The 5th Dimension: Up-Up and Away - The Definitive Collection 1 CD Track Listing

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The 5th Dimension Up-Up and Away - The Definitive Collection 1 (1997)
1997 Arista Records, Inc.\nRelease date: 05/20/1997 \n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: The subtitle on this anthology is correct: This is truly the definitive collection of the 5th Dimension's music, including all the hits and most of the album cuts that anyone could want. The 20-bit digital mastering provides a crisp, bright audio experience, and the joyous harmonies bring back the positive side of the late '60s/early '70s era in which the songs were recorded. The megahits are all here: Jimmy Webb's "Up Up & Away," Laura Nyro's "Stoned Soul Picnic" and "Wedding Bell Blues," the Bacharach/David opus "One Less Bell to Answer," the beautiful "(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All" and the Grammy-winning number one smash from the spring of 1969, "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" from Hair. There are not-quite-Top-Ten hits like "Sweet Blindness," "Go Where You Wanna Go," "California Soul," "Workin' on a Groovy Thing," "Blowing Away," "Save the Country," and "Love's Lines, Angles and Rhymes." What a run this quintet had on the pop charts from 1967 to 1972. This two-disc set successfully makes the case for the 5th Dimension to be remembered among the finest purveyors of pop song vocal harmony in the rock era. Baby Boomers will delight at the memories this collection conjures up and will find surprises they may have forgotten or never known: "Paper Cup," "Carpet Man," "Puppet Man," "Light Sings," and the group's medley of "The Declaration/A Change Is Gonna Come/People Gotta Be Free." Listening to Up Up & Away: The Definitive Collection is a great antidote for the blues, lifting the listener up with a smile and reminding those who may have forgotten that there once was a time when it seemed that music really could bring us all together. -- Jim Newsom\n\nAmazon.com Editorial Review\nThough they were the epitome of the MOR mainstream in the late '60s and early '70s, this hugely successful coed vocal quintet had the benefit of first-rate material. Drawing from the catalogues of such ace tunesmiths as Burt Bacharach, Jimmy Webb, and Laura Nyro, the group was a fixture on Top 40 radio (and network TV) with hits like "Up-Up and Away," "Stoned Soul Picnic," "Sweet Blindness," "Wedding Bell Blues," "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In," "Workin' On A Groovy Thing," "One Less Bell to Answer," "(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep At All," and "If I Could Reach You." All of those and more are included on this 2 CD, 36-song package, which will pretty much tell you everything you need to know about the Fifth Dimension. --Scott Schinder \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nPleading the 5th, February 19, 1999 \nReviewer: Vince A. Martinez \nIt is about time the 5th Dimension received the kind of representation their music truly deserved. For years us die hard fans had to settle for the overly limited "Greatest Hits On Earth", or simply revert back to the old vinyl albums, worn as they now are.\n\nThis collection features almost all of the 5th Dimension's singles (with the exception of "Harlem") as recorded by the original 5. It also features a few strong album cuts. The usual hits are all here, "Up-Up And Away", "Stoned Soul Picnic", "Wedding Bell Blues", "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In", "One Less Bell To Answer", etc., but the real treat is in tracks which have recieved little, if any, play since back in the day. Songs like "Paper Cup", "The Girls' Song", "Flashback", and the medley "The Declaration/A Change Has Got To Come/People Gotta Be Free" are all very welcomed returns. As mentioned, some key tracks from albums are included here. Songs like "Learn How To Fly", "The Worst That Could Happen", "Black Patch", and even "Orange Air" probably could have been singles in thier own right. The album has a special treat for die hard 5th Dimension fans, it features "I'll Be Loving You Forever", the very first 5th Dimension single which has not been seen since it's ill-fated release.\n\nThere are some songs I would have loved to have seen on this collection, such as the beautiful ballad "This Is Your Life", or the funk laden "Lovin' Stew", or the wonderful cover of the Eagles' "Best Of My Love", or perhaps edits of the live versions of "Stoney End" or "MacArthur Park", but for the most part, this is a collection to be thankful for. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the execs at Arista will find it within themselves to release the entire 5th Dimension catalog on cd, but for now, I'm thankful for this collection. \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nLIGHTPOWER IN THE 5TH DIMENSION, August 29, 2001 \nReviewer: badartfilm (see more about me) from Western New York \nHere is a thorough collection of not only the greatest hits of "The 5th Dimension" but their lesser hits as well which have been difficult to find in one package. This colorful 2-disc volume includes a 23 page booklet of the band's history and vintage photos of the group including their performances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and the original album covers. Despite the history of childhood friends noted here, "The 5th Dimension" were probably a producer's creation, brought together to turn the record company owned "Up, Up, and Away" into a hit single. But, oh, what beautiful music that creation ensued. With songs by such successful writers as Jimmy Webb, Laura Nyro, and Burt Bacharach, "The 5th Dimension" roared through Top 40 radio in the late '60s and early '70s with their light symphonic pop and soul melodic hooks and harmonies that were just shy of "The Carpenter's" blandness and a bit more conservative than Sly Stone. All the big numbers are here but so are less successful singles omitted today from retro oldies radio and deserving of attention. Laura Nyro's "California Soul" is a splendid, sweet psychedelic ode to the California hippie movement with soaring group harmonies and a cool blues electric piano. Jimmy Webb's "Carpet Man" finds the whole group contributing playful, swirling call and response pop vocals to a catchy rock and roll beat, it's a great forgotten hit single that reached #29 on Billboard's charts. "Light Sings", from the Broadway musical "The Me Nobody Knows" is as joyful and celebratory as their biggest hit, "Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In (The Flesh Failures). The 5th Dimension, in their corporate string of best selling records, may not be the grooviest institution to come out of the '60s, but they very well may be the sweetest. \n\nHalf.com Album Notes\nThe Fifth Dimension: LaMonte McLemore, Marilyn McCoo, Ron Towson, Florence LaRue Gordon, Billy Davis, Jr. (vocals).\n\nAdditional personnel includes: Ray Pohlman, Joe Osborn (guitar, bass); Al Casey, Tommy Tedesco, Mike Deasy, Mike Anthony, Fred Tacket, Rudy Stevenson, Dennis Budimir, Zavier (guitars); The Sid Sharp String Section, The Nat Brandwynne Orchestra (strings); Lanny Morgan, Pete Christlieb, Tom Scott, Jim Horn (flutes, saxophones); Ollie Mitchell, Ray Triscari, Bud Brisbois, Chuck Findlay (trumpet); Bob Edmondsen, Lew McCreary (trombone); Larry Knechtel, Jim Webb, Jimmy Rowles, Pete Jolly, Gary Illingworth, Mike O'Martian (keyboards); Andrew "Muff" White (bass); Hal Blaine (drums, percussion); Larry Bunker (percussion); The Bill Holman Strings & Brass.\n\nProducers: Johnny Rivers, Marc Gordon, Bones Howe.\nCompilation producer: Al Quaglieri.\n\nEngineers: Bones Howe, Armin Steiner, Mic Lietz, Grover Helsley.\n\nIncludes liner notes by Mike Ragogna.\nAll tracks have been digitally remastered.\n\nEntertainment Weekly (08/01/1997)\nDefinitive is right: These two discs collect everything you'd ever want, and perhaps more, by the premier supper-club soul combo of the '60s... - Rating: B+
This rock cd contains 17 tracks and runs 51min 53sec.
Freedb: ee0c2711
Buy: from Amazon.com

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