If Somebody Loves You

If Somebody Loves You is the fifth British album by the Dave Clark Five. It was released by EMI (Columbia) in 1970. The album contained four of the group's popular songs, the minor US hit "Red and Blue" (Billboard  No. 89), and the successful UK singles "Live in the Sky" (No. 39), "Here Comes Summer" (No. 44), as well as the UK top 10 hit cover version of Chet Powers' "Everybody Get Together" (No. 8). A single featuring Mike Smith's ballad "Julia" had no success in the UK or the US, but reached No. 2 in Malaysia in August 1970. The album is the first to be released after the band's official breakup and was not available in the US.

Overview
It is not entirely clear whether all the current band members play on all the recordings. The Dave Clark Five broke up in August 1970 (five months before the release of the album) and an official statement said that, "the band has ceased to operate as a regular recording unit. But Clark and organist Mike Smith who recently renewed their Columbia recording contract, will continue to record and release material under the group's name." It is therefore possible that some of the recordings were made by Dave Clark, Mike Smith and studio musicians. But the truth is that ten of the fourteen songs had already been released on various records before the band broke up (between November 1965 and July 1970). 

All of the songs were produced by Dave Clark himself and most were written by keyboardist and vocalist Mike Smith or guitarist Lenny Davidson. Guest vocalists included Madeline Bell with a chorus of students from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama ("Everybody Get Together") and Doris Troy ("If Somebody Loves You"). Although the band usually avoided political, religious or racial themes in their songs, they made a few exceptions here ("It Ain't What You Do", "How Do You Get To Heaven", "Worried Times"). The song "I'm On My Own" was sung by guitarist Lenny Davidson instead of the band's lead singer Mike Smith (and they both shared lead vocals on "Here Commes Summer").

Reception 
 
Disc and Music Echo magazine wrote in the official review, "It's probably the best (album) the group has ever done. (...) Title track is excellent and should be released as a single. A splendid album which also features some excellent vocals from Madeline Bell.” The truth is that the song "If Somebody Loves You" was released as a single in the United States in 1969, but was not a chart success. Dave Clark remastered the album and re-released it on Spotify in 2019.

Record World called the title track "a big commercial grabber with lots of appeal."

Track listing

First releases of individual songs 
Although the album was not presented as a compilation, most of the songs had previously been released on UK or US LPs and singles.

Personnel
The Dave Clark Five
Dave Clark - drums, backing vocals
Mike Smith - keyboards, lead vocals
Lenny Davidson - electric guitars, backing vocals (lead on "I'm On My Own" and "Here Comes Summer")
Rick Huxley - bass guitar, backing vocals
Denis Payton - tenor saxophone, rhythm guitar, backing vocals

Additional musician
Madeline Bell - backing vocals 
Doris Troy - backing vocals

References

1970 albums
The Dave Clark Five albums