Dave Clark & Friends

After the demise of the Dave Clark Five, Dave Clark and Mike Smith recorded under this name to fulfill contractual obligations.They were joined by session player Eric Ford, who had played bass on many Dave Clark Five tracks along with Madeline Bell (who had sang on DC5 records) and Alan Parker from “Blue Mink”. A number of other musicians are also said to have played on these recordings including Clem Cattini and Les Hurdle but as yet there is no documentary proof.

Mike Smith, Dave Clark and Eric Ford

Madeline Bell Alan Parker

According to those involved the group never played together other than in the recording studio, however the Official Archive for the UK TV show “Top Of The Pops” has the group listed as appearing on the programme twice. On the 25/11/71 they performed “Draggin’ The Line” and on the 29/6/72 “Rub It In”. Unfortunately the video tapes from those two shows have been wiped but the TOTP archive is specific about which acts appeared live, which were on video and which were just records being played.

This is the official line-up for the 29/6/72 show.

Presenter Jimmy Saville

THE MOVE – California Man

NEIL DIAMOND – Song Sung Blue

WINGS – Mary Had A Little Lamb (video)

JOHNNY NASH – I Can See Clearly Now

DAWN feat. TONY ORLANDO – Vaya Con Dios

GILBERT O’SULLIVAN – Ooh-Wakka-Doo-Wakka-Day

DAVE CLARK & FRIENDS – Rub It In

THE WHO – Join Together (video)

B. BUMBLE & THE STINGERS – Nut Rocker record only, danced to by Pan’s People

DONNY OSMOND – Puppy Love (video)

SLADE – Take Me Bak ’Ome

GARY GLITTER – Rock And Roll (Part 2)

”Dave Clark and Friends” released five singles , most of which were cover versions and one LP which included some DC5 tracks Of the 5 singles released the only chart success was in Sweden where 3 of the 5 made the top twenty. The song “Rub It In” comes in three different length versions and in some countries all three versions can be found on the same label and record number!

The Singles were

Draggin’ The Line / One-Eyed Blue Suited Gun Totin’ Man

Think of Me /Right Or Wrong

Rub It In / I’m Sorry Baby

Sweet City Woman / Love Comes But Once (DC5)

Sha-Na-Na-Na / I Don’t Know

Some later singles credited to the “Dave Clark Five” such as “More Good Old Rock n Roll” , ”Southern Man” and “Won’t You Be My Lady” are probably “Dave Clark and Friends”.There is also one known unreleased DC&F track called “Loretta”.

The sole album had the same cover and same tracks in every country it was released. While most of the material was credited “Clark-Smith” other writers included Peter Davison ( ex-Doctor Who actor) who wrote “Officer McKirk” under the pseudonym “Moffitt” ( he had also appeared in the video of “Everybody Get Together”) and Yardbirds drummer Jim McCarty who contributed the song “If You’ve Got A Little Love To Give”.