After reading the couple of threads about The Guess Who, I went on Youtube and listened to their albums. Then, I naturally started thinking about Randy Bachman leaving The Guess Who and starting Bachman Turner Overdrive. Also, how I loved BTO as a teenager. So, I listened to their first four albums. Some of it is nostalgia, for sure, but what a bunch of good songs. And what an album they had with Not Fragile. That is a solid, enjoyable record from start to finish.
It certainly seems that Randy Bachman had substantial songwriting and guitarist talent, even if his singing isn’t all that great. Was he difficult to work with, or just became bored after a few years? Though, I guess to be honest, his tenures with both bands isn’t really unusual in the music world. Hard to keep a band together, I guess. But I’ve always been very partial to bands, as opposed to solo artists. IMO, the best music comes from bands where there are two or more creative forces writing songs.
Not much to add. I love BTO, but really don’t know much other than Bachman sure left a great legacy of fun rock and roll. Now he’s a DJ; I posted a link to his broadcast breaking down the Hard Day’s Night chord.
Let it Roll Down the Highway. Let it Ride. Good stuff.
Randy Bachman and Fred Turner actually got together a few years ago for an album and tour. They couldn’t call themselves Bachman-Turner Overdrive or BTO because one of Randy’s brothers owns the name and they’re estranged from each other, but I have the album and it’s pretty good and the tour was well received with a live album and DVD being released.
Bachman and Burton Cummings have reunited for a few gigs, as well. I suppose time has broken down some of the “creative differences” that make some groups so unstable.
Our crafty neighbors to the north have had quite a few very talented folks unleashed upon us.
My older brother got a Wards portable suitcase stereo record player for Christmas one year, and remember marveling at the wide, wide stereo separation on the “Not Fragile” cuts. Then he would make recordings on his Craig cassette player. Hi-Fi, baby.
I have some nostalgia for them too. I don’t recall them being a favorite of critics back in the day, though. I recall one reviewer labeling them Bachman Turner Overweight.
mmm
My understanding is that Randy Bachman was, and still is, a practicing Mormon, and he wasn’t comfortable around the rest of the Guess Who, who were big time partiers on every level, and formed his own band.
I was really excited to go see them warm up for Alice Cooper my senior year. I was disappointed in the sound quality. I could barely make out what songs they were playing.
Of course, this was at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Terrible venue for concerts if you weren’t sitting in just the right place!
Big when I was in college. A lot of rock fans looked down on them as too commercial.
A campus band did a take-off on “Takin’ Care of Business”:
“Eatin’ lots of pizzas,
Every day.
Eatin’ lots of pizzas,
Every way.
Eatin’ lots of pizzas,
Sure tastes great.
Eatin’ lots of pizzas,
And gettin’ overweight.”
I read the BTO Wiki entry based on this thread. Interesting: we recently had a thread on Creedance Clearwater Revival and how they don’t get much respect in some circles. In the BTO entry, one of the guys comments that Hey, CCR had just broken up so there was a need for a blue collar straight-up Rock band at the time. Kinda sounds about right and like BTO experiences the same ambivalence.
Randy’s program on the CBC is great. It’s just Randy talking about whatever his them for the show that day is, and playing records to illustrate his talking points.
You can listen to past episodes if you go to his page on the CBC website. You may need a VPN plug-in if you’re in the US.
I’ve picked up a fair amount of useful knowledge being married to a Canadian…