The Fifth Dimension

I don't have all of their singles, by any means, but the vast majority of the 5D's commercial 45s were mono. Here's what I do have, and others can fill in the missing info:


Soul City commercial 45s:

up through 776 "Workin' On A Groovy Thing" - MONO
779 - "Wedding Bell Blues" - MONO
780 - Blowing Away - STEREO
(781 - "The Girls' Song" - don't have)

Bell commercial 45s:

860 - Medley: "A Change Is Gonna Come" & "People Got To Be Free" / "The Declaration" - MONO
880 - "Puppet Man" - MONO
895 - "Save The Country" - MONO
(913 - "On The Beach" - don't have)
940 - "One Less Bell To Answer" - MONO
965 - "Love's Lines, Angles And Rhymes" - MONO
999 - "Light Sings" - MONO
(45134 - "Never My Love" - don't have)
(45170 - "Together Let's Find Love" - don't have)
45185 - "(Last Night) I Didn't Get To Sleep At All" - MONO
45261 - "If I Could Reach You" - MONO

I only have promo copies of the Bell/Arista/ABC 45s after those.

Some of their Soul City promo copies were stereo:
Sweet Blindness
Wedding Bell Blues
Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In (long version stereo, short version mono)
Maybe some made it to commercial copies?

Most of the Bell promo singles were mono/stereo (Never My Love was mono long/short).

Brian W. wrote: There was a discussion either here or on another board that ALL Bell commercial singles were mono for some reason. I think one person found ONE stereo Bell 45 that was a commercial release, and I think it was from like 1974. Was it "Nights the Lights Went Out in Georgia"? I'm thinking someone had a rare stereo copy of that.

I wonder how many of those were fold-downs?

Certainly "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree" was a dedicated mono mix, as the hooky keyboard line in the intro is much more prominent in the mix on the mono 45 than the stereo version.

I don't think I have ever heard any of the Fifth Dimension Bell hits in mono...any notable mix differences?

Edited by Roscoe

Hey everyone,

It's been almost 5 years since this post....anyone know
if any of the Fifth Dimension singles have been made
available in mono yet? If not, can anyone shed light if
there are mix differences between mono and stereo or are
the mono versions just fold downs?

Thanks.

Tom is correct, as to an unusual "two, sequentially-numbered promo 45s
released" situation, with regard to "Up-Up And Away". My 1967 promo 45
is on Soul City 756 (as is my stock 45), is in mono, has "Which Way To
Nowhere" on the flip, has a listed time of (2:40), an actual time of (2:39),
with handwritten hit side deadwax of "SCR 756-A".

But I really don't think that any of these "Up-Up And Away" promo 45
particulars, abnormal as they are, do much at all to help to answer the
question Fetta just asked here: Are the mono 45s of the 5th D hits fold
downs of the stereo, dedicated mono mixes, or a combo of both?

I've asked that same question to myself, about numerous songs. My
experience has been that, after guys like Mark Mathews or Aaron work on
a CD project, then (and only then) do they go to the bother to make an
accurate determination about that. I'll bet Aaron can answer it, for any and
all songs from the various Dunhill singles CD comps he's submitted so
far. Because it was his responsibility to provide the 100% correct stock 45
version, be it mono or stereo. To do that, he likely placed the various,
mono & stereo versions "under the microscope", then did a careful A/B
comparison, analyzed the results on a song-by-song basis, and went
forward mastering the audio from what he found to be the case.

Bottom line? Unless someone ever hires a guy like Aaron to do a not-
even-remotely-yet-on-the-radar 5th D original singles CD, how likely is it
that he would go to *all* the bother to track down clean copies of all the
group's 45s and LPs, and then give them "the Dunhill fine tooth comb
audio analysis treatment?" Just for the fun of it, no less! Can you say slim
and none? For info that would be nice-to-know? It's way too time
consuming. And it might not even be an area of particular interest to him.

So Jeff, sure, I'd love to know the answer to your question as much as you.
But am I surprised we've gotten none? Not at all. Such research is very
time consuming. Heck, I'm already beyond giddy at how much great stuff I
learn here on the forum all the time for free!

Edited by jimct