AMG Review of Greatest Hits [RCA]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

There have been plenty of Guess Who collections on the market, from the original Best of the Guess Who to the multi-disc Track Record. Of all of these, the best is the 1999 collection Greatest Hits, which contains a generous 18 songs, including all but two of their charting American singles -- not counting 1965's "Shakin' All Over," the missing songs are "Broken" (the B-side to "Albert Flasher") and "Runnin' Back to Saskatoon" (which barely scraped the charts). Although the Guess Who's albums are distinctive (more so than their reputation would lead you to believe), there's little question that they're best heard as a singles band, and this is the best place to hear them that way. After a spin of Greatest Hits, it's clear that the Guess Who made some of the best mainstream rock of their era -- and while they never received much critical respect (apart from iconoclast Lester Bangs, of course), their music holds up better than much of their peers', which means that the Guess Who deserves to have the last laugh.