# Turn It Up! - The Dave Clark Five



## Guest (Aug 9, 2018)

_"Turn it up, turn it up, little bit higher, radio
Turn it up, that's enough, so you know it's got soul
Radio, radio turn it up..."
_- Van Morrison

The average length of the 45 rpm single is 3 minutes and 30 seconds...

If you can't say what needs to be said in 3 minutes and 30 seconds then it probably isn't worth saying...

"Turn It Up!" is a series about those classic tunes played on vintage Top Forty AM radio stations that still live on over the airwaves of our memories and the artists who created them...

*The Dave Clark Five* -

"The Dave Clark Five" were an English pop rock band formed in Tottenham in 1957.

In January 1964 they had their first UK top ten single, "Glad All Over", which knocked the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" off the top of the UK Singles Chart. It peaked at number 6 in the United States in April 1964. Although this was their only UK #1, they topped the US chart in December 1965, with their cover of Bobby Day's "Over And Over".

They were the second group of the British Invasion to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show in the United States (for two weeks in March 1964 following the Beatles' three weeks the previous month).

The band started out as the "Dave Clark Quintet" in 1957, with Clark on drums, Dave Sanford on lead guitar, Chris Walls on bass, Don Vale on piano. In 1958, Sanford was replaced by Rick Huxley and Vale was replaced by Roger Smedley.

People were confused by the meaning of the word quintet, so the band renamed themselves the "Dave Clark Five", with Stan Saxon on lead vocals, Huxley on rhythm guitar, Smedley on piano and Johnny Johnson on lead guitar. Mick Ryan replaced Johnson in 1958 and Jim Spencer joined on saxophone, while Smedley left. Walls left in 1959 and Huxley became the bass player.

Mike Smith joined on piano in 1960, and Lenny Davidson replaced Ryan in 1961. In 1962, the band changed its name to "the Dave Clark Five" when Saxon left. The group was Clark on drums, Huxley on bass, _Smith on organ and lead vocals_, and Davidson on lead guitar, adding Denny Payton on tenor and baritone saxophone, harmonica and guitar.

Originating in north London, the band was promoted as the vanguard of a "Tottenham Sound" (a response to Liverpool's Mersey Beat sound). Dave Clark, who formed the group, struck business deals that allowed him to produce the band's recordings and gave him control of the master recordings. Songwriting credits went to _Clark_, _Clark_ and Smith, _Clark_ and Davidson, and _Clark_ and Payton.

"The Dave Clark Five" had 12 Top 40 hits in the UK between 1964 and 1967, and 17 records in the Top 40 of the US Billboard chart. Their song "Over and Over" went to number one in the US on the Billboard Hot 100 on Christmas Day 1965, despite less impressive sales in the UK (it peaked at number 45 on the UK Singles Chart).

They made 18 appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" - more than any British Invasion group.

The band released a film, "Catch Us If You Can" (directed by John Boorman) in 1965. It starred Barbara Ferris, and was released in the United States as "Having a Wild Weekend".

The group disbanded in late 1970.

On 10 March 2008, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.






"Glad All Over" -











"Bits and Pieces" -











"Do You Love Me" -











"Can't You See That She's Mine" -











"Because" -











"Everybody Knows I Still Love You" -











"Anyway You Want It" -






"Come Home" -






"I Like It Like That" -






"Catch Us If You Can" -











"Over and Over" -






"You Got What It Takes" -


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I think I only ever heard one of their songs on the radio here (Glad all over) in golden oldies programmes. I've put it on our car MP3 USB stick, a good sing-along song.


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

The DCF was cool because they had both organ and sax, two instruments that I was learning to play.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

This group is from 'my era'.  I remember dancing to Bits & Pieces and loving the heavy drumbeat - at a friend's thirteenth birthday party, all girls, held in the local scout hut in York, with fizzy lemonade and sandwiches - oh, *didn't* we think we were cool!


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