THE LAST TRAIN TO CLARKSVILLE

How good to see the Dave Clark Five get a mention (RC 351), probably the first since RC 31 in March 1982. For fans, the lack of material on CD has always seemed somewhat perverse as the 25 Thumping Great Hits album in the late 1970s was a major chart success, giving a good indication of potential CD sales. We had to wait until 1993 for the 26-track Glad All Over Again CD which was the first, and so far only, official UK CD. This was followed that same year by The History Of The Dave Clark Five, a double CD on Hollywood Records. The latter, a US-only release, has 50 tracks and can be still found on eBay for about £30.

Unsurprisingly the group has been heavily bootlegged with 26 Titles By The Dave Clark Five appearing in 1995 - this CD features the albums 14 Titles and Play Good Old Rock ‘n’ Roll plus three bonus tracks. Even The History has been bootlegged and can be distinguished by the lack of a booklet and the notation ‘Made in Canada’. Other European releases include eight of the US Epic LPs from 1964 to 1966, plus bonus tracks, spread across four Rock-in-Beat CDs plus RB 210 which features the two later UK Columbia LPs Everybody Knows and If Somebody Loves You.

Another common bootleg is Greatest Hits, a 30-track compilation on Rock-in-Beat with 17 songs in stereo. Then there is entire series called The Complete History, typically offering three LPs to a CD and rounded off by volume 7, Pieces & Bits - Rarities, Hits & Single Tracks which includes a mediocre quality version the rare UK EP track Poison Ivy; wonderful artwork on this release and the bootlegger looks more of a fan than a profiteer. None of us condone bootlegging but Dave Clark only has himself to blame - how else can fans hear the music?

Session With was first released on Columbia (catalogue 33SX 1598) in glorious mono and, according to the sleeve notes, was produced by Adrian Clark this being a nom-de-producer for Adrian Kerridge of the Lansdowne Studios in Holland Park and Dave himself. In the USA, the LP appeared in June 1964 with a slightly different track listing as Return! (Epic LN 24104). In the UK, the album was re-issued in 1968 on Music for Pleasure (MFP 1260) again in mono. There appears to have been no stereo version, not even re-channelled, nor has it ever appeared on CD. Remarkably for the time, 9 out of the 12 songs were group compositions.

For me the perfect CD re-issue in the EMI digipack series would be Session With The Dave Clark Five (mono + stereo versions), plus as bonus tracks the four songs on the January 1964 EP The Dave Clark Five (pictured above) – I Know You, Poison Ivy, Twist And Shout and No Time To Lose. Then we’d like Catch Us If You Can please. How about it Dave? Lots of great Sixties material in issue 351 by the way - loved it.

by Kelvin Holmes
<< Back to Issue 352

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