Tag Archives: Billy Davis Jr.

On February 1, 1971 the LP “Love’s Lines, Angles and Rhymes” by The 5th Dimension was released on Bell Records. Produced by the great Bones Howe, it was the group’s sixth album. Personally, one of my all-time faves, beautifully mastered, including cool and memorable cover art with a fold-out, detachable “5” to hang on our youthful walls! But the songs were more than teenage and formed many a fan’s adult musical sensibilities, of course, parents liked this album, too for “The 5th” was always inclusive and as such, united people on many levels. As LaMonte McLemore cites in his memoir, “From Hobo Flats to The 5th Dimension”: “We brought together generations, crossed the record charts and racial boundaries.” The “Champagne Soul” sparkled with the mystical title tune, a treatise of #Love–Marilyn McCoo‘s personal fave “vocal solo” (quotes about “Love’s Lines,” the single from Ms. McCoo and composer Dorothea Joyce to be featured in my upcoming book, “Forever 5th Dimension.”) The other single from the project, “Light Sings” from Broadway’s “The Me Nobody Knows” (known as “the first Broadway hit to give voice to the sentiments of inner-city American youth”) is a bona fide fan favorite for its soaring uplift. (We also have exclusive quotes from LaMonte and “MarBill” on this showtune, to be unveiled!) There are 2 Laura Nyro entries, the ebullient “Time and Love” and Florence LaRue‘s radiant lead with “He’s a Runner,” plus sensual & sensory covers done “the 5th way” of the Latin-tinged “Viva Tirado,” Motown’s “What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)?” and Paul McCartney‘s “Every Night,” the latter 2 stand as early McCoo & Davis duets. And the McLemore-penned “The Singer” brings a gut-wrenching tour-de-force for Billy Davis, Jr. The panoramic n’ playful “The Rainmaker” by Harry Nilsson and the ultra-romantic “Guess Who” round out a superb early ’70’s vibe, the “Love’s Lines” project is nearly a follow-up to ’69’s “The Age of Aquarius” album as producer Bones recounted to me in our many exclusives.

For #BlackHistoryMonth 2021, honoring this “patent leather perfect” (as one critic of the time praised it in a brief sound-bite and I never forgot those witty words!) masterpiece proves The 5th Dimension held firmly in grace, edifying each member’s unique talents–from R & B, to Pop, to Classical/Light Opera, to Broadway, to Torch, defying categories and setting examples that were truly ahead of their time. It’s no wonder contemporary artists Audra McDonald, Pharrell Williams, Vanessa Williams, Questlove and Narada Michael Walden–not to mention Earth, Wind & Fire–hold the essence of The 5th Dimension as influential and in high regard. And don’t we all as Forever 5th Dimension celebrates this 50-year recorded milestone. ~~Robert-Allan Arno

(Forever 5th Dimension by Robert-Allan Arno, a production of The Soul of The Voice, Ltd.,, Intellectual Property, copyright 2008-21, All Rights Reserved)