Speaker 1: Toxid. This is the seventy seven w ABC Mini Cast.
Speaker 1: All right, hi everybody, those of you are just yawning us.
Speaker 1: Where have you been?
Speaker 2: You can't be late for these things, you Know'll we
Speaker 2: go on the ar at six o'clock, right after cousin Vinnie.
Speaker 2: I'm my cousin Vinnie. And at six o'clock we go
Speaker 2: on and now it's time for our visit. We have
Speaker 2: weekly visits usually, right, and tonight's something very very special.
Speaker 2: You think of velvet, beautiful, relaxed, happy harmony and beautiful people,
Speaker 2: you know, you think about the fifth dimension, the fifth dimension,
Speaker 2: and we have on our phones. We have a conference
Speaker 2: call set up and we'll let me know, Kevin when
Speaker 2: the other guys joined us. We're gonna have We have
Speaker 2: Florence standing by and we are waiting for Maryland and Billy.
Speaker 1: Hi, Flora's you there.
Speaker 3: I'm here.
Speaker 2: Oh, Florence, so nice talking to you.
Speaker 1: We're here, Oh oh you are?
Speaker 2: Oh you're everybody joined. Nobody told me so, Billy. Let's
Speaker 2: let's take a bold. This is an experiment for us.
Speaker 2: So we have Florence you there, say here.
Speaker 4: Here.
Speaker 1: I feel like a teacher. Marilyn.
Speaker 3: Are you here, I'm here.
Speaker 2: Oh my gods, and Billy Iya, Billy, I heard you.
Speaker 1: Good, Hey, hail, hail, the gang's all here. Good.
Speaker 2: I'm so glad. This is like an experiment. You know, guys,
Speaker 2: we've never done this. We've we said are one call,
Speaker 2: and now we have you all in conference. Because you
Speaker 2: deal with a fifth dimension, you deal with a very
Speaker 2: different commodity, you deal with you you superstars. How you
Speaker 2: guys feeling? You got to be elated? Now I have
Speaker 2: in front of you, in front of me, your brand
Speaker 2: new album, which is more than an album. How you
Speaker 2: guys feeling about this?
Speaker 3: It's amazing?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what, I'll tell you what we got
Speaker 2: to do. I'm gonna say Florence, I'll say Maryland, and
Speaker 2: I'll say Billy. Is that okay? And so we won't
Speaker 2: talk over each other. This is a little rough because
Speaker 2: we're looking. Yeah, that's good. And now I feel like
Speaker 2: a school teacher. Okay, all right, so let's it. So Marylyn,
Speaker 2: I'm looking at this brand new box set which is historic.
Speaker 2: It looks like a history lesson and it was music
Speaker 2: that the Sunshine in the Soul City and Ben Albums
Speaker 2: sixty seven to seventy four. How do you feel about this,
Speaker 2: this magnificent new release fift Dimension, Marylynd, You're gonna tell you.
Speaker 5: Know, it's it's exciting.
Speaker 6: It's exciting. It's nice to see it.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 6: This is this is a project that we worked on
Speaker 6: many years ago. But just to have it all together
Speaker 6: at one time in front of us, of each one
Speaker 6: of us, is amazing.
Speaker 1: Florence, how long did this project take?
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness. Well, you know, you know, the Rich
Speaker 3: Fruit was on together for ten years and it's been
Speaker 3: a long time since we've recorded together. It actually worked
Speaker 3: on this problem problem project.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm sure there were problems too. That's you were right,
Speaker 2: a Freudian slip.
Speaker 3: But you know, we're all all doing different things. I
Speaker 3: was still performing with the Fifth Dimension with other members
Speaker 3: and Marilyn Billy were doing their thing, and then our
Speaker 3: manager came by that why don't we put together, you know,
Speaker 3: a box set. People can hear the music that you
Speaker 3: did years ago. So we said, well, let's try it,
Speaker 3: and that's how it came about.
Speaker 2: Oh, it was wonderful. It's such beautiful. You know, it's
Speaker 2: not like a When I'm holding it, I know I
Speaker 2: can feel the vibes. It's more than a box set.
Speaker 2: It has historic significance because you guys gave us, gave
Speaker 2: this audience so much, and I know the audience said
Speaker 2: the same thing to you. So, Billy, how's your feeling.
Speaker 2: You're looking at the you look at the album box set?
Speaker 2: Look at those beautiful five people on there?
Speaker 1: What do you think? Picture is great?
Speaker 7: To tell you the truth, Brucie, I think they look
Speaker 7: pretty good.
Speaker 3: But I'm excited about.
Speaker 7: It because it's like sixty years worth of work that
Speaker 7: that the Pitt Dimension put together through the years, and
Speaker 7: it's all all put in a compilation set here where
Speaker 7: people can hear stuff that we did from nineteen sixty
Speaker 7: five to nineteen seventy five. So it's I'm very excited
Speaker 7: about it. And I've had a few people already tell
Speaker 7: me that they've got it and started listening to it.
Speaker 5: And they love it.
Speaker 4: That fabulous And also, gri aren't also, I think it's
Speaker 4: exciting to have the young people today who haven't even
Speaker 4: heard the fist dimentions of listening to this music because
Speaker 4: it's very.
Speaker 3: Different from the music of today. And I'm very proud
Speaker 3: of the music that we did. The harmonies and it's
Speaker 3: very positive music. So I'm excited to have the young
Speaker 3: people hear that type of music also.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, you know if music has it, you know, no
Speaker 2: matter what your age is the heart, the soul. There's
Speaker 2: bones and muscle and sinew in music. It's an intellectual thing.
Speaker 2: And I don't know if age has so much to
Speaker 2: do with it as the feeling and the soul that
Speaker 2: you put into something. So somebody, say who's twenty two,
Speaker 2: twenty three point thirty or somebody maybe in their eighties
Speaker 2: today will have that same gut feeling, you know, a
Speaker 2: feeling of love and romance and also the memories of
Speaker 2: course for older people. Well, and you have done it.
Speaker 2: So let's talk Florence. How did the fifth dimension that
Speaker 2: it's an unusual name. Let's let's get the basics here.
Speaker 2: How did you get the name?
Speaker 3: Well, you know, when we first got together, we called
Speaker 3: ourselves Diversatiles because there were five people with five very
Speaker 3: different voices. You know. We had Ron who had more
Speaker 3: of a classical sound, Billy was more R and B sound,
Speaker 3: Marilynd and I think we both had more of a
Speaker 3: a pop sound. So we called themselves Diversatiles. But then
Speaker 3: the record company came to us and said, well, we
Speaker 3: need something that's more. I don't know, it's different, and
Speaker 3: they we put several names in the hat, you know.
Speaker 3: And actually it was Ron Townsend who saw the fifth
Speaker 3: dimension because there are five of us and we have
Speaker 3: our dimension of music.
Speaker 1: M Well.
Speaker 3: Someone coined a phrase that I really liked. And because
Speaker 3: we within our shows we did all kinds of music,
Speaker 3: although our records were mainly pop, someone coined the phrase
Speaker 3: champagne soul. I like that.
Speaker 2: Oh that's pretty, you know that's that's that's fits Champagne
Speaker 2: soldier like that, Billy?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I like it too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it does. It fits the music physical. Where's Kevin.
Speaker 2: It's Kevin in the room.
Speaker 1: It's Kevin. Hey, Kevin. Do you have Heidi Ho for me?
Speaker 1: And do you have that?
Speaker 2: There's a Yeah, we're gonna let' see if we can
Speaker 2: dig that. I know you have a medley and this
Speaker 2: should be something. Yeah you do, all right, Billy, let's
Speaker 2: talk about this now. And Florence, you and I talked
Speaker 2: about this yesterday. I said to you, why do I
Speaker 2: know Heidi Heidi Ho? And you told me there's a
Speaker 2: photograph right over your mantelpiece with you and the guy
Speaker 2: that gave us Heidi Ho. What is that all about?
Speaker 3: Well, we were we were at a show. I was
Speaker 3: at a show and Camp Calloway and I got to
Speaker 3: dance with him.
Speaker 2: So Camp Calloway was the one that I mean, we
Speaker 2: I mean, I remember seeing that in black and white movies,
Speaker 2: et cetera. And you see and you hear Camp Countaway
Speaker 2: doing which became a classic so Billy in the album
Speaker 2: you set, Yeah, you selected Heidi O.
Speaker 1: Tell me about Heidi Heidi O. Why did you take
Speaker 1: that song?
Speaker 2: Do you remember who selected it?
Speaker 7: We loved it so much because it said a lot
Speaker 7: and uh and the harmonies, the harmonies, and it was
Speaker 7: just just perfect for the group. And uh, and we
Speaker 7: tried to get a little a little Ray Charles Field
Speaker 7: in it, you know, a little guttie feel in it too,
Speaker 7: so so kind of give it that the Champagne Souls.
Speaker 1: Sound, you know, right, You tell what you did.
Speaker 2: You took a Heidi hole must be my thirties or
Speaker 2: something of the nineteen thirties at least, and then you
Speaker 2: took it.
Speaker 5: And probably yeah, at least that long ago.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, at least, And then you guys poured some
Speaker 2: champagne on it and we got this.
Speaker 1: Let's where's I want to play it? All right, let's
Speaker 1: let's play a little.
Speaker 2: Bit of this.
Speaker 5: Would you?
Speaker 1: Would you? Would you give me permission to play a
Speaker 1: little Heidi Home? Yeah? Good so, cousins.
Speaker 2: This is Billy Davis Union and from the Fifth Dimension's
Speaker 2: brand new historic document that they call a box said,
Speaker 2: I call it a document the Fifth Dimension. Listen to this.
Speaker 2: Listen Heidi Hole and today with champagne on it. Hi there, Hi,
Speaker 2: they Hole. So that's from the duel album The Fifth Dimension.
Speaker 2: That is well, you know, I was just thinking, well,
Speaker 2: I was listening to that Lillian, Marilyn Florence, and that's
Speaker 2: what we're talking about, Billy Davis, You and you, we
Speaker 2: have a Florence LaRue and the Marilyn McCool The Fifth Dimension.
Speaker 2: Our loves our our next door neighbors. That's how I feel,
Speaker 2: you guys, next door neighbors with Cap Cali. I wonder
Speaker 2: how do you think Cap Callaway would feel about listening
Speaker 2: to Heidi Hole in the twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: Six by you guys? What do you think? What do
Speaker 1: you think? It's said?
Speaker 5: I did get a kick out of it.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think, I think. I think Tad Callaway would
Speaker 6: say that is very interesting, totally a totally different direction
Speaker 6: sound of the music that he came from. But you know,
Speaker 6: the Fifth Dimension we had our own sound and our
Speaker 6: own music, and I think that's that's one of the
Speaker 6: things that made us such an exciting group.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, well, you are absolutely originals. And yet you know
Speaker 2: what I loved about you because I saw you. But
Speaker 2: I'm a fan. I'm a big fan of girls, and
Speaker 2: I saw you a couple times in concert, and every
Speaker 2: time I saw you, I just felt as I said, oh,
Speaker 2: there are my neighbors, my next door neighbors. You feel
Speaker 2: so you make people feel comfortable. Guys, that's what it is.
Speaker 2: You have this comfort zone that is so amazing, absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2: So let's see, Billy, do you have a favorite to
Speaker 2: Fifth Dimension song? Curious about that? Of all the songs,
Speaker 2: do you have a favorite?
Speaker 7: Well, I mean you because of Rusie. You know, we
Speaker 7: did so many songs until uh, one of one of
Speaker 7: our favorites is leave a Little Room.
Speaker 2: And how about you, Marilyn, what do you have a favorite?
Speaker 2: And that's not fair to ask you this, but do
Speaker 2: you have a favorite thing, get a little bit something extra.
Speaker 6: Well, you know, there's there's so many songs and so
Speaker 6: many directions that the Fifth Dimensions has done because our
Speaker 6: voices were different, our sounds were different. We loved, we
Speaker 6: loved the music and the many ways that we were directed.
Speaker 5: We worked with some.
Speaker 6: Wonderful songwriters, and I think that was what was made
Speaker 6: what made the group so interesting, the fact that that
Speaker 6: our voices were so different and had such a different
Speaker 6: sound to each.
Speaker 5: One of us. What's your favorites?
Speaker 6: Oh my, okay, Billy just said yes, but you didn't
Speaker 6: answer the question. What was my favorite?
Speaker 5: Oh lord, okay, I had a few.
Speaker 3: I had a few.
Speaker 6: There was one called It'll Never Be the Same Again.
Speaker 6: I loved that one very much.
Speaker 5: And a Broken Wing Bird. I mean I could give you.
Speaker 6: Song after song.
Speaker 5: One song that we did with Aquarius Let the Sunshine In.
Speaker 6: That was one of our biggest hits, and it was
Speaker 6: it was just it went in a whole different direction.
Speaker 6: And you know, our listeners, our audiences, they never really
Speaker 6: knew exactly what they were going to get from us.
Speaker 2: Well, that's that's what with the magic of the fifth mention.
Speaker 2: How about you, Florence, do you have a favorite.
Speaker 3: Well, first of all, my favorite album and the album
Speaker 3: which was not our biggest seller, called The Magic Gardens.
Speaker 3: It was a beautiful album. Actually Jimmy Wabb wrote it
Speaker 3: and it was about a love a love relationship that
Speaker 3: he had with the young lady. And there there was
Speaker 3: a very interesting song when they called Rosecrans Boulevard, which
Speaker 3: is just beautiful, and the whole album I just really
Speaker 3: really like. And it's funny. I really enjoy sitting you're
Speaker 3: listening to this music, because you know, when when we're working,
Speaker 3: we're out doing other things. I don't really get a
Speaker 3: chance to sit and listen to us I love. I'm
Speaker 3: very crouded and listen to our harmony.
Speaker 2: Well, well that's that's what makes it such magic. And
Speaker 2: then when when an artist like you and stars like
Speaker 2: you says you, I like to listen to my view,
Speaker 2: listen to the music, and first of all, you learned
Speaker 2: to listen to enjoy it. But you learn every time
Speaker 2: you listen to something. It's like me, every time I
Speaker 2: listen to one of my shows, I learned something. You
Speaker 2: never you never really get full with learning. You learn
Speaker 2: something every single time. Well, you know Maryland, really yeah.
Speaker 3: Magic Guard album that I like is one of the
Speaker 3: Worst that Could Happen, which we didn't release as a single,
Speaker 3: but the Brooklyn Bridge recorded it because we had another
Speaker 3: song out at the time. But Rose Fans Boulevard and
Speaker 3: the Worst that Could Happen there two of my favorites
Speaker 3: to mention songs.
Speaker 2: Beautiful, the great songs, really great songs, you know, Marilyn
Speaker 2: and Billy Florence. We had them at one of my
Speaker 2: shows at the P and C Center at the Theater
Speaker 2: in the New Jersey and very.
Speaker 1: Different, very different to beautiful. It wasn't that a beautiful.
Speaker 2: With thousands and thousands and thousands of people just they
Speaker 2: just listen.
Speaker 1: Nobody blinked.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you obviously you were aware, you
Speaker 2: were aware of the audience. Send me some big audience
Speaker 2: and nobody blinked for me. But he just and he
Speaker 2: just stayed and they were mesmerized.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was really nice.
Speaker 7: That was a show we did with Darlene Love.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, I buta you know that is I hope
Speaker 2: that we can have you.
Speaker 1: Some eight Florence.
Speaker 2: I don't want to do I say anything I shouldn't say,
Speaker 2: but is there any possibility someday that see the three
Speaker 2: of you together.
Speaker 1: Is there any any thought about that?
Speaker 3: You never know, we thought, you know, we thought of it.
Speaker 3: We'll see what happens. You put it to all in
Speaker 3: God's tams.
Speaker 1: Okay, I think, well.
Speaker 3: You'll be together to do something.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: Well, if you have anything quickly, you'd like to say
Speaker 2: to the audience. So the three of you, this audience,
Speaker 2: that's something with you, Billy.
Speaker 5: Well, I'd just like to thank the audience for for
Speaker 5: for supporting us for all.
Speaker 7: These years and and just just being there to to
Speaker 7: listen to our music and that we've we've had a
Speaker 7: love affair with our audience. So it's it's really been good.
Speaker 7: I mean, we have been truly blessed, and I'd just
Speaker 7: like to thank them for supporting us all these years.
Speaker 1: Wonderful. What about.
Speaker 5: This this entire project.
Speaker 6: We've been so pleased about it because, uh, it's it's
Speaker 6: a wonderful uh example of the sound that came from
Speaker 6: the group, from the fifth dimension, and the different voices,
Speaker 6: the different the different styles of our singing and our
Speaker 6: and our art. And we're just really pleased that this
Speaker 6: project is out because we feel like this album, this
Speaker 6: whole album project is a beautiful.
Speaker 5: Example of the work that we have done over the
Speaker 5: over the how many how many years now, baby, over
Speaker 5: the years for sixty years, you know.
Speaker 6: And so we feel so good about it and we
Speaker 6: just we we feel like the people will be mesmerized
Speaker 6: and amazed by the sound that came from the group.
Speaker 1: We all loved it. And Florence, how about you, would
Speaker 1: you like to say some give the.
Speaker 3: Buildings we know because xuse me. First of all, I
Speaker 3: could thank God for the opportunity to because when I
Speaker 3: joined I wasn't even a singer. I was planning on,
Speaker 3: you know, doing more acting. So I thank God for
Speaker 3: the opportunity of having a career in music and singing.
Speaker 3: And I really what I really enjoyed doing, uh after
Speaker 3: I got over you know, putting my ego so I'm
Speaker 3: trying to you know, sing and sound good. I really
Speaker 3: enjoyed communicating with the audience, with the people. I enjoyed
Speaker 3: the fact that our music lifted them up. And sometimes,
Speaker 3: as a matter of fact, sometimes you see young people
Speaker 3: there who really didn't want to come to the didn't
Speaker 3: know anything about the fifth dimension, this comthing that you're
Speaker 3: Then after the show, they come, hey, you guys were great.
Speaker 3: We really enjoyed. So we really have the chance to
Speaker 3: bring together ages, did people, different races, different ages, nationalities.
Speaker 3: It was, it was really a wonderful opportunity. And I
Speaker 3: do thank my audience for, as Billy's Maryland said, for
Speaker 3: supporting us and for supporting our music.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Thank you so much. Guys.
Speaker 2: Listen wonderful Billy Billy Davis, and you, Marilyn McCool, Florence LaRue,
Speaker 2: thank you, long may you wave in Florence.
Speaker 1: I listen to what you said.
Speaker 2: There's almost a promise there that maybe something would happen.
Speaker 2: Tell you what we're gonna do now, Kevin, let's take
Speaker 2: that break, guys, thank you so much. We love you,
Speaker 2: We love you. I love you all right, and let's
Speaker 2: take a little break now, and then we're gonna hear
Speaker 2: the medley of the great music that they gave us,
Speaker 2: that Champagne, Champagne music.
Speaker 1: I'll be back in a moment.