http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?search- ... g=imwan-20

Just teasing us are you? Apparently there will be a series of Guess Who reissues from this fine label.

About time!

This is almost too good to be true.

Though aren't Iconoclassic run by the same people who were in charge at Buddha?
They did some nice Guess Who releases so maybe we shouldn't be surprised.

If the Guess Who's are the same quailty as Iconoclassic's Laura Nyro releases we have nothing to worry about. Those discs sound excellent.

I agree with eelkiller about Iconoclassic's Nyro discs -- they're some of the best sounding CDs in my collection. I may have to pick up this Guess Who reissue based on that alone. The art on the Nyro releases was also top quality.

THE GUESS WHO’S WHEATFIELD SOUL (1969) REISSUED ON CD

40th ANNIVERSARY DELUXE REMASTER WITH 3 BONUS TRACKS

Album has been out of print on CD for over 15 years

Latest release from new reissue imprint Iconoclassic Records arrives on May 12, 2009

“We used to go down east to Toronto and we were kind of looked at as farm boys, and I was a little intimidated. I was still a teenager and felt a little out of place in Toronto, and when we got criticized or looked at weird I’d always say, ‘Yeah, but we got Wheatfield Soul…’” - Burton Cummings

“Wheatfield Soul was a great beginning for us that changed our lives.” - Randy Bachman

WHEATFIELD SOUL was The Guess Who’s U.S. debut album and launched the Canadian group to international stardom with the timeless Top 10 hit “These Eyes.” The classic lineup of The Guess Who (led by lead singer/keyboardist Burton Cummings and lead guitarist Randy Bachman) display their eclectic mix of influences on WHEATFIELD SOUL, numbering pop, garage rock, Doors-style psychedelia, jazz, and folk.

Recorded and mixed in just four days in summer 1968, WHEATFIELD SOUL may have been The Guess Who’s U.S. debut, but the band were by no means novices. A year earlier, the group had landed a gig as house band on a nationally televised weekly music program in Canada called “Let’s Go.” Encouraged to contribute songs by the show’s producer, the Bachman-Cummings writing partnership began to develop. Before long, the group caught the attention of McCann-Erickson Advertising Agency jingle coordinator and producer, Jack Richardson. Richardson remembers, “I took out a $5,000 second mortgage on my house, which in 1968 was a lot of money, to take the band down to Phil Ramone’s A & R Studios in New York City and make an entire album.” Richardson’s gamble was rewarded when The Guess Who landed a record contract with RCA Records, and WHEATFIELD SOUL’s opening track “These Eyes” became a massive hit.

Iconoclassic Records’ 40th Anniversary Edition of WHEATFIELD SOUL has been digitally remastered from the original master tapes and features extensive liner notes by Guess Who biographer Ralph Chapman, including exclusive new interviews and song commentary from all of the band members (Bachman, Cummings, bassist Jim Kale and drummer Garry Peterson), as well as producer Richardson and engineer Dave Greene. Additionally, three rare and sought after single sides (two making their worldwide CD debut) have been added as bonus tracks, making this the definitive edition of a landmark album.

Iconoclassic Records President Frank Ursoleo was a prime mover behind the highly acclaimed Guess Who reissues released by Buddha Records and BMG Heritage at the turn of the century, including Live At The Paramount (Expanded Edition), American Woman (30th Anniversary Edition) and The Guess Who Anthology. Also returning from Anthology (frequently cited as the best-sounding Guess Who CD) to work on WHEATFIELD SOUL is Grammy Award® winning engineer Vic Anesini who mastered the bonus tracks, while the album proper was remastered by Bob Irwin. “We are very excited to be able to continue the work begun at Buddha on the Guess Who releases,” comments Ursoleo. “Our goal is to present the definitive releases of these incredibly underrated albums. The Guess Who was consistently pigeon-holed as a singles band and we hope these remasters will lead to a serious reassessment of the strength of the individual projects.”

WHEATFIELD SOUL is the first release in a proposed Guess Who remasters series from Iconoclassic Records, which will continue with So Long, Bannatyne (first time on CD outside Canada) later in 2009. Iconoclassic Records has quickly established itself as a major new player in the reissue sphere, earning praise for its major-label-quality packaging and sound, following acclaimed reissues from Laura Nyro (Nested, Season Of Lights…Laura Nyro In Concert), The Isley Brothers (Showdown, Go All The Way), Mott The Hoople (The Hoople), and Weather Report (Tale Spinnin’).

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WHEATFIELD SOUL by The Guess Who (Iconoclassic ICON 1008, originally issued March 1969, as RCA Victor LSP-4141)



Selections: 1. These Eyes • 2. Pink Wine Sparkles In The Glass • 3. I Found Her In A Star • 4. Friends Of Mine • 5. When You Touch Me • 6. A Wednesday In Your Garden • 7. Lightfoot • 8. Love And A Yellow Rose • 9. Maple Fudge • 10. We’re Coming To Dinner • BONUS TRACKS: 11. When Friends Fall Out (Nimbus 9 single A-side) • 12. Guess Who Blues (Nimbus 9 single B-side, first time on CD) • 13. Of A Dropping Pin (Nimbus 9 single A-side, first time on CD)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001Y44DX6/?tag=imwan-20

Thanks for the email regarding these reissues. I posted it "elsewhere".

I picked up a copy today at J&R. Looks like a first-class operation all the way around.

THE GUESS WHO’S SO LONG, BANNATYNE (1971) AND ROCKIN’ (1972) REISSUED ON CD

LIMITED EDITION REISSUES CONTINUE ICONOCLASSIC RECORDS’ ACCLAIMED GUESS WHO REISSUE PROGRAM

First time on CD in U.S.

So Long, Bannatyne releases December 8, 2009; Rockin’ releases January 12, 2010

Iconoclassic Records announces the latest releases in the label’s continuing reissue program of the original albums by The Guess Who. SO LONG, BANNATYNE, originally released in 1971, will be reissued on December 8, 2009; ROCKIN’ (from 1972) will follow on January 12, 2010. Both releases are now available for pre-order. Each album has been digitally remastered from the original master tapes by Grammy®-winning engineer Vic Anesini and features extensive liner notes with new interviews and song commentary from all of the living band members as well as producer Jack Richardson. Each CD edition is limited to 3,000 non-numbered limited edition copies.

The Guess Who proved they could weather a significant personnel change with 1970’s commercially and artistically triumphant Share The Land, welcoming guitarists Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw onboard as replacements for Randy Bachman, with the guitarists joining long-standing members Burton Cummings (vocals, keyboards), Jim Kale (bass) and Garry Peterson (drums). The 1971 follow-up to Share The Land, SO LONG, BANNATYNE saw the band branching out, embracing more eclectic and less polished and commercial material, much of it with a considerably darker hue than the band’s earlier hits and heavily influenced by John Lennon’s visceral Plastic Ono Band.

Unprepared at the time for the band’s latest evolution, at the time of its release BANNATYNE was saddled by many fans and critics alike with the tag of being the beginning of the end for the band as a vital hit-making proposition. But to a fresh set of ears, a fascinating lyrical continuity emerges that reveals a band and its principal writers burdened by success, cynical, tormented; the result being a kind of ad hoc concept record centering around themes of desperation, anger, disillusionment, resignation and an interminable bleakness, topics frontman Burton Cummings would continue to explore throughout the rest of The Guess Who’s lifespan.

Iconoclassic Records’ limited edition reissue of SO LONG, BANNATYNE appends the contemporaneous “Albert Flasher” b/w “Broken” single as bonus tracks, making this the definitive edition of a landmark album.

ROCKIN’, originally released in 1972, represented a back-to-basics album for The Guess Who. Recorded and mixed in just 4 ½ days of what were often live-in-the-studio sessions, ROCKIN’ captures the band at its loosest, cracking jokes, remembering songs from their youth, and demonstrating the casual brilliance that marked one of rock’s finest and most underrated ensembles. Frontman Burton Cummings recalls ROCKIN’ as “the best GW time of my entire GW time…we started getting drum sounds about noon on Monday, and we turned in the finished, mixed masters about 3 p.m. on Friday.”

The twin-guitars of Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw power one of The Guess Who’s hardest rocking releases. Yet in true early ’70s Guess Who fashion, ROCKIN’ features an all-inclusive definition of rock, from the heavy riffs of opening track and single “Heartbroken Bopper,” the ’50s-styled boogies “Get Your Ribbons On” and “Running Bear,” the harmony-driven “Smoke Big Factory,” the socially conscious “Guns, Guns, Guns,” and the psychedelic multipart suite that closed the original album.

A longtime cult-favorite among their fans, The Guess Who’s ROCKIN’ has been augmented with two previously unreleased bonus tracks exclusive to this limited edition release, including “Lost Sheep,” a dry run for the “Hi Rockers!” medley that arguably betters its originally released counterpart.

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SO LONG, BANNATYNE by The Guess Who (Iconoclassic ICON 1015, originally issued 1971, as RCA LSP-4574)



Selections:
1. Rain Dance (U.S. #19, Canada #3)
2. She Might Have Been A Nice Girl
3. Goin’ A Little Crazy
4. Fiddlin’
5. Pain Train
6. One Divided
7. Grey Day
8. Life In The Bloodstream
9. One Man Army
10. Sour Suite (U.S. #50, Canada #12)
11. So Long Bannatyne
Bonus Tracks:
12. Albert Flasher (U.S. #29, Canada #13)
13. Broken (U.S. #55, Canada #18)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002TCRQ90/?tag=imwan-20

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ROCKIN’ by The Guess Who (Iconoclassic ICON 1016, originally issued 1972, as RCA LSP-4602)



Selections:
1. Heartbroken Bopper (U.S. #47, Canada #12)
2. Get Your Ribbons On
3. Smoke Big Factory
4. Arrivederci Girl
5. Guns, Guns, Guns (U.S. #70, Canada #58)
6. Running Bear
7. Back To The City
8. Your Nashville Sneakers
9. Herbert’s A Loser
10. Hi Rockers!: Sea Of Love, Heaven Only Moved Once Yesterday, Don’t You Want Me
Bonus Tracks:
11. Sea Of Love (Previously Unreleased)
12. Lost Sheep (Previously Unreleased)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002TCRQ9A/?tag=imwan-20

I think I'll be in for So Long, Bannatyne. I'm really not familiar with Rockin', so I'm not sure about that one.

Thanks to Iconoclassic for all the great reissues so far. The discs sound absolutely great and the packaging is top notch. Keep 'em coming.

Thanks again Iconoclassic. I have them on Pre-order. Any chance of more Laura Nyro music (Smile?)

I'd love to see Laura Nyro's Smile get the Iconoclassic treatment, too. Great album.

Bump: The release date of So Long, Bannatyne has been pushed back, and now both titles will be coming out on January 12th.

That's an interesting development. I received an email from Iconoclassic that advised SLB would be available tomorrow (December 8) through Newbury Comics exclusively until January 12 when it and Rockin' would both be available through everyone else. I had a pre-order with Amazon and that was pushed back. I know that for a while Newbury was the only outlet for the Laura Nyro Nested and Season of Lights CDs (the first CDs released by Iconoclassic). Newbury does have SLB available to order right now.

I wonder what the relationship is and how Amazon must feel at this point. I realize business is business. But, hmmm.

If it was Iconnoclassic's intent to make "So Long Bannatyne" available exclusively through Newbury Comics, then they(Iconnoclassic) should have made their intent known from the very outset, instead of announcing this exclusivity deal one week before the disc was supposedly going to be available through all of the major online dealers. Amazon's revenge is that they are listing the "So Long Bannatyne" CD for preorder, but they are also offering the album for download.....but that download is a 2003 remastering with no bonus tracks. Unsuspecting consumers may purchase that download expecting it to be the new remastering. If Iconnoclassic had announced the exclusivity deal with Newbury Comics from the very start, then I might have purchased from Newbury, but instead, I've opted to continue my backorder with Amazon. If Iconnoclassic wants to eventually allocate some of the 3000 discs to Amazon, then I'll someday receive a copy. If not, then I'll re-create the disc on my CD burner using earlier masterings of this material.(the 2 bonus tracks are a non-L.P. single that I already have on two CD compilations)

Due to circumstances which we don't need to discuss in detail here, it became apparent to the label that the So Long, Bannatyne stock would not reach the majority of retailers in time to make the scheduled 12/8/09 release date. The CDs would, however, arrive at Newbury Comics in time. We were faced with the choice to either push the entire release off to January, or to allow Newbury Comics to sell the product that they already had in stock and on time for the originally scheduled release date, in effect giving Newbury Comics a one month exclusive. We chose this latter option. Amazon and other retailers will have stock of So Long, Bannatyne for 1/12/2010.

The "Amazon's revenge" theory which Phil has mentioned here and elsewhere is not correct. The 2003 masterings have been incorrectly linked for download to Iconoclassic's new reissues on Amazon from the moment that the pre-order links went up.

I got my copy in the mail from Newbury today. Then I went to Dearborn Music and saw two copies there for $14.99.

Hmm... Sounds like I need to add Iconoclassic to my list of unreliable manufacturers whose products I should only consider buying if I want to deal with biased distribution.

Now I'm more inclined to just cancel my order with Amazon and remain satisfied with the versions I already own.

I'm not an Amazon cheerleader, but I resent manufacturers who play favorites with distribution at the last minute, screwing both vendors and fans in the process.

I'm glad that someone other than myself expressed displeasure at Iconnoclassic's marketing strategies, because people on message boards such as this one & (especially) the Steve Hoffman forum seem to view me as some sort of crazy or grumpy curmudgeon or firebrand.

Sounds in this case like it was less of a "strategy" and more of an attempt to make a little lemonade out of some lemons...

Funny... this lemonade seems quite sour to anyone who doesn't shop with their favored vendor.

Having a comic shop, I'd be furious if I found out that one of the publishers decided after the fact to offer a one-month exclusive to one retailer.

This is no different. Bad form on Iconoclassic's part, and in my mind it marks them as unprofessional and inequitable in their handling of product and vendors.