Bachman-Turner Overdrive - Best of B.T.O. (So Far) poll

If you only know the two biggest hits here, you are missing out on Randy Bachman's adept jazzy guitar solos over a Latin beat, Fred Turner's warm roar, chord changes borrowed from Dvorak, Little Richard on piano, and insults directed at Burton Cummings (not all on the same song).

lol, thank you! Yeah, this album's "wow, that's BTO?" moment, like the Doobies' "South City Midnight Lady" is definitely the jazzy "Blue Collar." And like SCML, I don't think I can vote for it, but I'm not sure what my vote is yet. Gonna relisten to the album.

this will be a great companion piece to the Doobie Brothers poll. yeah, can't wait to listen to this and right now i only know those two big songs. hoping to have what Dan described as the "wow, that's BTO?" moments when i listen to this.

I admit I only know the two songs everybody else knows. Will dive in before voting.

shit

this is going to be hard

which is the 'black water' tho

Would have voted "Rock Is My Life, And This Is My Song" had it been on there.

"Hey You"--A+ Wheatfield power-pop.

The two #1s are great, but a little over-played (especially on Canadian radio). "Roll On Down the Highway" may win; it's good, maybe a little too made-to-order. Would definitely take them over the Doobie Brothers.

"(So Far)"--there's more than one funny example of this found on greatest-hits albums through the years.

“Hey You” is great, the stop time chords and stuttering vocal harking back to “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet,” but with a plethora of “sha-la-la-las” and “whoos” to announce, “Hey you, this is a pop hit!”

Listened to this and the only song I could see myself voting for over "Takin' Care of Business" is "Let It Ride." They sounded like a much poppier Grand Funk to me, not at all a band I could imagine listening to again for pleasure.

True, they remove all of Grand Funk's (and the Guess Who's, for that matter) soul/R&B trimmings.

not at all a band I could imagine listening to again for pleasure.

wtf

BTO are a fun addition to party playlists!

everyone needs more BTO in their lives, its just a true fact

i can attest that “you aint seen nothing yet” is fun to dance to

One of those stupid things I remember from when their first album came out (I was 12): some guy reviewing it in a Muntz Tape Guide and writing (long-gone paraphrase, but I think I have this right) that it was the first album he'd ever heard where every song could be a hit single.

https://phildellio.tripod.com/muntz.jpg

(Wouldn't have been that issue, but I wanted you to experience the splendor of a Muntz Tape Guide.)

True, they remove all of Grand Funk's (and the Guess Who's, for that matter) soul/R&B trimmings.

The good part of listening to BTO for the best part of an hour: afterward, I reloaded all the Rare Earth albums into my digital Walkman.

will always take veg stanning for 70s baby boomer deep cuts over alfred stanning for 80s baby boomer deep cuts

except for billy squier, she's just rong there, he rules

no he sucks

sigh

What is it, mediocre AOR week on ilx?

wtf is wrong w you ppl

Who’s next, Bread? America?

No, we've got to keep doing bands that ROCK!

(By which I mean Chicago)

xp if you start a poll of failed yankees prospects i'll vote in it

lots on here I can’t honestly say I’ve heard!
I think maybe four got played on classick rock where I am.

of the two biggies YASNY is the one. inclined to give Highway a vote tho

Would be all the fuck over a Bread’s Greatest btw

How the fuck is anyone comparing Bread to BTO?

Most of these are still burned deep into my memory from 70s radio. The tracks with Turner on lead vocals are good but not quite persuasive as tuff buttrock; they kept reminding me of Skynyrd handling similar lyrics and arrangements with more muscle, style, and swing. The Bachman tracks are more fun. "Takin' Care of Business" was the only one that induced a little spontaneous head-banging-nodding, but it loses a few points for repeating a verse, so my vote goes to the Me Generation bossa nova.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

hard to believe a chorus that was initially intended to make fun of a band member's cousin's stutter became such a big hit

*brother's

Yes, the stutterer was a fourth Bachman, Gary.

My vote was for "Lookin' Out for #1". It was the only B.T.O. song played on the MOR radio station in my parents' house.
I loved the rhythm and the way the guitars sounded; now, I know I also responded to the chromatic chord progression and the way the solos in the bridge alternate using the same chorus riff in two different keys. There wasn't much on the radio like the 3/4 time jazz coda either. Vocals aside, this could easily fit on Katy Lied.

The reunion video of them on Youtube of them looking like they are playing in front of a Ag hall from the 80s is pretty awesome. They play really well and are rocking out but they look totally like a Will Farrell sketch of dads circa late 80s in their 40s rawking out.

I saw them open for Van Hagar back in the day and they went over really well. It was probably a year after this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwDTQAbSM9Y

takin care of business one of my most loathed classic rock songs, can't say i'm inspired to dig into their catalog

so glad you could join in

sorry to be negative! maybe it's the endless usage in commercials but for some reason that song irritates me in ways that most dumb 70s hits don't. Ok, I'm listening to "gimme your money please" because I liked the title, it's not bad, but feels like it has all the ingredients of a good song but doesn't really come together.

Two everyone knows = "Takin' Care of Business" and "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet"? Bc I like "Let It Ride" more than either of those but don't think I know the rest.

Yes, those two, which were ironically both conceived as album filler/outtakes. The two "intended hits" from those albums were "Let It Ride" and "Roll On Down the Highway", which I agree are better songs.
Apparently, when they opened for Van Halen, they got such a good reception that VH's manager wanted them thrown from the tour.

I saw this concert back in 1976. Seger stole the show, playing essentially the Live Bullet setlist. Wish I had clearer (or any) memories of Thin Lizzy and wish I had been more into BTO at the time. I was into Roxy Music and Sparks, but went to these arena rock shows for something to do, and because my best friend worked for the promoter and got free tickets.

https://www.thinlizzyguide.com/pictures/magazine_clips/750406_advert_thin_lizzy_5.jpg

Apparently, when they opened for Van Halen, they got such a good reception that VH's manager wanted them thrown from the tour.

I've never understood this attitude, don't they want a decent band to warm the crowd up? Also VH made their name in the UK partly by blowing a tired Black Sabbath offstage every night of their 1978 tour, so seems kind of hypocritical as surely they were hardly washed-up whenever it was BTO were opening.

Roll On Down The Highway was a top 30 hit in the UK, so Brits of a certain vintage know it better than anything else other than You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet.

blew off the stage

“Blowing a tired Black Sabbath off the stage ” oh jeez

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

B B B BABY

9 + 1 = 10, b-b-b-baby

listened to the 5 that made a dent over here in the NL and that I heard on the radio back then (iow this top 5) - and then forgot to vote.

weird to hear “Roll On Down The Highway” again btw, I kept interjecting “sure plays a mean pinball” during the verses

Can't believe I was the only Roll On voter, you people must sure hate grunt rock.

Was You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet the first committed fusion of jangle pop and disco? Yes it was.

I would've voted for "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet." The one BTO record I ever put on myself. (Put it in a compilation of '70s classic rock.)