Not completely off topic, as I bolded below. Airing tonight and Friday night on PBS Great Performances. The link will give you the trailer, couldn't post it here.

The Dave Clark Five And Beyond

Fifty years after the Dave Clark Five and the Beatles hit the American shores, Great Performances presents a look at the British Invasion in The Dave Clark Five and Beyond—Glad All Over, a two-hour special airing Tuesday, April 8, 2014, 8-10 p.m. ET and on Friday, April 11 at 10 p.m. – midnight on PBS (check local listings).

The Dave Clark Five were the first English group to tour America (in May 1964), thus spearheading the British Invasion. The band achieved a record-breaking 15 consecutive Top 20 U.S. hit singles within a two-year period — more than any other group in the world except the Beatles. The Dave Clark Five appeared a record-breaking 18 times on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” with its weekly audience of 70 million viewers — more than any other rock, pop or R&B artist. They took the world by storm and helped change the rock scene, blasting hit after hit over the world’s radio airwaves.

The film presents new interviews with Tom Hanks, Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt of The E Street Band, Stevie Wonder, Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, Gene Simmons of Kiss, Whoopi Goldberg, Dionne Warwick, ’60s fashion icon Twiggy and Sir Ian McKellen, all sharing their memories of how the music of the 60s and the cultural revolution of 1964 changed their lives forever.

Footage includes the Dave Clark Five’s iconic performances on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” along with rare live concert footage and the band’s countless appearances on television with American musical icons. Much of this material — much of it on 35mm film — has not been seen in decades, either on television or home video.

The film also features never-before-seen footage from Clark’s personal archives together with performances by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Dusty Springfield, Stevie Wonder, the Supremes, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Freddie Mercury of Queen and Sir Laurence Olivier.

Glad All Over features scenes from the band’s feature film Catch Us If You Can (Having a Wild Weekend in the U.S.). There are scenes of the group with Lucille Ball (on whose “Lucy in London” special they guest-starred); Richard Chamberlain; Lulu; Cliff Richard; Julian Lennon; and Mercury.

The Dave Clark Five, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were all war babies, born during the World War II. The film highlights the Dave Clark Five’s working-class roots in war-torn England and tells in fascinating detail the story of how the five — Clark, Mike Smith (an underrated rock vocalist, as several of the luminaries in the film attest), Denis Payton, Rick Huxley and Lenny Davidson — met while training in the gym two nights a week in Tottenham and their rise to worldwide fame, selling more than 100 million records in the process.

Clark, a fan of the legendary Buddy Rich, was the drummer and manager of the group; his drumming was a key influence on Springsteen, Max Weinberg, Van Zandt and others. Clark — whom Elton John dubs a “stone-cold genius” — made sure the band owned the masters of all their music and video appearances.

Further demonstration of Clark’s business acumen was his acquisition of the pioneering classic British rock/pop series “Ready Steady Go!,” which was released on TV and video throughout the world. In the United States, it was released on the Disney Channel, which billed it as “a timeless treasure.”

Clark studied at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama and with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in Los Angeles. He created the long-running British musical Time, which featured the hologram image of Laurence Olivier. Clark had the privilege of directing him in his final theatrical performance, one that received critical acclaim.

In 2008, Tom Hanks inducted the Dave Clark Five into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Dave Clark Five and Beyond—Glad All Over will be released by PBS Home Video in conjunction with the broadcast.

[www.pbs.org]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2014-04-09 20:43 by latebloomer.

"We're sorry, but this video is not available in your region due to right restrictions".

Great reading, though.

<<The Dave Clark Five were the first English group to tour America (in May 1964), thus spearheading the British Invasion.>>

That's quite a bit of revisionist hype. The Beatles were first on the charts and were playing a concert in Washington, DC, in February--but I guess a full and proper tour means that the DC5 were ahead of the Beatles and that history has it all wrong. Now my understanding of rock n roll history is in bits and pieces....

Edit: Does one actually have to watch it on television to see the whole video? I've become a You-boob watcher rather than a boob-tube watcher in my old age. In fact, I don't even own a television at this point. Well, actually I do--I received one as a Christmas gift several years ago, but I still haven't taken it out of its box. In fact, the box is still sealed, somewhere in a closet. Well, perhaps this DC5 special will come out on DVD. The prospect of the unreleased TV performance footage does sound interesting.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-04-09 04:24 by stonehearted.

Are Ron Ryan or Bobby Graham in this doc ?
How about Lenny Davidson ?
On a more serious note you'd hope that this doc might lead to some of the DC5's back catalogue finally being released on cd though i suspect anyone interested picked up the vinyl-drop bootlegs years ago. For all his claimed smart business skills he seriously blew that one though it's hard to rule out the claim that he might have left himself open to some serious legal action if he had reissued the catalogue for instance when Mike Smith was in dire need of financial help.

It was less about the Dave Clark Five and more about the Beyond.

Dreadful band with a squeaky clean image like stuffed dummies with their fixed smiles, monotonous beats and awfully dull lyrics. I have a vaque memory of Jagger making some scathingly dismissive comment about them way back them.

Were they more of a cover band, or did they write much of their material? I know a lot of acts did not write much of their own music (ala early Stones).

they had their sound, and it was working for them for a good while..

enjoyed their records when I was 10, 11..(plus I was an aspiring drummer, loved that a drummer was leading the band!) went to see them, Mom took me and my cousin ..
my first concert was the DC5!

I watched this last night. Entertaining program, but if you're hoping to see some 'live' DC5 material, forget it. It's all clips of them miming to the records--even when they're shown at, apparently, a concert, the soundtrack is a record. Nice to hear Sir Paul's thoughts and recollections (after all he was THERE), but could've done without Bruuuce, Whoopie, and the rest pontificating on the band's importance.

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buffalo7478
Were they more of a cover band, or did they write much of their material? I know a lot of acts did not write much of their own music (ala early Stones).

Bit of a mixture but in the early days some of their more well-known stuff was supposedly written or co-written by Ron Ryan who was then left off the credits and not paid.
This is one of the many problems associated with the band. DC seems to have serious ethic and ego problems which is a shame coz the band wasn't so bad and Mike Smith was really quite good as a singer. I'm not sure it would be a problem that Bobby Graham drummed on many of the early hits if it wasn't for DC's airbrushing of the matter. Graham also drummed on a large part of the Kinks early output which is surprising as Mick Avory was none too shabby as a drummer. No-one gives them shit for this.
The DC5 appear to have been what the Stones are now - a well-oiled business operation. Sadly DC has effectively stunted any continued popularity by not re-releasing anything bar a couple of hits packages. I think he's worried about legal action to be frank - Ryan appears to have good cause to be p'd off at him and this lack of availability has presumably stopped the guys in the band benefitting from cd sales although it wouldn't surprise me if their contracts meant they were paid in weekly wages and that any mechanicals and the like went to Clark. I hope that's not the case but the guy is seriously fishy and a quick fact check of the claims he makes regarding the DC5's impact/sales etc. show they do not bare close scrutiny.
His treatment of the remaining Ready Steady Go episodes was shoddy and allegedly Sandie Shaw had to chase him up for royalties. Ask fab 4 fans about his The Beatles Live release as well - a total effing disgrace and extremely economic with the truth in terms of it's claims - there it is again.
To be honest, the list goes on with DC....shame coz the other employees in the band deserve and deserved better.

I watched this last night on PBS, at least the first half anyway. Will get to the rest soon as I have it on DVR. I must say that my wife and I grew up in the Chicago area listening to the DC5 when we were kids, bought the 45's and liked their sound alot. Yet, I never considered them anywhere near to what the Beatles and Stones were bringing. It wasn't as though they received bad press. They came off as this clean cut group that had a big sound with strong vocals and catchy singles. I was too young to know at the time, but their singles were mainly covers. Not that this mattered back in their heyday, because they were chart toppers, and for being a 11-13 year old kid, I thought they were DC5 songs. Eventually, they just faded away and really I dont remember my friends ever pining for them to make a comeback. If you didnt grow up in this time period or were not aware of the scene at that time, this movie would strike you funny. You would think, why did they not carry on and surpass the lowly Beatles and Stones? Dave Clark was actively involved with making this film and coughed up archival video footage. My question has always been, WTF was this guy waiting for with the catalogue? Maybe he is running low on cash?? The film has this sort of other worldly vibe to it. I don't know how to else to describe it. Maybe the DC5 didn't have a good PR guy, although from watching the film you know Dave Clark was all about promoting himself and to a lesser degree the band. The film spent quite a bit time promoting Dave Clarks acting career and this strnage DC5 film I had never even heard of before, that was more or less being touted as being on par with A Hard Days Night. Does anyone actually remember this movie being in theaters? The interview comments with Bruce, Max, and Steve VZ were good. Hated the Simmons comments, Ozzie ozoned mumblings, and worthless Whoopi Goldberg thoughts as it related to the DC5.

I'm curious to hear what others think of this strange film. Worth watching, but be prepared to be a little surprised in a weird sort of way.

I'm just curious why this is getting attention..guess I'll have to watch this film. apparently Dave Clark deserves some attention, but why now?

yes, part of the 'British Invasion'..but still not sure why they rate a documentary, unless its because this film shows Dave Clark himself apparently was ..what..a wheeler-dealer who didn't credit the songwriters of their hits..?

Yes, by all means watch it. I believe that this is because Dave had finally decided to permit release of this stuff. Like I said, just strange.

At two hours, this show was about 1.5 hours too long.
While they were "great" for about 2-3 years c. 63-65, they were wise to call it quits in 1970 (should have called it sooner in my opinion)...

Tom Hanks, Bruce, and Whoopi, etc. can blow all the hot air they want, but they can't change history.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

The Dave Clark Five will be forever stuck in amber as a top British Invasion band, only. They did indeed rival the Beatles for a short time, but they never surpassed that time as did the Animals, Beatles, Stones, Kinks and others. The DC5 had some catchy hits but they were never artists. Well, that's unfair, they did make a few fantastic pop records that I still enjoy. But as a group they lacked personality beyond the pre-fabricated image. There was no humor to what they did.

I remember when their movie came out, but it was already past the period where such Hard Day's Night imitators mattered. I think Herman's Hermits did some kind of similar film.

It's strange that they're getting a two hour special. There's just not that much DC5 history.

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Hairball
At two hours, this show was about 1.5 hours too long.
While they were "great" for about 2-3 years c. 63-65, they were wise to call it quits in 1970 (should have called it sooner in my opinion)...

Tom Hanks, Bruce, and Whoopi, etc. can blow all the hot air they want, but they can't change history.

Yep. Nice, enjoyable pop band, but shouldn't be mentioned anywhere near Stones/Beatlesland.

"No Anchovies, Please"

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latebloomer


The film presents new interviews with ... Gene Simmons of Kiss, Whoopi Goldberg ...

Gene is a fan. He told me about 20 years ago how he planned to buy the boxed set as soon as it came on sale. Was Whoopi sporting a gaudy Planet Hollywood jacket like the one she terrorized Stones fans with on the Miami PPV?

For all his alleged business acumen, DC should be used in business classes as an example of entrepreneurial stupidity -- sitting on his DC5 and RSG catalog and ignoring the CD and DVD boom. And it's too late now.

A couple years back there was a DVD boxset of Brit Invasion Groups with the Small Faces/Gerry&Pacermakers/Dusty Springfield/Hermans Hermits. There was steam building for a second one and the Zombies, Hollies, Kinks and others were rumored. But the market dropped out for such things and only the Hollies edition made it out as a stand alone product. (And a Pretty Things DVD biography was screened once and remains gathering dust on a shelf). The DC5 would have been a perfect subject.

Here is a quite beautiful song from Mikes Smith & D'Abo, lead singers of
DC5 and Manfred Mann, from their album Smith & D'Abo:





And another one which features Mike Smith more prominently. Both are
Smith/D'Abo compositions.







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-04-09 22:03 by walkingthedog.

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24FPS

I remember when their movie came out, but it was already past the period where such Hard Day's Night imitators mattered. I think Herman's Hermits did some kind of similar film.

It's strange now to think that, thanks to Elvis and his movie career, there was a time when all bands were expected to make films (in which, in addition to singing, they did sort-of-acting). I remember when we were all agog for the Stones to appear in Only Lovers Left Alive, which thank goodness never got made. I couldn't imagine how it would have worked, then or now.

I haven't seen this DC5 show, but from reading the comments I have to think they must have been bigger here than in the UK, where they were briefly big, based on two hit songs, but only one band among many. They weren't any bigger than the Searchers or Gerry and the Pacemakers, etc.

When I was an intern at Rhino Records back in the late '80s (before they went mega and CDs weren't that popular yet), the DC5 catalog was their Holy Grail. They wanted that catalog badly.

I think DC himself thought that the longer he held out, the more interest/demand their would be, hence the more money he would get. But I think it backfired on him. I don't think their catalog would have sold that well, unlike, say, the Monkees which has always been a good seller no matter how many times it gets reissued. Perhaps he blew it by not doing it sooner, I don't know.

Here's Harold Bronson (of Rhino) on what went wrong.

[www.huffingtonpost.com]

Watched the second half of the DC5 doc last night. Rough stuff to sit through. It was pretty brutal in places. First half of this documentary had some fun moments, but otherwise DC comes off as self promoting. Some of these projects were horrendous ego trips.

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tomk


Here's Harold Bronson (of Rhino) on what went wrong.

[www.huffingtonpost.com]

Very interesting, thanks! (Could have done without Herman's Hermits and Rolling Stones being mentioned in the same sentence - oops, just did it myself)

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Aquamarine

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24FPS

I remember when their movie came out, but it was already past the period where such Hard Day's Night imitators mattered. I think Herman's Hermits did some kind of similar film.

I haven't seen this DC5 show, but from reading the comments I have to think they must have been bigger here than in the UK, where they were briefly big, based on two hit songs, but only one band among many. They weren't any bigger than the Searchers or Gerry and the Pacemakers, etc.

Surprisingly, after their career fizzled in the States around '67, they had some hits, including a couple top tens, in Britain before they split up in 1970.

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24FPS
A couple years back there was a DVD boxset of Brit Invasion Groups with the Small Faces/Gerry&Pacermakers/Dusty Springfield/Hermans Hermits. There was steam building for a second one and the Zombies, Hollies, Kinks and others were rumored. But the market dropped out for such things and only the Hollies edition made it out as a stand alone product. (And a Pretty Things DVD biography was screened once and remains gathering dust on a shelf). The DC5 would have been a perfect subject.

At the library I work at, we have a copy of Rhino's 9-disc Ed Sullivan's Rock n Roll Classics. Anybody who was anyone has their Sullivan appearances on there--from Elvis to the Carpenters. But, in spite of their record-setting 18 appearances, not a single DC5 clip. Wonder what DC is thinking by being so stingy with their material?

that is odd about the Sullivan dvds....they could make one disc of just DC%. I'm sure it wouldn't sell like the beatles or stones issues but bet it would pay dividends! AND they just put the performances on there instead of the entire show like those previously mentioned..

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24FPS

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Aquamarine

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24FPS

I remember when their movie came out, but it was already past the period where such Hard Day's Night imitators mattered. I think Herman's Hermits did some kind of similar film.

I haven't seen this DC5 show, but from reading the comments I have to think they must have been bigger here than in the UK, where they were briefly big, based on two hit songs, but only one band among many. They weren't any bigger than the Searchers or Gerry and the Pacemakers, etc.

Surprisingly, after their career fizzled in the States around '67, they had some hits, including a couple top tens, in Britain before they split up in 1970.

They did? They must have fallen off my radar completely, then, I don't remember them at all after that early era. I guess by 1967 we were all focused on other kinds of music.

You Got What It Takes (Mid-1967) is pretty much the last thing I remember by them. I think I remember either hearing something or seeing them on a show in the late 60's thinking, "oh, they're still around?"

I enjoy their music a lot more now then I did back then. I wish Mike Smith wouldn't have fallen off his roof, perhaps I would have had the chance to see him.

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Aquamarine

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24FPS

Surprisingly, after their career fizzled in the States around '67, they had some hits, including a couple top tens, in Britain before they split up in 1970.

They did? They must have fallen off my radar completely, then, I don't remember them at all after that early era. I guess by 1967 we were all focused on other kinds of music.

A UK #7 hit in 1969. Pretty fine bass lines running through the Sweet Little Sixteen part in this one.





TV performance of the Youngbloods cover, featuring a full-bearded Dave Clark, #8 in the UK in 1970.

I was right about them having fallen off my radar, then, I don't remember ever having even heard of those songs! (By them, I mean.) But then they weren't what you could call underground/progressive, which is what I was into at the time. The Stones did a great job of being counter-culture enough to appeal to that audience as well as fans of more mainstream music.