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The Guess Who: The Best of The Guess Who

The Guess Who: The Best of The Guess Who

Audio Fidelity  AFZ5 199

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Pop/Rock


The Guess Who


They didn't have street cred; they didn't look like stars; and they were't considered "cool" by the ultra hip and snooty underground FM rock crowd. But over the course of their career, The Guess Who created some of the most transcendent and electifying pop music of the Seventies. The Guess Who stubbornly flew in the face of fashion, trends, and the flourishing progressive rock movement, and built and enduring body of work that illuminates their status as immensely gifted pop rock practitioners.

Though influenced by the British Invasion, The Guess Who were purely Canadian rockers. The band scored a string of Top Ten hits in the late ;60s and early '70s, including the psychedelic-romantic smash "These Eyes" and riff-rocking anthem "American Woman." A huge success in the States, the band performed at President Nixon's inaugural ball (with the acerbic "American Woman" conspicuously omitted frin the set list). Burton Cummings' throaty baritone vocals and guitarist Randy Bachman's theatrical riffs gave the band their versatile sound - and their rocking classics sound as vital today as they did when there were first released.

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All
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Recording
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Analogue recording
Tracks
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1. These eyes
2. Laughing
3. Undun
4. No time
5. American woman
6. No sugar tonight new Mother Nature
7. Hand me down world
8. Bus rider
9. Share the land
10. Do you miss me darlin'
11. Hang on to your life
Reviews (1)
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Review by Rick Kosmick - April 9, 2015

The Guess Who had a significant impact on me in terms of my musical tastes and listening preferences. I literally grew up with this group that comes from my hometown, Winnipeg. I remember, like it was yesterday, the year 1960 and a teen dance with a group called Al and the Silvertones who were the top band in Winnipeg with the best musicians; these players remained intact to form what would become known as The Guess Who. Fast forward to 1965 for the international hit and garage classic "Shakin All Over" under the moniker of The Guess Who with Chad Allan on lead vocals and the 'spine tingling' guitar work of Randy Bachman. The following year Burton Cummings would be the first major personnel change coming into the band on keyboards and taking over lead vocals with one of the most distinctive voices to ever sing rock music.

The top-flight musicianship was key to The Guess Who after spending several years honing their skills on gruelling tour schedules of the Canadian Prairies and other parts of Canada . Then a couple of years (1967-68) were spent on their own CBC national weekly television show learning a variety of hit songs of the day while spitting them out with ease and impeccable skill. But the crucial pieces for future success were Bachman and Cummings who brought strong songwriting skills to the package. Finally in 1969 everything came together for international stardom with a string of hits..... and this is what you hear on "The Best of The Guess Who".

Needless to say, I eagerly awaited Audio Fidelity's SACD release that included a 4.0 quadraphonic version. I am a multi-channel enthusiast and usually, I do not listen to the Stereo 2.0 as a matter of preference. After my initial listening experience with the 4.0 Quad mix, I decided the Stereo version was an option that I wanted to include as part of my review.

I found the Quad 4.0 mix quite intriguing as a multichannel release. As expected, the 4 channels provided some discreet sound with nice separation of vocals (Cummings voice was pleasant to hear occasionally coming from the rear speakers) and guitar parts which effectively moved to different locations in the surround parameter. I also thought the panning feature for instruments on some tracks was very good. Overall, it created an enjoyable sense of immersion. But the quadraphonic elements are only one part of the overall sound as the Quad 4.0 was burdened with mediocre audio quality.

The first noticeable characteristic of lower fidelity on this Quad mix is the lack of 'openness' that can be described as a muffled or veiled sound. The brilliance in the sound of the upper range for the most part, is generally lacking. You do not get sufficient clarity and detail one would expect from high resolution audio. Also the presence of the drums and bass are an issue: Gary Peterson's drums are notably pushed way back in the mix and more often than not, sound like a dull 'thud' when they should be a vibrant 'thump'; and Jim Kale's bass is not well defined on several tracks making it sound very thin and muddy. For example, on the first 2 tracks and earliest hits, "These Eyes" and "Laughing" exhibited inferior audio although sound-wise they are passable (barely). In my opinion, only one song, "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature" embodied the type of audio required to meet a high standard for multi-channel SACD. And to be fair, the audio on some tracks could be termed reasonably good for a song such as "Hand Me Down World" that had very nice panning with pleasing sound.

As with a release titled The Best Of, the audio can be expected to vary coming from different recordings sessions and from different time periods. This SACD release of "The Best of The Guess Who" comes from two separate sets of analogue master tapes. The original RCA Quad 4.0 master tapes were DSD transferred by Gus Skinas (no information is available in the Audio Fidelity liner notes; Brian Moura kindly confirmed this DSD transfer on the SACD.net Forum on April 2, 2015). It is my guess, the issues on the 4.0 master tapes are not the DSD transfer; rather, it may be due to age and tape deterioration of the source tapes or, more likely, it is the actual 4.0 mix (from 1971?) with issues relating to equalization (EQ). In other words, the original EQ employed in mixing the multi-tracks for quadraphonic was a determining factor for the unimpressive audio quality.

The SACD Stereo was mastered by Steve Hoffman who utilized the original 2.0 analogue master tapes (again no reference in the liner notes; information obtained from the Steve Hoffman Forum per announcement from Mr. Hoffman on November 16, 2014). Well, the differences between the master tapes of the Quad 4.0 and masters of the Stereo 2.0 are striking to say the least. These sources tapes are akin to night and day differences. The audio quality of the Stereo is much superior to the multi-channel. The bass firms up and is solid with a nice fat sound. The drums are still a little pushed back in the mix but now there is a substantial and satisfying backbeat. Burton Cummings vocals are well centred and you get the full power from his singing. And the guitar playing: Randy Bachman's lead guitar tone absolutely resonates on "American Woman" (includes the intro absent on the Quad version that uses the single edit); and Bachman's replacements Kurt Winter (also a excellent songwriter) and Greg Leskiw play sparkling twin lead guitars on "Share the Land". One other matter often overlooked were The Guess Who's great harmony vocals: listen to "Do You Miss Me Darlin'" in Stereo..... out and out gorgeous harmonies sung with clear precision.

The Guess Who were a very talented group of musicians who epitomized what a great rock and roll band should be. This group was unfairly labelled as hit makers for AM radio in the late 1960's and early 1970's which resulted in The Guess Who being largely ignored by the critics except for the late Lester Bangs who championed their music. It is with a touch of irony that you hear many of their songs to this day on Classic Rock radio showing their timeless quality..... something Mr. Bangs probably understood. "The Best of the Guess Who" provides you with 11 music gems.

For sonics, the SACD Quad 4.0 falls noticeably short of the standards for high resolution audio set by the better/best multi-channel releases. From my listening experience, this Quad version is for historical purposes only.

The SACD stereo version, on the other hand, has the sonic properties to meet the higher standards for audio quality. Above all, I always look to select the best available audio....."The Best of The Guess Who" is recommended in SACD Stereo only.

Additional Note: the volume should be turned up considerably to hear the full benefits of both the performance and sonics in either Stereo 2.0 or Quad 4.0.

Copyright © 2015 Rick Kosmick and HRAudio.net

Performance:

Sonics (Stereo):

Sonics (Multichannel):

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Comments (1)
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Comment by Rich Menning - March 11, 2017 (1 of 1)

I noticed on the 4.0 mix that the improv vocals at the end of Bus Rider are from a different take. Most noticeably, the "little man riding upside down" is gone. I wonder what other anomalies are to be found?