Cherry Red [Release date 29.05.26]

The 5th Dimension, five vocalists, three male, two female, burst onto the US music scene in 1966.
Nobody comes from nowhere of course, no matter what the media headlines might say.
Each one, Jimmy Davis, Marilyn McCoo, Florence LaRue, Ron Townson had paid their dues in the entertainment business before being brought together in the mid sixties by professional photographer/ songwriter …Lamont McLemore.

That undefined border between rock’n’roll and the classy, poppified RnB of The 5th Dimension was seldom crossed. And so, if you’re a rock fan, its was almost like The 5th Dimension’s elegant, soulful harmonies existed in a parallel universe, one you only tuned into if you turned the dial in the wrong direction.

But eventually the boundary began to blur. Over the course of an 8 year career, the quintet released ten albums on the Soul City and Bell music labels. Each release got them closer to the post-racial crossover success that Motown’s Berry Gordy had imagined for his stars, climbing the Billboard best seller charts as well as the RnB charts. Six of the ten going gold in the process.

And they are all here, remastered and expanded to include more than two dozen bonus tracks.

Disc 1 : Up Up And Away (1967) and The Magic Garden (1968)
Disc 2 : Stone Soul Picnic (1968) and The Age Of Aquarius (1969)
Disc 3 : Portrait (1970) and Love’s Lines, Angles and Rhymes (1971)
Disc 4 : Live! (1970)
Disc 5 : Individually and Collectively (1971) and Living Together Growing Together (1972)
Disc 6 : Soul And Inspiration (1974)

The band’s closest ties… the ones that led them to lasting fame were equally divided “above and below the fold”.

Below the fold was producer, Bones Howe, a gifted technician who used the Wrecking Crew as his studio band, and did so on every 5th Dimension album through to 1975. (There’s a great article on TapeOp.com. Howe tells a fascinating story about Stone Soul Picnic). He produced Elvis, Tom Waits, The Turtles, Sinatra, The Association, and many more.

Above the fold were the writers, Jimmy Webb (we reviewed his boxset some months ago). He wrote most of their first two albums. Most notably, ‘Up Up And Away’ the band’s first single and a no1 hit in the USA (and Grammy winner).

And Laura Nyro (who, incidentally, almost became lead singer for Blood Sweat & Tears, gulp!). Four of her nine songs recorded by the band were massive chart hits, especially ‘Stone Soul Picnic’ and ‘Wedding Bell Blues’.

Many other writers – Bacharach & David, Asford & Simpson, Harry Nilsson, Neil Sedaka – contributed to the band’s success, but these two played the key roles.

In the years before Protools, skilful splicing was the name of the game.
Bones Howe put the two separate songs, ‘Aquarius’ and ‘Let The Sunshine In’ together in this manner for the band’s Age Of Aquarius album.
The technicalities of this fills a whole other Wiki page on its own.
But 2 became 1, the single sold 3 million and won a Grammy award.

The band’s sound has been described in complimentary tones by many.

David Brown (Rolling Stone) : “To listen to the 5th Dimension was to hear a mélange of Pop, show-tunes, folk music, with flourishes of Jazz, Soul, and a tinge of Gospel. If music were to sound like America, it might sound like the 5th Dimension”

Steve Huey (Allmusic) : “Their unique sound lay somewhere between smooth, elegant soul and straightforward, adult-oriented pop”.

Ken Shane (Popdose Online) : “The 1967 release, Magic Garden is an album very much of its time, but it is also completely timeless. It addresses serious issues in an accessible and adult manner, and is the essence of pop music, a classic of the genre. For me, Magic Garden is their peak”

The band has lost members in one way or another over the years, but continue on, led by remaining original, Florence LaRue. *****

Review by Brian McGowan

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