The Guess Who: Albert Flasher

To help our neighbors to the north celebrate Canada Day, I thought I might include a little Canadian rock ‘n roll courtesy of The Guess Who. Recorded as a non-album single, “Albert Flasher” was originally intended to be the “B” side of “Broken.”  Radio flipped this boogie-woogie influenced tune in the key of “G” and “Albert Flasher” was chosen instead as the “plug” side of the single.

According to Richard Crouse in Who Wrote the Book of Love? The Stories Behind the Hits – from Chuck Berry to Chumbawamba, Burton Cummings took the name “Albert Flasher” from the “alert flasher” lamp at a radio station where he was being interviewed.  “Alert flasher?” Maybe that's what they call them in Canada - we call them "on-air lights" in the US.  The single peaked at #29 in the US and as expected did better in Canada at #13.

Since the song was featured in the movie “Almost Famous” but not on the soundtrack, it fits our Media Monday category. The single was recorded after Randy Bachman left The Guess Who to form Brave Belt – an early incarnation of Bachman-Turner Overdrive. The guitar parts were supplied by Bachman’s replacements Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw.