Search - Bachman-Turner Overdrive :: Gold

Reasonably complete compilation

Francis King | Calgary, AB, Canada | 10/16/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"There have been many, many cheap, sketchy best-ofs issued of this Vancouver-based quartet's 1970s catalogue. But only Gold and 1993's The Anthology (both double-CD packages) are worth owning. And Gold compares favourably.



The good: Gold doesn't skimp on the grossly underrated 1977 effort Freeways (which led to leader/guitarist/vocalist Randy Bachman's first departure from the band). Where The Anthology just had Shotgun Rider, Gold comes up with that song, plus Life Still Goes On (bassist C.F. Turner's only contribution to that album), My Wheels Won't Turn and Down Down.



As well, Gold makes up for the ridiculous gimmick of remixing some songs for quadrophonic sound. I mean, who had quad systems? Those remixes on The Anthology (Not Fragile, Rock Is My Life and This is my Song, Free Wheelin' and Flat Broke Love) sound dry and lifeless. Gold doesn't touch the mixes, thankfully.



Gold is also better packaged, allowing the slim, two-disc set to be easily taken in a car. The Anthology is an awkward double-width case and the booklet was sized for the box everything came in, so unless you kept everything together (not easy to do with many CD towers or in vehicles), it was one more awkward packaging moment.



This is a small item, but as a true fan, a good one: Gold finally puts Quick Change Artist on a compilation album. Quick Change was the first single off 1975's Four Wheel Drive, an excellent rock-pop song that was played a lot. Yet, until Gold, it was inexplicably ignored every time a compilation was issued.



The bad: Gold sticks strictly to the officially released Mercury studio albums. That means no unreleased bonuses (The Anthology had three, all from 1973 when BTO's first official album came out). It also means nothing from the band's 1980s or '90s releases (two studio and two live albums). Finally, it means nothing from Japan Tour Live, a recording of the band's 1976 (I think...) tour which, despite what The Anthology's notes say, WAS released in Canada. Anyway, The Anthology had a bitchin' version of Don't Get Yourself in Trouble complete with extended Randy Bachman guitar solo that didn't make Gold. It stuck with the inferior, original 1973 studio version, sadly. So, true fans are still waiting for a COMPLETE compilation.



Otherwise, Gold comes with an essay by Larry Leblanc, a veteran Billboard writer who also penned the notes for The Anthology. He simply lifted much of that original essay and added on a surprisingly complete and valuable update of all the members' recording activities since the '70s. Strangely, he left a glaring error from the original essay stand. It suggested the hit Take It Like A Man was from Four Wheel Drive. But it came a year later, from 1976's Head On."

The CD that turned me into a fan!

Shelby Lambert | Bethany, Oklahoma USA | 04/01/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I know it's not cool in some circles to like Bachman-Turner Overdrive, but I really do! They're just one of those bands that you have to get beyond the songs that get radio airplay to really appreciate, and this collection defintely has more than just the hits! They are also the kind of band that didn't really discover their own "sound" and "formula" until about their third album, but once they found it, they stubbornly held onto it! And this collection does a nice job of serving as an "audio history book", to show the evolution of the band from the early albums in '73 as an un-even, redneck bar-type band, to the mid-period albums in '74-'75, becoming a serious arena-heavy metal group, to the burn-out in the latter albums, post-1975.

There were only two "radio" songs prior to purchasing this disc that gave me a glimpse of what BTO was really all about--"Let It Ride" and "Rock is My Life, This is My Song", that prompted me to buy this disc in the first place--boy, I got those songs and more--much more!

Now, the elements that turned me into a fan. First, Randy Bachman's guitar playing. Forget his wimpy singing for a second (great guitar players rarely make good singers, anyway!) Bachman is a wild man on the frets!! I now recognise him as one of the great "riff makers" in all of rock, and the songs in this collection put Randy Bachman right up there with Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Tony Iommi, and Ritchie Blackmore in that department. Going all the way back to his days in the Guess Who when he was formulating his style and guitar tone on songs like "American Woman", Bachman's riffery came into full bloom in BTO. Just listen, not only to "Let It Ride" and "Rock is My Life", but also "Not Fragile", "Welcome Home", "Four Wheel Drive", and "Flat Broke Love" for some of the coolest power chords ever invented! These songs make BTO more than just "hard rock". In their mid-period, they were every bit as much a serious "heavy-metal" band from the 70s, as KISS, Aerosmith, Balck Sabbath, Deep Purple, Rainbow, or Uriah Heep! So what if their songs rarely dealt with sex, drugs, or the occult! They wrote more about life on the road, working hard, and enough over-the-top tributes to rock and roll music to make Spinal Tap smile! Songs like "Rock is My Life", "Not Fragile", "Don't Let the Blues Get You Down", and "Welcome Home" are some of the greatest "rock anthems" in existence! Another thing about Randy Bachman's playing that make him unique among "hard rock/heavy metal" guitarists is, whilst some like to temper their heavy-handed playing with mellower blues and acoustic guitar, Randy Bachman goes in a more "jazzy" direction in his lighter moments, when he wants to show another side of his playing, and certainly "Blue Collar" and "Lookin' Out For #1" reflect that. But even the songs where he combines jazz and heavy metal guitar playing, as on "Welcome Home" and "Rock Is My Life", are part of what make BTO musically quite unique!

But enough about Bachman. To me, Fred Turner is one of rock's greatest singers, with a one-of-a-kind, rough-yet-soulful-for-a-Canadian voice! He is a great change of pace from listening to Bachman sing (and thank goodness Bachman mostly sings the songs he writes! No way in the world could he sing the tougher-minded songs that Turner wrote--it just wouldn't sound right!) Turner is at his best vocally on "Let It Ride", "Not Fragile", and "Flat Broke Love"--and for a baritone singer, he has quite a vocal range, and on occasion, can straight-up "howl" like Robert Plant! Not bad for a former-odd jobber who took over the vocals in the group because no one else wanted to sing! As a bass player, Turner's average, but he has his moments of brilliance--like a great bass solo lead into "Not Fragile" and "Flat Broke Love", before Bachman and second guitarist, Blair Thornton, come crashing in, full-force! And who can forget the greatest "cowbell" player in rock: little brother, and drummer, Rob Bachman. Whilst I think he tends to hit the cowbell more to make up for lack of drumming skill, its only the moments when he "hits" the cowbell that get your head banging!

In some ways, BTO's recording history mirrors that of Britain's Humble Pie. And perhaps the reasons Peter Frampton left Humble Pie were the same as why Randy Bachman left BTO. The contrasts in styles between the melodic, sentimental, and sometimes-jazzy songs that Randy Bachman wrote, and the rough-and-tumble songs of Fred Turner, are stunnigly-similar to the contrast between 'the Frampton songs' versus 'the Steve Marriott songs' in Humble Pie. It's that tension between styles that makes a bands music interesting. But it's that same tension that can cause a band's disintegration, as it seemed to do in both cases.



All said, this is mostly "Heavy Metal music" for men. You can see where fellow Canadians April Wine and Triumph got some of their musical ideas. The down-side to Bachman-Turner Overdrive (for some people, maybe) is that they tend to stick to formula--in both the songs Bachman writes, and the ones Turner write--and they both tend to write the same song over-and-over again, with slight variations in guitar riffs and lyrics (ex: "Welcome Home" became "Rock is My Life", "Blue Collar" became "Lookin' Out For #1", "Not Fragile" became "Flat Broke Love") and that cycle of repeating themselves--songs becoming almost, too-obvious sequels to other songs, could have led to their burn-out, as well. Half-hearted attmepts to just put "something' out to please a record company making this band put out two albums a year, and fit that recording time between tours, with no time in between to really be creative, not to mention differences in musical styles between members when they finally did record, would be enough to break up any band--and it certainly caused this band to do so.

If you just want a "best-of" collection with more of the "heavy-hitting/head-banging" songs of BTO, I would recommend the one titled "The Collection" on import. But if you want an overview of the band's recording history--from their shaky-start, to the point where the band seems to go wrong, this is all you need. But thanks to this collection, I like and respect everything about Bachman-Turner Overdrive now--their music, Bachman's playing, Turner's singing, the lyrical content, the no-frills image--everything! And just as Led Zeppelin was Jimmy Page's chance to come out of his shell as a guitarist from the Yardbirds--likewise, BTO was Randy Bachman's chance to show the world what he was made of as a guitarist, from his embryonic stages in the Guess Who.

Trust me. For those of you who are not already fans of Bachman-Turner Overdrive--this is the sort-of compilation that can easily turn you into one!"

The BEST Bachman-Turner Overdrive collection!

A Fan | VA | 11/17/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the best BTO collection available! It contains all their hits and many essential album cuts. From the first time I heard "Gimme Your Money Please" on the radio in 1973 I was hooked. They were one of the hardest rocking and most successful bands of the mid-70's. You will know why after listening to this set! Unless you are a hardcore fan that wants all their albums, this should be all the BTO you need. Highly recommended!"