The Ultimate Collection

Artist: The Guess Who
Label: RCA
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Box set
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 3

UPC: 078636730028
EAN: 0078636730028
ASIN: B000002X1B

Release Date: 1997-01-28

The Ultimate Collection

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Tracks:

These Eyes
Lightfoot
Maple Fudge
Of A Dropping Pin
Laughing
Undun
No Time
Proper Stranger
Humpty's Blues
8:15
When Friends Fall Out
American Woman
Medley: No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature
Hand Me Down World
Runnin' Down The Street
Share The Land
Bus Rider
Hang On To Your Life
Do You Miss Me Darlin'
Medley: Coming Down Off The Money Bag/Song Of The Dog

Tracks:

Rain Dance
One Divided
Life In The Bloodstream
Sour Suite
Albert Flasher
Broken
So Long, Bannatyne
Heartbroken Bopper
Arrividerci Girl
Runnin' Back To Saskatoon
Glace Bay Blues
Truckin' Off Across The Sky
Follow Your Daughter Home
Bye Bye Babe
Orly
The Watcher
Those Show Biz Shoes
Guns Guns Guns
Medley: Heaven Only Moved Once Yesterday/Don't You Want Me

Tracks:

Clap For The Wolfman
Road Food
Attila's Blues
Star Baby
Musicione
Glamour Boy
Lie Down
Dancin' Fool
Seems Like I Can't Live With You, But I Can't Live Without You
Loves Me Like A Brother
Hoe Down Time
Rosanne
Dreams
Women
When The Band Was Singin' 'Shakin' All Over'
Lightfoot (Take 2 Rehearsal)
Medley: No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature (Take 9)
American Woman (Take 25)

Similar Items:

This Time Long Ago
Rockin'/Flavours
Wheatfield Soul/Artificial Paradise
Long Train Runnin': 1970-2000
The Grass Roots - All Time Greatest Hits

Customer Reviews:

Great Collection with OVERBLOWN BASS !!!.......2006-09-10

As usual, being an audiophile nut & a big Guess Who / Burton Cummings fan, my review of this fine collection of songs isn't about the material but the sound. As with some the other reviews, I wish RCA/BMG would stop messing around with releasing all kinds of so called "greatest hits" packages (all with the same songs) & release all of the RCA collection of Guess Who albums in the United States. A couple of years ago, some of the less comercially successful but far superior albums were released in Canada on these "2 for 1" CD's with absolutly horrible sound. I bought them all & in less than a week sold them all on ebay !! (I much rather listen to the vinyl than these nasty sounding cds) Anyway, this collection isn't as bad as those from a sound standpoint, the highs are nice & clear but the collection was equalized with way too much low end, especially at around the 40 hz level. You may not notice this as much on a boom box but if you have good equipment with a subwoofer, the bass is way too overpowering on just about all the songs. What you might do to overcome this is to record the collection through an equalizer & onto a home audio CD-R. This way you can trim back on the lows around 30 to 40 hz & end up with a decent sounding recording.

3 discs - the next best thing to a box set.......2006-05-10

Nearly complete compilation of their 11 studio albums with Burton Cummings. I'd pick most of the same tracks for a 3-disk compilation.

A 4 disk set would be perfect. Someday they will get the 5-disk box set treatment(4 disks plus one of outakes, etc).

Below are some notes on each disk in the set.
====================================
Disk One in the Ultimate Collection is from their first 4 RCA albums

Disk One covers the albums American Woman(#3) and Share the Land(#4) well. A little light on the first two albums Wheatfield Soul(#1) and Canned Wheat(#2) (two of the 3 albums with Randy Bachman).

Notable Personnel Change: Soon-to-be Bachman Turner Overdrive front man Randy Bachman was replaced on Album #4 'Share the Land' by Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw.

Disk One Could benefit by including some of the below tracks:

Pink Wine Sparkles in the Glass (from album #1)
Found Her in a Star (#1)
Wednesday in Your Garden (#1)
6 A.M. Or Nearer (#2)
Minstrel Boy (#2)
Key (edit) (#2)
Talisman (#3)
Moan For You Joe (#4)
=============================================================
Disk Two - Covers the 4 mid-period albums when they fell from grace. The 3 studio albums (Bannatyne (album #5), Rocking (#6), Artifical Paradise(#7)) had something of a common thread of updated 50s blues, jazz and rock and roll with Cummings penchant for non-sensical lyrics.

The Live Album (The Paramount) is something of a period piece represented by the single 'Saskatoon'.

The following studio tracks also merit inclusion in a complete collection:

She Might Have Been A Nice Girl (from studio album #5)
Grey Day (#5)
Pain Train (#5)
Back To The City (#6)
Your Nashville Sneakers (#6)
Smoke Big Factory (#6)
All Hashed Out (#7)
Rock And Roller Steam (#7)
=====================================================
Disk 3 is from their last 4 studio discs with Cummings and the last two band incarnations: Leskiw (good riddance, poor fit)
and original bassist Kale were gone (leaving before Artifical Paradise).

The disk titled #10 (their 8th studio album and 10th RCA album -- a live package and greatest hits package being the others) was the strongest in years.

#10 is under-represented here.

'Road Food (#9)' got them back on the charts with 'Star Baby' and the novelty hit 'Clap for the Wolfman'. Studio Disks 10 and 11 ('Flavours' and 'Power in the Music') included ex-James Gang guitarist Dom Troiano replacing Kurt Winter. The sound shifted to a more MOR jazz and pop sound. Below are some notable tracks missing from the Ultimate Collection:

Take it Off of My shoulders( from studio album #8)
Miss Frizzy(#8)
Carboard Empire(#8)
Just Let Me Sing(#8)
Eye(#10)
Diggin' Yourself(#10)
Nobody Knows His Name(#10)
Power In The Music(#11)
Shopping Bag Lady(#11)
Down And Out Woman(#11)

decent, but..........2003-03-27

For fans of The Guess Who, their current CD catalog is disappointing, particularly when some of their best music (with Kurt Winter) is unavailable. Which is one of the problems I have with this collection. The same songs that you can find on most of the other Guess Who collections are found here--not a lot of hard to find material. I especially miss songs from "Rockin'" and "So Long Bannatyne", such as "Smoke Big Factory", "She Might Have Been A Nice Girl", "One Man Army", "Back To The City" and "Nashville Sneakers". Great tunes left off this collection in favor of weaker tunes like "Arrivederci Girl", "Orly", "One Divided" and "Truckin' off Across the Sky". Naturally the choices for collections are subjective, but even "Albert Flasher" was never one of my favorites, and you'll find it on every Guess Who "Best Of...". Let's hope that we can get those missing tracks somewhere soon...!

No Shakin'? Not Buyin'!.......2001-09-29

It may not have been their biggest hit, but "Shakin' All Over" was sure as heck the best thing the Guess Who ever did and is easily one of the top 10 greatest rock'n'roll songs of all time. (The original version by England's Johnny Kidd and the Pirates is also excellent, but the Who make rather a mess of it on their otherwise superb "Live at Leeds" album.)
The Guess Who are even opening their current (2001) tour of the U.S. with Shakin' All Over, and man does it cook!! Sets the stage perfectly for one hell-aciously good show. So one might have thought with three CDs to fill, BMG or RCA who whatever label put this baby out could have easily squeezed Shakin' in. But noooooooooo! It ain't here. Perhaps Burton Cummings was miffed that the vocal was performed by original vocalist Chad Allen (but heck, they could have wiped Chad's vocal and put on Burton's and it would probably be even better -- although I never realized until many years later that it wasn't Burton). Or more likely there was some contract dispute with whomever owns the rights to the early recordings. Regardless, I refuse to buy this collection without Shakin' -- it would be like buying a copy of the Mona Lisa without her smile. I do, however, give the compiler much credit for including the group's second best track (and a non-hit at that), "Heart Brokin' Bopper" from the criminally under-rated "Rockin'" album -- the band's best post-Bachman recording. My band used to do a cover version of it, and even we sounded good on it! They might also add Burton's best solo track, "Stand Tall." And if the reviewer above is correct about the booklet being skimpy, I'd say wait for something better to come out. Record label people, please note: the booklets for these retrospective anthologies are often nearly as important to me as the CDs -- so please don't skimp on them!I hope they issue a live CD of the current tour -- it's real interesting to hear the band transform into Bachman, Turner, Guesswhover Drive and cover BTO's biggest hits (which far outshine most of the later-day Guess Who material). ...

Music Album:

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

The Leprechaun ~ Chick Corea

Lionel Hampton 90th Birthday Celebration ~ Lionel Hampton

1949-1950 ~ Gene Ammons

My Foolish Heart ~ Denise DeCaro

Alexander, Where's That Band? ~ Various Artists

Music from the Andes and Argentina ~ Tahuantinsuyo, Mozaurieta, Los T

Simples Do Coracao ~ Engenheiros Do Hawaii

Golden Zither ~ Rudi Knabl

Duvacki Orkestar Mladi Braka Kadrievi ~ Masar Jasarov-Kadriev

Maestros del Flamenco ~ Rafael Farina