The Dave Clark Five! (Official Thread)

[Hepcat]

A good British Invasion band that rarely gets mentioned these days are The Dave Clark Five. Back in 1964-65 they were among the pop elite. Now they seem to barely be a footnote to that era.

Worse yet is the historical revisionism in the music press that has relegated them to being just a footnote to that era. They had over thirty hit singles and sold over 100 million records.

Dave Clark Five website

Discography

Rare is the book/article that acknowledges this detail but it was the Dave Clark Five and not the Rolling Stones who were the Beatles' biggest rival in North America in 1964 and early 1965.


While the Stones were already huge in the U.K., they only supplanted the Dave Clark Five as the Beatles' main competition across the ocean when they released "Satisfaction" in May of 1965.

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[Emrock]

Re: The Dave Clark Five!

I always liked the DC5, but they haven't stood the test of time well. My favorite was one of their last US hits, Try Too Hard. Like the Beatles they had a poliched act and stage presence. I used to have an old Beatles boot where you can hear Lennon growl at Ringo, "Is that the best you can do? You sound like bloody Dave Clark." It was not meant as a compliment. I've got a double Greatest Hits CD that I think was only available for a short time back in the nineties. Most of it is pretty dull, but their hits still shine through. Listen to Any Way You Want It or Catch Us if You Can.

 

[Hepcat]

Re: The Dave Clark Five!

This is the Dave Clark Five tune I like the best:

Over and Over

It reached number one on the Billboard Charts in November of 1965.

 

[troggy]

Re: The Dave Clark Five!

I always liked the DC5, but they haven't stood the test of time well.

See, I mostly agree with this. The DC5 are way down the list of the best Brit Invasion bands.

 

[Hepcat]

Re: The Dave Clark Five!

What's particularly interesting is just how much of a bigger smash the Dave Clark Five was on the U.S. charts than on the U.K. charts. Between February 1964 and April 1966, the Dave Clark Five had thirteen top twenty hits including seven in the top ten in the States while in the U.K. between November 1963 and April 1966 the band had only five top twenty hits including four in the top ten.



By contrast, the Rolling Stones had five top twenty singles, including three number ones and one number three, in the U.K. prior to the release of "Satisfaction". In the United States, however, the Stones had only three top twenty singles including the two that made it to the top ten prior to the May 1965 release of "Satisfaction" which was their first number one hit single.

 

[Emrock]

Re: The Dave Clark Five!

The competition between all these English Invasion bands was intense. The Beatles position at that time was by no means assured. Very few of the invasion bands lasted longer than a few singles in the US charts. The DC-5 never made the transition bands like the Stones and Beatles did. Put in context though, the DC-5 were great. The only band out of Britain at the time with a sax player that I recall. Gave them that extra kick on songs like Glad All Over, which thunders.

 

[billtjr51]

Re: The Dave Clark Five!

"They had over thirty hit singles and sold over 100 million records."

And released a movie (Catch Us If You Can), (also known as "Having A Wild Weekend"), and On 10 March 2008 the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

 

[billtjr51]

Re: The Dave Clark Five!

I really liked the Animals in the 60's. I still like their music.

 

[CP/M User]

Re: The Dave Clark Five!

Those are interesting images I never knew they were comparing themselves to The Beatles!

I've only heard a few DC5 songs on the radio, and I would have had a CD of them by now, but for some reason I've never seen one for them in the Music Shops! The ones I recall are Bit's 'n' Pieces, Glad All Over & Catch Us If you Can.

Personally I don't think they had the right to compare themselves to The Beatles, cause to me for a start they sound different musically. I would have put them in the relms of Gary Puckett and the Union Gap or The Vogues, though perhaps their songs had a slightly harder edge to them, which is why I mentioned the Vogues cause their was a hit of that about them in their earliest recordings.

 

[Flower]

Re: The Dave Clark Five!

I really liked the Animals in the 60's. I still like their music.

I like the Animals too and I've seen Eric Burdon 3 times in the past three years .. Unfortunately, he (unlike Colin Blunstone of the Zombies) hasn't held up ... Burdon's voice is not what it used to be and he doesn't seem to be enjoying himself on stage.

The last time that I saw Eric Burdon was at HippieFest 2008 and he was better than the previous summer at a blues festival and previous to that in February 2006 at a Casino venue.