Customer Reviews

The Ultimate 5th Dimension

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It took awhile to get some decent 5th Dimension collections on cd. Now it can numb the mind trying to sort them out. The two-disc Up Up And Away: The Definitive Collection has every hit but Harlem, yet also includes quite a few filler album tracks of varying quality.

This ULTIMATE disc is a lot leaner (21 tracks instead of 36), but also has most of their singles. The initial hit Go Where You Wanna Go presented the 5th as folk-rock clones of the Mamas and the Papas. With the follow-up singles, the 5th created their own niche by frequently utilizing the exceptional songwriting talents of Jimmy Webb and Laura Nyro. Webb upped the emphasis on pure pop by providing the 5th with Up-Up And Away and Carpet Man. When the 5th moved on to the Nyro material like Stoned Soul Picnic and Sweet Blindness, a good deal of soul entered into the mix. By 1969, the 5th Dimension sound hit its apex as the Hair medley Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In and cover of Nyro's Wedding Bell Blues dominated the airwaves. Aside from the McCoo-led Wedding Bell Blues, these '60s singles were very much a group effort and a lesson in harmonic bliss.

The 5th's biggest hit of the '70s, the moving One Less Bell To Answer, was practically a solo Marilyn McCoo recording and signaled a strong change in direction for the group. Thereafter, all of their most successful singles would be easylistening McCoo-dominated numbers like Love's Lines, Angles and Rhymes, (Last Night) I Didn't Get To Sleep At All, and the stirring If I Could Reach You. Great performances all, but they sadly wasted the group's greatest strengths: their peerless harmonies and their adeptness at various musical styles (they weren't originally called the Versatiles for nothing!) The singles which featured the entire group during the '70s may not have been as prosperous at radio, but they have their moments, particularly Save The Country and Puppet Man.

Besides the always left off Harlem, there are other hits missing from this set: the glorious Light Sings and their live album's Together Lets Find Love (both are on the Definitive Collection). Instead, the final track is a non-hit take on the standard "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye" that is not available on any other 5th Dimension retrospectives.

If you want a strong sampling of the 5th's best work and you can live without some of the hits, this single disc set is okay. But do yourself a favor and go with the far more complete UP UP and Away: The Definitive Collection instead.

(...)

The compilation is beautifully remastered. If you are a fan and are trying to work out a reaon to buy, the previously unreleased track is worth it alone. More than that, the single mix of Ashes To Ashes is featured and it is amazing. The album version was included on the 2CD Up-Up And Away collection and I didn't think that much of it, but the longer single mix is the 5th at their absolute best. A great collection.

The good news is that the song selection on this CD truly represents the very best of the 5th Dimension. The bad news is that the beauty of the 5th Dimension's arrangements and harmonies is sadly lost by the inexcusably and horrendously poor sound quality of this CD.

The lows are muddy and the highs lack sparkle on this so-called "Ultimate Collection". The intricate arrangements of these songs, which include trumpets, flutes and the rich voice of Marilyn McCoo, cannot truly be appreciated given the poor mastering of these recordings .

This CD is released under the Arista and BMG labels. Considering the size and reputation of these companies -- along with the costly price of this CD -- music buyers deserve better.

I downloaded a sample track from the 5th Dimension's "Definitive Collection", off Kazaa. This two-disc CD collection, which was released by Arista back in 1997, has superior sound quality.

I'm so disatisfied with this CD that I'm going to order the 5th Dimension's "Definitive Collection". Do yourself a favour and do the same!

A friend's recommendation inspired me to buy this collection, and I am glad it happened. These songs take me back to the sunny 60's and the smiley-face 70's. There are the obvious iconic hits, such as "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" and "Up-Up and Away", but the great thing is the diversity to be found, while at the same time most of the tracks fit neatly into prevailing genres of that period.

The ballads about romance allow Marilyn McCoo's lovely caramel voice to sail on the seas of love and heartache: "One Less Bell to Answer", "Love's Lines, Angles & Rhymes", "If I Could Reach You", "Last Night I Didn't Get to Sleep At All", and "Girls' Song". It had been a long time since I had heard "Girls' Song", and when I heard Marilyn intone, "I'd like to make a long distance call, to a number in West L.A.", I was riveted, needing to hear how the story turned out. And "Love's Lines, Angles & Rhymes" is an astonishing intertwining of metaphors, similes and various abstractions, used to describe Love, Want and Need. It resembles "Windmills of Your Mind" in construction and sheer volume of words, and Marilyn handles it beautifully.

The band also offers harmonious soft-rock, California style, on "Go Where You Wanna Go", "Workin' on a Groovy Thing" (with Marilyn's emphatic line "We'll take...it...slow..."), a live performance of "Never My Love", and of course, "California Soul". Then there are 5 songs written by the incomparable Laura Nyro. Her songs are full of life and love - love of nature, love of fellow man, love of pure expression of emotion. Included on this collection are "Stoned Soul Picnic", "Sweet Blindness", "Wedding Bell Blues", "Blowing Away" and "Save the Country". The Fifth Dimension's smooth vocals form the ideal vehicle to express the joy in Laura's tunes.

Some tracks are not that memorable in themselves, but even these are of historical interest as representatives of the pop sound from the days when The Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch ruled. I would include "Puppet Man", "Carpet Man" and "Paper Cup" in this group.

I guess the only thing left to say is, "Buy this CD, and have a nice day!"

They rose to the top of the pop music world virtually overnight! This talented quintet, originally known as the Versatiles, formed in Los Angeles in 1966 and within a year they had secured a recording contract with Johnny Rivers' fledgling Soul City label. Rivers loved the sound but hated their name and as a result group member Ron Townsend came up with the name we would all come to know so well...The Fifth Dimension. And it did not take very long for the group to make its presence felt. Their very first release "Go Where You Wanna Go" cracked the Billboard Top 20. Just five months later the group would score a major hit with Jimmy Webb's "Up Up and Away". Yes, the Fifth Dimension was on its way! Over the next six years the group would prove to be a dominant force in American popular music amassing a total of nearly 30 charted singles and a dozen hit albums. All in all, the group boasted an impressive total of 14 gold records for their efforts.
"The Ultimate Fifth Dimension" from Arista records features just about all of the important hit singles most folks would remember from the radio. Enjoy once again some of the early pop favorites including songs like "Stoned Soul Picnic ", "Sweet Blindness", and "Save the Country" all from the pen of talented songwriter Laura Nyro. And of course no Fifth Dimension collection would be complete without the rollicking 60's anthem "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In" from the summer of 1969. Oddly enough, that one happens to be one of my least favorite 5D tunes. I would also like to recommend to you some of their groups less popular tunes including "Workin' On A Groovy Thing", "Carpet Man" from 1967 as well as one of my personal favorites "Ashes To Ashes", a tune that went largely unnoticed back in 1973.
The music industry and fans alike were shocked when Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. announced that they were leaving the group in 1975. The husband and wife team recorded "You Don't Have To Be A Star" for ABC records in 1976 and it climbed all the way to #1. McCoo and Davis went on to appear in a number of successful Broadway productions. And what became of the rest of the Fifth Dimension? Original members Florence LaRue, Lamont McLemore and Ron Townsend managed to keep the group together and continued to make appearances around the country. However, the days of the Fifth Dimension as chartbusters had long since come to an end.
In the summer of 1991, all five members of the original Fifth Dimension agreed to reunite for a series of concerts, It was the first time that they had worked together in 15 years. I was lucky enough to catch one of those shows. And believe me the magic was still there! Unfortunately, Ron Townsend would pass away in 2001. For those who consider themselves huge fans of the Fifth Dimension you just might consider reaching a little deeper into your pocket and investing in the 1997 2 CD set "Up Up and Away: The Definitive Collection". That collection offers a total of 36 terrific tracks as well as an extremely well done booklet. But for just about anybody else "The Ultimate Fifth Dimension" would be a great choice. No re-records here. These are all the original Soul City and Bell recordings you owned years ago. Take my word for it. This is one disc you are sure to play again and again and again. Highly recommended!

I have always enjoyed the Fifth Dimension. the re-mastering sounds really good&there Voices sound strong.I Heard alot of there cuts when i was a Kid&always remembered them.

O.K. I'm not going to compare this to the other compilation...
I'm just going to tell you what I think of this on:
Wow... totally groovy man ! And what yummy mastering !
Blast it and you will be taken into another world.

All of this said, I must admit, the 5'th Dimension were one American Musical Institution that were not so easy to put your finger on... I mean, they pretty much defied the soul of virtually every genre they touched and had a sound that was strictly their own. Admittedly, at one time I tended to dismiss them as "bubble-gum", but then over the years more and more songs from their repertoire began to sneak onto my frequently play list.
Perhaps it was seeing them do "PUPPET MAN" on a repeat of some 70's TV action/show (?) that initially led me to go after there stuff (as opposed to hearing it on the radio.) Years later, "LOVE'S LINES CIRCLES AND LINES" bought me back again. (Like most people, "UP UP AND AWAY", "AQUARIUS" and "ONE LESS BELL TO ANSWER" were how I first came to notice them.)

Anyway, combining a groovy look, unique "lush" vocal harmony sound (a strange blend of jazz and pop, but backed by WAY extremely kicking orchestrations) - - the FIFTH were a group with a strong visual image and tight sound... from "The smiling fat guy with the beard" to the ultra/hot/foxy Marilyn McCoo (yowzums) - - Another interesting thing about the group is that even though they did have Bill Davis, a very traditional SOUL WAILER, it was really the harmonies and Marilyn McCoo's sweet voice, and the overall interaction of the group that made them great.

I could go on and on talking about my favorite tunes from the album, why I like them, and how much I appreciate the mix, but won't... I'll only say one thing: This album is a wild incense and peppermint/Brady Bunch hip trip back to the 70's... and though the music is timeless, it has one other thing in common with the 70's: If you're old enough to remember it, you may recalling hating it then... but now, really really really loving and missing it... To me, that's what the Fifth is all about: A group that grows on you ridiculously...

*P.S. Baby, send me back in a time machine... I wanna steal Marilyn from Billy!

The review of 1/30/2004 claims that this collection is marred by poor sound - nothing could be further from the truth. I own ALL of the 5th Dimension Soul City and Bell albums on CD, including the compilations, and I assure everyone reading this review that "The Ultimate 5th Dimension" is a first-rate collection, sounding just as good as the 1997 "Definitive Collection", and THAT was 20-bit remastered by Bob Irwin at Sundazed Music. If you don't want to pop for the double-disc set, you CANNOT go wrong buying this. Pop it in your CD player and prepare to be wowed.

For a great trip down memory lane, this CD has no equal. Music and performance outstanding! I'd forgotten how much I love this group.

One of my favorite singing groups from my youth, I was very disappointed with the sound from these "re-mastered" recordings. The original vinyl sounds much better. Save your money and play the vinyl record if you have it. It has to be better than this poor reproduction. Put this CD down, down and away.