Best of [Import]

Dave 'Dee' Harman, John 'Beaky' Diamond, Trevor 'Dozy' Davies, Ian 'Tich' Amey, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 4, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Polygram UK
• ASIN: B000007U0A
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #69,497 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #79 in Music > Imports > Blues

Track Listings

1. The Legend Of Zanadu

2. Bend It

3. Save Me

4. Hold Tight

5. Touch Me, Touch Me

6. Wreck Of The Antoinette

7. Snake In The Grass

8. No Time

9. My Woman's Man

10. Zabadak!

11. OK!

12. You Make It Move

13. Mr President

14. Hideaway

15. Don Juan

16. The Sun Goes Down

17. Is It Love?

18. Last Night In Soho

Editorial Reviews

Import only collection from the British '60s Beat combo. With the very successful writing team of Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley providing the words and - most importantly - the hooks ,the-quintet-with-the-very-long-name was really big on the mid-60's British charts. From 1965 to 1969, it was difficult to listen to British radio without hearing one of their singles. Behind the big arrangements, the individual member's contributions were hard to assess. Therefore, the band members were a bit faceless. However, to the public, the songs spoke for themselves and sold by the truckload. These songs have managed to stay imbedded in the minds of everybody who heard them at the time. Although huge in Continental Europe, and in other countries around the world, they only achieved a small hit in the U.S. Includes their 13 Top 30 British hit singles, the non charting single "No Time" and the post-Dave Dee "Mr. President", which reached #33 in the UK as well as some B-sides. 18 tracks. Spectrum.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Musicians, vastly under-rated, January 14, 2007

By 

Mr. Thomas Thatcher "Tom Thatcher" (Salisbury, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Best of (Audio CD)

This great band comes from Salisbury, UK, and I am very proud of them. Dear old Tich came to the Salisbury Blues Club last Wednesday to watch my son Dominic play sax.

It may be a silly name - but it really is their various nicknames. They were really very very good indeed. Anybody who saw them on stage in their heyday will know that very few bands ever wanted to follow them. And before you sneer, oh doubtful ones, remember that Tich was voted World's Best guitarist in the 60s 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.

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" and "Bend It" 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 that these lads shared the stage with everybody, and I mean everybody, from the Beatles to the Stones to Hendrix to you name it and never came off second best. A fantastic and overlooked band, with a lot of these songs being recorded in a few hours in one or two takes.

I saw Dave Dee (please get well soon, Dave), D B M and T at Salisbury City Hall in March 2006. This still-gigging band, still huge in Europe, were absolutely superb and played with all the gusto and skill of lifelong musicians. I gather that the 48-gig tour was a complete sell-out. I have had to endure Fall Out Boy this year too, and Dave and the boys are in a different league.

Fascinating fact: Dave, as a cadet police officer, was first on the scene when Eddie Cochran was killed in a carsh near Bath, Somerset, and got his guitar out of the wreck.

PS Note that Mick is Mick Wilson and NOT Mick Talbot as it says on the blurb.

Update 2008 - in honour of the Boys' contribution to music, they have just been awarded a Blue Plaque which was formally presented in Salisbury and mounted on the outside wall of the City Hall. This puts them in the company of Hendrix, Jane Austen, Dr Johnston and the Beatles, to name 4 out of hundreds. It also celebrated 40 years since "Xanadu" was number one in the UK charts and 45 years since they started touring. "Respect" is not strong enough - complete admiration and affection is nearer.

UPDATE - it is with a huge sadness and a great sense of loss that I have to report that Dave Dee died on 9th January 2009 after a long battle with cancer. This funny, talented and lovely man carried out a massive tour last year without missing a gig and gave his all to every performance. RIP Dave, you left the world a nicer place - and you spent more time in the charts from 67 - 69 than the Beatles!

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Silly name but great sixties music, June 3, 2003

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Best of (Audio CD)

This was not the only sixties group to have a silly name - Creedence Clearwater Revival was another that immediately comes to mind - and it didn't stop them making some upbeat, guitar-based rock music of really quality. It seems that they failed to make any impact in America, but they had thirteen hits in their native Britain between 1966 and 1969, many going high in the top ten.

Their only number one hit was The legend of Xanadu, but Zabadak reached number two while Save me, Bend it and Hold tight all reached number four. All these hits plus all their lesser hits and a few misses are included here.

Although most (but not all) of the songs are upbeat, fun songs, there is a remarkable variety of styles within this collection. Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick and Tich may well be the best British group of the sixties to fail in America. Although not up to the standard of the Beatles or the Rolling stones (who else was?), they were certainly as good as many British groups that did make it in America.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'Bend It' was hot in Chicago, May 12, 2005

By 

. (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Best of (Audio CD)

'Best British Invasion band to not make it' is correct, but this tune was well liked in the Midwest, if not throughout the US..they seemed like stars at the time.