Until the '60s, it seems to me, the connection in the urban or rural community, which appeared on the church gospel or the street doo-wap or the school lessons in music or the local independent labels, had often been a starting point for singers and musicians to polish their own musical skills. On and after the '70s, however, large companies absorbed many independent labels and the connections which had once nurtured their own music got dissolved, and then these things led to each person's self-effort to join into the show business in the cities (in reality I cannot devide it simply by the times, but please let me use handy key words 'the connection in the community' here). After the disco years came the '80s and urban black contemporaries got popular, which were often more skillful but familiar and sophisticated than local heavy-weight soul. As predecessors of such 'blacon', I remember the 5th Dimension as well as Dionne Warwick.
Not all the members of the California-born 5th Dimension had decided to establish themselves by music from the start. Three men came from St. Louis and knew one another : one was a photographer who did works with Motown artists, another had once been an opera tenor and the other had sung in some gospel groups (Lamonte McLemore, Ron Townson and Billy Davis). And all of two women won the Miss Bronze California contest : one worked as a model and the other sought an acting career (Marilyn McCoo and Florence LaRue). These five persons gathered and tried to make a contract with some labels like Motown, and finally they belonged to the corporate Liberty-distributed Soul City which was launched by the singer Johnny Rivers (later they moved to Bell). Their debut I'll Be Lovin' You Forever in the compilation best "Up, Up and Away" is rather soulful and conscious of the Four Tops of Motown, however, under Bones Howe who produced the Turtles they acted as 'the black Mamas & Papas' and kept sending hits in which they sang melodies in harmony and put emphasis on healthy and dreamy aspects of the flower movement.
What tune of them I knew for the first time was Up, Up and Away (titled as Jump to the Beat in Japan !), which has floating chorus and dreamily developed arrangement and asks you "Would you like to ride in my beautiful baloon?". This tune was composed by a West-Coast writer Jimmy Webb. The compilation of his hit tunes sung by various artists "And Someone Left the Cake Out in the Rain ..." contains Glen Campbell's By the Time I Get to Phoenix and Wichita Lineman, and Richard Harris' singing and Donna Summer reading MacArthur Park. While Jimmy Webb is a professional composer who thought the Bart Bacarach=Hal David team or the Beatles as his rival, it was without doubt that singer- songwriter Laura Nyro confirmed the 5th Dimension's identity. Her best "Stoned Soul Picnic" impresses me with her clear voice and her lyrics floating but heart-rending which bring me to the reality. The combiation of her tunes like Stoned Soul Picnic, Sweet Blindness, Blowing Away and the 5th Dimension's harmony is as comfortable as a place surrounded by flowers and blown in the breezes. Another Nyro composition Wedding Bell Blues delivers Marilyn McCoo's brilliant and gentle alto voice to you. Meanwhile, you may remember the powerful rendition of Billy Davis on Aquarius/Let the Sunshine in from the musical score "Hair". Solos of the couple who married in private life gradually stole out of the floating chorus. Some of their latter tunes like Bacarach=David's One Less Bell to Answer or (Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All are almost McCoo's solo. Some of you should have heard these adult-oriented and graceful ones before, but some of you also should have not recognized them. (In Japan they were titled as The Shining Constellation, Sorrow Comes with the Sound of the Bell, or The Night that Dreams Had Vanished. Can you see what should be applied to each of them?)
In the '70s there grew more expressions against war as the Vietnam War continued for long. Laura Nyro's easy-going melody of Save the Country also brings us lyrics deeply reflecting the times. The 5th Dimension also sang such social-conscious tunes including this, however, there happened one affair which was discussed more than they had imagined. In the hope of the second brew of their biggest hit Aquarius/Let the Sunshine in, they released the medley of the musical score which put some melodies on the excerpt from The Declaration of Independence titled The Declaration and Sam Cooke's A Change is Gonna Come and the Rascals' People Gotta Be Free. This contained timely ironical words "If Government becomes destructive, people have the right to institute new Government". When they sang at the White House where the then President Nixon resided, Presidental aides got frozezn but everything got to be alright since the President himself clapped his hands. It is said that the 5th Dimension was invited by the Government again, and this means that first of all they didn't have any strong creed and they sang simply because they thought, "We have got a good job !". Although I have a great impression of the contradiction between the message of lyrics and the singers, it is very interesting to me that they experienced the affair which would never happen to those who honestly keep protesting. The Civil Rights Movement or the Anti-War Movement had often started from 'the connection in the community', which was illustrated as "I have a move because the accident has happened in front of me". Meanwhile, the songs directly from the far-away show-biz world are sometimes with serious attitudes, but are rootless and floating. So I think but is it my prejudiced opinion? Some who live in the community of the dissolved connection such as I cannot criticize this floating kind so much. (2006/04/26)(2008/05/15)