Dave Clark Five Mania is sweeping the world! Screaming kids everywhere are absolutely hysterical about the Tottenham Sound!! Even their parents find it hard to resist tapping their feet along with that frenetic DC5 beat! beat!! beat!!! 

That never happened, of course, but the lads had more than their fair share of hit singles, put out a bunch of albums, played the Ed Sullivan show 18 times and starred in their own movie. They even had hits with two totally different songs, three years apart, with the same title, “Everybody Knows.” Not too shabby for a group of ‘50s rock throwbacks, led by a narcissistic, anal retentive, nut-job drummer, during an era in which the Beatles, Stones, Zombies, et al. were taking music in ever more adventurous directions. It’s a guilty pleasure, to be sure, but I truly love the limey blokes and always have. Looking back, I wish I had made the effort to see singer/keyboard player, Mike Smith (with a band he called Rock Engine), when I had the chance way, way, way late in his career. But, what can you do? 

I saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show as an impressionable youth and became a willing member of the conquered class during the ensuing British Invasion. The Dave Clark Five were on my radar from the start because their songs were hits in America and AM radio was my primary source of music at the time. At some point in ’66 or ’67 I picked up my first DC5 album, “Greatest Hits.” Logically speaking, it should have been my last. Through the years, though, I kept finding their albums in used record bins for next to nothing and I was always delighted with at least one or two nuggets amidst the sluggish filler and eventually came to love the dreck almost as much as the powerhouse faves.

I didn’t pay attention to their various album releases like I did with other bands such as the Beatles, Kinks, Stones, yada yada yada. The media played a large role in this, I might add. While a new Dylan album might have been hailed as a life changing, groundbreaking event, there was little hype for yet another formulaic batch of hokey pop tunes, sleepy ballads and derivative instrumentals with a hit or two nestled within. If I found an album I didn’t have already and the price was low enough, I’d give it a new home and at least a perfunctory listen or two. I never had as many records by the DC5 as I did by my “serious” faves, but over time I amassed a respectable collection and grew ever fonder of them.

I got swindled a few times when I started buying albums as a kid. I’d get home with the latest Beatles record and discover most of the songs were orchestral versions. Or I’d buy an LP that was chock full of hits and find out they were all done by the Hullabaloo Singers, whoever they might be. I became more wary and read more fine print going forward, but somehow or other, I also developed an appreciation for clever gimmicks and for the schlock the shady hucksters put out. If a clerk at a record store had said, “Look a little closer, that’s not an actual Monkees record,” I might have responded with, “Thanks. I know that, but it’s only fifty cents and I’m curious as to how bad it can actually be.” To their credit, The Dave Clark Five were popular enough that unscrupulous labels released albums by unknowns, with a couple early DC5 demos thrown on, that were marketed to look like DC5 albums. I picked up vinyl examples of this ploy featuring the Playbacks on one and Ricky Astor and the Switchers on another. Many moons later I picked up another on CD with the Washington D.C.’s providing the bulk of the material.

Dave Clark was/is very controlling. The records were released and that was that for quite a while. I was lucky to get as many of the originals as I did while they were dirt cheap. There were a smattering of hits packages in the ‘90s and ‘00s, but none of the original albums has been given a proper official rerelease. Dave owns the rights and will have none of it. I know there are issues involved with song writing credits that were less than accurate (as it were) on some of the original records and with credit not being given to additional musicians along the way, but come on! there are a bunch of us who would love to throw our hard earned cash Dave’s way for the kind of box set treatment given to virtually every other band that had the kind of impact the DC5 had in the ‘60s.

I would rather buy the rereleased albums from the source. If the source has no intention of making them available, however, I’m fine with going to the seedy underbelly to have the music at my beck and call. Supply and demand explains why so many of us, frustrated with Dave’s reluctance to share the wealth, have no qualms about picking up the albums on bootlegged CD compilations. Perhaps there is a certain amount of vanity involved. Like a movie star making sure only the most glamorous of photos are used, maybe Dave wants his legacy to include nothing but the cream of the DC5 crop. There are a bunch of them by a variety of “labels” and a variety of formats. The music is all there and the CDs have not failed me yet. 

I saw Dave and his mates in “Having a Wild Weekend” when it came out. I did the same with the Beatles three primary films and with the Herman’s Hermits’ film, “Hold On.” Actually, my dad took me in exchange for me going with him to see many, many more adult features. That’s how I fancy the arrangement in hindsight, anyway. The DC5 vehicle is a fun romp, for the most part, and the soundtrack features some of their finest moments. I was a bit indignant when I discovered the film was given the title, “Catch Us if You Can,” for its UK release. Why couldn’t we have been graced with what I perceived to be the cooler title?? Whatever. That opinion has morphed through time as my relative appreciation for the two underlying songs has fluctuated.

The band’s legacy is rather inconsequential, even though there are a handful of hits that still pop up on oldies stations from time to time. They are more of an inside joke than an “important chapter in the evolution of music and culture in a tumultuous era.” No one at the time paid any mind to who they married, what their politics were, or what they wore when they weren’t on stage… except for teenyboppers obsessing on the favorite color and least favorite cereal of the “cute one.” While I’ve met lots of people who have told me stories about seeing early concerts by the Stones, Kinks, Beatles and other icons, I have never met anyone who has admitted seeing Dave and his dapper lads in their prime. I referred to a band I was in as being: “Not the Dave Clark Five, but an Incredible Simulation,” on a flyer in the mid ‘80s for grins. I have used their name to get a chuckle from friends on Facebook and have seen others do the same. They were sort of cool, though, in the way they stuck to their outdated sound while psychedelia and a myriad other styles made musical contortionists of their peers… I suppose. Wayne County (now Jayne) thought highly enough of the band to give them free publicity (albeit way after the fact) at a number of gigs. You can’t argue with his/her sense of style, decorum and taste! And if like me, you love them to bits and pieces, it’s all good. 

Postscript: We borrowed a copy of the 1964 film, “Get Yourself a College Girl,” from a couple friends (Hi Puka!! Hi Dan!!) and were quite excited about seeing the Dave Clark Five “perform” two songs (lip sync) along with the Animals, Standells, Stan Getz with Astrud Gilberto and some others. The film is rather cheesy, but it’s a fun romp and the quality of the print is very good. The boppin’ blokes slog through “Whenever You’re Around,” and get a bit peppier for, “Thinkin’ of You Baby.” My favorite moments are when Denis Payton pantomimes a sax solo on the former tune, which does not contain sax, and a shot of the band with a large Tiki in the scene. It’s not must have cinema, but it’s crazy cool if you are a DC5 fan!

 

Edwin Letcher

November 8, 2020