B.T.O. - Street Action

When I was a kid B.T.O. was synonymous with rock and roll. If there was a bigger, better and more awesome band I wasn't aware of them. The gear everything seemed to rotate around was Randy Bachman, the band's architect, producer, songwriter and occasional singer.

Of course this is how I saw it as a twelve year old, who practically lived off Four Wheel Drive, and later Head On. I was of course aware of Not Fragile, how could you not be? I didn't have the album (yet) but the big hits appeared on my various K-Tel records.

When Freeways dropped in 1977 I was a sophisticated teenager with slightly more refined tastes, and I was on the fence about getting the album. I had a good friend who had it, and he played it once for me, and the summary judgment was "This is shit." I wouldn't hear the album again for decades. When I found it on CD it was better than I remembered but it wasn't really a Bachman–Turner Overdrive album. There were moments, but it was a Randy Bachman record with a couple token C.F. Turner songs.

Then in 1978 B.T.O. (for legal reasons they couldn't use the Bachman name, but they got the acronym and the gear/logo) dropped a new album Street Action. I recall seeing it in record stores and I scanned the back cover and Randy was out, and Jim Clench, the former bass player from April Wine, was in. I wasn't interested and just kept flipping through the records. 1978 also saw Randy release Survivor and I liked the cover, but being somewhat short of cash and really not that keen I passed on that too.

Despite Street Action underperforming, they would get another kick at the can with Rock N' Roll Nights a year later, and I will admit that I was curious ... but I passed on that too. Then the years passed like pages being torn off a calendar. For a few years I would see the two records in the bins. I would be tempted on occasion, but was able to resist and pick up something more current that was pushing my happy buttons at the time.

Then in the early '90s The Anthology was released on CD and the second disc featured one song from Street Action, "I'm in Love," and one from Rock 'N Roll Nights, "Heartaches," to represent the band's nadir post Randy Bachman. Oddly enough they were passable songs (I'm being dismissive, "Heartaches" was really good) for all that, and from there a little seed was planted ... were there other songs there that I was missing out on?

A while back I was flipping through the bins at a used shop, and there was a copy of Street Action and I figured why not? Now I wasn't going into this blind (or deaf, as I had heard them) as I had downloaded copies of the last two albums from iTunes a few years ago and honestly they were fun for what they were. Getting the record would allow me to more or less complete my record collection.

Knowing full well that Rolling Stone had not only shit on the album, they had cut it into pieces small enough to flush down the toilet, I figured I could listen somewhat dispassionately and see if this really was the turd I expected it to be when I first saw the record as a kid. Of course, I've listened to the album several times over the years now, but I'm sitting here now with a purpose, and while it won't change history, it may shed a little light into the darkened corners of the B.T.O. catalogue that really do need to be seen and heard.

The album kicks off with the one song I knew, and honestly "I'm in Love" is a pretty good song. The whole first side is pretty solid. "Down the Road," sung by Jim, is another really good song, and he fit right in. The songs were cohesive, even if they felt at times a little derivative of their past work. But it felt and sounded like B.T.O., which was cool.

Flipping it over, side two opens with "For Love" that feels like it could have come off Head On. Then the band launches into a six minute opus that quite frankly surprised me. "Madison Avenue" is probably the most ambitious song on the album, and quite likely my favourite song on the record. The song actually blends the chunky riff rock B.T.O. was known for, but married it with an acoustic guitar and a gentler pop sound. It really works, and Blair is on point with his guitar work.

Jim Clench was solid on bass, and of the nine songs he sang on three of them. He was actually a smart choice to step into the band. He doesn't sound like Randy, but I could picture him pulling off Randy's songs in concert. The rest of the band was clicking along and all the gears seemed to be interlocked and moving through the songs with ease.

I've been pretty kind so far, and really have enjoyed myself. Let's be honest though, musically the album is an odd duck. You can tell the boys were deliberately crafting songs to sound like B.T.O. and frankly, they pulled it off - why not, they were an integral part of the band's sound. The trouble is, it wasn't 1975 anymore and tastes and styles were changing and the band was working to recapture their past glory. All of the songs were written and produced by B.T.O. Here was a band that was trying to show the world Bachman–Turner Overdrive was more than Randy and a collection of sidesmen doing his bidding in the studio - they were a united unit. All for one, one for all, and all that.

Listening today, after all this time, I can pretty much unequivocally (who puts a qualifier in front of the word unequivocal? I should edit this ...) say that this is a far better album than history has judged it to be. With the passage of time I can listen to this and place it where it belongs: in the thick of the mid '70s riff rock bands, of which few were better than B.T.O. To quote twelve year old me, "If there was a bigger, better and more awesome band I wasn't aware of them."

The reality was by 1978 changes were a comin' and no matter how much I wish it was otherwise, B.T.O. would not have been a band that would have survived into the '80s. Let's not shit on the band for what wasn't - celebrate the band for what it was.