Search - Fifth Dimension :: The Fifth Dimension Live!

The new 5th Dimension starring Florence LaRue--rareties!

Keith Coppage | CONCORD, CA United States | 08/06/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Forget the "live" tracks--except for an interesting take on "How Insensitive" by Florence--the 5 stars are awarded for the 5th Dimension's mid-seventies unreleased tracks featuring Florence LaRue, Marjorie Barnes and the late, wonderful Danny Beard. The "new" 5th never got the recording industry recognition they deserved but these great tracks, all 70's timepieces--showcase a group worth listening to even now. True, this is a "budget" release and I would be surprised if any of the group members got royalties off it. That being said, for fans who love them no matter what, you will be thrilled as you skip over the truly awful live recordings--terrible unproduced recordings I would say circa 1967!--and listen to Florence starring in a great ballad, "The Way I Feel About You", Neil Sedaka's iteresting discofied "Here We Are Falling in Love Again" and a fine Randy Edelman foot-tapper, "Everybody Wants to Call You Sweetheart, Sweetheart!" The 5th was obviously in good hands with Florence at the helm! Excellent work and if you listen to Danny's tracks you will agree that he was a fine replacement for Billy Davis Jr. Again--forget the awful live tracks which sound as if someone put a tape recorder under their chair. What makes this CD worth it are the unreleased tracks--a blast. Forever 5th!"

A Classic oddball!

Phil S. | USA | 12/07/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"If you love collecting those 1.99 records - you know, the ones you put pack on the rack, then return to after about 5 seconds pass - "wait a minute, unreleased tracks? Live? So what if the sound's lousy and the "rare" cuts were never thoroghly cooked.

I'm not the "5th" afficionado another Amazon reviwer is - I'll take his word for it that the "rare" stuff actually means previously unreleased.

'Guess I could Google-it and find out about the strange, banded live tracks: are they outtakes from that vinyl-only live in '71 album. Now, *that* makes me, an oddball collector, happy. (...I meant collector of oddball records and tapes).

Tracks 1-8 are okay studio recordings, nice songs headed for filler/B-side spots if providence was with them. Seems like they headed directly to the highest shelf in the proverbial vaults - could the over-compression come from too many National Geographic magazines stacked on top of 'em?

"Be Good To One Another", credited to Potter & Lambert, and "If That's The Way You Want It It", credited to Potter & Lambert, are fairly solid midtempo opuses, not an unpleasant experience for fans at all. There's a Sedaka pop/disco swinger, "Here We Are Falling In Love Again", one of those sounds that the dee-jay in 1974 gets about 43 seconds into before switching back to the Bee Gees.

I surmise that either the producer or writer of Track 4, "The Way I Feel About You", was thinkin' "demo for the Carpenters", with its' velvety-sensuous vocal from Florence, I presume; another easy listenin' experience for those who don't want to be jolted into some hyperactive home detail involving moving heavy objects and removing light objects.

Now it gets a little more interesting: a live "cover" of Little Anthony & the Imperials, "Better Use Your Head", a thumping Rock & Soul '60s entry; a better known live LA & the I's [much better-known] "Goin' Out Of My Head"; a nice start on "Monday, Monday", making one wonder why the Drifters didn't pick up on this arrangement - it gets a little out of control by mid-song.

We get an almost flat-out *imitation* of Otis Redding on "Respect", the flat fidelity not detrimental; "Ode to Billy Joe" - not bad at all. The The Country & Western Classic from 1967 is done Peggy Lee style, torchy and almost...raw. Let's settle on "sexy". The arrangement isn't all cluttered, as on most of the tracks here.

Little Richard fans, aware of his excellent B-side, "Hurry Sundown", the theme song to a popular Otto Preminger film of the same name, will enjoy the "5th"s rendition. Richard's, possibly the first on record, credits Montenegro and Kaye. Here we see Robinson & Harburg. [That darn intern! - just kidding, friends].

"How Sensitive" has some nice jazz changes, something different. The album ends with a Bobby Marchan dancer, "Shake That Tambourine".

I do not know if this group is still active but it would be fun to know if they have any new material out there. Possibly with a Producer who sees that he's got five good to great singers and less orchestration is required to punch up their vocals. At times, the voices sound vaguely off-key on this set. That's not what I heard back around '69/'70, when I loved hearing their hits on the radio, driving to College."