This Very Best Of disc is a lot leaner (22 tracks instead of 36), but almost as hit-filled as Definitive. The initial hits Go Where You Wanna Go and Another Day, Another Heartache 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 three other hits missing from this set: the glorious Light Sings and the singles from their live album, Never My Love and Together Lets Find Love (all three are on the two-disc Definitive Collection). If you want a strong sampling of the 5th's best work and you can live without those hits, this reasonably priced single disc is the set to get.


First Class Best-Of, version two   July 19, 2000
J. Collins
18 out of 18 found this review helpful

This import collection is an abbreviated version of Arista Records' "definitive" 5D collection, and even shares that release's cover illustrations. It's also one of two Import CDs called "The Very Best Of 5D," currently available at Amazon. (The other is priced slightly less than this one.) The selections here represent a little more than half of those on "The Definitive Collection," and they include the group's best known singles and album cuts. It even includes "On The Beach," which was unavailable on CD until a few years ago.

There's no question that this is first rate vocal Pop, and there's not a clinker in the set. The only reason that I can't call this a "5 star" album is the fact that this collection is one of many, and offers nothing unique. I should mention that due to the abundance of material and the budget price of this disc, it IS a better buy than Arista's "Encore Collection," "Master Hits" and even the 28 year old "Greatest Hits On Earth." There is a similarly titled Import collection ("The Best of 5D") available now which should be passed over for this larger (and much more reasonably priced) compilation.

Now that Arista has licensed 5D's first five albums for CD re-issue, it's easier than ever to skip over all the 5D hit collections and opt for the intact albums that spawned those hits. This CD is an excellent choice for casual 5D fans or Pop Vocal enthusiasts. If you find yourself playing one of these "best ofs" often, do yourself a favor and get the Buddha Records reissues while they are still available.

-Mic


" Working on a Groovy Thing "   October 14, 2001
douglas barton (Arlington, Va.)
16 out of 17 found this review helpful

Let me state at the beginning that to this day I'm not certain what possessed me to purchase this disc. I certainly don't care for "golden-oldies" and I tend to think of my listening taste as being far to "hip" to enjoy what many consider to be MOR artists! But....

I stumbled upon the cd here at AOL and seeing the single disc available,as opposed to the two-cd collection, I was strangely drawn to it. Now, with hind-sight being 20/20, I am so thankfull that I did. At 22 songs and over seventy-one minutes worth of music it was certainly worth the investment. As for the music...well, most of it can and should speak for itself! The Fifth Dimension were able to release music that encompassed not only Soul but also R&B plus a little Vocalese as well. All of this tied together with a perfect 'Pop' sensibility. Take a look at the song selection and you'll see what I mean. Composers such as Bacharach/David, Jimmy Webb and Lauro Nyro plus more! For the most part each song is extremely well performed and the musicianship is first-rate.
My greatest fear, that this was going to be an exercise in nostalgia, was initially true but oddly enough the music has held up well under the demands of time.Why I'm surprised...who can say! The shear variety and different styles of music that the 5th Dimension were capable of creating is to this day still amazing! And as for the song "Love's Line's, Angle's and Rhymes", my personal favorite, a more sublime song I've rarely heard.

I don't make a point of recommending discs to total strangers but I can safely urge you to purchase this one. Wonderful melodies, singers who can actually harmonize and no drum machines! Come to think of it.....this is pretty "HIP"!


An eclectic but fascinating pop group   September 7, 2003
Peter Durward Harris (Leicester England)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

A double CD compilation was released in America - Up up and away The definitive collection - but the Fifth Dimension only had one major hit in Britain, so it was wisely decided that a single CD would suit the British public better. This, then, contains 22 tracks from the 36 originally presented on the American compilation, presented in a totally different order. Since the liner notes only refer to their American career, it seems that they have not been changed except to include the initials US where appropriate. No mention is made of the UK anywhere. Still, it's the music that counts and that is undeniably good.

Their first American hit was Go where you wanna go, a cover of a Mamas and Papas song., but they quickly moved away from folk-rock and established their own identity with a mix of pop, easy listening, soul and psychedelia. Their biggest American hit, the medley Aquarius / Let the sunshine in, just missed the British top 10. Another of their big American hits, Up up and away, was a big UK hit for Frank Ifield. The remaining songs are generally unknown in Britain, which is a pity because several of them were huge American hits. Perhaps the best of them is Wedding bell blues, but there many great songs here.

Their early recordings were full of delightful harmonies but as the years went by, some tracks sounded more like solo recordings by Marilyn McCoo with the others merely providing backup, but the songs remained of a high quality. When the group disbanded, Marilyn and another member, Billy Davis Junior, continued as a duo. Although their duo music is outside the scope of this collection, they had a huge hit with You don't have to be a star to be in my show - it was a bigger hit in Britain than Aquarius / Let the sunshine in. It is a pity that it could not be included here.

The Fifth Dimension's eclectic mix of various musical styles may not suit everybody, but that very mix makes them one of the more interesting groups of the late sixties and early seventies.


PLEADING THE FIFTH   January 7, 2006
JUKE BOX DAVE (RECORD TOWN, USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

THE VERY BEST OF THE FIFTH DIMENSION: Call them the black Mamas and the Papas if you want; unbelievably, the Fifth Dimension sounded even whiter than the Supremes. Marilyn McCoo's cool flair with a pop number and the group's knack for covering some of the best song craftsmen of their era (Laura Nyro, Jimmy Webb, etc.) resulted in an unbroken string of Top 40 gems from the late sixties through the early seventies. Although McCoo's husband, Billy Davis Jr. succeeded in piercing the gang's RNB bubblegum with a delicious blast of gospel grit on the second half of AQUARIUS/LET THE SUN SHINE IN (from the smash musical HAIR), for the most part, the 5D were as safe as Three Dog Night and the Grass Roots. The highlights---Up, Up and Away, Sweet Blindness, One Less Bell to Answer, Workin' On a Groovy Thing, Stoned Soul Picnic, Last Night I Didn't Get to Sleep at All---are many here, from five talented performers more than able to take vocal harmony to another dimension. RATING: FIVE BELLS