Luke The Frog Who Caught a Bug

For Fans of The Guess Who, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and Classic Rock! The Guess Who is a legendary Canadian band who enjoyed chart-topping hits in the late 60s and early 70s with an impressive catalogue of songs including "American Woman," "These Eyes," and "No Time." During the course of its career, the band has released 11 studio albums, all of which charted in Canada and the United States. The Guess Who is best known internationally for its 1970 album, American Woman, which hit number one in Canada and number nine in the United States, with five other albums also hitting the top ten in Canada. All in all, the Guess Who boasts 14 top-40 singles in the United States and more than 30 in Canada. The band is now gearing up to release its latest creation, Plein D’Amour. Band members Derek Sharp, Michael Staertow, Leonard Shaw, Michael Devin, and founding member Garry Peterson have crafted a collection of songs that raises the bar and continues to take it up a notch both musically and sonically.

The Guess Who always seemed a bit like the Canadian predecessor/counterpart to Grand Funk Railroad, but they typically fared far better with the critics because of the versatility that they possessed. That trait is very evident on this collection of hits and great songs. From the opening "These Eyes," with its orchestral strings and Zombies-like baroque pop feel to the classic AOR crunge of "American Woman," the Guess Who played a wide variety of music. It is sometimes hard to believe that the same group that brought the world the jazzy "Undun" and the CS&N-ish hippie anthem "Share the Land" is also responsible for the rocking "No Time." This 11-track collection paints a very entertaining picture of a mutli-talented band and is a perfect introduction for the casual fan.

This imported CD could serve as a blueprint for how to turn two very flawed but interesting albums into something worth buying – just maximize the virtues and let them come to the surface, and hope there are enough of them; in this case there are, albeit not by too much. Part of Canadian BMG's "Guess Who X 2" reissue series, Rockin'/Flavours marks the first official CD reissue of either of these two Guess Who albums…