People seem to forget that The Dave Clark Five were HUGE in the USA,up there with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones,and even had their own movie.

Their release schedule in the USA was prolific,it seems like they had a new album out every few months,and the amount of 45s they released in quick succession was something to behold!!

Their peak commercial success in the States,began to wain as the psych era approached,but for 2 years at least,their popularity COULDN'T be questioned,and their release schedule in the UK was pretty tame compared to Stateside,it seems to me they spent more time in the USA,touring,promoting and appearing on all the popular TV shows there,than anywhere else,including their homeland Britain.

What they accomplished in the massive market with a huge landmass with a huge population that the USA has,IS something to be respected,and indeed proud of,and Dave Clark WAS an exception in that he had control of DC5 recordings,which at that time was very rare indeed,a very canny businessman,that MANY musicians WEREN'T,hence so many got ripped off and cheated!!

It puzzles my why Dave Clark himself would let the DC5 legacy be forgotten,as far as i know,there has NEVER been a comprehensive reissue programme in the UK of DC5s catalogue,and the many albums they released,it seems to be repeated greatest hits packages that gets released every few years with the same tracks!!

The DC5 must be the ONLY big act from the 60s that has NOT had their catalogue made available,since the 60s,NO big reissue campaigns like The Kinks,The Beatles,The Rolling Stones,The Small Faces,The Hollies,and many many more,with many many reissues,some too many in my opinion!

It really IS a pity,as the DC5 have many fabulous deep cuts on albums,B sides,EPs,and indeed single only sides issued in other parts of the world except the UK,plus many unissued recordings that have NOT saw the light of day!!
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Yes they got caught up with changing musical trends,and seemed to miss the boat for a while,as their sound became"old hat"as psychedelia took a hold and pop music became more experimental and adventurous,leaving the DC5 looking a bit pedestrian and out of place!

While other bands that they were as BIG as if not bigger,became trendsetters,dictating the musical trends and fashion,but like MANY other early to mid 60s outfits who were huge,their commercial worth seemed to gradually fade,and yet they kept going till the early 70s,where Dave Clark split the 5 and operated under the Dave Clark And Friends moniker,with NO permanent line up!

Why has Dave Clark NEVER seemed interested in having new generations of music enthusiasts BUT also 60s music enthusiasts rediscover the DC5 legacy,particularly when supposed lesser bands from that time have saw their work reissued many times and in some cases in fancy deluxe or expanded sets?
I DON'T get it!!

READY STEADY GO

He also owns the copyrights of ALL surviving episodes and indeed film of British 60s mod music show Ready Steady Go,which he seems to have done very little in keeping that available to music enthusiasts,particularly when the BBC taped over massive amounts of 60s TV shows with MANY of the most succesful musical acts of that time being lost forever!!

So the archive of Ready Steady Go is of upmost importance in terms of British culture and indeed youth culture from that time,as theres very little left in truth!!

Why didn't someone give Dave Clark a boot up the arse and tell him there ARE people very much interested in the DC5 legacy and of Ready Steady Go.............gggrrrr!!

Hi Stuart, I agree though there's not that much to salvage of any great note in my opinion.

There's a great looking vinyl box set from a year or two ago, see the unboxing review here:
The Dave Clark Five : All The Hits : The 7" Collection : Vinyl Singles :Box Set Review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mae3PDy1ApI

There's a CD version as well which would be more you I know.

To be honest all those US albums were barely more than 20 minutes long, short even for the time. Their singles were almost all under or just over two minutes long as well. Nonetheless, I agree there deserves to be a comprehensive overview of it all.

The problem with the vinyl and CD sets above is there's not really any of their more interesting singles on it. None of these (mainly for the B sides which I have as both UK and US 45s):

Dave Clark Five (UK) – Nineteen Days / I Need Love (Columbia UK, 1966)
Dave Clark Five (UK) – The Red Balloon / Maze of Love (Columbia 1968)
Dave Clark Five (UK) – Everybody Knows / Concentration Baby (Columbia 1967)
Dave Clark Five (UK) – Tabatha Twitchit / Man In A Pin-Striped Suit (Columbia 1967)
Dave Clark Five (UK) – Julia / Five By Five (Columbia 1970)

There is also a more comprehensive 2 x CD compilation set from 1993 called 'The History of The Dave Clark Five' that does have the above titles on it (50 tracks in all). See discogs listing below (there's also a couple for offer on eBay around £18 mark used). :

https://www.discogs.com/master/696069-The-Dave-Clark-Five-The-History-Of-The-Dave-Clark-Five


As for the RSG series. I believe a good deal of the tapes were wiped before DC got what was left (again correct me if I am wrong) You can source these cheaply on DVDRs on eBay out of Singapore which apparently are legal (or grey area anyway). Both the Beatles and Rolling Stones specials for instance. The first time I saw these I was just blown away with the interaction between artists, anchors and audience, much less Staged than Top of The Pops! Also, don't forget the wonderful RSG hardback book that came out a year or two ago, full of stills from the shows (see Amazon listing for instance):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ready-Steady-Weekend-Starts-Here/dp/1947026348/ref=sr_1_1?crid=6I3IIE539ZEX&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.fP-Wsvo-iGK5_-eDpn99aA.FmXkbuN45UYmEbyHAWmqaLyoVQMb_MY6loi4_ugTqmU&dib_tag=se&keywords=Ready+Steady+Go%21%3A+The+Weekend+Starts+Here%3A+The+Definitive+Story+of+the+Show...&qid=1712422658&s=music&sprefix=ready+steady+go+the+weekend+starts+here+the+definitive+story+of+the+show...%2Cpopular%2C86&sr=1-1

PM:slightly_smiling_face:

Hello Paul,thank you for replying to my long meandering post!

Yes DC5, seemed to have had a low quality bar on some of the recordings they made,as there IS some utter drivel, like most other groups from the early 60s, but Dave Clark owned ALL their recordings unlike the many others from this time, even The Beatles

I DO know there are a fair few outstanding out of their usual ordinary stuff, on albums,B sides and EPs... but there's also many unreleased recordings too, which out of curiosity i'd like to hear.

All this still DOESN'T address why Dave Clark himself has ALWAYS seemed uninterested to make DC5 catalogue available in physical form on Vinyl or cd,or indeed for streaming too, it seems the DC5 are the only top British Pop band from the 60s who's catalogue hasn't been available which is surprising as they were huge in the States where other top British bands couldnt sell a thing!

It's likely that D.C.'s appetite for such projects diminished following the devastating hammer-blow of losing 3 band members in such a short space of time and he would have to consider the sensibilities of their families and respect the memory of his bandmates before embarking on commercial ventures.