Legend Of Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick And Tich, The - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich

OK, here's an easy target: a sixties pop band with a silly name, a bit of froth, a bit of fun, a five-minute wonder, pop puppets dangling on a string, a bass player called DOZY? Oh dear of dear, here's another load of crap not worth the paper it's printed on. Right?

Actually, ye who sneer and carp, wrong. Let's have a bit of history. As Dave Dee and the Bostons, this band had already built up a reputation for crystal-clear vocals and ...
...contract. Like the Beatles, they did that thing in Germany, and were already old hands on the circuit before Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley saw something extra there and, basically, took over. In those days, bands did not expect to have one no. 5 single and then be allowed to embarrass themselves and the audience on the main stage at Glastonbury, cheered on by a crowd desperate to have a good time (you know who you are...).

After a couple ... more

OK, here's an easy target: a sixties pop band with a silly name, a bit of froth, a bit of fun, a five-minute wonder, pop puppets dangling on a string, a bass player called DOZY? Oh dear of dear, here's another load of crap not worth the paper it's printed on. Right?

Actually, ye who sneer and carp, wrong. Let's have a bit of history. As Dave Dee and the Bostons, this band had already built up a reputation for crystal-clear vocals and tackle-threatening harmonies long before they had a sniff at a contract. Like the Beatles, they did that thing in Germany, and were already old hands on the circuit before Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley saw something extra there and, basically, took over. In those days, bands did not expect to have one no. 5 single and then be allowed to embarrass themselves and the audience on the main stage at Glastonbury, cheered on by a crowd desperate to have a good time (you know who you are...).

After a couple of near misses, the band brought out Hold Tight and the rest, as they say, is history. Hold Tight is a great pop song, with a solo played on the seventh rather than the tonic which added an unusual dimension. Hot on the heels came Hideaway, Bend it, Touch Me, Xanadu, Save Me, Zabadak and all those others, was it 12, 14, major hits?

Now, pop pickers, let's have a little about Tich (Ian Amey). This is bad language, but Tich is a bloody good guitarist and until recently his old Series One black Les Paul was the sweetest guitar you could hear, except Pete Green's or Rory's Strat. He now uses Godin and Paul Reed Smith - and the boy can play, he always could, and is resposible for those top-end harmonies. In those days of package tours, they shared the stage with all of them - The Stones, The Beatles, The Searchers, Gerry Marsden, Jimi Hendrix, The Animals, you name it: and it's one of the lost facts of pop that doesn't suit receved opinion that very few bands wanted to follow this lot - because even by the standards of the day, they were frighteningly good musicians.

Anybody who saw them on stage in their heyday will know that this is true. And remember that Tich was voted World's Best guitarist in 1967 by Bravo, a real award, and nobody argued: he was a friend of, and jammed with, Jimi Hendrix: he played some cracking guitar on stage at the Heartbreak Hotel Club on Ibiza (Phil Carson's gaff) when the band backed .... Robert Plant (with a little help from Tony Kaye and Chris Squires of Yes): and that in the sixties the Boys outsold the Beatles in many counties. Indeed, when Phil Carson, CE of Atlantic records, opened his new club on Ibiza (EE - BEE - THA, you Radio 1 bananas: first "I" in Spanish is pronounced "EE"), he chose Dave Dee and Co to open it, and my God, did they ever do that. When the band was jamming over the days with the above stellar cast, I don't remember Robert Plant saying to any of them, "Sorry boys: wrong credibility stratum - you're not good enough." The opposite was very clear and very nice to see. Beaky played drums as, like all of them, he is at home on most instruments. He is actually the second guitarist and vocalist.

The others are all master technicians too and Dave is the ultimate loveable rogue - but a top-class singer. He was also first on the scene as a cadet policeman when Eddie Cochran was killed in a road accident near Corsham.

Am I over the top? Have I lost my marbles? Has the Wiltshire air and a friendship spoiled my fizzing brain cell? Perhaps, but I stick to my guns. They're good.

This run through of their greatest hits shows that they could sing and play to perfection, with fantastic vocal harmonies, honed by what must be a million gigs over the last 40-plus years. "Hold Tight", "The Wreck of the Antoinette", "Xanadu" are all great pure pop songs and the only tragedy is that they were all written by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley, the Stock Aitken Waterman of the day, and that the Boys' own songs were largely unrecorded until late in the day.

Remember also that most of these songs were recorded in a few hours in one or two takes. Hold Tight was recorded, both sides, in 3.25 hours complete. It sold over 800,000 copies over the years, not a bad investment for the Svengalis of pop.

Do yourselves a favour, I dare you - listen to this disc and then .... go and see them live. I saw them in March this year at Salisbury City Hall and this still-gigging band, huge in Europe, blew away evrybody's pre-conceptions. Our group made up one drooling old fool (me): one 20 year-old sax playing son who has performed with Andy Sheppard: one very relectant 14 year-old daughter who so, like, didn't, like, want to be, like, there and I hate you Dad: one girlfriend who had never heard of them, and dear old Noddy, ankle length hair who had roadied for them in the 60s, or the 70s, or the 80s, or the nineties, or the 00s, because they have never been off the road. Never. They are musicians, real musicians. Musicians play live for love and for life.

And the reaction at the end from Thatch's relectant viewers? Well, surprise and confusion. "Dad, I thought they would be really boring, but they're AMAZING." Yes, I know. "Dad, Tich plays so fast". Yes, I know. Dad, who did the vocals? It souned like 10 people." Yes, I know. "Dad, it was over so quickly." No it wasn't, it just seemed like it.

No, it's not Led Zeppelin, or Genesis, or Jeff Beck, or It Bites or the Beatles - but it is a slice of pure pop from a band from the days when every band was expected to be able to show their wares in every town as a thank-you for their No. 1 with a bullet. Go on, for about three quid you could hear it and chuck it away if you want - it's not much to pay for a band's 41 year career. Cheers, Boys, and Dave, please get well soon. Still love you all. And ... the band most mentioned on University Challenge and the like ... "Who were David Harmon, Trevor Davis ..... ?" Buzzzzzzzzz..... Your starter for 10, from Bamber onwards!! 

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