THE DAVE CLARK FIVE – “Glad All Over”
London answers back. A quick search for info on the Five draws out this gem – “Contemporaries criticised them for lacking finesse” – well, who’d have thought it? Frenetic, lairy, noisy – there’s hardly anything to “Glad All Over” beyond call-and-response chanting and stomping but it’s close to irresistible.
This is a fast, hard record – apt that the drummer gave his name to the band as the track shows perfectly the way rhythm and speed were becoming a motor in pop. The crudest No.1 to date, perhaps – nobody was going to be comparing this to Schubert.
7
For about a month the DC5 were hailed as the Tottenham Sound that would topple the Mersey Sound.Then Dave Clark -always more a business man than a musician -quickly set about establishing the group as the respectable face of British pop in America, alongside Herman’s Hermits – cleanliving young men out to make a lot of money.Bits and Pieces was OK but after that their credibility was shot
can somebody sort the graphic options out on this effing board I’m trying to post a stork-boy innit
Sorted.
I heard this again last night and I love the pause between “Oh yes I am” and “Glad all over” – like he’s actually taking a moment to think of how to describe how completely wonderful he feels.
Oh, and just so it gets acknowledged here – Mike Smith, singer and organist with the DC5, passed away recently from pneumonia aged 64. One of the great unacknowledged screamers in Britbeat (see “Do You Love Me?” – much better than weedy Brian Poole and the Trems – or “Bits And Pieces” for proof) and it’s a real shame he didn’t survive to attend the group’s RnR Hall of Fame induction. RIP, big man.
TOTPWatch: The Dave Clark Five performed ‘Glad All Over’ on the very first edition of ‘Top of The Pops’, transmitted on the 1st of January 1964.
Also in the studio that week were; The Rolling Stones, The Hollies, Dusty Springfield and The Swinging Blue Jeans. Jimmy Saville was the host.
No copy survives.
A Crystal Palace FC terrace anthem at one time… not a Palace fan myself, so dont know if that is still the case, but it was in the late 80s, early 90s.
And if ever a song was designed perfectly to become a terrace chant, then….
And indeed it was covered by the Crystal Palace squad as their Cup Final record in 1990. Hardly troubled the chart, though…
It is still a Palace anthem. Very odd to hear several thousand people singing this.
In fact, it’s endlessly fascinating how the football grounds have preserved songs that might otherwise have long since been forgotten. You’ll Never Walk Alone owes its continuing presence in UK folk memory to the Kop; would anyone still remember that old music hall number I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles but for West Ham (I still find it incredibly moving to hear the East End diaspora return from Essex and sing that at Upton Park); there’s Delilah at Stoke, Blue Moon at Man City, Guatanamera (with lyrics changed) absolutely everywhere, same with Winter Wonderland.
When was the last time anyone heard Hello Hello I’m Back Again? Or, less contentiously, Son Of My Father?
I’ve heard Son of My Father not so long ago, though I couldn’t give you an actual fixture. There’s a piece to be written about the role of the football ground in preserving old songs, isn’t there …
Loud and to the point – http://musicsoundsbetterwithtwo.blogspot.com/2011/07/let-world-know-swinging-blue-jeans.html Thanks for reading as ever, folks!
I have a pet popular culture project of my own these days. At <a href=http://kinephile.wordpress.com<Kinephile I’m setting out to look at and comment on my not-quite-entirely (I’m loosely referring to the BFI best of British list of 1999) subjective notion of the best British films ever made, in no particular order (except for that in which Lovefilm get to send them to me) and without any attempt to score or rank. (You may generally assume that most films I feature I would give a 6 or more in Tom’s Popular terms.) Some are old friends, some will be new to me, but in each case I’ll be watching afresh before I post.
I’m posting this here because two of the three films featured so far (Brighton Rock, because it pre-dates the British charts, and Another Year because Popular is some way from getting there if it ever does), don’t fit in with the Popular timeline. But this one:
http://kinephile.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/zulu-cy-endfield-1964-bfi-31/
was released even as the Dave Clark Five topped the charts.
Enjoy!