Glad All Over: The Dave Clark Five and Beyond

I love all 60's music, especially the British Invasion groups. The DC5 were never musically in the same league as the Beatles, Stones, Who etc, but I find a few of their tracks toe tappingly pleasant.

My real problem with the band is Dave Clark himself - a peculiar deluded control freak whose rewriting of history would make Stalin blush. I first became aware of this trait when I watched repeats of Ready Steady Go in the 90's. Clark (who owned the original RSG video tapes) notoriously inserted clips of the DC5 from other TV shows just so his band could be seen performing between groups who actually appeared on RSG. The clips were so badly shoehorned in too. You'd have a clip shot on video tape of The DC5 performing inside a TV studio on The Ed Sullivan Show cut to non-matching audience reactions shot on film of girls screaming taken from a Beatles concert holding up I Love Ringo banners! It's blatant flim-flam like this that pervades this airbrush of a documentary.

Please google search an excellent piece called The Curious Story Of The Dave Clark Five. It nails the shadiness of Clark's character brilliantly, from his dubious songwriting credits on the band's hits, his shabby treatment of the rest of his band (especially singer Mike Smith) and his clumsy handling of the DC5 legacy. Clark thought withdrawing the band's back catalogue for decades would create a huge interest in the combo when he finally re-released a best of album in the 90's. It didn't, and he withdrew all the DC5 music again. This bonkers behaviour means his band aren't as fondly remembered today as other 60''s groups because people couldn't hear or buy their music for years. Sadly this documentary reeks of being Clark's last desperate attempt to try and stop The DC5 being largely forgotten from music history. An unfortunate case of too little, too late.

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".

A lot of re writing of history here - admittedly they sold a lot of records in the USA but credibility in the UK was never gained. Mike Smith remains as the only real talent and this film is decidedly suspect in giving him credit for the songs. He was the lead singer and made each song his own with a powerful voice. I guess this film was made for the American market because there is little to say in rock history about them over here. The Tottenham sound came and went in a comparatively short time. Any why has he been so over protective about the song catalogue that he exclusively owns. Watch the movie and make your own mind up.

I wish I could be more complimentary about this documentary. The Dave Clark Five originated from Tottenham, North London, and initially made their name performing live shows in dance-halls to ecstatic audiences.

With hits such as "Glad All Over," and "Bits and Pieces," they hit the big-time in Britain, and (according to this documentary) managed to crack the American market as well. They were much more dedicated to live performance than The Beatles, which helped to enhance their popularity.

Sadly the facts don't stand up to scrutiny. The group were certainly more popular than The Beatles for a time in the mid-Sixties, but by the late Sixties they had dropped out of favor. They enjoyed a brief renaissance between 1967 and 1970, but then disbanded. The eponymous leader of the group then made it as something of a tycoon; he bought the rights to the ITV series READY STEADY GO, and arranged for selected episodes to be re-broadcast on Channel 4 in the Eighties.

At times this documentary veers towards the self-parodic - a kind of serious THIS IS SPINAL TAP, perhaps. Celebrities of various ages and professions are wheeled on and off to contribute their reminiscences, which seldom depart from the usual collection of mealy-mouthed clichés ("oh, yes, they were great"). The narrative is often lost amidst the sheer amount of reminiscence, while Dave Clark (who directs the piece) makes sure he appears frequently in archive footage as well as interviews.

This is a self-indulgent documentary, of interest, perhaps, to aficionados of Sixties British bubblegum, but few others.

This is a lovely production that will absolutely, mesmerizingly transport you back in time to the incredibly insane universe of the British Invasion. With a perfect balance of music, original black and white and color film clips and photos, and interviews with modern but rockingly aging stars, PBS's Dave Clark Five tribute justly honors the greatest of the second-tier British groups of the 1960's.

Like the Beatles, the DC5 worked for hard for their success. They practiced and played thousands of hours, developing a tight sound and teamwork, gradually growing in local fame in the English city of Tottenham, so that by the time they busted out into national, then international, fame, they had the stage polish of the veterans they already were.

Two noteworthy things really stand out in this production. First, notice the genuine modesty of the boys. They never took anything for granted, and were perpetually grateful for their success, and the joy they were able to bring millions.

Secondly, as the documentary dishes out generous portions of the DC5's music, pay attention to the fantastic voice of the lead singer, Mike Smith. The songs might be unhip by today's standards, but Mike's voice is powerful and soulful, one of the best of the 1960's, and I am glad that the several stars who were interviewed for this program recognized it as such.

After staying away from the stage for many years, Mike returned to it in the late 1990's. Sadly, he only had a couple of years of performing left: in 2003, he fell in a freak accident at his house in Spain, and became paralyzed. He never performed again, dying in 2008. I was lucky to have seen his band at the Mohegan Sun, in 2003 I believe, and he was incredible: he sang for 2 hours straight, blasting out every great Dave Clark Five song, his voice never faltering: he really sounded just like the records; it was awesome.

It is hard to find film of the DC5 performing their songs live; although everyone seems to agree that they were excellent live performers, most of their TV performances were lip-synced. So, during this program pay close attention to the DC5's Command Performance before the Queen, which is live; and shortly thereafter, a clip of them singing "You Got What it Takes": I believe Mike is singing live over the prerecorded backing.

Thank you PBS for making this program possible.