Fifth Dimension Fabulous At SPAC
by Bill Rice, The Troy Record, August 7, 1972
There is more than one reason why the tag fabulous is so often used in front of the group name, Fifth Dimension. For one, this group of five black singers has been more than successful at turning out a steady stream of hit songs over the past few years. For another, they have maintained a high degree of musicianship in doing so (the two don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand.)
Thirdly, as 10,500 fans found out Sunday evening at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, the Fifth Dimension are fabulously entertaining in live concert.
Sporting new songs, new costumes and new routines, the group was presented in a brand new light than last season, and it was nice to not have to sit through the same show twice.
Musical History
The group dispensed with most of their big hits early in the show with a short history of how they got started and progressed, putting the songs in as they went along. This was not оnlу entertaining, it saved a lot of the usual favorite song calling from the audience.
Theme from Love Story with Ron Townson singing lead was the only song we felt was not up to group standards. Townson had trouble getting started and often replaced singing with shouting, unusual for him.
The group did a pair of songs from Jesus Christ Superstar. What a Judas Billy Davis Jr. would have made. Pretty Florence LaRue Gordon was heard on I Don’t Know How To Love Him. From that the group swung into an uptempo Day By Day from “Godspell,” with Marilyn McCoo up front.
Next Billy Davis Jr. chased the other four hams off stage and accompanied himself on guitar to John Lennon’s Imagine. One by one other members of the group strolled casually back on stage and added their own favorite solo pieces.
Fine Closing
The group closed the show in fabulous fashion with Davis’ soaring voice taking the audience higher and higher. Members of the group went out into the audience and solicited volunteers to do some dancing on stage.
Even the introduction of members of the band, usually a humdrum affair, became a lavish production number at the hands of the Filth Dimension.
While the Fifth Dimension appeals to a generally sophisticated crowd, they were lucky to have a first half entertainer with high appeal to the young, teenaged set, Billy Withers.
Withers has had some big singles on the top ten charts in recent months, including Ain’t No Sunshine and Lean On Me. We are often cautious when we read in the program notes that someone has a current hit on the charts, but Withers turned out to be a pleasant addition to the evening.
A black singer-songwriter with a nice gift for gab and the right sense of humor, Withers sang blues, gospel and added some homespun philosophy and tales of his lovable old grandma, all of which helped to put across his half of the show in fine handclapping fashion. He did it, it seemed, without even trying
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