Mike Smith

Mar 4 2008 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post

THERE was a swaggering suggestion of hod-carriers on a building site about them and the thunderous drumming on their early records certainly rumbled the ground, but they were hailed in the press as the first Beatle-beaters.

This was the term coined for anyone who could knock the Fab Four off the top of the charts. It was, of course, an entirely bogus distinction, as it simply meant that the sales of a particular Beatles’ single had begun to wane, allowing someone else to claim the top spot.

The Dave Clark Five did that late in 1963 with Glad All Over, written by their lead singer and keyboard player, Mike Smith. It took over from I Want to Hold Your Hand, persuading the gullible that there was a “Tottenham Sound” to match Merseybeat, as the Five were big in the Tottenham Royal Ballroom.

Although this was simply publicity talk, the Dave Clark Five were one of the most successful groups in the 1960s.

Clark, blessed with business savvy, was the drummer/frontman and Smith’s song-writing partner.

The other members were Rick Huxley, bass guitar; Lenny Davidson, lead guitar; and Denis Payton, saxophone.

By the time of their success, the group had bags of experience and energy. They followed the fashions and hairstyles of The Beatles rather too slavishly, but unquestionably had a sound of their own with Clark’s power drumming, plenty of echo and Smith’s rasping voice.

To many of the girls, who screamed at them with knicker-bursting fervour, Smith had the looks and cool. But, in their dedication to rock and roll, exemplified by the roaring Bits and Pieces, the group lacked the art school elan found in groups such as the Stones and Kinks.

Undaunted, they tried to match the Beatles with a surprisingly atmospheric film, Catch Us If You Can (1965), written by Peter Nichols and directed by John Boorman.

By the end of the decade, they were doing better in the US, where they had 17 Billboard hits and were regulars on the Ed Sullivan Show.

They split in 1971. Smith, twice married with a son, wrote advertising jingles. He was partially paralysed after a fall in 2003 and died from pneumonia. Next month, he would have joined his old friends at their induction into America’s Rock and Roll Hall oof Fame.

Mike Smith, composer/musician; born December 6, 1943, died February 28, 2008.