The Best of The Guess Who


The Best of The Guess Who is the fourth compilation album by the Canadian group The Guess Who. It was originally released by RCA Records in April 1971 and contains recordings made between 1968 and 1970. The album reached number 12 on the Billboard top LPs chart in the United States.
A follow up, The Best of The Guess Who Volume II, was released in 1973.

Release history

Some of the songs on this album are edited single versions. The single version of "American Woman" is missing an introduction. The single version of "Hang On to Your Life" does not include the spoken excerpt from Psalm 22 at the end.
In addition to the usual 2 channel stereo version the album was also released by RCA in a 4 channel quadraphonic version on 8-track tape and reel-to-reel.
The first CD issue in 1988 by RCA replaced the single version of American Woman with the album version. A reissue by Legacy Recordings in 2006 added three bonus tracks and had the single version restored.
In 2014 the album was released in the Super Audio CD format by Audio Fidelity. This version contains the complete stereo and quad versions on one disc. The stereo version includes the full album version of American Woman, but the quad version has the edited recording. "Hang on to Your Life" includes the Psalm 22 ending in stereo and in quad.

Reception

Gary Hill of AllMusic says "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."

Track listing

;The Guess Who
on tracks 1-6
on tracks 7-11 + bonus tracks
;Additional personnel