Bachman-Turner Overdrive - Japan Tour 1976 (Great Album 1977)

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BTO Live – Japan Tour (Mercury Records, 1977) is an album containing live recordings from a 1976 Bachman–Turner Overdrive Japan tour concert. This album was only issued in Japan and Canada.

Biography by Wikipedia:
Bachman–Turner Overdrive is a Canadian rock group from Winnipeg, Manitoba, that had a series of hit albums and singles in the 1970s, selling over 7 million albums in that decade alone. Their 1970s catalog included five Top 40 albums and six U.S. Top 40 singles (ten in Canada). 

The band has sold nearly 30 million albums worldwide, and has fans affectionately known as "gearheads" (derived from the band's gear-shaped logo). Many of their songs, including "Let It Ride", "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet", "Takin' Care of Business", "Hey You" and "Roll On Down the Highway", still receive play on classic-rock stations.

The precursor to BTO was the band Brave Belt, formed in Winnipeg in 1971 by Randy Bachman and Chad Allan, both formerly of The Guess Who, and drummer Robin "Robbie" Bachman. Randy initially planned to just produce a solo album for Allan, but eventually both he and Robbie stepped in to provide much of the instrumental work. When the record label wanted them to tour, Randy (at the suggestion of Neil Young) called fellow Winnipeg bassist/vocalist C.F. "Fred" Turner to perform in the band's scheduled gigs.

Brave Belt's self-titled first album did not sell particularly well and Allan left the band shortly after the supporting tour started. Not having a lead vocal replacement ready, Turner was asked to be a full-time member and sing lead for the recording of Brave Belt II in 1972. Brave Belt II also failed to achieve major chart success and in mid-1972 their tour in support of the album was canceled halfway through. But Turner's influence had started to make itself felt as the band morphed from pure country rock to a harder, guitar-heavy sound featuring Turner's gruff, powerful voice.

Chad Allan appears as a vocalist on two Brave Belt II songs but was essentially out of the band for any supporting tours. During this period, Tim Bachman was added as a second guitarist because the band had felt their three-piece arrangement was too restrictive. After Reprise Records dropped Brave Belt from their label, the band landed a new recording deal from Mercury Records, one which Randy Bachman proclaimed as a pure stroke of luck.

After their demo tape had been rejected 26 times, Bachman was prepared to tell the other band members that they would no longer be able to remain on salary, "And they had to go and get the dreaded day jobs". Fate took a different course. In April 1973, Charlie Fach of Mercury Records returned to his office after a trip to France to find a stack of unplayed demo tapes waiting on his desk. Wanting to start completely fresh, he took a trash can and slid all the tapes into it except one which missed the can and fell onto the floor. Fach then picked up the tape and noticed Bachman's name on it. He remembered talking to him the previous year and had told Bachman that if he ever put a demo together to send it to him. While playing the first song on the 7½ inch reel, "Gimme Your Money Please", Fach called Bachman to tell him that he wanted to sign the band.

At this point the band’s demo tape was still called Brave Belt III. Fach convinced the band that a brand new name was needed; one that capitalized on the name recognition of the band members. The band had already mulled over using their surnames (à la Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young). While on their way back from a gig in Toronto, the group had spotted a copy of a trucker’s magazine called Overdrive at a Windsor, Ontario truckstop, after which Turner wrote "Bachman–Turner Overdrive" and the initials "B.T.O." on a serviette. The rest of the band decided the addition of "Overdrive" was the perfect way to describe their music.

BTO released their eponymous first album in May 1973. The album broke through in the U.S. via border towns such as Detroit and Buffalo and stayed on the charts for many weeks despite lacking a true hit single. The Turner-penned "Blue Collar" reached #21 on the Canadian RPM charts, but stalled at #68 on the U.S. charts. The album's eventual success was very much the result of the band's relentless touring. Reportedly, Fach had only agreed to put this album on the Mercury label if the band would promote it with a heavy concert schedule. In any market where the band was getting significant airplay, Bachman–Turner Overdrive would immediately travel there regardless of the tour routing to build momentum, and it paid off. B.T.O. I would later be certified gold in 1974 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was a precursor to their upcoming success.

Their second album, Bachman–Turner Overdrive II, was released in December 1973 and became a massive hit in the U.S. (peaking at #4 in 1974) and their native Canada. It was originally to be titled "Adrenaline Rush". It also yielded two of their best known hit singles, "Let It Ride" and "Takin' Care of Business". Randy had already written the core of "Takin' Care of Business" several years earlier as "White Collar Worker" while in The Guess Who, but that band had felt it was not their type of song. It reappeared in BTO's repertoire during the supporting gigs for the first album primarily, as Randy put it, "To give Fred Turner a chance to rest his voice". Randy had heard DJ Darryl Burlingham say the day before a gig, "We're takin' care of business on C-Fox radio", and he decided to insert the lyrics "takin' care of business" into the chorus where "white collar worker" previously existed.

Bachman-Turner Overdrive 1975

Tim Bachman left the band in early 1974 shortly after the release of Bachman–Turner Overdrive II. Randy Bachman has very strong beliefs and a rule to be in B.T.O. was that drugs, alcohol and, premarital sex were prohibited and Tim Bachman is alleged to have broken all of them. It is said that he was given opportunities to change his lifestyle and did. Temporarily. There are differing accounts of the reasons for his departure. Many state he left because of personal and lifestyle issues...that he was getting married and/or wanted to study record engineering and concert promotion. But in a 2002 interview, brother Robbie said, "He was basically asked to leave. He wasn't BTO caliber [and] it was difficult to rely on him. I guess the band was conflicting with his whole life."

B.T.O. continued a very busy tour schedule and during the supporting tour for BTO II, Tim was replaced by Blair Thornton, who had been in the Vancouver-based band Crosstown Bus. The first album with the modified lineup, 1974’s Not Fragile (a play on the hit album Fragile by Yes), became a massive hit and reached #1 on the Canadian and U.S. album charts. It included the #1 single "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" and AOR favorite "Roll On Down the Highway". The band continued to steadily produce successful albums through the mid-1970s including Four Wheel Drive and Head On (both 1975). Each of these albums produced a hit single: "Hey You" (from Four Wheel Drive) and "Take It Like A Man" (from Head On). The latter song featured a guest appearance by Little Richard, who wailed away on his piano. Head On also featured the jazzy Randy Bachman composition "Lookin' Out for #1", which garnered considerable airplay on both traditional rock stations and also soft rock stations which normally did not play bands like B.T.O. In between the latter two albums, B.T.O. released their only non-album single "Down To The Line". This song would appear on some of the later compilation CD's, as well as on re-issues of the Head On album in CD format.

The first B.T.O. compilation album, Best of BTO (So Far), was released in 1976 and featured songs from each of the band's first five studio albums. A single—a re-release of "Gimme Your Money Please"—was put out from this album, and it also charted well keeping B.T.O. on both the AM & FM airwaves. This compilation album became the best-selling Bachman–Turner Overdrive album to date, reaching Double Platinum status in the U.S.

♣ Randy Bachman - Lead Guitar, Vocals
♣ C.F. "Fred" Turner - Bass, Vocals
♣ Blair Thornton - 2nd Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
♣ Robbie Bachman - Drums

01. "Roll on Down the Highway" (C.F. Turner, Robbie Bachman) 4:25
02. "Hold Back the Water" (Randy Bachman, Robbie Bachman, Kirk Kelly) 2:35
03. "Welcome Home" (Randy Bachman) 7:05
04. "Don't Get Yourself in Trouble" (Randy Bachman) 10:30
05. "Four-Wheel Drive" (Randy Bachman, Blair Thornton) 7:33
06. "Takin' Care of Business" (Randy Bachman) 6:29
07. "Slow Down Boogie" (Randy Bachman) 3:26
08. "Thank You - Domo" (C.F. Turner) 1:00

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