new album in the works ??

Burton Cummings: Same answer as the last one! Randy has some unfinished songs, I have some. What's happening now is we're playing the Grey Cup this week, a show with the Doobie Brothers. Once things calm down, we're going to get together. Definitely there's no doubt about that. We will do a new album now that we're up and running again. Grey Cup - we'll play 3 tunes, No Time, Bus Rider, Share the Land

battfredh: What do you guys think of the push to get The Guess Who into the Hall of Fame, and would you like to be the first Canadian BAND to be inducted?

Burton Cummings: I'd love to be in there. I did a one man show there last week. I got a tour of the place. It's overwhelming, stunning! There's a petition in Vancouver, Winnipeg and one on the net somewhere. Of course we would be more than honoured. I hope to the rock and roll gods that someday we can get in there. I talked to on eof the curators there, he asked us how many singles we had that charted on Billboard, I said 22, he said that was more than some of the inductees. So there's a chance Randy - They also had a ballot in Cleveland and the Guess Who was the wild card.

Kevin Dandeno: Randy, are you still planning on releasing the covers from the early days that the Guess Who recorded? If so when do you expect to release them?

Randy Bachman: It's still waiting in the wings. The live double CD is coming out in early December. BMG will do it and then they're talking about a box set. The double CD I had that was some of our English tracks is all together on CD. I talked to the head guy at BMG. Burton said, everything will happen in the right time. Next year, new album, the other CD we're talking about will also be coming out - "This Time Long Ago"

Burton - Hopefully we will have a huge deluxe box set. The box would probably be 4 discs with a nice booklet. We've never really had that. There would be 100 cuts. I think, Randy would agree, it's about time. We did commercials, (Honda, Coca Cola) The real fans, now that there's more focus on it, it's time to have all this on a huge package. There's such momentum around the band. All started with Lenny Kravitz' cover of American Women. I'd look for the set in 2001.

Janis - Toronto: In the movie, "Almost Famous" - it's apparent that director Cameron Crowe is a devout Guess Who fan? What is your relationship with director Cameron Crowe? Did your paths ever cross in the early 70's? (P.S. - Thanks for the music!)

Burton Cummings: Cameron interviewed the band many many times when he was the wonder kid at Rolling Stone. The first time was when Randy was still in the band. There were several times after that. He was a fan in the band, now that he's such a big director it's nice. In the movie, the whole time Lester Bangs was talking he had a Guess Who shirt on which was great, 8 minutes of Screen time.

Randy - he also interviewed BTO, he looked like the kid in the movie! He had this verve and enthusiasm.

Rocky Barker: I watched your show in Kelowna and was touched by the sense of Canadian nationalism you generate. How important is your connection to country to your art, especially your songwriting?

Randy Bachman: I don't think there's another band with a song like "Running Back to Saskatoon" we always felt like we were prairie dogs. It comes out in the music, over and over again. Burton's mentioned it in other songs. Looking back, when writing a song, you're thinking about where you came from. You think you owe some thanks.

Burton - I think it was Peter Godard who said he thought "Running" was the first, real, Canadian song. It mentioned Moosejaw, Red Deer, these are not songs that get mentioned a lot in songs.

BLUE: Burton: About a year ago, there were rumours going around that you were in hospital, lost weight and were thinking about retiring. Is it true you were sick, and what was wrong? Please settle the rumours.

Burton Cummings: No, I was in the hospital for one day for digestive problems. That's just a rumour. I feel pretty good. I'm in show business for the long hall. I've been doing this one-man show for 6 or 7 years and it's such a thrill to be back in a band. That 2 and a half hours on stage was so great.

Randy - we all felt like junkies for the Guess Who music, and the reaction... that's why we wrote the music in the first place. 2000 has been the greatest year.

John McLean: Burton And Randy What are you favourite Guess Who songs ?

Randy Bachman: I think it changes night to night, I love playing Albert Flasher,it's like an old fashioned dance thing. No Time is also a killer. I don't really have one, I have 5 or six.

Burton - I've always enjoyed playing No Time, I love the harmonies, that I can strap on the guitar. It has a soft spot in my heart cause up to that point, all our records were kind of soft. When No Time came out we started getting taken more seriously as a Rock and Roll band. It bridged the gap. It's always been a favourite of mine. I also love doing the new version of Let It Ride.

Chris McDowell - Winnipeg: Why did Jim Kale drop out of the line-up - is there still some personal differences? - and will he be joining the band in any future shows?

Burton Cummings: There's no personal differences. Jim is working with a trio called Dink Boy, they've been together for 2 years, he has a new son, probably a year and a half now. It's pretty rigorous and gruelling to be on the road. Jim wasn't quite ready to do all that. I think this is a proper line-up. The five piece Guess Who that now exists is the best line-up.

Randy - I felt the five guys were destined to play this summer. I've been on the road, Burton, Donny, but Jim hasn't been on the road for many, many years. To go on the road and travel for a couple of months, we didn't know if it was possible for it to happen. But the four guys were destined to play the Pan Am Games.

Heygoode Hardy jr.: Now that you've reunited, are you worried that your image as "The Guess Who" has been tarnished south of the border due to the vile pap that has been released by another band going by the same name for the last decade or more?

Burton Cummings: I don't think it's going to hurt this reunited band to tell you the truth. The fact that it's us, it's the most valid Guess Who that ever once. Once the special shows on PBS....we've already done some American gigs and the people went nuts. I don't think it's going to hurt us at all.

Randy - I agree. Once they see the special, people will forget all about it and focus on the band as it is. This is the best personnel the Guess Who have had. Some from the older, some from the new. We all respect each other. Burt and Garry have always been there. I enjoy playing "Glamour Boy" I just love it! Wish I'd played it on the record.

Burton - I think we have all the great songs under that umbrella. That touring band wasn't doing as much of the Guess Who legacy as this band does. It's exciting to me to be able to string all these songs together as the Guess Who. I don't think the other band will bother us at all.

Randy - The other band kind of did some Vegas versions of the songs. Lounge. We went through great pains to make them shine a little bit better than the CDs.

Rette: We American fans would love a tour down here. What might happen in that direction?

Burton Cummings: I think that's inevitable, our manager is already talking about American dates. We'll be playing the states extensively next year. I know, when I go online to chat rooms, people are asking me from Texas, Nebraska, they want us to come back. We had a great following in California, Portland. There's a lot of people that want to see this band again.

Randy - We have December 15 date with the Doobie Brothers in Minneapolis.

Leon Durupt: I'm writing from China and have been performing here for 4 years (including My Own Way To Rock, These Eyes, etc.). I'm assuming you won't be performing here in the near future, but what's the chance of The Guess Who bringing some of their music to the rest of the world? Asian tour, perhaps?

Burton Cummings: Well, we did tour Japan once, Tokyo... way back about 1972, I don't know, it would depend on what the demand is over there. I'm pretty sure we'll be going back to Australia at some point. Usually you stop in Japan on your way there. BTO went and did a live album in Japan. We can only take it one step at a time. Next is the states.

Jeff: My question: Buddha Records has done a phenomenal job with the recent re-issues of Guess Who albums (AMERICAN WOMAN and LIVE AT THE PARAMOUNT). Two more (SHARE THE LAND and CANNED WHEAT) are out or will be shortly. Will the entire Guess Who catalogue be re-issued? Would love to have A WILD PAIR and PALMYRA (aka THE WAY THEY WERE) on CD!! Thanks, guys!

-Randy Bachman: I do know they're doing a fantastic job, the booklets are really great. They're very enthusiastic there. It's giving the music a really great dressing. There's talk of bringing a lot of things out. They asked me to do some liner notes for Canned Wheat, there were old tracks I'd forgotten about. I'd asked Burton to help me. It's neat to drag my memory and then get the CD. The Guess Who has a legacy of albums, RCA, like anybody, they look at the record sales. Thank god we have this legion of fans who buy everything. I think everything will come out in its own time. The fans are loving the way they sound. Paramount has all sorts of cuts I'm forgotten about.

Burton - I'd heard a lot of people comment on the way the Paramount sounds. We recorded that album in early 1972 after Rockin.

WPG. CLEM: Hey guys -- In Randy's new book, he talks about how Burton left the rehearsals in the weeks leading up to the reunion tour. I was wondering if Burt wanted to clarify what went wrong, why he walked, what made him come back, and how he feels now, knowing what he would have missed out on, had he refused to return.

Burton Cummings: First of all, I never really walked out and left it. I was just trying to light a fire under the guys. It seemed to me that the rehearsals were a bit more lethargic than they should have been. I thought maybe I could shake everybody up a bit by storming out. In retrospect it seemed to have work.

Randy - It did work. He's right, the rehearsals were getting lethargic. That's when we noticed the problem with Jim Kale. We were being plagued constantly by interviews, photos, we were just get rolling and suddenly we got stopped. After this moment with this altercations. After that, the rehearsals were closed, we got down to business. I had never practised this much in my life! Every single day for a full month. We really needed a booster. We got shook up, came up with more resolve. Closed rehearsals - just the band. At that time we realized that Jim was not up to what we were facing.

Burton - He was preoccupied. We'd be rehashing intricate vocal parts and he was thinking about rehearsing with his trio. It was holding us all back a bit. I would never have walked out, it was just to shake them up. Then everybody worked hard. Someone had to be the taskmaster.

Randy - Burton did take a great leadership role in running everything. If it went wrong, it was his reputation at stake. We saw the press...we were like "Holy Cow" in Burton's mind we weren't on schedule. We made the time line which was amazing cause it seemed hopeless.

dick fiddler ann arbor, michigan: when will the "VIDEO" of the concert be released?

Burton Cummings: From what I hear from our manager it will be on sale on DVD next year, probably next year. It will show one more time on TV before it goes on sale. We're going to add some more cuts - Guns Guns Guns, some fabulous personal footage from the rehearsals. Scenes of Randy doing flamenco guitar. We've got some great bonus stuff. Maybe six months from now it will be available on DVD.

Randy - I also heard RCA will go back to their archives cause they shot some videos way back in 1969 and 70 in Winnipeg. The DVD is going to be way more than just the show. They've (RCA) also got some outtakes, they've got all this stuff they're going back to get. There's even some CBC footage with us on snowmobiles. Burton - Also, I think the interviews will be greatly expanded in the DVD version. There's also a video of us doing "No Time" in a wheatfield - pretty cool. We did about 70 shows in two season and of Let's Go but most of them got erased.

Randy - I think there's two or three that exist.

Steve D.: Is there a magic to a group like the Guess Who or the Beatles that allows it to maintain a link with fans even after the group has been away from its fans for a long time? And in your case does that magic flow back when you are performing in front of those fans again?

Randy Bachman: Yeah I think so. The whole reason for the summer success was when we got on stage and felt the magic, and the magic from the fans, you can' put a word on it, it's a connection. A thousand faces dancing, singing, time travelling back....people are seeing us when they first saw us at their highschool dance and there's nothing like that feeling. We had it all summer long. Some people think that Canada was waiting for this to happen. All the Canadians can get together and have these moments of time travel. Sometimes we come off stage...it's work but it's fun. I'd say give us a cold drink and we can go back out!!! The energy, bouncing off each other on stage. I'm glad the fans noticed it.

Burton - I'm glad it was all captured on film. When I watched the special, I felt that again. I think they really captured. Sometimes the band is great but the cameras aren't rolling or vice versa. But that night everything was on form. I was getting fabulous feelings from that. The five-piece brotherhood. The fans know that. We were really connecting.

Carole in Cornwall, Ontario: What advice would you give to a 10 yr. old who has a passionate love for music (always singing!),a dream to perform & great voice?

Randy Bachman: I think Burton and I had a similar passion. I was five or six when I started violin. You have to do that cause you're getting picked on at school for being a sissy. Don't lose your passion, try to find people with similar passion, find guys who can sing and play and start a band. Here the two of us here, years later, and we still have that passion. You overcome those odds, we did, and then came back decades later. \

Burton - also, we listened to records incessantly, that's always a good think. It made me try harder, Jagger, Lennon & McCartney. You can never listen to too much music. Everytime you listen to a cut it builds more of your musical personality and leanings. I think it's important to listen to as many records as you can by different artists.

CODY: Guys, I checked out the tracklisting for the live album. Why does it kick off with American Woman and These Eyes and doesn't follow the set list you guys used on tour?

Burton Cummings: I don't know, we stayed away from it. They were even mastering it here in Winnipeg. I had heard the stuff every night for 30 nights and I didn't want to get involved. From what I hear, it's wonderful.

Randy - When you do a stage show, it's very different from building an album. This album is a true, live album. No fixing at all, we didn't have the time between the tour to listen to this. We just trusted our sound guys and they just put together the best album.

Burton - I'm right here in Winnipeg, I never went in. What's weird too is cause they did it in a studio in Bannatyne. I haven't heard it yet but I hear the package is fabulous, a 12 page booklet. From all the reaction I've heard is that it's a really monumental live album. It will be in stores on December 5.

Bryan Lord: During your "Running Back" tour, what did you guys do to pass the time in between gigs? Does it differ greatly from the "old days" on the road?

Burton Cummings: There wasn't that much time between gigs. Maybe a few days, usually that was travelling. There wasn't much running around. Never went out to clubs, wasn't much partying. We really kept the schedule. We're all over 50 but we were really on the tread mill. Playing 5 nights a week out of 7.

Randy - we literally had no free time. Went out to dinner sometimes. Went out to work out once and a while.

Burton - We couldn't even get our laundry done. A little bit of shopping when you can grab 3 hours in an afternoon. In the old days, some of us were crazier, drank too much. It's more serious now, we're adults now. I think all five of us are thrilled to be back in this working band and that's enough of a buzz, there's nowhere near the buffoonery that was there in the old days.

Randy - we have a lot of fun talking about the old days though.!

Terry Wright, Barrie, Ontario.: Hi Randy, even though you love playing Gretsch guitars, anytime I've seen you live you're using strats. Any particular why you don't use Gretschs when touring? P.S. It is wonderful to see my musical heroes on top again.

Randy Bachman: My first guitar was a Gretshe, they're cool in a studio but they do feed back and howl on stage. The Strat is a more utilitarian guitar. My style has changed too. Somewhere after Shaking All Over I invented this thing called a .....and you need a solid body guitar. In the middle of the song if you break your string, he can't hand you a different one, you need a Strat that has certain sounds, I'm really happy with what I've got. You saw them on the special.

Burton - I saw you break a string on American Woman and keep on playing without missing a beat. That was impressive! Of all the songs we didn't want to fall apart, American Woman was right at the top. When Randy broke that string, I thought the transition was pretty smooth.

Kimmi: I'm a Canadian living in eastern Europe and we just had Bryan Adams here. Could you please, please come to Bucharest Burton!! You're my #1 all-time performer.

Burton Cummings: I don't know how much of a demand there is for us there. But I'd go if they asked.

Randy - Our whole future is just a phone call away. We're rock and roll junkies we play where people want us to go. If the phone calls come, our manager takes them and works it out.

Burton Cummings: We'd just like to thank everybody for the incredible support. It's impossible for the fans to realize how honoured we feel to have that kind of reaction over all these years. Our songs have never gone away because of all the support.

Randy - I would say the same thing. This has been the most incredible year for the Guess Who. It all boils down to the fans, all the critics who ended up being fans. It was a great celebration of the Guess Who this summer. I hope to keep the celebration going.

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Heath Jon McCoy

Calgary Herald

The CFL's championship game, now in its 88th year, is a proud Canadian tradition and the newly reunited Guess Who, the hoser rockers who penned such distinctly Canadian songs as Maple Fudge, Runnin' Back to Saskatoon and the pro-Canuck, Yank-slamming smash, American Woman, is, in many ways, is the qutessential Canadian band.

This is certainly the belief held by the more than 2,500 people who have cast their vote on the Internet in the past six weeks in a petition to get the Guess Who into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame. Fred Hinnegan, 45, of Chatham, Ont. started the petition. He is the moderator and founder of an email chat site on www.egroups.com dedicated to Guess Who frontman Burton Cummings. The two year old chat site, which has 250 subscribers - and has even been joined by Cummings himself at times, under the pseudonym Luxdon, (sic "Luxton") says Hinnegan - has long been a forum for fan beefs that the Guess Who has not been honoured in the hallowed Hall of Fame. Spurred on by the Tuesday and Friday night chats and inspired by the band's summer reunion tour, the Guess Who super fan took action, setting up a petition on www.petitiononline.com for people wanting to see the band in the Hall. Once he gets 10,000 electronic signatures, Hinnegan plans to send them to the committee in New York, accompanied by a normal application.

"I've talked to John Einarson, who wrote Randy Bachman's new autobiography (Takin' Care of Business), and he agreed to write a letter to the Hall of Fame stressing the Guess Who's accomplishments and influence," Hinnegan says. "The Hall of Fame looks for a band's influence on rock 'n' roll. I'm hoping it's not an influence on American rock only, because if you want to talk influence on an entire country's bands, just look at the Guess Who. They put Canadian rock on the map." Clark Jensen, 39, a computer programmer from Airdrie, who belongs to the chat group, also stresses the Guess Who's contribution to the Canadian music scene. "The thing we can't lose track of is the Guess Who made their mark before Cancon," Jensen says, referring to today's Canadian content government regulations, which order radio stations to play 35 per cent home-grown material. "In the late 60's the Guess Who was the Canadian music industry, especially abroad. "Neil Young went to the States to do it. The Guess Who made it from Canada and they paved the way. I don't think we'd have seen the success on the level of Rush or Bryan Adams without the Guess Who laying the groundwork."

Jensen maintains the Guess Who has a large world-wide fan base. "There's people like me in every major Canadian city and quite a few spots in America. We've even got people on our Internet community from Finland and Australia." Andrew Wylie, 22, got his Grey Cup tickets as soon as he found out his heroes were playing the half time show. "If the Stamps were there, too, that would have been a bonus." Wylie writes on the chat site. Calgary's Sue Markowski, 53, believes the Guess Who will get into the Hall if Canadians get behind them. "We're a funny lot," Markowski says, "We don't think our heroes are quite good enough until the rest of the world puts a benediction on them ...

"I've gotten involved with emailing my heart out to all the radio stations here in town and across Canada ... I haven't done the States yet but I just might get busy again." Brent Mazur, 37, from Winnipeg has been a Guess Who fan since 1969. He says there's no other band in the world more suited to Grey Cup than the Guess Who. "They were always so proud that they were Canadian. Almost every single album has a Canadian reference. Whether it's the So Long Bannatyne album, or the back of the Rockin' album with the Canada Dry bottle. Almost all of their old concerts in the '70's had the Canada flag backdrop. They are quite simply the ultimate Canadian band."

Case in point: when Hinnegan asked Bachman how the band was going to play if the Alberta winter kicks into 20-below blizzard mode, the guitarist told his Internet supporter "they're going to show how tough people in Winnipeg are. They're going to play outside in Bermuda shorts."

Now that's an I Am Canadian statement.

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Thursday, November 23, 2000

By PAUL CANTIN

Senior Reporter, JAM! Showbiz

The Guess Who's recent two-hour reunion concert special was just a taste of what fans can expect when the Canadian rock legends release a DVD early in the new year, Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings revealed in an exclusive online chat with JAM! Music. Speaking to fans from around the world during Wednesday night's chat, The Guess Who's Bachman and Cummings revealed that the live concert broadcast by CBC last weekend will be enhanced with an array of extras when the DVD hits stores. Responding to a question from fans, Cummings said the two-hour broadcast running time included commercial breaks, so several songs had to be cut from the group's set list. Those will likely be restored to the DVD, as well as extensive interview footage that was filmed but left unused, and some home videos the band shot during rehearsals and backstage.

"We're going to add some more cuts -- "Guns Guns Guns" -- some fabulous personal footage from the rehearsals. Scenes of Randy doing flamenco guitar," Cummings said. "I also heard RCA (the group's original U.S. label) will go back to their archives, 'cause they shot some videos way back in 1969 and '70 in Winnipeg. The DVD is going to be way more than just the show," said Bachman. "They've (RCA) also got some outtakes (from the videos), they've got all this stuff they're going back (into the archives) to get. There's even some CBC footage with us on snowmobiles." "There's also a video of us doing "No Time" in a wheat field -- pretty cool," Cummings said. Although the group filmed 70 episodes of the CBC music variety show "Let's Go" in the 1960s, most of those shows have been erased, so it's unlikely that anything more than the couple of surviving episodes could be included, Bachman said.

The chat ran for almost an hour and drew questions from across Canada, through the U.S. and from as far away as Bucharest and China. Cummings and Bachman were in good humor and spoke at length about everything from Cummings walk-out during tour rehearsals to the controversy surrounding original bassist Jim Kale's departure from the band prior to the reunion tour. After a long absence from the concert stage, there's a flood of Guess Who releases expected in the coming months. Aside from the live album drawn from their summer reunion tour -- "Running Back Thru Canada," which arrives in stores Dec. 5 -- Buddha Records in the U.S. is reissuing some of The Guess Who's albums from the 1970s. Bachman also has a retrospective package pending that collects the group's pre-RCA material. Cummings also revealed that plans are proceeding for a giant box set covering the group's entire career, to be released in the coming year. "Hopefully we will have a huge deluxe box set," he said.

"The box would probably be four discs with a nice booklet. We've never really had that. There would be 100 cuts. I think, Randy would agree, it's about time ... The real fans, now that there's more focus on it, it's time to have all this on a huge package. There's such momentum around the band ... I'd look for the set in 2001." And that might not be the only surprise the group has in store for fans. When a fan wrote in to inquire about rumours of a small-club date to celebrate the live album's release next month, Cummings was coy. "We can't really respond to that yet, 'cause it's not official," Cummings said with a laugh. "There is some validity to the rumour, but location and time have not been chosen yet."

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Friday November 17, 2000

By PAUL CANTIN

Senior Reporter, JAM! Showbiz

Canadian rock legends Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman will be making music history when they join us for a live online chat on Wednesday, Nov. 22 at 8 p.m. Bachman and Cummings will be answering questions from fans and talking about their triumphant summer reunion tour, their upcoming live album, and both the past and future plans for the group. There should be no shortage of questions for the pair. Aside from close to 40 years of shared musical history, together and apart, the TV special documenting The Guess Who's "Running Back Through Canada" summer reunion tour airs Sunday night on CBC.

A double-disc live album drawn from the tour arrives in stores Dec. 5 (check back with JAM! Music to find out how you can win an autographed copy of the new CD set). Early classic Guess Who albums such as "American Woman," "Live At The Paramount," "Canned Wheat" and "Share The Land" are being reissued with remastered sound, expanded liner notes and bonus tracks. As well, Bachman recently published his memoirs, "Takin' Care Of Business," with an inside look at the history of both The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive. Submit your questions now here, and be sure come back on Wednesday to join in on our chat with The Guess Who.

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Tuesday November 14, 2000

TORONTO (CP) -- The Guess Who's concert last summer in their hometown of Winnipeg, is the basis for The Guess Who: The Concert, airing Sunday night on CBC-TV. With performances by Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings and the rest of the legendary band which was on a cross-country tour, the two-hour special includes such classics as No Sugar Tonight, Rain Dance and Running Back to Saskatoon. The Running Back Thru Canada tour began in May in St. John's, Nfld., and ended in September in Sudbury, Ont. During the open-air Winnipeg concert on June 29, an electrical storm hit the venue, forcing the band off stage for 40 minutes. Meanwhile, CBC's Life & Times biography series will air an encore presentation of its Burton Cummings episode just before the concert special.

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October 24, 2000

By PAUL CANTIN

Senior Reporter, JAM! Showbiz

The next two installments in The Guess Who reissue program, "Canned Wheat" and "Share The Land,"arrive in stores Nov. 21, while the live album documenting the band's cross-Canada reunion tour will be released Dec. 5, the band's label has confirmed. "Runnin' Back Through Canada" will be a double disc package containing 24 songs recorded during the group's spring and summer reunion tour, and will be released just in time for Christmas by BMG's Canadian label, Vik. Here's the tracklisting for the live album: "American Woman," "These Eyes," "Takin' Care of Business," "Laughing," "Lookin' Out for #1," "No Time," "Let It Ride," "Guns Guns Guns," "Talisman," "Share the Land," "Sour Suite," "Glamour Boy," "Bus Rider," "Orly," "Undun," "Running Back to Saskatoon," "Hand Me Down World," "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature," "Albert Flasher," "Star Baby," "Follow Your Daughter Home," "Heartbroken Bopper," "Rain Dance," and "Road Food."

Guess Who guitarist Randy Bachman first revealed to JAM! Music on Oct. 15 that he had contributed new liner notes to a reissue of "Canned Wheat," but didn't mention plans for a revamped "Share The Land." As with "Live At The Paramount" and "American Woman," the other Guess Who reissues released by Buddha Records, BMG's reissue label, "Canned Wheat" and "Share The Land" will be remastered, with new liner notes, upgraded packaging and bonus tracks. Although, curiously, the bonus tracks won't be allotted in a manner that necessarily makes chronological sense. "Canned Wheat," which spawned the hits "Laughing," "Undun" and an alternate version of "No Time," was released in 1969 -- prior to their success with "American Woman." But the bonus tracks, "Species Hawk" and "Silver Bird," date from the follow-up to "American Woman," which was shelved after Bachman quit the group.

"Share The Land," which included the singles "Bus Rider," "Do You Miss Me Darlin'," "Hang On To Your Life" and the title cut, has been appended for the reissue with "Palmyra," which is also drawn from those same post-"American Woman" sessions, and a song called "Runnin' Down The Street." Most of the songs Bachman and the band were working on prior to his departure were eventually released in the 1970s on the long-deleted album "The Way They Were." Meanwhile, fans of The Guess Who can preview the "Canned Wheat" bonus track "Species Hawk" here.

Friday, October 13, 2000

By JOHN KENDLE

Winnipeg Sun

After a summer which saw them reclaim their rightful place as Canada's pre-eminent rock band, Winnipeg's Guess Who is now being touted for a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A group of wired Guess Who fans has started an on-line petition demanding the band be inducted into the Cleveland music museum, claiming the band's exclusion from the hall is a major "oversight." In just two weeks, the Internet document has garnered more than 800 signatures. Winnipegger Ray Giguere is spearheading local efforts to get the petition signed and says it's simply about time this country's musical pioneers were recognized at rock's international shrine. "If you look at some of the people who are already in there, it's a little strange that these guys aren't. I know the hall is in America and we're just the little country to the north, but this band should be in there," Giguere said.

The on-line petition can be found on the Web at petitiononline.com/tfh1/petition.html and Giguere is also taking signatures in person at his St. Vital store, Argy's Collectibles at 1604 St. Mary's Rd. The petition was begun by Ontario resident Fred Hinnegan, who runs a Guess Who message board, Giguere said. In addition, a Guess Who fan in Cleveland has alerted fans to a poll run by the Cleveland Plain Dealer which asks rock fans to suggest who the next inductees to the Rock and Roll hall should be. The poll's at www.cleveland.com/music/index.ssf?/music/rockhall/PDpoll/index.html and provides space for fans to write in the names of potential candidates. Is it time for The Guess Who to be selected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Well, the group was the quintessential Canadian rock band of the late '60s and early '70s. It certainly meets all the selection criteria, which simply call for a group to have a 25-year career in music.

The band did outsell The Beatles in 1970. It earned several Top 10 hits and, of course, a huge No. 1 Billboard hit with American Woman. The Guess Who is being lauded by a character in the movie Almost Famous and let's face it, the group is certainly as deserving as The Lovin' Spoonful, which is already a member of the hall. Yep, my mind's made up. And my name is on that petition.

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Thursday October 12, 2000

By PAUL CANTIN

Senior Reporter, JAM! Showbiz

The Guess Who has targeted the third week of November as a release date for the double live album drawn from their summer reunion tour, guitarist Randy Bachman told JAM! Music Thursday during an online chat with fans. And the live album is just one of several releases the group is working on and hopes to have on record shelves in the coming months. Bachman said he hopes the live album will hopefully be in stores to coincide with what he says will be a Nov. 19 CBC broadcast of the two-hour TV special the band taped live in Winnipeg at CanWest Global Park (June 30), and in time for the Christmas album season. That would make the likely release date Tuesday, Nov. 21. "We taped the Winnipeg show with a nine-camera shoot. It was the highlight of the tour, aside from Toronto and Vancouver. It was quite an incredible thing for us. It is being edited right now," Bachman said. Throughout the sold-out, cross-Canada tour, singer Burton Cummings had the crew keep notes of each night's show, referring to which performances yielded the best renditions of each song. "We made notes of it, so it is easier to go back. And those are the ones we are mixing," Bachman said. "We're still working on the track listing."

Bachman also revealed that he has prepared a double-disc archival release of four songs The Guess Who recorded during an ill-fated early-'60s trip to England -- the Neil Young composition "Flying On the Ground Is Wrong," "There's No Getting Away From You," "Miss Felicity Grey" and "This Time Long Ago" -- as well as songs from their '60s CBC TV variety series "Let's Go," including covers of songs by The Doors and cuts with The Guess Who backed by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Bachman had planned to release that set through his own label, but says the collection, dubbed "This Time Long Ago," is now part of negotiations with record labels interested in releasing further Guess Who archival material. "I was advised to hold it back. Our manager is getting offers for a package deal, and this would be a part of it. It makes sense to do it with (the record label) BMG, who have all our old material (via their ownership of RCA Records' catalogue). I know (manager Lorne Saifer) has got offers," Bachman said. Recently, BMG's American archival label, Buddah, released remastered versions of the group's "American Woman" and "Live At The Paramount" albums, with upgraded packaging and bonus cuts. Bachman said he recently completed work on new liner notes for a forthcoming reissue of the "Canned Wheat" album, which will include the songs Bachman cut but never completed with the band prior to his departure in 1970.

The songs in question -- "Silver Bird," "Species Hawk," "Palmyra" and "Where Do We Go From Here" -- were previously released on the long-deleted album "The Way They Were" but will now be included in Buddah's upgraded "Canned Wheat," Bachman said. "I didn't remember them," Bachman said of his attempts to write liner notes for the reissue. "We recorded them, and I left the band. I had no memory of them. ... I honestly couldn't remember why we wrote the songs. We started to write material for the 'American Woman' period. So I erased it from my memory." Meanwhile, with the live album and archival material being readied, as well as plans for extended touring in the U.S. and elsewhere, Cummings' and Bachman's desire to begin work on new material has taken a back seat. "We delayed real serious writing. We are doing the Elton John/Bernie Taupin thing of sending (each other) things in the mail," Bachman said.

"We got together several years ago and did 10 demos and we are looking at a few of those. Every time we get together, we wonder if the spark is still there, and we are amazed that it is still there. "Once the (live) record is out, we have plans to get together and do serious writing. No doubt, the chemistry is still there. We have played each other bits and pieces. We are hungry like the wolf."

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By PAUL CANTIN

Senior Reporter, JAM! Showbiz

Fans of The Guess Who say there's "No Time" like now to induct the Winnipeg musicians into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. A group of devotees has started an online petition demanding The Guess Who be considered for induction into the Cleveland-based institution's legion of honour, and guitarist Randy Bachman says he's happy and grateful that fans have taken the initiative to honor the group. "I think it should be totally the fans who say who they want in the Hall Of Fame, not a bunch of guys who own record labels, lobbying to get their bands in there," Bachman told JAM! Music prior to an online chat on Thursday.

"I have been very disappointed in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, in that they tend to favour British and obviously Americans. I even look at some of the Americans they do (induct), or some of the bands that go to play at the ceremony ... It is a little bit unbalanced." Ironically, when the Hall Of Fame first opened, he said he was contacted by a representative from the museum and asked to donate a hand-written set of lyrics to "Takin' Care Of Business." But nothing ever came of it. "As you guys know with the Grammys and Junos, there is political stuff out there," he said. Whatever forces are at work in preventing The Guess Who from getting a spot in the Hall Of Fame, the group's online fans hope an overwhelming show of support will result in the group being inducted.

"The Guess Who paved the way for other rock acts to follow from Canada, opening doors and showing that bands from Canada could be a success all over the world," the petition declares, adding that in 1970, The Guess Who out-sold The Beatles. The petition (http://www.PetitionOnline.com/tfh1/petition.html), which has already attracted close to 700 online signees, trumpets the band's summer reunion tour, rhymes off their parade of hits and asks the Hall Of Fame's selection committee to consider the band for membership "so this obvious oversight can be corrected as soon as possible." Calgary-based fan Sue Markowski told JAM! Music the petition was started by 200 members of a Guess Who message board last week. "It annoys me terribly (that the band isn't in the Hall Of Fame). Lenny Kravitz has validated their influence on the music industry by recording 'American Woman,' and the music industry in the States should take a long look at why they are not in the Hall Of Fame," she said.

"To me, their sound is different. It is easily recognizable. I don't understand with the amount of product they have sold that they are not in there. I believe it is political." To further bolster The Guess Who's chances, Cleveland-based fan Mark Chadbourne is directing fans to an online poll being conducted by the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper, asking readers to select their picks for this year's nominees. (Among them are Aerosmith, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Lou Reed and Steely Dan.) The Plain Dealer poll provides space for un-nominated, write-in candidates, and Chadbourne is calling on Guess Who fans to submit the group's name, in the hope of getting the Hall Of Fame's attention. "The Guess Who have no artifacts or contributions displayed in the Hall of Fame Museum. I have been pushing for a Canadian Rock Invasion exhibition there for quite a while and would hope the Guess Who would like to contribute to the Museum and get the attention they deserve," Chadbourne told JAM! Music via e-mail. Guess Who fans aren't the only ones going after the Hall Of Fame for neglecting their heroes. Fans of Rush have started a similar online petition, hoping to get the power trio recognized for their influence on a generation of hard rockers. As of yesterday, 570 fans had endorsed the campaign for the band.

The Hall Of Fame Foundation's selection committee -- which is composed of "rock and roll historians," according to the hall's website -- hasn't been anti-Canadian in the past. Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Zal Yanovsky (as a member of The Lovin' Spoonful) have all been inducted. Calls to the Hall Of Fame Foundation weren't returned Thursday. Both The Guess Who and Rush meet the Hall Of Fame's minimum requirement: that nominees must have a 25-year track record. More problematic would be the issue of their influence on music in general. Although The Guess Who and Rush have sold more records than other inductees -- including Buffalo Springfield, Parliament-Funkadelic and Bobby "Blue Bland -- the argument would likely be made that those artists were more influential. Although that still wouldn't account for the fact that a trifling pop act like The Young Rascals warranted induction, while Rush and The Guess Who have been ignored. There are signs that the tide may be turning for the bands. Rush is increasingly mentioned as an influence by younger rock bands, while The Guess Who's catalogue has finally been getting the deluxe-reissue treatment. The group is even affectionately name-checked in the current hit film "Almost Famous."

Whatever doubts there might be about the group's importance stateside, the significance of Rush and The Guess Who to Canadians is beyond doubt. When JAM! Music asked readers to name the most important Canadian band of all time in our millennium poll, Rush was the overwhelming winner. Earlier this year, when JAM! Music and the Sun newspapers asked readers to vote for their favourite Canadian song ever, "American Woman" came out on top.

E-mail a write-in vote for The Guess Who

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Thursday, September 28, 2000

By JOHN KENDLE

Winnipeg Sun

It's the morning of Randy Bachman's 57th birthday, and the Winnipeg rock icon is reflecting on the events of the past 18 months. "This has certainly been the greatest year I've had, personally and musically, in the last 12 or 14 years," says the legendary member of Bachman-Turner Overdrive and the newly reunited Guess Who. "I've had a fantastic time, and I can honestly say that this is the most amazing ... the greatest tour I've ever done. Really."

Seated in an executive meeting room at the Delta Hotel, Bachman is simply dressed in black jeans, golf shirt and a black denim shirt with the sleeves cut off. The only "rock star" accoutrement he sports is pair of aviator sunglasses. But he's wearing shades because photo flashes bother him, not because there's anything to hide. In fact, Bachman is downright revealing when it comes time to chat. He's in town to promote his autobiography -- Randy Bachman: Takin' Care of Business (McArthur & Co., $34.95) -- penned with local rock historian John Einarson, and the enthusiasm he exudes is that of a man half his age. "There's no point in having a book that's just all fluff," he says. "You have to tell the truth and not worry about hurting feelings or stepping on toes. I hurt my own feelings, reading it back and realizing some of the things I'd said about myself."

The book was two years in the making and documents the guitarist's life from birth to this year's Guess Who concert at Canwest Global Park on Canada Day weekend. "(The book) was supposed to be something I did with my wife (Denise)," Bachman says. "But then John contacted me ... Denise had read a couple of his other books, American Woman: The Story of The Guess Who and Neil Young: Don't Be Denied, and she agreed he was the guy. He has all the Winnipeg history in his head." Winnipeg fans of The Guess Who and BTO will be familiar with much of Bachman's story, but what they may not be aware of is how Randy acted and felt at the crucial moments of his multi-faceted career. Bachman says now that reading the original manuscript for Takin' Care of Business led him to reassess the emotions and the events of the 1970 Guess Who split, when he and the band parted ways after a concert at the Fillmore East in New York City while American Woman was No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart. "I was in a very fragile state at the time," Bachman recalls. "I had gallbladder attacks every night on the road and I was really, really hurting physically and emotionally. And there were other things that led up to that night at the Fillmore when they fired me. "That was so painful to me it was gone from my memory. I always felt I quit. To read American Woman and see what they were thinking and feeling was a whole revelation to me. To read what people said in my book ... I was shocked and in disbelief. I contacted over a dozen people and said 'I'm really sorry if I hurt you way back then. I had no idea you were feeling that way, but this is what I was feeling in my heart and soul and in my body.'

"That was six or seven months ago, and I got a lot of very positive replies. I got a lot of tears and hugs and handshakes when I met certain people after that." The book also reveals that Burton Cummings did indeed walk out of rehearsals for this summer's Guess Who reunion tour. "Yes, we did have a moment there," Bachman says. "But you've got to understand the kind of pressure we were all feeling at the time, wanting and hoping for this thing to work and feeling as though we would be a flop if it wasn't perfect. Burton is the singer, he's the guy with the focus on him, he's in the spotlight, and it has to look and sound right. We made him the musical director for the tour and he told us right at the beginning, it has to be better than perfect. "At one point in rehearsals he turned and said to us 'You know, I'm scared.' And that got to us, like kids in a dark room all sharing the same fears -- we were all feeling the pressure. Then we got sick. I had a sore throat and a nasal thing, and I gave it to Donnie (Guess Who guitarist McDougall), and we just weren't quite performing at full capacity. "So, yeah, it was a moment. But Burton sat us all down and told us what was wrong, and I have to be honest and say that everything he said was right. When he left, the rest of us looked at each other and we just knew we had to work harder. So, we did, and it's easy to look back now and say that every single moment we rehearsed was worth it." Cummings, of course, returned to the fold after a couple of days and the new Guess Who has not looked back since.

Just last week, the group played American Woman at the MuchMusic Video Awards with Lenny Kravitz, who made the song a No. 1 hit once again in 1999. "That was a lot of fun," Bachman says. "We'd heard he had a big ego and a chip on his shoulder, and I guess he'd heard something similar about us, but that was just managers and record companies talking. "When the actual musicians got together it was great. Lenny was very flattering and he was asking me how I got the guitar sound on the original version of the song." Asked if he would like to reunite with Fred Turner and do a BTO tour similar to the current Guess Who jaunt, Bachman just grins. "Well, I've learned from this past year that you never say 'never' ... We'll see what happens." Indeed we will. As Bachman himself says about his biography: "This isn't the last word. I'm still living the book, you know?"

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