The Dave Clark Five - Try Too Hard

All Music Guide

Depending on your outlook, this was either one album too many for the Dave Clark Five or an essential step in their survival past the mid1960's. By 1966, the Beatles and even the Rolling Stones were using sitars on their records, Brian Wilson was composing concept albums and vestpocket popsymphonies, and folkrock was so well established as a commercial music genre that its inventors, the Byrds, were compelled to find some new wrinkles to maintain their edge. In that environment, it was inevitable that the DC5 would allow their music to evolve. From the crisp piano chords and lean, restrained guitar and sax sound as well as the upbeat tone of "Try To Hard", there change in the air from the opening seconds of this LP. "I Never Will" is another cheerful and tuneful rocker with a gorgeous modulation, and "Looking In" is a similarly lyrical piece of rock 'n' roll, driven more by its piano and rhythm guitar part (all punctuated by a soaring chorus) than the honking saxes or pounding organ of... prior years, and "Ever Since You've Been Away" sounds like a theme from a lost western movie (in fact, the melody and the break are very similar to the theme from Hang 'Em High, written a year later). The one track that might not work is the much too retro "Scared Of Falling In Love", but most of the rest makes for an enjoyable, still exciting if somewhat softer permutation of their basic sound. - Bruce Eder, All Music Guide Read more Less