(Epic, 1965)This was the Dave Clark Five’s only American number-one hit?! I guess hard-hitting gangsta-pop like “Catch Us If You Can” was too menacing for the drooling public, and so only watered-down, brain-dead nonsense like “Over and Over” – which features a far limper version of the “Catch Us” chorus’s classic drum lead-in – was destined to make it to the top. Seriously, this is some Herman’s Hermits-style tripe, more annoying than catchy, and that awful nasal warbling sounds nothing like the rockin’ bellow that has served the band so well elsewhere – it practically resembles the guy from the fucking Gentrys, fer cripes sake. Thankfully, “Over and Over” isn’t on any of the regular studio albums, so you don’t have to worry about its sock-hop nursery-rhyme silliness befouling your next DC5 LP purchase (though it is on the otherwise fine Greatest Hits). “I’ll Be Yours (My Love)” is a gutsier, piano-driven love song that, aside from the outstanding vocal, feels clunky and skeletal, but it’s at least an improvement over the A-side. Man, call it a crime that such a lousy single was slipped into such an attractive picture sleeve.
1 comment:
Well, the nasal sound was created by Dave who decided that the original recording was too slow, so he used scotch tape on the capstan and sped the recording up and recorded it again. That was cheaper than going back into the studio to rerecord the track.
However, I have to agree with you that Over and Over is one of the few DC5 tracks that has not stood the test of time. It was great for 1965 though.
Post a Comment