EDMONTON - Randy Bachman speaks like he's the Douglas MacArthur of rock - "I have returned!"

He's entitled. In the Canadian rock 'n' roll wars, Western Canada theatre, Bachman is a five-star general.

Yes: inexplicably, amazingly, against impossible odds and thanks in part to "our new best friend Lenny Kravitz," who made American Woman hip again, the Guess Who has indeed returned. The original lineup (minus bassist Jim Kale, who bowed out to deal with "family issues") will perform tomorrow night in Skyreach Centre.

Bachman doesn't need the media to tell him what a momentous occasion it is.

"It's incredible," he says. "This is the American Woman tour of 1970 that we didn't do because I left the band. It's 30 years late to the month."

One can imagine heroic music playing (probably Wagner), as Bachman expresses his excitement: "It's an impossible thing, but suddenly through the god of rock 'n' roll and God of the universe, it is possible for us to get together and do this. Gordie Howe can't play with Maurice Richard in the Stanley Cup. But we can get back with the original guys from the team, the winning American Woman team and do the tour 30 years later. It's incredible. It's The Field of Dreams - this mythical Canadian band that's coming back from ashes to tour. It's unbelievable."

Sheesh, it's just a band, man. Or is it?

These guys are regarded as the fathers of Canadian rock. The band formed in Winnipeg (original name: Al and the Silvertones) in the late '50s, just as Elvis was getting really huge. Bachman entered the scene shortly thereafter and the group recorded Shakin' All Over in 1964.

Quality Records released the single under the mystery name "Guess Who?" because radio rarely played Canadian music (this was before Canadian content laws). The song became a hit before the truth came out and the name stuck - but the band still wasn't making much money. Founder Chad Allen finally had enough and quit to go back to school.

Enter a fiery young singer named Burton Cummings - and the legend is born. The Guess Who proceeded to crank out more hits than had ever been created by a Canadian rock band - thus paving the way for the future. (Cue Wagner's Ride of the Valkyrie.)

"We always did what they said couldn't be done," Bachman says. "We just went ahead and forged a road, ran into the forest and knocked down trees and made a way that became like the Trans-Canada Highway of music which bands have followed on, your Bryan Adamses and Celine Dions, and suddenly we're going back on the road again saying, well, we made this highway. We made this. It's kind of unbelievable."

As with all such reunions, questions arise: 1. When are we going to hear some new Guess Who music? and 2. Will it be any good?

To the first, it'll happen as soon as the band renegotiates a measly two per cent royalty rate that's still in effect, Bachman says. (And we think the modern record industry is filled with a bunch of pirates.) As for the second question, Gen. Bachman is supremely confident.

"If we really sat down to write something, we'd be churning out more of These Eyes and Unduns and No Sugars Tonight. It's some incredible magic that we don't know what it is but suddenly we're Lennon-McCartney, Jagger and Richards and we can crank out these things. We can't do it alone and we can't do it with anyone else. Together, we do this thing. I don't know what it is, but it's magic.

"It just comes from being 14, 16 years old, playing in a band together and having dreams and living in a station wagon and driving across the Prairies, back and forth for years and years and years. There's something that you communicate that you don't even know you're communicating. It's like being in a war with guys. It's bigger than each of us."

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is pretty darn big.

GUESS WHAT!

* When Randy Bachman left the Guess Who for health reasons in 1970, he had no idea of the hard feelings left in his wake until he read an upcoming biography on his life, Takin' Care of Business. That's 30 years of misunderstanding.

* Bachman credits the fact that he's a devout Mormon for keeping him alive. "I would've OD'd long ago. I have an obsessive personality. The church kept me straight."

* While he's no longer a vegetarian, Bachman's been working out to get in shape for the tour. He says he's lost 60 pounds. "I feel somewhere between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards," he says.

* According to an early tally of The Sun's Rock of the Ages poll, American Woman is the front runner to determine the top 20 Canadian rock songs of all time.

* Bachman credits his eight children - including his oldest boy Tal - for keeping him current. "My daughter started playing Nine Inch Nails over and over until I said, 'OK, I really like this.' They're amazing."

* If all goes well - i.e., renegotiating that "criminally" small royalty rate - the Guess Who will come out with a box set that includes tracks recorded live on this tour, "rehearsal" tapes and maybe even some new tunes.

* After the Guess Who reunited to play four songs at the Pan-Am Games in Winnipeg last summer, Bachman commented to his bandmates, "Did you guys feel like me? I felt like I was 25." And Burton said, "Well, I felt like I was 18," and I said, "I didn't feel that young, but you can't buy this feeling."