The Smiley Smile Message Board

 The DC5's stature has been on an upswing the past few years. I really like their hits. This PBS
special will feature several of their appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show plus other rare gems. 

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/the-dave-clark-five-and-beyond/10-famous-fans-of-the-dave-clark-five/2073/ (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/the-dave-clark-five-and-beyond/10-famous-fans-of-the-dave-clark-five/2073/)

I've been reading about this special. I had no idea Dave Clark was so accomplished. He dropped out of school at 15 to become a movie stuntman, then later not only was the leader of the Dave Clark Five, but managed them, as well. No Brian Epstein and Andrew Loog Oldham necessary to make the band that successful (they're not that remembered now, but sold millions in the early Beatles era). He later wrote a West End musical that ran for two years.

I've been a DC5 fan for years and looking forward to this special.  However, Dave's musical contributions to the DC5 are questionable. I hope there will be some real live performance footage of them shown. All their TV appearances were lip synced. A few times  the vocal was sung live on the Sullivan Show with a backing track.

Jet without wings

 I have heard that they were a hard working band and were great live but I am baffled why there is
 ZERO available live footage of the band. Maybe there will be some on the special.

In the early days of the British Invasion, they were pretty much #2 after the Beatles, as well as the 2nd English group to perform on Ed Sullivan.  Definitely had a good streak of some great singles and a top notch lead voice in Mike Smith.  Dave Clark was a businessman more than a drummer (though he wrote or co-wrote some of the hits) -- the band was to a degree his investment.  Unlike most of his contemporaries, he retained publishing on songs they wrote.  In the CD era he was notorious for not re-releasing the music.

I owned a number of their hits on 45 -- I remember the yellow Epic label.  But it was a "Great Shakes Shakeout" EP that contained "Catch Us if You Can" that  as a 9 year old I played till it played no more. "Over and Over and Over again...."

I watched about half an hour of the documentary before stopping, going back to it a couple of times. It was kind of boring, and I couldn't invest in all two hours of it. I didn't see any live footage, just lip-synced performances. Dave spoke off-camera for the most recent interviews. I guess he's too vain to be seen as he looks now. There was some interview footage of him in the past, talking with his buddies Cliff Richards and Freddie Mercury, but he was several years younger then, of course. It seemed like a Dave Clark vanity production, in more ways than one.

Yeah, I was really disappointed.  It was less about the band and more about the success story of Dave Clark himself.  Nothing at all about the other band members after the breakup.

 Yea, It was a bit disappointing but not entirely disappointing. 
 It was good to see lots of  "a list " performers praising the band
and it was good hear a lot of praise for Mike Smith as an underrated
singer.
 Plus, there was one truly live segment of them playing at the "Royal Command Performance"

Well I didn't hate it. Great memories of all those Sullivan show clips and their best songs are still great to listen to. Didn't tell the whole story of the DC5. A lot, a lot, a whole lot of praise heaped on toDave Clark. A few nice moments for Mike Smith and nothing new told to us about Rick, Lenny or Denis. One (i think elton John) called him a genius. Enjoyed Whoopi Goldberg and Gene Simmon's comments during the special.

Jet Without Wings.

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365217224/

The whole program is up for the next week. If you're familiar with the DC5's history it contains all sorts of hints of what Dave wants to get across to the audience.

Insofar as Bobby Graham, the UK's equivalent more or less of Hal Blaine, has several times claimed to be the actual drummer on most of the DC5's hits, it's interesting that Dave opens this program with footage emphasizing what a big live attraction the band were before they ever had a major record deal - which, later on, leads into Max Weinberg and several others expressing their respect for his self-taught, highly recognizable, and indisputably hard-driving style (whatever his technical limitations).

 There are a lot of interviews with regular folks who were fans of the group back then, and it's interesting that while all the American fans interviewed are female, almost all of the British fans on-camera are male.  I think Dave wants us to know that these guys were there to see a band that could play, rather than five reasonably good-lookin' faces.

Although it has its flaws here and there - home-movie footage goes on too long, it would've been nice to hear from Rick Huxley and Lenny Davidson but they aren't heard from, the whole 1970-73 "Dave Clark And Friends" period is ignored - the show is still really worth watching.

And to clear something up - 2000s Dave Clark is seen on-camera. Clean-shaven, unfortunately.  Those permanently arched eyebrows of his really do call for a Mephistophelean mustache and beard (which he does sport in the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame induction footage).

And Tom Hanks' comparison of lesser-known Elizabethan playwrights to the lads from Tottenham is amusing to say the least.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harold-bronson/the-dave-clark-five-dave-_b_5091519.html

Also worth a look is this article by Rhino Records' Harold Bronson describing his thirty years of efforts to get Dave to release his band's catalog on that label - which have come to nothing because ever since the band split, Dave has been completely focused on releasing only hits compilations and even then at very long intervals, usually tied to some other deal or event, and usually for only a few years' availability.

(For example, Dave's deal to air Ready Steady Go on cable with Disney led to the latter company's Hollywood Records putting out the 1993 compilation. In 2008, he put out a compilation in the UK, motivated by the band's induction into the RnR Hall of Fame, and permitted iTunes release of the hits - though he still refuses their licensing to Spotify.)

Right now, all legitimate releases of the band's catalog are out of print again, but in interviews to promote this show Dave has suggested that besides the DVD/Blu-Ray of this special, he is seriously contemplating release of the DC5's complete works on CD - which is something very overdue. More than a few of the album tracks are on a par with the hits.  He's also publishing his memoirs.

Here's a short interview with him about the PBS show: http://uk.reuters.com/video/2014/04/08/dave-clark-relives-his-past?videoId=306082178&videoChannel=81

I enjoyed the program for what it was, which was a program more about Dave Clark than the group itself. A catalog reissue would be very welcome.

I hope we get a DVD release of some of those Ready Steady Go shows he's been holding on to as well.

If Dave says he is contemplating releasing the complete works on CD, don't hold your breath.  He said the same thing 5 years ago in interviews. 3 of them have now passed away. The core audience who are fans are in their 50's and 60's  and probably 70's too.  A great band in their day. Mike Smith's accident and passing is one of the great tragedy's.


Jet without wings

Mike Smith is one of the great unsung heroes of Sixties music. He had  great voice and played tasty keyboards. His death was very sad....

I heard one of their songs on a very good radio show the other day, think it was WNKU out of Cincinatti.  It was a good recording and came across loud and clear on the radio, the drums, sax and organ blend was a mini wall of sound.

reminds me of my preteens when people  either had the Beatles as a fav band or the DC5.  I remember an older girl who was a Beatles fan saying the DC5 "was no good."..."all they do is  stomp their little feet"..... :lol