First off, let me make this clear, I am, by no means, a music aficionado. I love music, and I listen to a wide variety of it, but I don’t spend much time getting to know the people who make it. Maybe it’s my loss, but I’ve always felt music was a personal experience, much like staring at a painting. And when I’m staring at a painting, the last thing I want is the artist hanging over my shoulder telling me what I’m seeing.
Having said that, I decided to take on the task of reviewing The Guess Who - The Hits, based on a prior experience I had with their music. Let’s revisit shall we?
The year is 1978. I’m eight years old and standing on the remnants of a pier that juts sharply outward to a lake. Black flies are buzzing and biting intermittently as the summer sun beats down on my head. I want to go swimming, but the leeches are too plentiful close to shore and the flies are not opposed to following you out, into the deepest part of lake, in order to take a chunk out of you as soon as you resurface.
As far as I was concerned, the whole situation sucked. This was supposed to be a vacation to our family cottage. But what it came to be was a small wooden house with no plumbing, and only an hours worth of electricity each night, via a gas powered generator. There were no neighbours, save a few black bears, and the nearest town was over a half hour away. We were living the bush life, and anyone who’s lived the bush life can tell you that there are only a few things that you can do: eat, drink alcohol, sit in the sun, and fish. Of that list, I could only do two things, and sitting in the sun was now hampered by those damn flies.
My mom, seeing the look of boredom on my face, suggested I go and listen to some music, and wait for my grandfather to return to take me fishing. I complied, and scrambled to the family van trying to outrun the numerous carnivores circling me.
Article comments
1 - Triniman
Nice.
Have you heard the double CD/DVD, Guess Who - Running Back Thru Canada? I was there, in Winnipeg, when the show was recorded. And it was pure magic, especially with the light show put on by the lightening.
2 - Sister Ray
Nice write-up. The Guess Who is generally underrated.
I associate the Guess Who with summer, too, except in my case it's hearing "American Woman" on the radio at the swimming pool.
3 - T
Triniman, I evny you. You have experienced something that few music fans of latter generations will get to.
Sister Ray, I agree, The Guess Who are the band that influenced other bands but failed to get the credit. It bothers me, but hopefully articles like this will inspire music lovers to take a look.
thanks for commenting.