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Randy Bachman
Axe
RCA - 1970
Mike Milner
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Over three days in March of 1970 (the 16th, 17th and the 18th) at RCA's Mid-America Recording Centre, Studio B, in Chicago, Randy Bachman recorded his first solo album. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, he titled it Axe, the slang term used by guitarists for their instrument. The album was an instrumental recording, and featured a second guitarist (fellow Canadian Dominic Troiano), Guess Who drummer Gary Peterson and another Winnipeg musician, Wes Dakus, on pedal steel. (Randy also played bass on the album.) It was subsequently released by RCA in Canada under the catalogue number LSP-4348.
The timing of Axe was interesting. The Guess Who had completed the recording of their third album for RCA, American Woman, at the same RCA studio in Chicago in the fall of 1969. That album was released in March of 1970, the same month Bachman decided to record his solo album. American Woman would of course go on to be the most successful recording ever made by the Guess Who, and ironically the last to feature Bachman. Due to irreconcilable differences, Randy left the band in May, just two months after its release.
Axe was an opportunity for Bachman to stretch out and showcase his exceptional abilities as a guitarist and composer. There are a number of musical motifs contained within the songs that foreshadow some of the music he would later record, particularly with Bachman-Turner Overdrive. The overall level of musicianship is excellent, although one wonders why he decided to double on bass guitar. No matter the reason, the session does seem to suffer slightly from some clunkiness in the rhythm section, something the addition of a true bassist may have alleviated. Notwithstanding some of these minor issues, however, it needs to be stated that the music on the record is very good. Bachman studied for a number of years in the early sixties with guitar phenom Lenny Breau, who lived in Winnipeg at the time, and the results of those years of lessons are apparent in some of the jazz chord voicings and progressions heard on Axe.
Randy Bachman will of course be known for his contributions to the original Guess Who and his commercial success with Bachman-Turner Overdrive. But Axe is a reminder that what we glimpse in those other bands is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the musical talents and ideas he possesses. It is well worth looking for if you are fan.
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