Thursday, May 29, 2008

Dave Clark Five - At The Scene

(Epic, 1966)

“At the Scene” is basically a better, heavier “I Like it Like That.” Sure, the last line of the chorus has the obnoxious sound of an advertising jingle (or “King of the Road”?!), but the super-dense mix of keys/sax/guitar, that ever-present thumpa-thumpa on the drums, and the particularly raunchy vocals more than compensate for any simpleminded songwriting. This is a good one: hedonistic, egalitarian, direct, catchy, a fist-pumping beat… Holy Moses, it’s like Andrew W.K. 35 years early! THAT’S NOT EVEN A JOKE! And on the B-side we get “I Miss You,” or, as I like to call it, “This Boy,” by The Beatles. Zing! Jeepers creepers, they’re not even trying to disguise the similarity. I give you an F for eFfort, fellas. At least make a half-assed attempt to cover up your copycat-ism!

Hey, while we’re all here talking about the Dave Clark Five, can I ask whether Rick Huxley was REALLY married to Sharon Osbourne? Wikipedia says so, but the suspicious lack of sources claiming this elsewhere on the internet – not to mention no appearance of the word “Huxley” in her autobiography – makes me think that this “fact” might not be true. Much as I’d love to establish a DC5-Black Sabbath connection, I suspect this isn’t going to be it. What say you, public?

2 comments:

Donald Brown said...

I don't know nuthin' about the Osbourne chick (nor care), but if you meant to demean Roger Miller's "King of the Road" -- one of my favorite songs of all time -- you betta watch yer ass! Is all I'll say.

Anonymous said...

Rick Huxley was never married to Sharon Osbourne. It was just some knucklehead on Wikipedia playing some sort of prank.

Rick is actually Mick Jagger's cousin. Probably, a little known fact.

If, I Miss You sounds like This Boy to you, then you have to admit it's a more interesting and exciting version. I don't really hear the similarity myself to tell you the truth.