Conference mr1pst::music

    Boxed set, eh? That must be why Dave Clark had some sound bites on the
    radio last week.

    Dave Clark 5 movie was "Catch Us If You Can", I think. It was also the
    title of a pretty good single. They had a few good singles: Because, Bit
    and Pieces. But that's about all that's noteworthy. They came in on the
    Beatles' coatails. Had a fair ride, as did bands like The Searchers
    (Needles and Pins-ahh), Peter and Gordon, Chad and Jeremy, Jerry and the
    Pacemakers, Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas, The Hollies, The Zombies, et
    al. I can't imaging what would be in a boxed set that would fill it up.

    None of these were anything close to being "the next Beatles" as their
    PR said. In fact, Lennon and McCartney wrote a significant number of
    tunes for the other British bands, including the Stones.

    --Ron

    they also had a hit with 'glad all over'.  may have been their
    first.  i agree they were just riding ont eh Beatles' coattails.
    they were 'different' in that they had  a sax player AND
    the drummer was the singer.  
    
    i had their first ablum but don't anymore.
    
    'old man' ewing

    Right! I was trying to remember the other one. I didn't think any of the
    ones I listed was their first hit. In fact, in that sound bite from last
    week, Dave-not-one-to-drop-names-Clark said that he was most proud when
    in about 1980, Springsteen phone him to ask how he got that echo effect
    in 'Glad All Over'. To which he replied "Tape loop, mate. DUH!" (just
    kidding).

    Yes, Sax. The fact that they had a BARITONE sax was my favorite aspect
    of DC5. I loves them barries. I thought some of the coolest tunes back
    then had baritone sax solos, like 'Baby, Baby, Where Did Our Love Go' by
    the Supremes.

    --Ron

    Didn't they also have a movie called "Having a Wild Weekend" or
    something like that?
    
    	Willy
    

Re .0:

I'd say the reason the DC5 still have their own little slice of historical
recognition is that when they "arrived," there were a *lot* of comparisons to
the Beatles. This was before the Beatles attained that "Elvis-like" (rock 'n'
roll version of "Godlike") status which is sort of taken for granted now.

It was sort of like,"Well, gee, here's another English band, with guys who dress
the same, cut their hair the same, and do pretty much the same kind of music.
Let's all watch them real close and see if that means they'll be as hot as the
Beatles."

Even though they weren't, they still inhabit the same corner of the time-space
continuum, at least when you take your inter-dimensional transport back to the
sixties.

One perspective, anyway.

Bob

    wasn't "having a wild weekend" one of those movies
    with a bunch of the british bands.
    i seem to remember gerrry and the pacemakers and
    billy j. kramer, et. al. being in the movie.
    not sure though.
    i was just a toddler at the time ;-)
    
    willie

>   we're dating ourselves

    Ohh, err.

>    i seem to remember gerrry and the pacemakers and

    Did I leave out an 'r' or did you start it with a 'g'? :^)

    --Ron

    re: Searchers, DC-5, J&Pm, and others of that ilk...
    
    Brain cramp deluxe: Who did "Romeo and Juliet"?
    
    Edd

    bitchin' band! If I had a dollar for every time somebody asked me
    if I was the 'real' Dave Clark, ...

    i wish i had a dollar for every female who you answered
    with the affirmative      8 - )

     
    Slight deviation from the theme (not to mention a claim to fame):
    
    My mum taught Dave Clark at a school in Tottenham (North London).
    
    Dom

    Didn't they also sing "Draggin the Line" or was that somebody else?
    
    Nancy

    Tommy James & The Shondells.
    
    Edd 

DC 5 did "Because" didn't they?

daryll

  I have the 2-CD set -- "History of", or whatever.  One CD would be enough,
  but to increase the odds each semi-fan will get the 1 or 2 dozen songs
  they really want, a double-disk set is serviceable.  (It was previously
  rumored there would ultimately be 1, 2, and 4 disc configurations -- but
  this release is a budget issue, US$20 or so, so I took the plunge.)
  
  Yeah, they did "Because"; and "Anyway You Want It", and "Can't You See
  That She's Mine", and a few more I like to hear now & then.  Aside from
  that, they're mostly notable for Dave Clark's business acumen...

  Their 2nd album, which my brother owned, had some songs I was actually
  sorry not to see on this "History" set.   - Jay

    I remember that when Freddie Mercury died I read that Dave Clark was
    one of the people who was with him, and that apparently they were very
    close friends.  That surprised me.  I wouldn't have thought they would
    be close friends.  Does anybody know if it was *the* Dave Clark who was
    with Mercury?  
    
    Lorna
    

    re .-1
    
    no, it was me
    
    - Dave

    What I remember is during "Do You Love Me" (on Ed Sullivan?), right
    after Dave sang "watch me now!," he stood up at the drums for a second
    and spread his arms out, then got on with the rest of the song.
    
    I remember early DC5 vs. Beatles arguments with my friends... I think
    we all knew the Stones were also-rans in the contest.

    re .18, really?  That must've been a heartwrenching time in your
    life... :-)
    
    Lorna
    

    re .19
    
    we had beatles vs. stones arguments and the stones won.
    which group is still around?  
    
    i would rather be on a desert island with the stones library
    than the beatles library.
    
    dave clark five isn't even in the same league as the stones
    and beatles ;-)
    
    willie

    How is the sound quality on the 2CD set? Were they re-mastered? Dave 
    Clark seems to be a pretty smart guy. He has been holding out till
    now to release stuff on CD. I believe he owns the copyright to the
    Ready, Steady, Go films also.
    

    Listen to something like 'Elenor Rigby', 'Strawberry Fields', 'In My
    Life', 'A Day in the Life' and then tell me that _ANYONE_ was in the
    same league as the Beatles. The Stones may still be around and I've
    always enjoyed them (especially their '60s stuff), but they never burned
    as bright as the Beatles.

    (Oh yeah, side two of Abbey Road.)

    SHE CAME IN THROUGH THE BATHROOM WINDOW...

    is the question, 'who had more of an impact on the music
    business?' or 'who do you like more?'
    
    i agree the beatles probably opened more doors musically
    but would still rather hear the stones.  to mention the
    dave clark five in the same breath as the stones and beatles
    is a bit much.
    
    i like the beatles and their music but would rather listen
    to the stones.
    
    this is like, which is better, vanilla or chocolate.  i don't
    really care, just pass me a spoon.  
    
    willie
    

    Well, actually I agree with you, willie. The only thing that matters is
    who you enjoy, who reaches your soul. I'm just completely bewildered by
    the musicians that went from 'Love Me Do' to 'The End' in 8 short years,
    and covered such places as the Sgt Pepper and White Album tracks in
    between.

    You're right about DC5, they were OK but really just another me too
    band. I always felt that the Rooling Stones had their own thing going
    on. I dug it. But the Beatles really spun my head around.

    About 'Bits and Pieces', was all that stomping really necessary?
    
    --Ron

    Remember that during the *early* years of the Beatles & DC5 they were
    both churning out *pop* songs.  My understanding is that the Brits
    considered the Beatles vs. DC5 almost like we compare Southern
    California Rock vs. Phillie R&B and there was friendly rivalry between
    them for chart placement. The Stones were always the bad boys but
    the rivalry on the charts was always between the Beatles & The DC5.  
    Only through time were we able to see that The Beatles were able to 
    expand their sound/writing, etc., and the DC5 were left as the goodie-
    goodies and lost a lot of credibility amoung the more hipper crowd.
    
    I think the sound quality of the 2 cd disk is excellent and you'll 
    probably say to yourself upon listening..."hey, I remember that one!"
    The book inside is pretty good and I personally don't see what they
    could add to a 4 cd box set that the 2 disk set doesn't fulfill.
    
    _stew-

    
    
     I remember reading about the DC5 set a couple of months ago. In
    the article it said that for 2 possibly 3 years the DC5 matched
    number one hits with the Beatles one for one. That in itself is a
    pretty amazing feat. Also remember reading that the band was form-
    ed and backed by a group of businessmen with the only intent to
    form a money-machine. I don't know if Dave Clark himself was then
    involved with this or not. If someone has read this too please
    correct me if I'm mistaken, but it was intresting about the form-
    ing of this group.
                         mike
     

>    How is the sound quality on the 2CD set? Were they re-mastered?

  I agree with the previous answer -- the sound quality is very good.  Dave
  Clark was in charge of the remastering himself.  (And seemingly in charge
  of everything else about the set.)
  
  I remember when pre-teens used to cite Beatles, DC5, and <choke> Herman's
  Hermits as some sort of triumvirate of pop (circa '64).  By the following
  year, most of us (in the NYC suburb I inhabited) evolved to
  Beatles/Dylan/Stones and disavowed we had ever liked DC5 & HH.  Which, if
  nothing else, brought us steps closer to discovering Muddy, Hank, Ray, and
  the 40s & 50s rockers...   - Jay

    re .28, yeah, Beatles/Dylan/Stones - those were my top favorites in
    high school, back in the '60's.  :-)
    
    Lorna
    

    
    On the cover of the 'Glad All Over' LP, the sax player (blond-haired
    guy, can't remember his name) is shown with a tenor. And the solo on
    'Can't You See That She's Mine' sure sounds like a tenor....I think he
    just tended to stay in the low range of the instrument. Don't know if
    I've ever heard a bari solo used. 
    
    In retrospect, I like the DC5 a lot. They always seemed to me to be 
    indicative of how the British
    interpreted an authentic 50s American R&B sound. Having a sax in the
    band must have been a vestige from that type of music. I don't think
    anyone else used a reed instrument as part of the regular band lineup
    from the time of the '64 British invasion up until Blodwyn Pig, but I
    could be mistaken.
    
    And out of all those hits they had, there was really only one (kind of)
    slow number...'Because'...right ? Everything else was fast-tempo 
    stuff.
    
    Wasn't there also another movie called 'Having a Wild Weekend', or
    was that just an album title ?
    
    Peter

    Mebe it wuz a tenor and it just seemed so much bigger then cuz I wuz so
    much smaller.  My impression of them was that they were a sort of
    Monkees only ones that actually played and didn't have a TV show. That
    is, they were formed by businessmen like the previous note said. Those
    "me too" British bands always seemed to have a gimmick. These record
    execs were thinking that the Beatles were popular because they had those
    haircuts and the Stones were because they were kind of crude,
    STAY-AWAY-FROM-MY-DAUGHTER! types. So the DC5 had a guy that held a sax
    and sometimes even played it! That was cool. But how many organists did
    it take before they found the guy with McCartneys eyes and dimples?

    Herman's Hermits needed something, so they found Peter Noone amd made
    the whole band just incredibly, unbelievably, insidiously...cute. And
    Freddy and the Dreamers needed something so they put Buddy Holly glasses
    on Freddy but that wasn't quite enough so they told them to act
    like...uh...like...uh...idiots. Ahhhh, that did it. Manfred Mann were
    <snap> BEATNIKS! Peter and Gordon were like the Everly
    Brothers...wholesome. Chad and Jeremy were supposed to be like Simon and
    the-big-tall-jerk (that one's for you Edd) but were actually like just
    like Peter and Gordon.

    I don't know. It all happened so fast and came through such little
    speakers, who could make any sense out of it.

    --Ron

    Well, I think it's well known that the DC5 used session players on most
    of their records, but I don't think it was a band "formed by
    businessmen".  The way I recall it is more like they were an existing
    band,a bit older than their contemporaries that tried to cash in on the
    Beatles craze, and did so successfully for a number of years.  
    
    Dave Clark made lots of smart business moves over the years; even on
    the first albums he was listed as producer and the reason you couldn't
    get DC5 albums for years was because he had always owned the masters,
    so in the early seventies when he license to Epic ran out in the US,
    the albums disappeared.  
    
    Maybe by deliberately holding them back he'll stand to make more money
    now, since it's well past that first deluge of reissues that the CD era
    caused.
    
    							Brian

    "Come Home" was another slow number that charted; it's a pretty decent
    single.  A couple of other hits I remember that I haven't seen
    mentioned:  "Over and Over" and "You've Got What It Takes".
    
    Ed Sullivan took an extreme liking to these guys, probably due in large
    part to their squeaky clean image.  I heard they hold the record for Sullivan
    Show apperances by a rock & roll band.
    
    I also heard that sometime in the intervening years Dave Clark did some 
    professional wrestling!
    
    /ravishing_rick_huxley

    Dave Clark started the band to finance his soccer team.
    
    Edd

    I listened to DC5 on a 6 transistor radio during the years my hormones
    first began working.  At the time, they were every bit as big as the
    Beatles. For kids in junior high, this was powerful stuff. At the time,
    I listened mostly to DC5, Stones, Beatles, and yes, the beachboys. Also
    sprinkle in the Supremes etc.
    
    In retrospect, looking at the DC5 from a pure music perspective, does
    the DC5 stack up versus the Beatles?  No, but when you were that young,
    all you cared about was what made you feel good. And the DC5 made you
    feel good! 
    
    I've been listening to the re-issued stuff for a while, and its amazing
    all the memories this stuff brings back. Girls you knew, places you
    hung out at, that would otherwise be quite forgotten on the scrap heap
    in your brain.

    "Catch Us If You Can" was the original title of the film "Having a Wild
    Weekend".  It was directed by John Boorman.
    
    - Dave