LIVE AT THE PARAMOUNT
The remastered version of this with the
extra cuts is pretty good.
Ironically, the Hand Me Down World
on this version with the bonus cuts is
much better than the actual radio single
was ... we never nailed Hand Me Down
World when we were scrambling for a
follow up to American Woman.
The song was so much better than the
record ... OH BROTHER.
Burton Cummings
2011
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The Guess Who Live At Carnegie
Hall! Well, that's what this album
was supposed to be titled, a live
recording at New York's legendary concert
venue, the one and only time Canada's
greatest hit makers were booked to play
that venerable institution. However
fate intervened to deny them that honor
and instead what we have is LIVE AT THE
PARAMOUNT in Seattle. But the Guess
Who's misfortune ultimately turned in
their favor.
With the abrupt departure of founding
guitarist Randy Bachman in May 1970 (as
American Woman hit #1), the remaining
members of the group - singer/keyboard
player Burton Cummings, bass player Jim
Kale, and drummer Garry Peterson, all from
Winnipeg, Canada - brought in two new
recruits, Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw,
also from Winnipeg, to man the vacant
guitar slot. While follow-up albums
and singles failed to emulate previous
chart placings, the group remained a solid
concert draw with a legion of loyal fans
throughout the US and Canada. With a
reputation for a kick ass live show, the
time seemed ripe for a live album.
Plans were hatched to record their
Carnegie Hall debut on March 29, 1972
midway through a tour in support of their
recently released Rockin' album, a
stripped down, back to basics rock 'n'
roll record after the more experimental SO
LONG, BANNATYNE. But three dates
into the tour, following a concert in
Corpus Christi, Texas on March 17, Greg
Leskiw jumped ship citing the rigors of
the road. Rather than cancel the
remainder of the tour, which included the
much-anticipated Carnegie Hall appearance,
the four members called close friend
Donnie McDougall back in Winnipeg.
A former member of respected Vancouver
group Mother Tucker's Yellow Duck
currently toiling in Winnipeg beer parlors
with The Vicious Circle, Donnie flew out
to meet the Guess Who in Phoenix, Arizona
the next day and promptly learned their
entire set literally overnight. He
made his debut the following
evening. The band never missed a
beat and proceeded en route to Carnegie
Hall.
The night before that coveted engagement
however, Burton Cummings, regarded by
critics, fans and peers as one of the
finest voices in rock 'n' roll, blew those
golden tonsils partying a little too
hearty. "The next day he couldn't
even talk," recalled lead guitarist Kurt
Winter, in an interview before his
untimely death in 1997. "Everybody
else wanted him to go onstage but I told
him, 'Don't blow your voice and your whole
career on one gig. It's not worth
it. We'll get another crack at
Carnegie Hall,' though we never did."
Adds producer Jack Richardson, "We had
everything set up that day to
record. It was expensive to
cancel." Burton remains
contrite. "I have never forgiven
myself for robbing all five of us of that
wonderful niche in an otherwise lousy
business."
The group now set its sights on recording
a two-night stand in Seattle at the end of
the tour.
"Seattle was always good to us," remembers
road manager Jim Martin. "We had
played that market before, we had done
three days at the Seattle Pop Festival a
few years earlier, and the Paramount was
such a neat venue. We played there
earlier in the tour and had a lot of
friends in that area. They loved the
Guess Who.
With the recent mid-tour personnel
shuffle, the extension allowed the five
the opportunity to gel as a unit and
rehearse three new songs in preparation
for the Seattle engagement.
On Monday, May 22, producer Jack
Richardson and engineer Brian Christian
flew into Seattle where Wally Heider's
mobile recording facility waited to
capture two magical nights at the elegant
Paramount Theater.
"The concerts were sponsored by a local
radio station so everyone got in free,"
recalls Jack. "The place was full to
capacity both nights."
But once again the gods interceded to
stymie the group. While the first
night's recording proceeded without a
hitch capturing a spirited set, the second
night proved to be a waste of tape.
Bass player Jim Kale went off the rails
scuttling the performance.
"They opened the curtains and Kale went
'clunk' right on his face," Kurt Winter
recalled. "Jimmy discovered that
Scotch and valium do not mix," laughs
Jack.
Jim Martin ran out and placed a chair
under him for the duration of the evening.
"Brian Christian and I were in the mobile
truck and we could hear that Jimmy was
three beats behind everybody else,"
continues Jack. "I remember sneaking
down to the stage to turn his amp down so
at least we could overdub the bass later
but when I did he turned around and
cranked it up again. Brian and I
were laughing in the truck. At the
end of the concert Garry Peterson was so
pissed off he drove his drumsticks through
his drum heads."
The band cut their set short to beat a
hasty retreat. It would prove to be
Jim's swan song with the Guess Who.
Despite all the tribulations, LIVE AT THE
PARAMOUNT proved to be a far stronger
representation of the group's dynamic live
show than the Carnegie Hall date would
have been.
"It was a typical live date and you rely
on the band to get it right," attests
Jack. "There are no second takes
when you're recording live. The band
had a high degree of energy that first
night, a magic, and it was well
recorded. It reveals how tight the
band was having just added Donnie."
Using only the first night performance,
the group opens with the Cummings-Winter
composition Pain Train featuring
Kurt's searing lead guitar work, and
follows with a perennial concert favorite,
the rollicking Albert Flasher.
Burton's bluesy take on New Mother
Nature, excised from No Sugar
Tonight after Randy Bachman's
departure, boasts a guitar solo by
newcomer Don McDougall. The first
new number of the set, Burton and Kurt's Runnin'
Back To Saskatoon, is a clever poke
at prairie life and Kurt's all-time
favorite Guess Who number.
Peterson's tom toms and the twin lead
guitar assault of Rain Dance
propel it along while These Eyes,
the group's first million-seller, and
Burton's introspective solo Sour Suite
(46201, by the way, is the zip code for
Indianapolis) slow the pace, revealing
their delicate touch with a ballad.
Don McDougall steps into the spotlight
with Glace Bay Blues, a rare
acoustic gem written (though uncredited
until now) with former Vicious Circle band
mates Garry and Blair MacLean who hail
from Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.
"That concert was the first time Glace
Bay Blues was performed live,"
states Jack Richardson. Kurt Winter
had brought Hand Me Down World
with him from his previous group, Brother,
and it became his debut single with the
Guess Who. Here, the group offers a
heavier, more driving arrangement.
The extended rendition of American Woman
is a tour de force and the centerpiece of
the group's live shows. Always a
crowd-pleaser, the song had taken on a
life of its own.
"It wasn't a planned thing," recalled
Kurt. "It just kept getting longer
and longer and evolved. The crowd
would go wacko."
Drummer Garry Peterson's powerful drum
solo in mid song reveals his amazing
technique, notably on the tasty jazz
interlude. Burton is in fine form
whether spitting out the venomous lyrics,
scat-singing or ably manning harmonica and
flute. For their Paramount set, the
group segue from American Woman
into a new number once again borne from an
elongated on-stage jam.
"We'd done Truckin' Off Across The Sky
only once before that night," maintained
Kurt. "It just came at the end of American
Woman. Burton started singing
that line so I changed chords right away,
we all looked at each other and followed."
The gospel-tinged anthem Share The
Land and No Time, the
single that broke the group's soft rock
run in 1970, close out a compelling set.
Released in August 1972, LIVE AT THE
PARAMOUNT notched an impressive #39 in
Billboard bettering their last two efforts
and yielding a minor hit single with Runnin'
Back To Saskatoon.
Rolling Stone magazine declared, "LIVE AT
THE PARAMOUNT proves once and for all that
this band can rock. It has to rank
as one of the most fun to listen to.
Avid fans of the group will play this more
than any other Guess Who album they own."
Emerging from a pivotal point in the
group's career, LIVE AT THE PARAMOUNT has
stood the test of time to become one of
the best-loved of the entire Guess Who
catalog.
"I think that album came at a crossroads
for the band," offers Jack
Richardson. "They were going through
some emotional changes and all the
personnel shuffles were beginning.'
Completely restored from the original
Monday night performance source tapes,
entirely remixed, digitally remastered and
boasting six previously unreleased tracks,
what you have here is truly the best of
the Guess Who, live.
John Einarson, author of American
Woman: The Story of The Guess Who and
Randy Bachman: Takin' Care of
Business
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