The Best of The Guess Who is the fourth compilation album by the Canadian group The Guess Who. It was originally released by RCA Records in April 1971 and contains recordings made between 1968 and 1970. The album reached number 12 on the Billboard top LPs chart in the United States.The Guess Who, The Best of The Guess Who Retrieved March 20, 2015
A follow-up, The Best of The Guess Who Volume II, was released in 1973.
Release history The first half of the album contains tracks from 1968 to 1970, while the second half of the album contains tracks from the 1970 album "Share the Land". Some of the songs on this album are single edits. For example, the single version of "American Woman" is missing the acoustic introduction. The single version of "Undun", is used as well without the piano intro.
Randy Bachman appears as lead guitar for the first half of the album, while Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw appear on guitar on the second half of the album.
In addition to the usual 2-channel stereo version, the album was also released by RCA in a 4-channel quadraphonic version on 8-track tape and reel-to-reel.
RCA first reissued the album on compact disc in 1988; the single version of "American Woman" was replaced with the album version. Another reissue by RCA/Legacy Recordings in 2006 restored the single recording and added three bonus tracks.
In 2014, the album was released in the Super Audio CD format by Audio Fidelity. This version contains the complete stereo and quadraphonic versions on one disc. The stereo versionThe Best of The Guess Who SACD, Hybrid, Multichannel, Quadraphonic, Compilation Retrieved February 7, 2019 includes the full album version of "American Woman", but the quad version has the edited recording. Both the stereo and quad versions of "Hang On to Your Life" include the Psalm 22 ending.The Best of The Guess Who Reel-To-Reel, Compilation, Quadraphonic, 7 ½ ips Retrieved February 7, 2019
Reception Gary Hill of AllMusic says "It is sometimes hard to believe that the same group that brought the world the jazzy 'Undun' and the CS&N-ish hippie anthem 'Share the Land' is also responsible for the rocking 'No Time.' This 11-track collection paints a very entertaining picture of a multi-talented band and is a perfect introduction for the casual fan."
Track listing
The original 1990 CD issue contains a misprint of the running time for "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature" as 7:51.
Personnel The Guess Who on tracks 1−6 Burton Cummings – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, flute, harmonica Randy Bachman – lead and rhythm guitar, backing vocals Jim Kale – bass, backing vocals Garry Peterson – drums, backing vocals on tracks 7−11 + bonus tracks Burton Cummings − lead vocals, keyboards Kurt Winter − lead guitar, backing vocals Greg Leskiw − rhythm guitar, backing vocals Jim Kale − bass, backing vocals Garry Peterson − drums, backing vocals
Additional personnel Arranger: The Guess Who (Tracks 4−11) Engineer: David Greene and Elliot Scheiner (Tracks 1−3), Randy Kling (Tracks 4−6), Brian Christian (Tracks 4−5) Producer: Jack RichardsonThe Guess Who, The Best of The Guess Who Credits Retrieved March 20, 2015
Charts Chart (1971) Peakposition
Certifications
References