Real fans of The Guess Who knew about the existance of this material years before it finally surfaced in the summer of 1976. But, issued to fulfill a contactual obligation, it died quickly during the early days of disco. Its raw, unfinished demo sound seemed cheap compared to the polished over-productions of disco and classic rock of the times. Being a fan, I bought it and listened to it occasionally over the ensuing decades. As the years wore on it gadually became one of my favorites. With some polishing up of the production, and the addition of some more tracks, it would have been a worthy successor to "American Woman." In fact, I now prefer it to "Share the Land." Some of the songs in this more-than-an-EP, but-less-than-an-LP's worth of material had showed up before 1976. "Miss Frizzy" appeared in 1973 on "#10" (though this version is better), "Take the Long Way Home" was an instrumental on Randy's solo album "Axe" (though again the vocal version here is much better), and "Running Down the Street" appeared as the B-side of "Hand Me Down World." With a more polished arrangement and better lyrics, "Silver Bird" would have been a great follow-up single to "American Woman." It was actually released as a single in 1976, but was virtually ingnored by radio. The lyrics are the same kind of "I've been on the road too long" stuff that was done much better on the "Road Food " album. "Palmayra" is a great rocker that would have made a good 2nd single of the album. The real diamond in the rough here is "The Answer." 3 decades later it stands out as one of the RCA-era band's best songs. With the greater appreciation for stripped-down/minimalist production values that marked much '90's rock, this album sounds even more contemporary than some of the band's more polished and famous productions. As an additional bonus for this CD version, you get the complete album version of "American Woman' with the prologue, plus the album version medley of "No Sugar Tonite/New Mother Nature"--not just the singles implied by the song listing. The one disappointment is that, just like the 1976 cassette version, the 21st century CD version comes in a cheap cardboard box that won't stand the test of time that a jewel box and carboard inserts would. SPECIAL NOTE: If you already have some of these songs as bonus tracks on the re-released versions of "Canned Wheat" and "Share the Land," don't pass this CD up thinking that you already have most of the good stuff. The versions here differ from the bonus-tracks of the re-releases.
