The Dave Clark Five | All the Hits | (BMG/download)
Videos by American Songwriter
4 1/2 out of 5 stars
You can consider the UK’s Dave Clark Five as the Grand Funk Railroad of the 60s. Like Grand Funk, the Brits were insanely popular for a short time but neither band had the cultural staying power that yields legendary status. Yet it both cases the bands tapped, however briefly, into a popular zeitgeist that made them at least temporary superstars.
Unlike the DC5 though, Funk’s music stayed in print throughout the decades. Clark owns the rights to his tapes and, for unclear reasons, kept them out of the marketplace for many years. A beautifully compiled 1993 double disc of the group’s best material alleviated things… for a while, until that also was taken off the shelves.
Finally, to celebrate the group’s 60th anniversary, Clark remastered and reissued his act’s hits which can now be purchased as a 25 track digital download or a 16 cut physical CD (which can be bought on Amazon). Either way it’s a treat to have this music available, sounding as fresh, vibrant and alive as ever.
The gold embossed statement on the cover of the CD and vinyl says it all; “The DC5 sold over 100 million records.” Their only competition was The Beatles and for a while those two were neck and neck in popularity. The 15 tunes (not including one previously unreleased schlocky one) on the CD tell the story succinctly in 35 minutes. As soon as you hear Clark’s thumping drums and Denis Payton’s wailing sax pushing 1964’s “Glad All Over” and “Bits and Pieces” into the red, it’s clear these guys had the right songs, pulsating energy and, in lead singer/keyboardist Mike Smith– a frontman with powerful and distinctive pipes– to excite a crowd into a frenzy every bit as wild as the Beatles’.
The early hits like the jumpy “Wild Weekend,” swinging “Catch Us If You Can” and the sweet, sumptuous ballad “Because” were recorded in mono, the better to burst out of tinny AM radios. Clark originally produced these records so his drums were prominent in the sound. This remix (also done by Clark) keeps that oomph and even accentuates the attack. Not only did Clark and his band write most of their material, but they uncovered and rearranged music from unlikely (at the time) sources. They helped put early Motown (in Berry Gordy’s “Do You Love Me”) and Allen Toussaint’s “I Like It Like That” on the commercial map. These and their other classics remain as crackling and enjoyable today as when they were first released in the mid-60s. It’s still a party waiting to happen.
While more is sometimes better, there is a distinct drop-off in quality in the DC5’s later material. That makes the 16 track CD an ideal way to get an “all killer/no filler” taste of what made this band so popular and shoo-ins for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame status. Take it from Tom Hanks who inducted them in 2008; if any British Invasion act could make you feel glad all over it was, and remains, the Dave Clark Five.
