The Dave Clark Five - Inside And Out (1970)

Most people must know The Dave Clark Five's two biggest hits 'Glad All Over' and 'Bits And Pieces', and if, like me, you thought that all of their other material was in the same foot-stomping style, then this album will be as much of a surprise to you as it was to me compiling it. The band had its origins in 1958, as the backing musicians for north London vocalist Stan Saxon, with Dave Clark playing drums in a frequently changing lineup. Clark and his bandmates eventually split with Saxon and reconstituted themselves as a standalone group in January 1962, making their home in Tottenham, London. After a little more evolution, a lasting ensemble was settled on, with Clark on drums, Rick Huxley on bass, Lenny Davidson on lead guitar, Denis Payton on saxophone, harmonica and second guitar, and Mike Smith on keyboards and main vocals, and the DC5 (as they became known) were promoted as the vanguard of a Tottenham Sound, in response to Liverpool's Mersey Beat sound. Dave Clark struck business deals that allowed him to produce the band's recordings and gave him control of the master recordings, a concept which was later copied by other savvy musicians, and it means that he still controls the issue of all the band's recordings. The band had 12 Top 40 hits in the UK between 1964 and 1967, and 17 records in the Top 40 of the US Billboard chart, and 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, starring Barbara Ferris, and it was released in the United States as 'Having A Wild Weekend', which also became the name of one of their albums. Other than the songs 'Inside and Out', 'Maze of Love' and 'Live in the Sky', the band did not really fully embrace the psychedelic music trend of the late 60's, but those three songs are so good that I decided to see if I could put together an album of those, and other more mature recordings of the period. By getting rid of the pop stuff they recorded during 1967-1970, and adding in some obscure b-sides and a couple of effective ballads, I think this album shows a completely different side of the band than most people would not know just from their hits. 

Track listing

01 Maze Of Love (b-side of 'Red Balloon')
02 34-06 (b-side of 'Put A Little Love In Your Heart' 1969)
03 Concentrate Baby (b-side of 'Everybody Knows' 1967)
04 Julia (single 1970)
05 Inside And Out (from the 'Everybody Knows' album 1967)
06 Red Balloon (single 1968) 
07 Small Talk (b-side of 'You Got What It Takes' 1967)
08 Pumping (b-side of 'You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby' 1967)
09 Red And Blue (single 1967)
10 Live In The Sky (single 1968)
11 You Don't Want My Loving (b-side of 'No One Can Break A Heart Like You' 1968)
12 Lost In His Dreams (from the 'Everybody Knows' album 1967)
13 Best Day's Work (b-side of 'If Somebody Loves You' 1969)
14 Children (side of 'Live In The Sky')
15 Five By Five (b-side of 'Julia')