Bachman Cummings Songbook

The ONLY thing wrong with this 2006 release is the rather ridiculous price indicated. Everything else about it is excellent, from the sound quality of the original hits to the 16-page insert which contains the lyrics to all 19 tracks, recording dates (no chart or label details unfortunately), and comments throughout by Randy and Burton.

The first nine tracks represent almost half the 21 Pop hit singles registered by The Guess Who from 1965 to 1974, all but 4 written/composed by Bachman-Cummings (track 3 by Bachman only, and 5,8 and 9 by Cummings). These Eyes was their first, hitting # 6 in May 1969 on RCA Victor 0102, followed by the 2-sided hit on RCA Victor 0195, Laughing (# 10 in August 1969) b/w Undun (# 22 that November). In late 1969/early 1970, No Time hit # 5 on RCA Victor 0300, and in the early spring of 1970 came another double sided smash, American Woman (# 1 for 3 weeks) b/w the "follow-along" hit, No Sugar Tonight on RCA Victor 0325.

It was at this stage that Bachman left the group to form Bachman-Turner Overdrive, so these three hits, although he was involved in writing two of them, do not include his guitar: Share The Land (# 10 in late 1970 on RCA Victor 0388; Albert Flasher (# 29 in May 1971 on RCA Victor 0458; and Sour Suite (# 50 in late 1971/early 1972 on RCA Victor 0578.

Tracks 10 to 14 were 5 of the 12 hits chalked up by The Bachman-Turner Overdrive from 1973 to 1979, with Randy having composed 11 to 14 himself, and track 10 in conjunction with vocalist/bassist C. Fred Turner. Let It Ride peaked at # 23 in spring 1974 on Mercury 73457, followed that June by Takin' Care Of Business which climbed to # 12 on Mercury 73487. Then came their only # 1, You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, which hit the top in the fall of 1974 on Mercury 73622. Hey You rose to # 21 in June 1975 on Mercury 73683, while Lookin' Out For No. 1 inexplicably (in my opinion anyway) stalled at # 65 in May 1976 on Mercury 73784.

And finally we come to the last 5 tracks which represent 4 of the 5 hits registered by Burton as a solo act from 1976 to 1981 (only You Saved My Soul, a # 37 in 1981 on Alfa 7008 is missing), along with one of the two additional hits he had on the Adult Contemporary charts (AC) - the # 38 AC, I Will Play A Rhapsody, which topped out in February 1979 on Portrait 70024 (the missing AC hit is Timeless Love, a # 23 in July 1977 on Portrait 70003).

His first, of course, was Stand Tall, a # 2 AC/# 10 Hot 100 in late 1976/early 1977 on Portrait 70001, which was followed by I'm Scared, a # 10 AC/# 61 in March 1977 on Portrait 70002, My Own Way To Rock, which struggled to a # 74 in October 1977 on Portrait 70007, and Break It To Them Gently, which fared even worse, only making it to # 85 in August 1978 on Portrait 70016. Why these last two failed to register on the AC charts at all, never mind do better on the Hot 100, remains a mystery.

I have most of the cuts on this album on one album or another but it is great to have them all on the same CD! If you liked the Guess Who, Burton Cummings or Randy Bachman this is the CD to have, slide it into the car, crank it up and ride!

"The Bachman Cummings Songbook" marks the first time that the two Guess Who songwriters' career highlights have been assembled onto a single CD collection. Includes all original versions of hit songs from their Guess Who years, Bachman's years with Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Cummings' solo career. Terrific music, of course...I'm just not sure what the point is!

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