The 5th Dimension

Up up and awaaay in my beautiful, my beautiful balloooooon...

Wedding Bell Blues

One Less Bell to Answer

"(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All"

I loved their music as a kid and still do

Pure joy:

The 5th Dimension Age of Aquarius / Let The Shine In 1969

Marry me, Bill!

I had a roommate named Bill in college way back. He had, I guess, a 28 waist. Maybe 26. He was mature and hot.

A bit off topic, but 'Let the Sun Shine In' from the movie "Hair" was movie music gold. Inspirational and devastating as the Vietnam War raged on.

[quote]I had a roommate named Bill in college way back. He had, I guess, a 28 waist. Maybe 26. He was mature and hot.

I'M STILL AVAILABLE! WAIST IS A LITTLE BIGGER. CALL ME. BLESS, BILL TAYLOR.

Puppet Man!

An ode to the dom/sub relationships of the world everywhere.

PAPER CUP!!!

Dig the choreo!!

Wedding Bell Blues

TRY THIS YOU GUYS---SELDOM HEARD---I THINK ITS BEAUTIFUL AND SO UNUSUAL FOR THEM.

Interesting group in that they were black but sounded white. Bones Howe was an extraordinary producer and gave them their biggest hits. Marilyn McCoo did a phenomenal job on "One Less Bell To Answer" and it's still definitive. On the other hand, she ruined "Wedding Bell Blues" with her off-key "Billllll". Once McCoo and her husband Billy Daniels Jr. left, there was no more group.

Carpet Man.

A less literal paean to an imbalanced relationship.

Last Night I Didn't Get To Sleep At All is my favorite. LOVE that song.

If I'm not mistaken, "Up, Up and Away" was their first big hit. "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In" and "Wedding Bell Blues" were their only hits to hit number one on the charts. After "Blues", they realized that Marilyn McCoo should be the focus of the group, resulting in great hits like "One Less Bell To Answer" and "I Didn't Get To Sleep At All".

I adore McCoo's voice.

"Working on a groovy thing" and "If I could reach you" are two of my favs.

Their music sounded smooth and bright to white audiences - and a bit sell-out to black ones, although everyone cheered their success.

Are all of the Fifth Dimension still alive? I bet the other girl in the group resented all the attention Marilyn got.

The best thing about the 5th Dimension was their impeccable harmony.

We need a group like this now.

You'd probably need songwriters like Laura Nyro and Jimmy Webb, first.

Yes, we need them, too, R22

I preferred Sergio Mendez and Brazil 66

R19 the overweight guy died a few years ago (his name escapes me). The rest are still alive.Florence LaRue (the other female singer) still tours in her own version of the group.

[quote]Their music sounded smooth and bright to white audiences - and a bit sell-out to black ones, although everyone cheered their success.

Speak for yourself, although I was a very young child when they were popular so I wouldn't really know what other black people were thinking. But they were all over TV and radio; and there was still a fairly hard color line when it came to music -- although it was starting to soften. The 60's were an odd time in music; you had all these fringe genre's of music -- country, r&b, rock and roll and then you had pop which everyone kind of listened to. And there was all this crossover going on. A lot of the bigger black acts actively tried to cross over -- it was a sign of success for black people back then, it wasn't about selling out, it was about making it. Well, the 5th Dimension was straight pop. Adult pop. They were never really a black act so they were never selling out.

* Their biggest hits were written (and previously recorded) by Laura Nyro

* Marilyn McCoo was so pretty; and to middle-class blacks back then she was an example of an upper-class type of black woman.

* They might have had mainstream appeal but they carried themselves well.

I actually met Florence when I was a kid at the Ohio State Fair where they were performing -- I managed to get backstage and visit for a minute or so. She was very nice.

My dad loved the Fifth Dimension - I grew up listening to their music. Marilyn McCoo had a gorgeous voice and their harmonies were fabulous. I also remember Marilyn hosting "Solid Gold" when I was very young.

Solid Gold was also my first exposure to Marilyn McCoo (as well as Dionne Warwick, Blondie and Madonna, oddly enough)

Marilyn McCoo and Billy Daniels were at the Marian Anderson awards in Philadelphia last week. Dionne Warwick was getting the award. After they performed, Darlene Love came out and blew the roof off the place. There was a taped congrats from a very frail looking Burt Bacharach. It ended with Clive Davis giving Dionne the award to a screaming standing ovation at the Kimmel Center. she gave a VERY Miss Warwick speech. Now that I’m thinking about it, it was a quintessential DL “MARY” evening!

Here's Miss Warwick's speech.

On their greatest hits album there is a live performance from a concert of Never My Love a song I always considered nice.

I guess they never did it in a studio.

It is one of the best pop recordings ever by anyone.

I'm a fan of all their music, especially when they sing "The Declaration....." A very moving, studied and quite appropriate piece, considering our present political climate. The group should've been invited to perform it when they dedicated the "Constitution Center" here in Philadelphia.

They are great, too, R24!

I wonder if that happened because they shared a producer with The Association (Bones Howe) R31

R22 & R23 - no past tense for Jimmy Webb. He's alive & well, still touring and writing & recording new songs. Put out an autobiography last year, too.

Actually R31 that version of Never My Love is a studio recording. They just overdubbed applause onto it so they could stick onto the Live album Bell was releasing at the time...

So it was a studio recording after all!

Apart from the hits I would include some of the lesser known Jimmy Webb songs like "Paper Cup", "Magic Garden", "The Girls' Song", and "Orange Air"; as well as lesser know Laura Nyro like "Black Patch". Throw in something early like "California My Way" and something a little later like "Light Sings".

I would also recommend listening to The Peppermint Rainbow, which is a cross between The 5th Dimension and Spanky & Our Gang.

Dusty Springfield also did "Magic Garden."

What does Florence think of Marilyn?

r12, r29.....its Billy Davis, Jr.......not Daniels

Right on, R41. And the late fat guy, Ron Townson, has been dead for 16 years now.

R24 Try listening to The Carnival, which is a cross between Brazil '66 and The 5th Dimension (and features former Brazil '66 singer Janis Hansen)

I meant to start a thread for this, and I forgot. So I’ll stick it here.

The brilliance of The Fifth Dimension and Burt Bacharach:

R39, I actually like Dusty's version of Magic Garden better than the 5th Dimension's. It was intended to be put out as a single from Dusty in the spring of '68 but at the time Dusty was ambivalent about it being her next single and it was cancelled by the record company.

[quote]Their music sounded smooth and bright to white audiences - and a bit sell-out to black ones, although everyone cheered their success.

A sell-out in what sense? How should black singers sound?

[R8] Puppet Man was one of my favorites as well. 'Baby, baby I'm your sweet pet Just your personal marionette Wind me up and let me go don't you know I'm a one-man show Raise your finger and I'll perform I'll cracker Jack till the crack of dawn If you want to see me do my thing Pull my string Puppet man, puppet man' these lyrics would not make it in days SWJ society

Bumping this as I've been getting into their music lately. Working on a Groovy Thing is one of my favorites. Great ensemble work.

Sweet Blindness is another fave. Marilyn McCoo looks amazing in this clip.

And for some camp, here they are on some TV show attempting Aretha's Rock Steady. Florence La Rue is the only one who can dance.

My favorite is Love's Lines, Angles and Rhymes. Marilyn knocked it out of the park with this one.

This live version of "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" is fantastic. (Stick with it through the first 30 seconds or so to get to the live performance.)

Marilyn McCoo has turned into a white woman!

R52, wow, that was good! And I never knew Billy Davis, Jr was so handsome as a young man!

I even like their Coke commercials (for radio).

Here's another

Their first hit of any significance was Go Where You Wanna Go which they recorded with the same arrangement (though slightly faster tempo) and band (The Wrecking Crew, which played on many of their recordings) as The Mamas and the Papas.

And The Girls Song is one of their best collaborations with Jim Webb.

That was absolutely beautiful, r58. Thank you to all who have contributed to this great thread!

R46 has a point. The 5th Dimension challenged everybody's notion of what black artists supposed to look and sound like. Dionne went through the same thing.

Here is an interview on Marilyn commenting a bit on that R60 . It was frustrating that because they were black, they were only supposed to have one sound.

Anybody wondering how talented 5thD were, listen to this:

In the summer of 1968 I bought my first hit single by the 5th Dimension - Stoned Soul Picnic. Great song, still love it and have it.

Can you surrey, can you picnic..........

R52, Thanks, that was fantastic.

One Less Bell to Answer...my signature karaoke song...

Sweet Blindness and California Soul.

I loved their version of Cream's Sunshine of Your Love. Harder than usual for them -- dynamic and driving, with a great arrangement.

Here's one from the Broadway musical "The Me Nobody Knows" that can't help but lift your spirits. And the costumes are wonderfully kooky with the capes and Marilyn's Carol Brady shag.

Marilyn and Billy are fundamentalists now.

The first concert I went to was the Fifth Dimension in Indianapolis, Indiana, when I was in junior high school. Marilyn was sick, so there were only four of them and Florence sang all the leads. It was a great concert, more fun than if they had all been there. For the record my favorite song of theirs is Puppet Man. No one has mentioned “Living Together, Growing Together” which was one of the songs in the musical remake of Lost Horizon which was a terrible bomb.

For the record, here is the song in a clip from the movie. You can see why it bombed.

I never miss a Liv Ullman musical.

No line, thought this was a One Direction spoof thread.

One Less Bell to Answer Wedding Bell Blues Last Night I Didn’t Get to Sleep

Another Laura Nyro song: Black Patch. One of the few times Lamonte, the bass in the group, got a couple of lead lines.

They were forced to record Living Together Growing Together as the record company they recorded for was owned by Columbia Pictures which produced the Lost Horizon musical remake and was doing everything they could to promote the picture.

From the Aquarius album. Male (Billy?) doing the lead. Marilyn was great and can see why she was featured, but he does not sound too bad himself.

R51, I love that song too. The lyrics give me a chuckle at times: Cylinders of hope turning and yearning... And to all who praise the sheer beauty of Ms. McCoo's voice, I heartily agree (especially OLBTA)

I loved all their music I loved driving in my car on a hot summer day all the windows open and Up Up and Away by the 5th Dimension blasting on the radio.

I love “This Is Your Life” with Florence singing the lead. The group’s harmonies are what made them.

[quote]The group’s harmonies are what made them.

Listening to the Go Where you Wanna Go (one of my favorite M&P's songs) made me realize they were just as good (or better) at harmonies as the Mamas and the Papas. As much as I love the M&Ps, and as great as Cass and John were vocally, the Fifth Dimension were stronger vocally when you look at all of the voices. But I don't want to make it a contest, both very talented groups, who could wipe away almost anyone out there today.

Live vocal version of Working on a Groovy Thing. They could deliver the vocals.

If I Could Reach You Light Sings The Girl’s Song Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In One Less Bell To Answer Harlem

More vocalese

I love them - pure joy

All of the above, pure joy indeed.

Marilyn looks fantastic for 75....I cant believe shes still married to Billy Davis , Jr.....for over 40 years.