Glad All Over: The Dave Clark Five and Beyond

I'm a big fan of 60's music but have never considered the Dave Clark Five amongst the major movers and shakers of the era. They briefly threatened the Beatles juggernaut in both America and the UK but within two years or so their greatest success was behind them, all very Herman's Hermits, Freddie and the Dreamers and all that, or so I've always thought.

But no, here we have the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Stevie Wonder and even Whoopi Goldberg contributing to this very long biography of the group and in particular Dave Clark himself. Before the show, I couldn't have told you the names of anyone else in the group or recalled more than three or four of their hits of the time, but judging by what's said here, you'd think they were up there with the Beatles and Stones in terms of musical quality and importance.

Don't think so somehow. Their early records are okay with the big-voiced Mike Smith, foot-stomping drums and somewhere in the mix a saxophone but their sound to these ears was very one-dimensional to the point of monotony and as the documentary discreetly admits, their music progressed not one iota after their first hit.

I'll be honest, I seriously thought all the hyperbole being thrown about (get a load of Tom Hanks Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame induction speech too!) was actually spoofing the group's status, but no, it seems they're all deadly serious in praising the group to the skies. After the group split in 1970 the show follows Clark's career path exclusively where we learn he was an astute businessman and a would-be musical impresario (anybody else remember his big-name thronged musical "Time", no, I thought not).

To be fair, the group members come across as decent enough ordinary average blokes and there's no doubt they were hot property for those first two years but really this documentary could easily have been condensed to half its running time and in truth looks like a vanity project by Mr Clark.

Sorry, it didn't leave me "Glad All Over".