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Bachman Turner Overdrive - Four Wheel Drive

Growing up a good Canadian kid, there was no band bigger or more influential than Bachman Turner Overdrive. I mean when you're a kid anything that seems to last more than a week is a long time. Heck if you can like something for more than a school year it's an eternity. I mean seriously as I got older I confuse events that happened last year, with things that happened a decade ago. But kid years? Yeah, they're like dog years - here I was listening to the radio as a kid rocking out to "Let it Ride" and a year later sitting on the floor listening to a special program on the radio playing the Not Fragile and loving "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" then in 1975 they dropped Four Wheel Drive, which would be the first record I bought with my own money. It was a dilemma too. My older cousins were playing Led Zeppelin, KISS, Nazareth, and Alice Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies - when I told them I wanted to get Four Wheel Drive they weren't as enthusiastic, oh they liked them, but it wasn't top of their list like it was for me.

Now as a kid my mum and dad bought me a very cool record player, I can't recall if it was birthday or Christmas. Probably birthday ... but really, does it matter? It was an Electrohome Sound in the Round, and it went loud enough to irritate my parents, and I was over the moon. I had it forever (probably four years). I found this picture on the web, yes it looked that cool. Yes, it was green. It was awesome. Along with my record player my dad bought me An Evening With John Denver a double live album despite me wanting to get Billion Dollar Babies this was more aligned with his tastes. I'd buy the Alice Cooper record myself.

Finally I got my copy of Four Wheel Drive, and I played it, and I played it, and I played it some more. It was only eight songs, but I didn't care. Heck I even liked "Lowland Fling" and when I started playing guitar I was over the moon when I could play the opening lick to that song.

Looking back you can see the band had peaked already, but to me this album and the follow up Head On were my jam. Over the years I'd get everything I could get my hands on (B.T.O. Japan Tour still escapes me. My buddy Gord had a copy, and apparently his daughter got his vinyl so I'm still looking), and then again on CD. But when I started sussing up lost treasures on vinyl Four Wheel Drive was one of the first ones I picked up.

When I turned 50 my buddy Randy (the other one) who played with BTO for many years got me a care package from Blair Thornton with some old t-shirts, guitar picks and a couple of tour lanyards - my inner 12 year old is still freaking out. 

With the benefit of hindsight I can unequivocally say that Four Wheel Drive was the right call when it came to buying my first album.



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