Thursday, January 30, 2014

The Guess Who - 1974-08-31 - CNE, Toronto, ON

The Guess Who
August 31st, 1974
Canadian National Exhibition Place, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Soundboard recording, decent sound quality
Available in both lossless (FLAC) and mp3 (320 kbps) versions

Here's one more Guess Who show. This one comes from their 1974 Flavours tour and features a nice mix of songs from their then-recent albums (Flavours, Road Food) and their older classics. Although this show is sourced from a soundboard recording, it appears to come from an old low-quality cassette recording, as several limitations and artefacts from a deteriorating cassette tape are apparent in the sound quality, so it has decent, but not great sound. However, it's well-worth checking out, as it's a very good performance and contains a few different songs from other shows from this period (1974-75) previously featured. So, once again, since there are so few good quality live boots of classic Guess Who available out there, I feel compelled and obligated to pass along any and all decent Guess Who recordings so that they will be available to all. So, here again are The Guess Who in fine form in 1974.


Tracklist
Disc One
01. Bus Rider
02. Dirty
03. Albert Flasher
04. Hand Me Down World
05. Star Baby
06. Glamour Boy
07. Undun
08. Those Show Biz Shoes

Disc Two
01. (cut) Straighten Out
02. These Eyes
03. Clap For The Wolfman
04. American Woman (cut)
05. Dancing Fool
06. No Time
07. Orly
08. Long Gone (cut)

Link updated 08/31/21)
MP3 - Guess Who - 1974-08-31 - Toronto mp3

FLAC - Guess Who - 1974-08-31 - Toronto FLAC-disc1
    Guess Who - 1974-08-31 - Toronto FLAC-disc2

12 comments:

KDNYfm said...

BBKron
Wow!! Been Searching for this for years!!
What a great show this was to be at!!
Burton Cummings was in excellent form, and Troiano was simply superb!!

Thanx very much!!

jan said...

I also was at this concert and it was the best. I moved to Winnipeg in 1980 and tonight I just got home from a concert with some of the best Winnipeg musicians along with the Winnipeg Chamber Orchestra and would you know, Bill Wallace right in the thick of it. I remember him from the CNE concert like it was yesterday. A great musician but I have to say ,being a teenage girl it was the long hair and buckskin suit that did it for me lol.

Unknown said...

This was my first rock concert ever. Borrowed my dad's car to travel into Toronto but slid through an intersection in the rain north of town and cracked it up on the morning of the show. After the wrecked car was towed away and the police finished their citation writing I was a long haired 17 year old hitch-hiking with my buddy, Paul, to get to the show. We made it in one piece. Super impressed to see the band get dropped off in front of the stage in long white limos. Settled in and rocked the show. Remember Burton Cummings commenting that he was dusting off cob webs to sing These Eyes. Seems like 8 millions years ago ..... also seems like yesterday. Thanks for posting this time capsule.

Unknown said...

This was my first concert ever too. I was 9 yrs old.....

Unknown said...

Great show, but it was from Aug. 31 1975, not 1974. The Aug. 31 1974 show still had Kurt Winter and Don McDougall in the band. Dom Troiano joined in 1975. I was at both shows.

BBKron said...

Un,
You're lucky to have gotten to see them in those years. I never got the chance. However, your suggested revised dates still don't work. Winter and McDougall were gone from the band by the end of June, 1974, immediately after their Spring 1974 tour (wrapped up June 1974). The band then went right back into the studio in July 1974 to record Flavours, with new guitarist Troiano. And they were back out on the road by the end of August 1974, which was when this show was, with the new band lineup and new songs from Flavours (although the album wasn't released until October 1974). This show was definitely not from 1975, as that would have been after Power in the Music was released (July 1975)and would feature some songs from that album. So, I have to stick with 1974 as the correct date and part of the Flavours tour. Glad you enjoyed the show.

jan said...

BBKron Your are right , I was there . I remember because my purse was stolen from me 1 week before the concert. It had my tickets in it but I had written down time ,date ,seats ... Talked to cops and they said they would go with me to see if people showed up in my seat ,yep lol sure enough they did . Plus they broke up in 75 . Well Burton left in 75. The concert referred to here is def 1974. Wallace had on a buckskin suit :)

Unknown said...

Does anyone remember who the opening act was this night ???

jan said...

I don't remember them having a opening act so I looked it up . From the 27th to Sept 1st. The band who had a opening act all had the opening band named. Guess Who ,Chicago... Don't have one listed ...August 27 - The Stylistics, Robby G. Griffith, George and Gwen McCrae; August 28 - Bachman-Turner Overdrive, The Beach Boys; August 29 - De Franco Family, Susan Jacks; August 30 – Osmonds; August 31 - Guess Who; September 1 – Chicago; .

Pianoman Craig said...

Hi Nice to hear from all you Guess Who fan. I was uch a huge fan I till recite every Guess Who song in order (over 100) when trying to fall asleep. I saw them every year at the CNE, once at The Gardens for a charity event and many other times. Guaranteed the band had Troiano in 75, I remember heavy rain and he was standing under a plastic device for his solos. As great a player as he was, I still favoured Kurt. I thought he had so many awesome gems with Burton and his slide guitar playing *Star Baby) and wah wah (Pain Train) fit the band so nicely. Hand me down World, Bu Rider, etc. Come on. Share the Land album was absolutely/ Amazing. I am a piano freak and Burton never really let loose when Bachman was still ther. Anyone else agree? Pianoman Craig.

Pianoman Craig said...

Hi. I forgot to mention I saw the Guess Who 15 or 20 times in the 1970s and they never had a warm up band. Also does anyone remember the one time they played Maple Leaf Gardens? I think it was 1973. I had met Burton the previous week in the El Macambo! He dedicated "Those Show Biz Shoes" to me at the concert. Classy guy.

BBKron said...

Pianoman,
Thanks for the comments. I agree about Kurt. he was my favorite guitar player for the band and his collaborations and interactions with Burton were wonderful. Great that you gort to see them live so many times back in the day. I never got to see them live in the '70's. I did see Burton live when he played with Ringo and his All-Starr Band in 1992, but Burton only got to do a couple songs as lead. That's one reason why I like getting these live Guess Who shows, to be able to hear the band live in their various tours. Such a great. underrated band. Thanks.