The flower-power decade gave the world a wealth of great music, from England's mods to America's psychedelic rockers. But the hippie era also gave us cool sounds from the Great White North. It started with the folk music of Ian & Sylvia and the rhythm 'n' blues of Ronnie Hawkins and quickly evolved into a sonic revolution, as literally hundreds of bands and singer-songwriters from coast to coast began making noise. SHAKIN' ALL OVER captures all of those freewheeling sounds, from such legendary stars as Joni Mitchell, The Guess Who, Neil Young, Anne Murray and The Band to cult heroes like David Wiffen, The Collectors and Mashmakhan.
SHAKIN' ALL OVER takes viewers on a trip back in time to Vancouver's 4th Avenue, Winnipeg's community centres, Montreal's dance halls and the clubs and coffeehouses that sprang up along Toronto's Yorkville and Yonge Street. There, in the absence of a music industry, a brave new sound began to emerge. The special is full of candid interviews with more than 60 iconic figures like Gordon Lightfoot, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Bruce Cockburn, who offer illuminating stories about each other. And, the show features an abundance of rare performance clips from the period, from Early Morning Rain to Oh What a Feeling.
But SHAKIN' ALL OVER also features some of Canada's brightest younger stars, including Blue Rodeo, Barenaked Ladies and Sarah Harmer, who pay tribute to the period. Hawksley Workman tells of being inspired by Ian Tyson, who wrote his first song, Four Strong Winds, after hearing "this punk named Dylan." Matthew Good fondly remembers cranking the volume on Steppenwolf's Magic Carpet Ride. And Sloan's Jay Ferguson draws a connection between the Canadian bands of the '60s and current garage-rock favourites. Said Ferguson: "If you listen to records by The Ugly Ducklings or The Great Scots, they could almost be a hit in this day, because it's so contemporary with the revival of that sound by The White Stripes and The Hives."
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