After the demise of The Guess Who in the mid 70’s when Cummings left to go solo, there were several attempts to utilize that name and cash in on the band’s success. One of the band’s founders, Jim Kale, retained ownership of the “Guess Who” band name through a nasty legal process so he decided to form a new band and record as the Guess Who.
In 1978 the album The Guess Who’s Back was released on Aquarius Records, with the line-up consisting of: David Inglis (lead guitar) ,Jim Kale: (bass guitar),Vance Masters(vocals, drums & percussion), Don McDougall (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and Kurt Winter(guitar & vocals). The result was disastrous as fans rejected the “new” Guess Who and called the band a “knock off”. The album was only released in Canada and to this day is almost never featured on any biography of the band. The album, for the most part, is pretty dismal as a “Guess Who” album. For fans of the Guess Who, this album does not exist and is not a Guess Who work.
If this would have been released under another name and was billed as a piece of late 70’s Canadian rock, it could have been another story. Taken in context of the music scene of that period in time, this album is not that bad and one wonders that if they had released this album under a name other than The Guess Who, it may have been a hit ! The song writing, mainly by the band members with McDougall figuring prominently, is weak by Guess Who standards but the guitar work of Winter and McDougall is good and the songs have a slight Guess Who feel them. The sound fails to hit the mark because of Kale’s vocal work and the Cummings vocal impression on the album which just doesn’t stand up, especially with fans. The single that was released from the album, C’Mon Little Mama, is a rocker reminiscent of The Band and is perhaps the strongest song on the album along with “Raisin Hell On The Prairies”.
”. This release by Unidisc Music Inc., is a straight reissue of the original The Guess Who’s Back album at a budget price complete with original artwork but unfortunately it contains no bonus tracks. This is the first appearance of this album on CD format and while its place in the Guess Who catalogue is controversial, this release will no doubt be welcomed by many Guess Who collectors worldwide as a unique collectors item.