Garage-Mania
Dave Clark Five
They Had What it Took
The Dave Clark Five is one of the best bands we play on Garage-Mania, the Internet radio show I host with my zany sidekick, Nurse Cheril.
The DC5 was one of the first British Invasion bands of the ‘60s. Their hit record in 1964, “Glad All Over” had the distinction of knocking the Beatles out of the number-one position on the UK singles chart. They were in fact, the second group from England after The Beatles to have a chart record in America. The group had 22 hit records in America and 24 in England. They sold over 50 million records worldwide, and had six sellout tours in the United States. The band appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show a record 13 times, and starred in their own movie, Having a Wild Weekend. Despite so much success, the underrated group is still not in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.
The Dave Clark Five had a lot of good things going for them. First, they wrote most of their material themselves. Second, Dave Clark was the equivalent of not only drummer Ringo and heartthrob Paul, but also Brian Epstein and George Martin, all rolled into one. Clark managed, produced and, ran the whole show. He was a very good businessman, and right from the beginning he had ownership of all the DC 5 masters. He’s continued to receive royalties for years. Third, the group had a unique sound that featured a fine saxophone player, Dennis Payton, and an impressive keyboard player in the form of Mike Smith. Smith’s growling, blues-tinged vocals were in the forefront in almost all the hit singles. Unlike most British Invasion bands, the DC5’s sound was not exclusively based on the guitar, but’more on the beat, and very few bands in that era featured the saxophone. The band had a unique stage presence. Drummer Clark would play and sing with the drums positioned at the front of the stage, and the guitarists and keyboard to his rear and side. Finally, the band members each had a solid ear for melodies and harmonies showcased in such songs as “Because” and “Everybody Knows.”
However, the DC5 was criticized for lacking finesse and hipness and having perhaps too clean an image. They seemed stiff and all wore identical starched white shirts and black dinner jackets with little hankies peeping out of their breast pockets. None of them ever seemed to perspire. When the music started to change and the Beatles’ masterpiece, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, came out in 1967, the DC 5 suddenly seemed square and not with the times. The band was finding it hard to compete with the prevailing trend of psyched ilia. To their credit, they did record some excellent psychedelic-styled records including “Inside and Out” and “Maze of Love.” However, they seemed dated compared to the newer bands that were coming out: The Rolling Stones, The Who, Pink Floyd, The Animals and ‘the Yardbirds. By 1967, the hits were starting to dry up and soon they were relegated to revival tours. In 1970, the group broke up for good only a few months before the Beatles called it quits as well.
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