Everything about The Guess Who totally explained
The Guess Who is a
Canadian rock band from
Winnipeg, Manitoba, that was one of the first to establish a major successful following in their own country while still residing there. Produced by
Jack Richardson,
C.M., they were the first Canadian
rock group to have a
No.1 hit in the United States (see
1970 in music).
History
Early years
The Guess Who started out as a local Winnipeg band formed by singer/guitarist
Chad Allan in
1960 and initially called Allan and the Silvertones (changed to Chad Allan & the Reflections by 1962). All the band members were born in Winnipeg.
Chad Allan and the Reflections signed with Quality Records in
1962 and released several flop singles before scoring their first hit, a
1965 rendition of Johnny Kidd & the Pirates' "
Shakin' All Over" that reached No. 1 in Canada and No. 22 in the U.S. By this time the group had changed names again to
Chad Allen & the Expressions after a U.S. group called
The Reflections had scored a hit with "Just Like Romeo & Juliet". However, in an attempt to build a mystique around the record, Quality Records credited the single only to "Guess Who?" It was hoped that some listeners might assume the "Guess Who?" identity was deliberately masking several famous performers working under a
pseudonym -- given the "
beat group" nature of the record, perhaps even members of
The Beatles or
The Who.
It is debatable as to whether anyone was really fooled by this ruse, or if the record would have been a hit regardless of the artist credit. But the upshot was that, even after Quality Records revealed the band was "really" Chad Allan & The Expressions, disc jockeys still announced the group as Guess Who?, effectively forcing the band to rename themselves. So on their first two albums, the band was credited as
both Guess Who?
and Chad Allan & The Expressions.
Success
The immediate follow-ups to "Shakin' All Over" met with major success in Canada, but very little success elsewhere. After
Bob Ashley left the group in late 1965,
Burton Cummings joined the band as keyboardist and co-lead vocalist (with Chad Allan) in early January 1966. This line-up only lasted for a few months before Chad Allan left, making Cummings the new full-time lead singer. By this point, the band's name had become The Guess Who? (The question mark would finally be dropped in 1968.)
As the group's lineup changed, so did their sound. Cummings and guitarist
Randy Bachman were now the band's main composers, and they moved away from
Merseybeat-inspired rock to a sound that mixed rock, blues, and jazz. The
1969 ballad "These Eyes" was the group's first Top 10 US hit for their new label
RCA Records. By the beginning of the 1970s, they'd moved toward an edgier hard-rock sound with the album
American Woman, the title track for which, "
American Woman" (coupled with its B-side "
No Sugar Tonight") was the group's only No. 1 hit in the U.S. "American Woman" also earned The Guess Who the honor of being the first Canadian band to have a No. 1 hit on the American charts. The Top 10 US hit "
No Time" preceded "American Woman" by about three months.
In the spring of 1970 Bachman was sidelined by a gall bladder attack. The group continued touring with an American guitarist, Bobby Sabellico. But differences between Bachman and the others led Bachman to leave the group after playing one final show with them at the
Fillmore East in
NYC on May 16, 1970. An unfinished 1970 album
The Way They Were, was abandoned (not released until 1976, after the band had broken up). Randy returned to Winnipeg, and later formed
Brave Belt, which eventually evolved into the
supergroup Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Bachman was replaced by two guitarists, fellow Winnipeggers
Kurt Winter from the band Brother, and
Greg Leskiw. Winter became the main songwriting collaborator with Cummings, and The Guess Who continued with more hit singles such as "Hand Me Down World", "Share The Land", "Hang On to Your Life" and "Albert Flasher".
In 1972, they recorded their highly acclaimed album "Live at the Paramount" which was recorded at the
Paramount Theatre in Seattle. This preceded an overseas tour in November-December 1972 to Japan, New Zealand and Australia.
Leskiw left the band before the Paramount show in 1972 to be replaced by Don McDougall, and bassist
Jim Kale left just after that after his lifestyle could no longer support touring. Winter's former bandmate Bill Wallace came in to take over bass duties. Cummings, Wallace and Winter wrote the Guess Who's last big hit, "Clap For The Wolfman", which reached No. 6 in the U.S., and which was an homage to disc jockey
Wolfman Jack, who lent his voice to the recording before McDougal and Winter left in 1974.
Domenic Troiano became the new lead guitarist for the band and Cummings' chief songwriting collaborator.
The Guess Who broke up in
1975. Cummings then went on to forge a successful solo career.
Reformations
In November 1977
CBC approached the band about doing a reunion. Cummings & Bachman were not interested since they were busy with their solo careers. Kale, Peterson, Winter & McDougal did respond, however. Kale was on tour in
Kenora, Ontario, and contacted Cummings & Bachman about using the Guess Who name. They both gave him their blessing. Soon after, Kale found out that the name "The Guess Who" had never been registered. He promptly drove back to Winnipeg to register it, and maintains control of the band name to this day.
Kale decided to continue on with The Guess Who from that point, initially joined by Winter, McDougal and
Vance Masters (Masters had been drummer in the infamous Winnipeg group
Brother with Winter & Wallace). An album called
Guess Who's Back was released in Canada to minimal attention. Another studio album,
All This For a Song, followed in 1979.
Kale even left the band for a short spell and was involved with other projects as the others continued on without him. But by 1981 he was back and has led an ever changing roster of players to this day. In 1981 Kale's new lineup put out
Now & Not Then on the
El Macombo label.
(
See below for complete list of TGW lineups)
In
1983, Bachman, Cummings, Jim Kale and
Garry Peterson (the "American Woman" line-up) reunited as The Guess Who to play a series of Canadian gigs and record the
Together Again live album and video.
After this reunion, Bachman and Cummings resumed their solo work, and Kale once again resumed touring with various musicians under The Guess Who banner. A new Guess Who studio album,
Lonely One with vocalist
Terry Hatty was released in
1995, but virtually no attention was paid to it in the mainstream press, and the few reviews of the album were almost all overwhelmingly negative.
In May
1997(External Link
) with their hometown of Winnipeg facing a potentially disastrous flood that had already taken cities south of the border, Bachman and Cummings reunited in Winnipeg for the first time in 10 years in an emotional fund raiser for disaster relief organized by Tom Jackson. During the concert it began to rain, then thunder, then lightning. Through the rain Cummings kept singing (while the band crew tried to cover things in plastic), at one point Cummings acknowledging that if the audience didn't leave he wouldn't either, and he didn't until the lightning started to strike. It was a temporary pause, though, and the concert continued a short time later.
On August 8th, 1999, Cummings, Bachman, Peterson and Kale reunited once again, after responding to a personal request from the Premier of Manitoba, to appear at the closing ceremonies of the
Pan American Games at
Winnipeg Stadium. This led to a cross-Canada and US tour for the band beginning in
2000, although health issues of Kale's precluded his involvement. Nevertheless, he received a share of the band's earnings, and replacement Bill Wallace was paid out of other members' shares. A live album and DVD release followed the tour. Both the tour and the subsequent live releases were warmly received by fans and critics.
In
2001, the band received honorary doctorates at
Brandon University in
Brandon, Manitoba. For lead vocalist Cummings, it was a privilege to receive the doctorate, since he didn't graduate from high school. That same year the group was inducted into
Canada's Walk of Fame.
In
2003, the band (including Bachman and Cummings) performed a well-received set before an estimated audience of 450,000 at the
Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto SARS benefit concert. The show was the largest outdoor ticketed event in Canadian history.
In
2004, Kale once again started touring with his version of the Guess Who (referred to as as "Kales' Klones" by Cummings). This version of the group, including original drummer Garry Peterson (as of 2007), continues to play scattered dates, all in the USA.
While still also performing individually and with their own bands, Bachman and Cummings, backed by Toronto's
Carpet Frogs, have been touring together since
2005. Having failed to win the rights to use the Guess Who name, they've adopted the moniker Bachman Cummings. Bachman stated in a CBC interview on February 7, 2005 that it was unlikely he and Cummings would ever again tour as The Guess Who.
On
April 25,
2006, Bachman Cummings performed hits from The Guess Who, and solo careers at Club 279 in the
Hard Rock Cafe in
Toronto in front of a small crowd of about 150 to 200 people. This concert wasn't open to the public - one had to be invited or win tickets. A performance on CBC television that same year was released as a DVD, entitled First Time Around. Also in 2006, a CD entitled Bachman Cummings Songbook was released, a "best of" culled from the combined Guess Who, BTO and Burton Cummings catalogues.
In 2007, Bachman & Cummings released an album of new recordings titled
Jukebox, which covers tracks by some of their favourite artists from the
1960s. The track selection includes a new, laid-back recording of their own Guess Who hit, "American Woman". Bachman & Cummings also toured in 2007 playing tracks from the new album along with Guess Who, Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Burton Cummings hits. The tour ended with a November 12th date in Sault Ste. Marie's Steelback Centre.
Lineups
The Silvertones
- 1960 Chad Allan (Allan Kobel), Bob Ashley, Brian Donald, Johnny Glowa, Jim Kale, Larry Wah, Gordon Murison (band named after his Silvertone guitar)
Al & The Silvertones
1961 Chad Allan, Bob Ashley, Randy Bachman, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson, Carol West.
Chad Allan & The Reflections
1962 Chad Allan, Bob Ashley, Randy Bachman, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson
Chad Allan & The Expressions
1965 Chad Allan, Randy Bachman, Jim Kale, Bob Ashley, Garry Peterson
The Guess Who
1965 Chad Allan, Randy Bachman, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson, Bob Ashley
1966 Chad Allen, Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson
1966 Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Bruce Decker, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson
1966 Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson
1970 Burton Cummings, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson, Bobby Sabellico
1970 Burton Cummings, Jim Kale, Greg Leskiw, Garry Peterson, Kurt Winter
1972 Burton Cummings, Jim Kale, Donnie McDougall, Garry Peterson, Kurt Winter
1972 Burton Cummings, Donnie McDougall, Garry Peterson, Bill Wallace, Kurt Winter
1974 Burton Cummings, Garry Peterson, Domenic Troiano, Bill Wallace(to end 10/75)
1977 Jim Kale, Garry Peterson, Kurt Winter, Donnie McDougall
1977 Jim Kale, Vance Masters, Kurt Winter, Donnie McDougall
1978 Jim Kale, Vance Masters, Kurt Winter, Donnie McDougall, (Guess Who's Back LP)
1978 Jim Kale, Vance Masters, Donnie McDougall, David Inglis, Ralph Watts
1979 David Inglis, Jim Kale, Vance Masters, Donnie McDougall (All This For a Song LP)
1979 Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Garry Peterson, Bill Wallace(one time only appearance for Burton's CBC TV special Portage & Main in March 1979)
1979 Vance Masters, Donnie McDougall, Bobby Bilan, Brian Sellar, Jimmy Grabowski
1981 Jim Kale, Brent DeJarlais, Dale Russell, Mike McKenna, Sonnie Bernardi (Now & Not Then LP)
1981 Jim Kale, Brent DesJarlais, David Inglis, Brian Tataryn, Ken Curry
1981 Jim Kale, Brent DesJarlais, Brian Tataryn, Ken Curry
1983 Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson
1983 Jim Kale, Dale Russell, Sonnie Bernardi, Mike Hanford, Trevor Balicky
1985 Jim Kale, Dale Russell, Sonnie Bernardi, Mike Hanford, Bob Fuhr
1986 Jim Kale, Dale Russell, Sonnie Bernardi, Terry Reid, Kenny Carter
1987 Jim Kale, Dale Russell, Sonnie Bernardi, Mike Hanford, Kenny Carter
1987 Jim Kale, Garry Peterson, Dale Russell, Mike Hanford, Kenny Carter
1989 Jim Kale, Garry Peterson, Dale Russell, Tom Whitnery, Kenny Carter
1990 Jim Kale, Garry Peterson, Dale Russell, Kenny Carter, Leonard Shaw
1991 Jim Kale, Garry Peterson, Dale Russell, Terry Hatty, Leonard Shaw
1998 Jim Kale, Garry Peterson, Dale Russell, Carl Dixon, Leonard Shaw
1998 Garry Peterson, Dale Russell, Carl Dixon, Leonard Shaw, Ken "Spider" Sinnaeve
1999 Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson (one show)
2000 Dale Russell, Leonard Shaw, Carl Dixon, Ken "Spider" Sinnaeve, Charley Cooley
2000 Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Jim Kale, Donnie McDougall, Garry Peterson (one show)
2000 Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Don McDougall, Garry Peterson, Bill Wallace (to end 07/31/03)
2004 Bobby Bilan, Carl Dixon, Jim Kale, Garry Peterson, Leonard Shaw
2006 Carl Dixon, Jim Kale, Laurie MacKenzie, Garry Peterson, Leonard Shaw (currently touring the U.S.).
Discography
Original studio albums
Credited to "Guess Who?"/Chad Allan and the Expressions
(for example both names shown on the album cover)
1965 Shakin' All Over
1965 Hey Ho (What You Do To Me)
As The Guess Who?
1966 It's Time
1968 A Wild Pair (Split album: one side by "The Guess Who?"; the other by "The Staccatos", soon to become the Five Man Electrical Band).
As The Guess Who
1968 Wheatfield Soul
1969 Canned Wheat
1970 American Woman
1970 Share the Land
1971 So Long, Bannatyne
1972 Rockin'
1972 Wild One
1973 Artificial Paradise
1973 #10
1974 Road Food
1974 Flavours
1975 Power in the Music
Post Burton Cummings-era albums credited to The Guess Who
1978 Guess Who's Back
1979 All This for a Song
1995 Liberty (also issued with the title Lonely One)
Live albums
1972 Live at the Paramount (live)
1984 Together Again (live)
1986 The Best Of The Guess Who Live (complete concert from the Together Again release)
1998 The Spirit Lives On (Live)
1999 Down The Road (Live)
2000 Running Back Thru Canada (Live)
2004 The Best of Running Back Thru Canada
Compilations
1968 The Guess Who
1969 Sown and Grown in Canada
1971 Guess Who Play the Guess Who
1971 The Best of the Guess Who
1972 Shakin' All Over (re-issue)
1972 The History of the Guess Who
1973 The Best of the Guess Who (re-issue)
1973 The Best of the Guess Who Volume 2
1976 The Way They Were
1977 The Greatest Hits of the Guess Who
1988 Track Record: The Guess Who Collection
1992 These Eyes
1997 The Guess Who: The Ultimate Collection
1997 Razor's Edge
1999 The Guess Who: Greatest Hits
2000 Canned Wheat (Remastered with 2 bonus tracks)
2000 American Woman (Remastered)
2000 Live at the Paramount (Remastered with six bonus tracks)
2000 Share the Land (Remastered with two bonus tracks)
2001 This Time Long Ago
2003 Platinum & Gold Collection: The Guess Who
2003
2004 Wheatfield Soul/Artificial Paradise (Remastered, The Guess Who x2)
2004 So Long Bannatyne/#10 (Remastered, The Guess Who x2)
2004 Rockin'/Flavours (Remastered, The Guess Who x2)
2004 Road Food/Power in the Music (Remastered, The Guess Who x2)
2005 Let's Go
2006 Bachman-Cummings Song Book (The album contained tracks from The Guess Who, Burton Cummings, and Bachman-Turner Overdrive)
Hit singles
1965 - Shakin' All Over [CAN#1] [US#22]
1965 - Tossin' and Turnin' [CAN#3]
1965 - Hey Ho, What You Do to Me [CAN#3] [US#125]
1966 - Hurting Each Other [CAN#19]
1966 - Believe Me [CAN#10]
1966 - Clock on the Wall [CAN#16]
1966 - And She's Mine [CAN#32]
1967 - His Girl [CAN#19]
1967 - Pretty Blue Eyes [CAN#48]
1967 - This Time Long Ago [CAN#30]
1967 - Flying On The Ground Is Wrong [CAN#36]
1968 - When Firends Fall Out [CAN#75]
1968 - Of A Dropping Pin [CAN#97]
1969 - These Eyes [CAN#7] [US#6]
1969 - Laughing [CAN#1] [US#10]
1969 - Undun [CAN#21] [US#22]
1970 - No Time [CAN#1] [US#5]
1970 - American Woman [CAN#1] [US#1] [UK#19]
1970 - No Sugar Tonight [CAN#1] [US#39]
1970 - Hand Me Down World [CAN#10] [US#17]
1970 - Share the Land [CAN#2] [US#10]
1971 - Hang on to Your Life [CAN#5] [US#43]
1971 - Albert Flasher [CAN#13] [US#29]
1971 - Rain Dance [CAN#3] [US#19]
1971 - Broken [CAN#15] [US#77]
1972 - Sour Suite [CAN#12] [US#50]
1972 - Life in the Bloodstream [CAN#39]
1972 - Heartbroken Bopper [CAN#12] [US#47]
1972 - Guns, Guns, Guns [CAN#58] [US#70]
1972 - Runnin' Back to Saskatoon [CAN#9] [US#96]
1973 - Follow Your Daughter Home [CAN#20] [US#61]
1973 - Orly [CAN#21]
1973 - Glamour Boy [CAN#14]
1974 - Star Baby [CAN#9] [US#39]
1974 - Clap for the Wolfman [CAN#4] [US#6]
1975 - Dancin' Fool [CAN#14] [US#28]
1975 - Loves Me Like a Brother [CAN#21]
1975 - Seems Like I Can't Live With You, But I Can't Live Without You [CAN#81]
1975 - Roseanne [CAN#58] [US#105]
1975 - When the Band Was Singin' "Shakin' All Over" [US#102]
1976 - Silver Bird [CAN#63]
Filmography
1983 Together Again live concert with interviews.
2002 Running Back Thru Canada (Live with bonus tracks)
2003 Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto - Two tracks only - with the Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Rush and others.
2006 First Time Around (Bachman, Cummings), live concert from a CBC broadcast.
2007 Shakin' In Las Vegas (The Guess Who: Peterson, Kale), DVD of 4 new songs plus Shakin' All Over, from a live concert in Las Vegas.
Books
1995 American Woman - The Story of The Guess Who by John Einarson - Quarry Press, Ontario, Canada
The Guess Who on the big and small screens
Songs by the Guess Who have been used in a number of films and television shows.
"Undun" is heard briefly in the movie Jackie Brown, although it doesn't appear on the film's soundtrack.
"No Time" is heard in the scene where Steve Wozniak tells Steve Jobs that HP doesn't want the computer they created in Pirates of Silicon Valley.
"Glamour Boy" is heard in Don McKellar's Last Night.
"Share the Land" is briefly heard playing inside the car of Paul Kellerman (Paul Adelstein) on the show Prison Break.
"These Eyes" is sung briefly by Evan (Michael Cera) in the film Superbad, and moments later the original Guess Who version is heard playing on a police car radio.
"These Eyes" is used several times throughout the film Stay.
"Shakin' All Over" is heard in the film My First Mister in a scene between John Goodman and Leelee Sobieski.
"American Woman" is used in the film American Beauty, although it doesn't appear on the film's soundtrack.
A karaoke version of "American Woman" is sung in The Cable Guy.
"American Woman" was used in an episode of Due South.
In Almost Famous, Lester Bangs, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, mentions the Guess Who, while wearing a Guess Who T-shirt. In director Cameron Crowe's extended "Bootleg" version of the film, Bangs talks longer about the band and mentions a live version of "American Woman." Also, a verse from "Albert Flasher" is sung by some of the girls in the scene where they're staying at a hotel.
Both the Lenny Kravitz and the Guess Who's versions of "American Woman" are in the movie . The Kravitz version appears on, while the Guess Who version was released on a second soundtrack, . Kravitz joined the band in a live performance of that song during the 1999 MuchMusic Video Awards.
.
Further Information
Get more info on 'The Guess Who'.
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