Bachman-Turner Overdrive - Bachman-Turner Overdrive

Yeah, I know I've written about B.T.O. more than once, but dang it, man, these guys were THE SHIT when I was a kid. They were the original monsters of rock for me, and every so often I will go and revisit different albums and take the musical time machine back to the land of nostalgia. I found a nice copy of the debut and figured, why not go back to the beginning and see what the fuss was about?

This may have been their debut, but it didn't show up in my collection for a long, long time. I think I first heard the album in its entirety when I got it on CD. The halcyon days for me were those that accompanied the band's bookend releases in 1975: Four Wheel Drive and the Christmas present Head On - those were my jam. Dang, "Wild Spirit" from Head On should have been as big as anything they'd ever done - even if it was a mono mix, which even as a preteen was perplexing, as I had a stereo.

I digress.

It's not unusual, in the words of Tom Jones.

The first song I remember that showed up on the K-Tel collections in the early days was the jazz-infused "Blue Collar," a song I did not know how to process as a kid. Sure, the guitar work was awesome, but this wasn't rock, was it? Did jazz have a wah-wah pedal? It's surprising how many of these songs I remembered. Heck, I get the giggles when I hear "Stayed Awake All Night," mainly because Krokus covered it and I have a hard time reconciling the boogie-woogie bell-bottom rock with Swiss cheese metal. (I know this is a little mean, and to be fair, Krokus did have some good songs.)

I'm pleasantly surprised at how well these songs have held up. Sure, some are a tad dated, but they're fun, and you could tell these songs were written to be played live. Songs like "Hold Back the Water" and "Thank You for the Feelin'" were tailor-made for an audience. The rather clunky "Down and Out Man," which was co-written by Tim and Randy and sung by Tim, feels like the bare bones that would be fleshed out into "Takin' Care of Business" on the next album. I often think the first two albums with Tim Bachman are overlooked - speaking from personal experience.

There was something special about B.T.O., and they had a distinct sound that, to a lot of people, is synonymous with what was great about '70s riff rock.

To the band, "I'd like to thank you."

I know the band is in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, but dang, these guys were influential all over the world, and a little tip of the hat by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame would be pretty cool and long overdue.

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