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Performer: The 5th Dimension
Artist: Marilyn McCoo; Billy Davis, Jr.; Jim Webb; Johnny Rivers
Engineer: Bones Howe
Producer: Johnny Rivers; Marc Gordon; Willie Hutch; Rob Santos (Reissue)
Distributor: Gotham Distributing Corp.

Notes: The 5th Dimension: Ron Townson, Marilyn McCoo, Billy Davis Jr., Florence LaRue, Lamonte McLemore. Additional personnel: Joe Osborn (guitar, bass guitar); Johnny Rivers , P.F. Sloan, Tommy Tedesco, Al Casey (guitar); Larry Knechtel (piano, keyboards); Jimmy Webb (keyboards); Hal Blaine (drums, percussion). Liner Note Author: Mike Ragogna. Recording information: Sound Recorders, Omaha, Nebraska (11/1966 - 03/1967); Western Recorders, Hollywood, California (11/1966 - 03/1967); Harmony Recorders, Hollywood, California (11/1966 - 03/1967); Nashville West & Audio Arts, Hollywood, California (11/1966 - 03/1967). Arranger: Jimmy Webb. The Fifth Dimension's debut album was state of the art Los Angeles studio pop in 1967 and it still sounds remarkably fresh. Although producer Johnny Rivers deliberately pitched them as a black version of The Mamas & The Papas (here they cover that group's folk rock hit "Go Where You Wanna Go," backed by the same studio musicians that played on the original), vocally they were distinctive enough to overcome the comparison. Marilyn McCoo, in particular, had a throaty alto seemingly genetically engineered to sing sad love songs. They were also lucky enough to have first crack at some instant classic songs by then unknown songwriter Jimmy Webb. Webb's title tune is the obvious high point here, but there's also a surprising cover of Rivers' "Poor Side of Town," with a stunning acapella opening section. The three bonus tracks from the group's earliest days as Motown wannabes are richly entertaining, especially "I'll Be Loving You Forever," a blatant clone of the Four Tops' "Reach Out I'll Be There."

Living Blues (11-12/00, p.90) - "...Contained their first 3 hits....but three bonus cuts are revelatory...reflecting a similar Motown fixation that's a lot closer to straight soul than anything else [they] waxed..."

With their heavenly, lushly produced arrangements of songs by contemporaries such as Jimmy Webb and Laura Nyro, the 5th Dimension ruled the pop-radio roost in the late 1960s. The vocal-harmony group's sweet sound personified the sunnier, more optimistic aspects of the era, as expressed in such huge hits as Webb's "Up, Up and Away" and the theme from HAIR, "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In." After the group's dissolution, members Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. went on to further success in the '70s, both solo and as a duo.

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