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THE FIFTH DIMENSION
Good vibrations
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The wonders of late-’60s AM radio were such that even the squarest acts wound up being a little hip. And make no mistake, the Fifth Dimension were as square as it got — a black vocal quintet who were about as funky as the Mamas & the Papas and lacked that group’s hippie aura. But the times being what they were, the Fifth Dimension wound up with a few visionary songs to record: most of their early hits were by either Jim Webb or Laura Nyro (Burt Bacharach did the later ones), and their era-defining "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" was only slightly more sanitized than the one on the Hair soundtrack. They even made a minor psychedelic classic with the Webb-written 1967 album The Magic Garden, whose admirers included Nick Drake and Yes’s Jon Anderson. Since their first local appearance in years brought them to the rarefied setting of Scullers, it would have been a perfect occasion for the latter-day group (whose line-up includes original members Lamont McLemore and Florence LaRue, along with mid-’80s Santana frontman Greg Walker) to delve into their artier material. But they did a Vegas-style show complete with choreographed moves, medleys of their hits, longer medleys of other people’s hits, sing-alongs, and a hoky rap version of Nyro’s "Stoned Soul Picnic." There were also the obligatory jokes about that new-fangled music the kids are into these days, with a brief (and already outdated) stab at "Who Let the Dogs Out." A few of the covers made sense — Earth Wind & Fire’s "September" was a strong opener, since it was written in their style — but they really didn’t need to work the Weather Girls’ "It’s Raining Men" and James Taylor’s "Fire and Rain" into the same weather-themed medley. Especially since they left out at least half of their own hits, not just the quirkier ones like Nyro’s "Sweet Blindness" and Webb’s "Carpet Man" but one of their biggest and catchiest, "Workin’ on a Groovy Thing." Still, the warm heart of their late-’60s era came through more than once, and it’s hard to hear "Aquarius" or "Up, Up & Away" without feeling some good vibrations. The new group have a vocal blend similar to the original’s, and the senior members got the most impressive leads. McLemore visited The Magic Garden for "The Worst That Could Happen" (recorded on that album before the Brooklyn Bridge made it a hit). And LaRue turned the fluffiest of their hits, Bacharach’s "One Less Bell To Answer," into a showpiece that found her breaking into tears at the end before receiving hugs from audience members. One has to wonder whether that happens at every show.
BY BRETT MILANO
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