In 1969,
the Dave Clark Five had a British Top Ten hit single with a cover of
Cat Mother's "Good Old Rock'n'Roll Medley." That was such a good idea that he tried it again in 1970 with a similar single, "More Good Old Rock'n'Roll Medley," which did manage to get into the U.K. Top 40. Near the end of 1971 -- by which time the original
Dave Clark Five had disbanded, though Clark was still putting out records with other musicians -- the budget LP
Play Good Old Rock 'n' Roll was issued in the U.K., though it didn't appear in the U.S. Basically the album combined all the tracks that had appeared on both of those singles with a little extra material, namely "Reelin' and Rockin'," which had been a hit for the
DC5 back in 1965. It all adds up to a short and, within the context of
the Dave Clark Five's career, quite dispensable record, devoted as it is entirely to rock & roll oldies covers. Besides the medleys that had been featured on the 45s, you get covers of
Buddy Holly's "Raining in My Heart";
Little Richard's "Lucille";
Elvis Presley's "Loving You" and "One Night";
Chuck Berry's "Memphis Tennessee"; and
Lloyd Price's "Lawdy Miss Clawdy." Mike Smith does sing everything with commendable commitment, but otherwise these are routine late-'60s hard rock interpretations that don't have much similarity to the mid-'60s
Dave Clark Five sound, other than of course "Reelin' and Rockin'." ~ Richie Unterberger