Shakin' All Over: Guess Who's Chad Allan & the Expressions - Chad Allan

The label credits producer Bob Burns with crafting these sides with Chad Allan & the Expressions, and the one title here co-written by the original front man, "I Should Have Realized," is listed under his birth name, Kowbel. The song would make Billy J. Kramer proud in its indulgence, Randy Bachman's guitar lines sounding like he's auditioning to play "Wonderful World" in Herman's Hermits. That being said, it's humorous to note that "Wonderful World" was Top Five the exact same week "Shakin' All Over" was Top 25. These cats were really listening to the British Invasion. The cover of Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson's "Hey-Ho, What You Do to Me" does come off like early Beatles emulating American R&B. It's all the luck of the draw as to what the listener will get on these early discs, as they've been repackaged time and again, Chad Allan & the Expressions having released many singles. They beat the Carpenters to the song "Hurting Each Other" by seven years, and it is the inclusion of so many covers that makes this Shakin' All Over: Guess Who's Chad Allan & the Expressions package more listenable than Born in Canada and Wild One. "I'll Keep Coming Back" would make for a good blindfold test, which is no doubt how they got to pull off the ? & the Mysterians-type name substitution which led to this act being called the Guess Who. B. Johnston's "Don't Be Scared" is labor intensive, while two R. Bachmans (probably Rob and Randy) collaborating on "Goodnight, Goodnight" can only be considered a precursor to Bachman-Turner Overdrive, it's too bad that band didn't do a parody of this in their latter days -- it would have brought some much-needed levity to BTO's work. Of the two infamous Scepter/Wand packages containing 20 songs (both "Shakin' All Over" and "Tossin' & Turnin'" are duplicated on each release), the version with the hit as the title pulls away as the winner. Though it sports a tacky cover photo of a guy and a gal in leather dancing in a room wallpapered in aluminum foil, the music here is more fun than most of which appears on Born in Canada. Obligatory silly liner notes by radio station KRLA's Dick Moreland are down there with those found on Wild One and Born In Canada. Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil's "Till We Kissed" has merit, and there are three Randy Bachman originals, but it is still their very first hit record that is the shining star on this and other compilations of the early work on which it appears. For production values and performance, "Shakin' All Over" outclasses everything on these mid-'60s long-players. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide