If you're thinking of buying the new book Randy Bachman: Takin' Care

of Business because you expect it to be a tell-all story of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, think again.

Sure Bachman, as a member of the legendary Guess Who and then with Bachman Turner Overdrive (B.T.O.), hung around with such bad boys of rock as Led Zeppelin and Van Halen.

But, as a member of the Lutheran church and then the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he left the debauchery to others.

Not surprisingly, the book is short on the lurid details of rock's glory years, and is more a PG story of a Prairie kid realizing his dreams.

"It's amazing, you know, some people say this book is fluff and some people says it's rough and deep and is hurtful," Bachman says. "So I guess it depends on your perspective."

Actually, Takin' Care of Business, which Bachman helps launch by performing and participating in a Q&A session with CBC radio personality and Stony Plain records owner Holger Petersen at the Engineered Air Theatre Thursday as part of the PanCanadian WordFest, falls somewhere in between.

Though not as detailed as one would hope, the biography -- written by Canadian rock journalist John Einarson -- does a great job of telling Bachman's fabled tale that took the guitarist from Winnipeg to the top of the music charts with songs such as American Woman, Takin' Care of Business and You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet. As a subject for a book it's a natural, yet to get Bachman to agree to it wasn't as easy as you'd think.

"I'm in the middle of my life, and to me it's the middle of a book," he says.

His point is illustrated by the fact his decision to agree to co-operate with Einarson was followed by some important career developments.

After three decades of acrimony and lawsuits, The Guess Who reunited for a show at 1999's Pan American Games in Winnipeg. They then embarked on a successful cross-Canada tour that sold out arenas and won over the critics.

Just last month, they appeared on this year's MuchMusic Awards with Lenny Kravitz performing American Woman to a whole new generation of music lovers.

But Bachman's hesitation wasn't only due to the fact that his story hasn't been completed.

"I also knew that this book might ring the death knell of the Guess Who," he offers candidly. "In the middle of all this, my book comes out and it basically points fingers and says certain things and certain truths, and I'm hoping the people overlook it that are in the book ..."

Bachman has good reason to be concerned. Burton Cummings, his songwriting partner in The Guess Who and the person with whom Bachman has feuded most openly, doesn't fare too well.

He often comes across in the anecdotes as a rather petty man caught up in celebrity whose large ego was often threatened by Bachman's talent.

When it comes up in the interview, Bachman chooses his words judiciously, first simply praising Cummings' talents and then putting the picture painted of him into the hands of the reader.

"I don't think I put my own opinions in there about Burton Cummings, I just put in some stories and things that happened, actual facts that happened."

As to how he himself comes across in the book, Bachman is less concerned.

"I think I come off as a normal guy with a normal life that's been full of heartache, heartbreak and joyful moments. It's like anybody's life, absolutely anybody ... You do some things, you come off looking good, you do some things, you come off looking bad -- nobody lives a perfect life."