A$# 027 Bachman Cummings | The Thunderbird Trax

Last week, I alluded to a surprise this week. Here it is: The Thunderbird Trax, a collection of "lost" songs from 1987, newly released by Bachman Cummings. They were selling it exclusively at their shows on their recent First Time Around tour.

Randy and Burton have had many fallouts and rapprochements over the last three and a half decades. Their current friendship and collaboration have now lasted more than seven years, and seem to be permanent. Let's hope that's the case. It seems like there's a karmic balance in the universe that has been restored.

They were getting along fairly well for a while two decades ago. In June 1987, the two got together in New York City, where they received an award for more than a million airplays of These Eyes. They started talking about collaborating on an album.

So the two got together at Randy's place in BC and started working on some songs. Burton would drive up from his place in Los Angeles in his 1966 Ford Thunderbird (a car that plays a seminal role in the ultimate release - and naming - of this album) and they worked up a number of tracks in Randy's tool shed.

During that year, they also performed together at the Winnipeg Bands & Fans Reunion, teaming up with folks such as Neil Young and TGW alums Chad Allen and Kurt Winter. They also did a number of Bachman Cummings shows, performing some of the new material they'd written. For example, bootlegs exist from Detroit, Toronto, Chicago and St. Louis; they feature several of the TTT songs.

But business disagreements got in the way. Also, according to Burton, record companies in the height of the MTV era weren't interested in the music of two old guys. The master tape got misplaced, and they moved on. (But several of the songs were bootlegged over the years.) Eventually they put aside their differences. They participated in the glorious Guess Who reunion era of 1999 to 2003 and have continued as partners in music since then.

In 2004, Randy bought the old Thunderbird from Burton. He took it to the Thunderbird Car Club of Vancouver to be restored. The restorers found a bunch of stuff in the car, as Randy explains in the liner notes:

While getting the car cleaned up and restored, I was given a bag of junk stuff that was in the car: pencils, manuals, tire gauge, old registration and a tape. To my amazement, the tape had every song we had recorded in the tool shed.

Burton writes:

That's one of the most ridiculous stories I've ever heard... I'm not swearing on any stack of bibles, but here are the Thunderbird Trax. They were fun to make in that tiny little tool shack, all those years ago ....

So how do the songs stack up? While I would say there's not a These Eyes or American Woman that jumps out at me upon first hearing, I will definitely state this: they are solid and well-crafted songs. At just eight songs, it's not a whole album, perhaps. If Randy and Burton had obtained a recording contract back then, and been able to work out their other issues, they probably would have added more tracks. But then this set wouldn't be such a great"new" find in 2006!

Among the eight tracks, six are Bachman/Cummings co-writes, and they each have a self-penned cut. They played all the instruments between them.

American Dream: There's really strident guitar on this rocker; it's reminiscent of Randy's BTO or Union style of playing. Burton's lead vocal and Randy's backing vocals go together well. "The American dream is alive and well." And it's clear that Randy and Burton are back!

In Your Eyes - A mid-temp pop number, with keyboards dominating at first, then smooth guitar solo during the bridge. This could might been a good a-side, imho, though in the liner notes it's called "just a skippy, fluffy little love song."

Yo Te Amo- Randy comes on strong with the guitar in this one too. The drum machine really works on this one. It gives it a very distinct percussive feel. Burton really pushes on the vocal, and there are samples of voices too, saying Yo Te Amo, I love you, je t'aime in various languages. Right now, it's my favourite song of the bunch.

Just About Sane - Written by Burton, this keyboard-driven rocker also has great supportive guitar work. This song is fairly frantic - a great rocker that stands up there with other Bachman / Cumming compositions.

Martyr is a slow spiritual song about the example of Jesus. Nice.

Something About That Woman - Written by Randy, he takes the lead, trading lines with Burton. There's a definite presence of Burton's keyboards, with a strong synthesizer swirl accompanying the guitar.

Saturday's Gloom - Burton and Randy originally wrote this one back in the old days at Burton's grandmother's house. This was the first song they worked on in their 1987 sessions. It's sort of sombre sounding, but intriguing. Burtons's keys dominate the sound, with vibrant guitar playing during the middle. Some of Burton's vocals are double tracked.

Another One features searing guitar and makes a good album closer. It seems to be a lament relationships that didn't work out.

At the concert last week, for just a short moment I thought they might perform one of the songs when Randy started telling the story of the T-Bird. But alas they didn't. He was plugging the album to the audience members. It would have been great to hear at least one of the songs during their set.

Now the question is: Will they ever more songs together? I take solace and hope from these words of Randy's in the liner notes:

Now we're putting out these lost songs for the fans who have always asked the question, "Will you ever write together again?" The answer is, "Yes we did, here's something to keep you going, and we'll write together again when the time is right."

Well, Messrs. Bachman and Cummings, the time *is* right. Right now. Write now!

Track listing:
1. American Dream
2. In Your Eyes
3. Yo Te Amo
4. Just About Sane
5. Martyr
6. Something About That Woman
7. Saturday's Gloom
8. Another One