THE DAVE CLARK FIVE RETURN!
Champions of the Tottenham Sound. Some 17 Top 40 hits in the U.S. between 1964 and 1967. The closest rivals to The Beatles during the heady early days of the British Invasion. The first band to tour the U.S. in their own chartered airplane. More appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show than any other British Invasion band in history. Members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, class of 2008.
All these statistics belong to a single group, The Dave Clark Five. Although wildly successful in the mid ’60s, their legacy often seems to pale in comparison to their more enduring contemporaries — The Beatles, The Who, and the Stones in particular. Part of the reason may be the fact that following the band’s breakup in 1970, the individual musicians mostly remained inactive, all except their late singer and keyboard player Mike Smith and Clark himself, who went on to become a successful producer, promoter, actor and businessman in addition to the keeper of the band’s name and brand. However, the biggest cause for their fleeting presence is likely due to the fact that despite the nearly two dozen albums released throughout their career, their music remained pitifully hard to find. From 1978 until 1993, their catalog was effectively absent from the marketplace entirely. Two greatest hits albums have appeared in the meantime, the double CD History of the Dave Clark Five issued in 1993 and a 2008 compilation titled Hits. More recently however, DC5 songs have popped up on iTunes and on Spotify.
Clark himself accepts responsibility for that absence, given the fact that he’s the sole owner of the group’s catalog, as well as the keeper of their legacy. Aside from himself, only lead guitarist Lenny Davidson is still alive. Smith passed away in 2008, only days before they were due to be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Bassist Rick Huxley died in 2013 and saxophonist and harmonica player Denis Payton left us in 2006.
“The unreleased song on the—Dave Clark
