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Customer Reviews of Ultimate Fifth Dimension

OK set, but get Up Up and Away Definitive Collection instead
It took awhile to get some decent 5th Dimension collections on cd. Now it can numb the mind trying to sort them out. The two-disc Up Up And Away: The Definitive Collection has every hit but Harlem, yet also includes quite a few filler album tracks of varying quality.

This ULTIMATE disc is a lot leaner (21 tracks instead of 36), but also has most of their singles. The initial hit Go Where You Wanna Go 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 other hits missing from this set: the glorious Light Sings and their live album's Together Lets Find Love (both are on the Definitive Collection). Instead, the final track is a non-hit take on the standard "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye" that is not available on any other 5th Dimension retrospectives.

If you want a strong sampling of the 5th's best work and you can live without some of the hits, this single disc set is okay. But do yourself a favor and go with the far more complete UP UP and Away: The Definitive Collection instead.

The title says it all. Ultimate Fifth Dimension!
(...)

The compilation is beautifully remastered. If you are a fan and are trying to work out a reaon to buy, the previously unreleased track is worth it alone. More than that, the single mix of Ashes To Ashes is featured and it is amazing. The album version was included on the 2CD Up-Up And Away collection and I didn't think that much of it, but the longer single mix is the 5th at their absolute best. A great collection.