THE GUESS WHO
Shakin' All Over (Sundazed)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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For serious fans of The Guess Who, the arrival of this CD is almost reason to go on vacation, lock the door, weep tears of joy for the first week, and spend the second week wearing out the PLAY button. We've been good. We've bought all the reissues and the expanded Live At The Paramount (which rocked, yes, thank you) and the reunion videos and on and on, all the while painfully aware that this material was in some vault somewhere. This material? All the records made by the band between their big break and their first appearance in 1960 as Allan's Silvertones. 24 of them, to be exact, including the incendiary title track, a cover of the Billy Kidd & The Pirates tune. Original vocalist Chad Allan was quite good, but put Burton Cummings' voice over Allan's on any of these tunes and it'd sound like a different band, i.e. The Guess Who. There are examples of both singers' work on this CD, and "both bands" were hotter than hell. There are originals here that show surprising early talent, like Randy Bachman's "Clock On The Wall," and there are also several covers. In another review in this issue I scoffed at a 60s band that did an album full of covers. They went nowhere, while The Guess Who developed chops and distilled influences that can be heard right here on this disc, which makes it an entirely different matter. On top of that, this CD cooks. Period. A must-have for Guess Who fans, and I recommended it with all my heart to fans of good hot 60s rock in general.

© 2001 - DJ Johnson