PBS to air special on Dave Clark Five and '60s British Invasion

Decided to listen to a couple of DC5 albums this morning on my way to work. I really can't see how anyone can compare them to Beatle albums - just so much filler.

I'm going to stay with my earlier thought that DC5 had some great singles and obviously great promotion. Maybe like some Disney bands out nowadays. Dave took what little he had, got a great singer in Mike Smith, and propelled his band the right way at the right time, hitting the US market between the Beatles US debut on Sullivan up until they returned in the fall. But I believe that really all that came out of it was a few good singles but no other long-term great accomplishments as album-wise they were overall pretty weak.

If it truly was Dave who produced these early albums, it's so obvious that he had a formula that he couldn't get away from - so many albums tracks sound like "Glad All Over" with the background singers repeating the same vocal lines on so many songs. I really only liked the singles and their cover of "Stay" from the first album. But to get to these I had to endure boring instrumentals, a humorous re-write of "Twist & Shout" called "No Time To Lose", and a "Camptown Racers" rip off called "Doo Dah". I stopped on the second album once a horrible "Zip a dee do dah" came on. What's with the Doo Dahs?"

Probably sold a lot of albums which pleased some little pre-pubescent little girls who eventually sat them sit on the shelf forever once they got a whiff of better stuff.

 

The striking thing to me in a similar listening session, other than the amount of filler and the two themes of the songs (I'll make you happy, you made me sad) was how embryonic and different the sound was on that first album, which truly was rushed out to capitalize on the success of the first two hit singles, which are radically different from the rest. Lots of prominent female backing singers, which were long gone by Return, not to return until the hits stopped and schlock crept in around mid-1970.

 

Blu-Ray arrived today. Second disc features the extras. Some cool stuff including the fifteen minute film shown in theaters titled "Hits In Action", a bunch of lip-synched Sullivan appearances and the unedited Royal Command Performance of "Nineteen Days" and "Georgia On My Mind". All in excellent quality. More wasted space on "Time" and a bunch of extra interviews.

 

Anything that actually provides insight into the band, or speaking parts by the other band members?

 

Nope. Just an extra segment of Mike Smith's 2003 interview that's featured in the documentary.

 

Does the new program have any film from the 1960s tv special they did? I don't remember what it was called but it had the band in the studio lipsyncing stuff like "Try Too Hard".

I'd almost buy the new pbs thing if the tv special film clip is in there of Dave sitting in front of a circa 1967 Neve or something console in the studio, pointing at switches saying "well, I think we should take some of the lows off the highs and maybe a bit of the highs off the lows... what do you think lads? And the other guys silently nod........ hahahahahahaha. I think Dave was being serious in that scene. hahahahahahah ...I just roll on the floor laughing anytime that segment shows up on youtube.... which it hasn't for a long time.

 

Can I get a version of the top middle shirt that just says "The Dave Clark" on it?

 

The new show does show clips from that older program. Hold On Its the DC5.

 

This is one of the best posts in this thread, at least the one that makes the most sense of all the DC5 furor to me.


I'd love to see the track listing for disc 2 of that dvd/blu-ray, it's what's going to decide whether I pick this up or not. I was hoping for more clips of <complete> hit songs from tv shows they appeared on at the time.

 

Well stated.
I was wondering about that whole Doo Dah thing too.

 

The first album is fun, but not their best in terms of songwriting. Far better is "American Tour" which has a few songs as good as the singles, and no real filler (unless you don't like instrumentals, since every DC5 album has a couple of those).

 

Watched blue-ray last night. Bonus disc really was disappointing.

 

why was that??

 

My favorite parts:
1. Dave asking a still traumatized 80s Julian Lennon to compare Time to his father's Imagine and asking if he planned to record his own version of Imagine.
2. Sir Lawrence Olivier, at the end of his seemingly endless interview with Dave hyping Time, remarking, "To the few of you still with us, thanks for watching."
Amazing stuff.
Great Frank Sinatra/Dean Martin story from Mike
The other boys-still MIA as, mercifully were Gene and Whoopi.

 

I would like to have some more band appearances/clips. There was another segment on "Time" which I didn't need to see. I was hoping to see some more of Mike Smith or a possible Lenny Davidson interview.

 

Lenny Davidson had absolutely no input on his documentary. Anyone expecting to see an interview with him-vintage or current- will be disappointed.


The Sullivan appearances on disc two: "I Like It Like That", "Catch Us If You Can" (which I can't tell if it's Sullivan or not), "Over And Over", "At The Scene", "Try Too Hard", "Sittin' Here, Baby".

 

Not to ask a dumb question but.....how are you seeing the blue-ray/dvd? According to Amazon, the release date is May 13.

 

Pbs.org

 

Wow !
Never heard that show. Mike Smith with that voice and that soul should have been huge in his own right. The fact that he wrote Glad All Over among others and gave DC half writers credit mad I imagine ALL the publishing is just a sad commentary .
Dave Clark buried a great voice in echo that didn't need it . I'm blown away at how good Mike sang . His voice had matured and sounded better than ever.
Rather poignant that he mentions moving to Spain ...
In closing ,thanks for this snippet of reality and I have to ask.
What year was this interview ?

 

Excited about all the RSD Dave Clark releases












Oh there weren't any.

 

I think you can stop beating this horse.
I am almost hoping that Mike Love says or does something soon so some of you guys can go back to complaining about him.

 

But seriously with all his recent self hype on PBS!? Wouldn't it have been smart to release something special for fans rather than just putting out a mirror for himself? Really !

 

Perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Post of the month. Especially in terms of Dave.