Quad LP/Tape Poll Guess Who, The: Best Of The Guess Who [Q8/QR]

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Rate "The Best of the Guess Who"


  • Total voters
    18

EMB

2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Since 2002/2003
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Ask and ye shall receive...;)

Strong compendium of hits 1969-early '71, though Lp versions, taken from previously issued Quad masterings.

Side 1:

1. These Eyes
2. Laughing
3. Undun
4. No Time
5. American Woman
6. No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature

Side 2:

1. Hand Me Down World
2. Bus Rider
3. Share The Land
4. Do You Miss Me Darlin'
5. Hang On To Your Life

Guess Who Best Of.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Here we go again, folks!

Well, I gave this one another listen tonight and was reminded again why I rarely listen to it. This was one of the first Q8 tapes I ever got and listened to it over and over. Now, to use a big word, this mix clearly lacks any definition whatsoever. As Aquadad pointed out in another thread, it seems as though the rears are louder than the fronts - and he's right! There's at least 5dB difference front to rear, in favor of the rear.

For the bulk of the album drums, guitars, vocals, backup vocals, and piano come from left and right rears. Vocals, the occasional overdub and basically bleed from all the other instruments in the front. It would make sense to flip the soundstage around, but then you'd still get the same mess you had before.

Using my big word again, there is no definition of instruments. Everything comes from everywhere! Dare I say it's glorified mono, with the occasional room circling gee-gaw? The only real seperation going on is that one instrument might be louder in one speaker by 2db. That same instrument will still be in all the others and be just as noticable.

I love the Guess Who, so we get points for content. This is a great tape to listen to from splice to splice ;) but as for mix? Bah, let a blind monkey loose at the board. I'm sure he could come up with something more interesting.

This album gets a 6 from me.

Oh, and I did an A/B comparison to the Q4 Reel and there's no difference I can find, other than the Q4 is clearer and you can hear some of the lighter instruments better (acoustic guitar, percussion, etc) but that's it. I can hear no difference between Q4/Q8.
 
I like the mix quite a bit, it could have been better, but i really like all the stuff circling the room. And the music is super. I gave the mix an 8 or 9 and the music a 10, so overall I vote 9.
 
Here we go again, folks!

Well, I gave this one another listen tonight and was reminded again why I rarely listen to it. This was one of the first Q8 tapes I ever got and listened to it over and over. Now, to use a big word, this mix clearly lacks any definition whatsoever. As Aquadad pointed out in another thread, it seems as though the rears are louder than the fronts - and he's right! There's at least 5dB difference front to rear, in favor of the rear.

For the bulk of the album drums, guitars, vocals, backup vocals, and piano come from left and right rears. Vocals, the occasional overdub and basically bleed from all the other instruments in the front. It would make sense to flip the soundstage around, but then you'd still get the same mess you had before.

Using my big word again, there is no definition of instruments. Everything comes from everywhere! Dare I say it's glorified mono, with the occasional room circling gee-gaw? The only real seperation going on is that one instrument might be louder in one speaker by 2db. That same instrument will still be in all the others and be just as noticable.

I love the Guess Who, so we get points for content. This is a great tape to listen to from splice to splice ;) but as for mix? Bah, let a blind monkey loose at the board. I'm sure he could come up with something more interesting.

This album gets a 6 from me.

Oh, and I did an A/B comparison to the Q4 Reel and there's no difference I can find, other than the Q4 is clearer and you can hear some of the lighter instruments better (acoustic guitar, percussion, etc) but that's it. I can hear no difference between Q4/Q8.

Have you got Canada Q8 version?
winopener showed it had some blending from other channels, which is not present on US version.

To me it's a 8.
 
I gave this an 8 but must confess I'm making that judgement with rose colored glasses.
This was the first Q8 I ever bought back in the 70's for my cheapo Electra Quad receiver. As a newbie I loved the stuff swirling around the room and the music is classic Guess Who. The tape and the stereo are long gone but I still have fond memories of this one.
 
Gotta go by memory here, but the main tracks I remember 'moving around' the soundfield were(most obviously)elements of "No Time," "American Woman" and "Hang On To Your Life." Personally, despite its being the lowest-charting RCA single for the group to that point(early '71), the single edit of this made a lot more sense--and was less irritating--than the extended Lp mix used for the stereo and quad Lp's. Not sure why that one always bugged me, but it did.

On the main, though, I always liked this one, gimmicks and all, perhaps because it was one of the first Q8's I purchased(started with vinyl, mainly Columbia SQ titles, and moved on from there).

ED :)
 
Considering these guys started out at RCA on 16 track, I'd still love to be let loose with the multi's and come up with a really nice, discrete Quad mix. I little more seperation and or definiton would really bring out the guitar and piano work. I do enjoy on some of the later albums being able to listen to Burton's unaccompanied vocals.

Ahhh, one can dream.
 
Jeeze - I dunno...I really like my Q8 of this. Voted 8. Good music, fun and active mix. Certainly floats my boat!
---- Chris
 
I would love to hear the Japanese CD-4 I have the Quad reel but the sound isn't that great. Stereotape releases were high speed dubbed and some such as this title used Dolby B as well, releases from Ampex, Vanguard, Ovation etc. sound much much better. As a long time fan of the Guess Who I prefer the original albums to any best of package. Share the Land Q8 was one of the best with lots of swirling effects. Years ago the Q8 player in my car ate the tape, I was unable to repair it. I missed out on the American Woman Japanese CD-4 on eBay recently, another copy is going for $400! Recently got Wheatfield Soul Q8, I'll have to check I might have Canned Wheat as well, I'll have to dub them to the computer when I play them just in case! It's funny that No Sugar Tonight was the flip side of American Woman and a big hit as well, but on every Guess Who album release it's combined with New Mother Nature which was never a hit. I think that Burton Cummings who wrote New Mother insists on it and was unhappy it was left off the single release.
 
According to Mr. Bachman, who wrote No Sugar Tonight.... during the sessions for those songs, they found that both songs fell a little short of the 2 minute mark and they didn't want them to become repetitious or force the writing process for extra verses. Since both songs are in the key of G, they combined them for the album.
 
I have the 2 channel CD and the quad 8-track. If you play the CD using the SQ setting, you will hear quite a surprise. It's different than the 8-track, but I think I like the CD better (using the SQ).
 
According to Mr. Bachman, who wrote No Sugar Tonight.... during the sessions for those songs, they found that both songs fell a little short of the 2 minute mark and they didn't want them to become repetitious or force the writing process for extra verses. Since both songs are in the key of G, they combined them for the album.

And then used "No Sugar" on its own for the B-side of "American Woman." And I think it ran exactly two minutes.

ED :)
 
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