Dave Clark Five "Documentary"

[Stephen John Connett]

Dec 20, 2016 16:07:42 GMT Chris Barratt said:

For someone who, credit where credit is due, at the very least recognised and orchestrated the talents of Mike, Lenny, Denis, Ron Ryan and, not least, Adrian Kerridge into an international phenomenon at a time when standards were rapidly on the rise - it's the posthumous hyperbole (something that was evident as far back as the 1977 '25 Thumping Great Hits' compilation) I find completely at odds with the (mostly superb) music. It's as if, having had a magic formula he then discarded every aspect of it. Presumably the money that came with the control he had made him forget to 'rock' - there was never any need to claim a 3 minute R&R medley is '6 hits', or witter on about "million sellers" when the music can do the talking. Dave doesn't come across as a great businessman nor as 'streetwise' now, he comes across as an oddbod who has lived in his own isolated parallel universe for 40-odd years.

Now that, Chris Barratt, would make one hell of a docu drama with DC as some sort of cross between 'Miss Haversham' and Howard Hughes looking back on the glory days in a psychedelic twilight zone haze

[Stephen John Connett]

I wish I hadn't started this thread, everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. The Dave Clark Five's 'Glad all over' is now 5/1 for Xmas No.1. I kid you not, it's now No.2 on the download chart

[Richard Marple]

The situation with Dave Clark is almost as odd as Allen Klien's ownership of the Cameo Parkway back catalogue & other music he refused to reissue on DC in spite of there being a demand for it.

This was one of my Dad's bugbears for many years as he collected his favourite artists from the 1950s & 60s as it was released on CD.

[Patrick Coles]

I have noticed on a few music forums a number of people saying that they had never heard of The DC5 or only knew about 'Glad All Over' (mostly from it's use in TV commercials and by Crystal Palace football club when they run out and on the rare occasions they score goals ! - only joking Palace fans !) and are now getting into their music

just as that 'The Hits' CD of 2008 is selling for really silly expensive prices on Amazon UK, let alone the earlier CDs or albums etc


so a younger generation would seem to have now 'discovered' The DC5 via youtube and that BBC screening of the DC self appreciation society, which would explain the downloads mentioned above 

surely if DC had any kind of business sense he'd now re-issue The DC5 back catalogue properly on CD and maybe vinyl which has made at least a limited comeback...

and he might do something with his RSG footage too !

[Kev Hunter]

Dec 21, 2016 19:18:21 GMT Patrick Coles said:

surely if DC had any kind of business sense he'd now re-issue The DC5 back catalogue properly on CD and maybe vinyl which has made at least a limited comeback...

and he might do something with his RSG footage too !

I've always wondered about Clark's so-called business sense.. apart from his time in the DC5 there's been scant evidence of it. Apart from a few volumes of Ready Steady Go compilations on VHS in the mid-80s (around the time of the Channel 4 TV showings) what else has he done with all this supposedly valuable footage?  Maybe he's completely lost the plot.

[Mark Tinkler]

To my understanding, which could be wrong I admit, is that after Dave Clark bought RSG and sold it to C4 & the VHS comps, he realised that although he owns the shows he doesn't own the musical performances... and they should all be cleared with the musicians etc. Which make it all rather difficult to use.

(I think the last time an RSG clip was sold properly by Dave Clark International was on THIS IS YOUR LIFE - GARY GLITTER which showed that person in younger days when he was the warm-up man on RSG and could be seen 'working' the crowd.)

Since then, docs like 'Motown in the UK' have Fair Dealt RSG when necessary....

[markjhaley]

Dec 20, 2016 18:31:20 GMT Stephen John Connett said:

I wish I hadn't started this thread, everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. The Dave Clark Five's 'Glad all over' is now 5/1 for Xmas No.1. I kid you not, it's now No.2 on the download chart

It's Glasgow Rangers supporters buying it in an attempt to make it Xmas #1. Bizarre but true.

[Patrick Coles]

I Don't suppose Crystal Palace now ex-manager Alan Pardew is feeling very 'Glad All Over' tonight !

lovely the way they sack a guy just before Christmas....very festive !

[John Smith]

Yeah and whats with the bad cosmetic surgery looks like he's lost all control of his eyebrows!
DC that is

[Stephen John Connett]

Dec 22, 2016 7:03:06 GMT markjhaley said:

Dec 20, 2016 18:31:20 GMT Stephen John Connett said:

I wish I hadn't started this thread, everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. The Dave Clark Five's 'Glad all over' is now 5/1 for Xmas No.1. I kid you not, it's now No.2 on the download chart

It's Glasgow Rangers supporters buying it in an attempt to make it Xmas #1. Bizarre but true.

It's No.1 on the iTunes Chart, with Forfar at Number Four and Fyfe at Five

[Patrick Coles]

I read somewhere that DC supposedly accidentally 'melted his face under a sun ray lamp' - thus presumably had to have cosmetic surgery to try to correct it - how true that really is I have no idea but he's gone from striking male model good looks in his prime to a rather strange looking figure now as some very good looking men and women can do later in life...

if it was an accident that is very sad of course and I'd never make light of anyone's misfortune - both Denny and Mike had their respective later health problems that sadly took both from us...and Rick too is no longer with us, so the band members have had more than their share of tragedy and it's best to remember them in their sixties prime belting out the hits...!

I'd love to see a proper UK and USA albums re-issue programme

maybe these remastered 2CD sets re UK albums;

1) 'A Session With The DC5'- 1964 - (mono and if possible stereo) plus the DC5 EP four songs  (which made no.24 in 1964) and 'Do You Love Me' / 'Doo Dah' ('A' and 'B' side and the instrumental 'Chaquita' as the bonus tracks (with any other relevant songs)

2) 'Catch Us If You Can'- 1965 - (mono and if possible stereo versions) plus the 'A' and 'B' sides of singles not included on the first CD and any EP tracks likewise as bonus tracks

3) 'The DC5 Greatest Hits' - 1966 - (mono and if possible stereo versions) plus any 'A' sides of singles not included on the original album as bonus tracks

4) 'Everybody Knows The DC5' - 1967 - (mono and unissued stereo versions) with any singles 'B' sides such as; 'Concentration Baby' and 'Man in A Pin Striped Suit' etc as bonus tracks

5) 'Five By Five - 14 Titles by The DC5' - 1968 - (mono and unissued stereo versions of album) with any other circa 1968 songs as bonus tracks

6) 'If Somebody Loves You' - 1970 - Stereo version with any singles 'A' and 'B' sides from 1969-70 as bonus tracks - with latter singles such as 'Rub it In', 'Draggin The Line', 'Southern Man'

7) The Best of The DC5' / 'The DC 5 Play Good Old Rock & Roll' - both EMI Starline budget albums in stereo with 'Here Comes Summer', 'Little Bitty Pretty One' added as bonus tracks to the Rock and Roll album and stereo versions of; 'Thinking of You Baby', 'Everybody Knows (I Still Love You)', 'Put A Little Love in Your Heart', and 'Everybody Get Together' added to the 'Best of...' album as bonus tracks

8) 'The EP Collection, 'B' sides, & Rarities'- ALL UK EP Tracks, plus UK singles 'B' sides and any UK rare tracks (like the soundtrack of the 1966 Royal Variety Show' performances of 'Nineteen Days' / 'Georgia On My Mind' and any live tracks etc)

9) 'Twenty Five Thumping Great Hits' - A CD issue of Polydor's 1977 hits compilation that made No.7 in the UK album chart.

10) 'The UK Singles: A's and B's' - (2 CD Set) - All UK singles in original mono mixes, a second CD could include stereo versions where possible

then a full USA albums '2 on 1' CD re-issue set

just an idea - over to you DC ...!

[ajsmith]

Does anyone know why Dave Clark has suppressed the DC5s work so much? People are always going on about how he is so full of himself and tries to rewrite history to make out that the DC5 were a bigger deal culturally than they really were, and certainly this strange documentary (which I only saw a few days ago) supports that view, but if that is the case, then limiting the availability of his bands music doesn't make much sense. As others have observed, all this policy has done over 40 years is to diminish the DC5s legacy, as their music has been less in the public domain than it otherwise would have been.

[Patrick Coles]

Well bear in mind back in the sixties The long forgotten now DC5 WERE actually a massive group, particularly here in the UK 1963-65, then in the USA over 1965-67, then pretty big here again over 1968-70...!

headlining a UK package tour in 1964, doing 'Top of The Pops' and 'RSG', making a feature film - that was a box office success in 1965, doing two Royal Variety shows 1965 and 66, 15 editions of 'The Ed Sullivan Show' in the USA, being invited to play at The White House ...being the first UK group ever to do a full headline tour of the USA doing six USA tours in all, , they broke Epic records then record for selling a million records within a period of 90 days.....then doing a successful colour UK TV special, even a mini film that was shown before the new James Bond film at the cinemas.....

The Rolling Stones, Who, Kinks, Hollies, Small Faces, etc couldn't boast of doing all that...could they ? (even The Beatles couldn't either - their  'Magical Mystery Tour' was crucified by very hostile critics in the UK press in 1967...!)

I get the impression DC is something of a rarely heard from almost latter day 'Howard Hughes' type figure now....

certainly HE doesn't need the money personally from any back catalogue re-promotion... and any new interest in his band would maybe re-awaken interest in him, now an elderly guy no longer the cool 'good looker' he was back in his sixties heyday...maybe that puts him off ?? (it could be a key factor)

DC once said in a magazine interview that he was MOST unhappy to find an LP released in the USA with 'fake stereo' and even credited as being produced by 'Manny Coussins'(or something like that !) which really upset him....hence he pulled everything off the market (so that article said)

Their UK contract with EMI looks to have expired in the early seventies after the last DC5 album on EMI Columbia 'If Somebody Loves You' was released in 1970 with the two budget Starline albums then issued in 1970 and 1971, the only later DC5 release by EMI being the mid seventies MFP re-issue of 'Play Good Old Rock & Roll' compilation album.

The last 'new' EMI album was post DC5 being the 'Dave Clark, Mike Smith and Friends' album on EMI Records issued in 1972

- Polydor released '25 Thumping Great Hits' in 1977 in a 'one off' deal it seems (making no.7 in the UK) , but thereafter nothing new besides essentially hits compilations have appeared from time to time mostly on CD, tho' a vinyl 2LP set 'Glad All Over Again' came out.

A VHS tape of 'Glad All Over Again' was also released, it has b/w and colour full song performances of most of their big hits - again it was later withdrawn and is not easy to find now...this plus the alternate performances on second Disc of the latest '...And Beyond' DVD/Blu Ray need to be combined for a complete song performances DVD/Blu Ray release too....but then pigs might fly !

The CD 'History of The DC5' was a decent seller...but DC then pulled that off the market

I don't know if legal issues, songwriting credit arguments, residues etc, may come into play that have prevented the back catalogue from being re-issued, but despite in a 'Record Collector' magazine interview some years back - possibly circa 2008 when 'The Hits' CD came out -  where DC expressed a desire to re-issue the sixties albums on CD nothing later so far has happened that we know of...

DC once was quoted as saying he disliked the CD format feeling it 'flattened out' the sound and made everything sound very 'processed' etc - which others have also felt ! - so maybe that was or is a contributing factor too ?

DC did say he'd remastered tracks that were not included on 'The Hits' CD (UK no.15 in 2008) ...and perfectly good true stereo versions of tracks only issued in the UK in mono can be found downloaded on youtube so there WOULD appear scope for stereo and mono re-issues of UK albums in the future if only DC can be persuaded

if 'Glad All Over' is the Xmas no.1 and football teams keep using it then hopefully wider public interest in the music of The DC5 might influence DC or record companies at least to talk to DC to get something moving before we all peg out due to sheer old age...!!!

[markg]

It got to number 35, which might not sound like much but its way higher than all the charity choirs, one-off issue events and so forth.

[Stephen John Connett]

Dec 23, 2016 22:48:23 GMT markg said:

It got to number 35, which might not sound like much but its way higher than all the charity choirs, one-off issue events and so forth.

Apparently it was No.1 on I tunes and No.4 on actual sales on the official Chart but because of the dominance of streaming it ends up down at 30 something. There's been articles recently in the press about the demise of the Xmas No.1 race as an event because of the streaming issue which saw solo artist Drake at No.1 for 16 weeks (Who remembers that?) despite the fact that actual sales only put it at No.1 for the first three weeks of it's run. Some people find ways of putting certain songs on perpetual stream on their computer. It seems that the 'Xmas No.1' is now doomed to fall into insignificance as the general weekly chart has. I only knew about the Drake No.1 marathon through the aforementioned articles.Can anyone else remember the No.1's this past year or two?