Portrait (The 5th Dimension album)

Portrait
Studio album by The 5th Dimension
Released	April 1970
Recorded	August 22, 1969-March 20, 1970
Studio	Wally Heider Recording, Hollywood, CA
Genre	R&B, pop, soul, sunshine pop, psychedelic soul
Length	38:25
Label	Bell
Producer	Bones Howe
The 5th Dimension chronology
Greatest Hits (1970)Greatest Hits1970 Portrait (1970) The July 5th Album (1970)The July 5th Album1970

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Portrait is the fifth album by American pop group The 5th Dimension, released in 1970 (see 1970 in music). This is the group's first album for Bell Records, having switched from the Soul City Records. The cover features an impressionistic portrait by famous artist LeRoy Neiman.

The album languished in the mid-60's on the Billboard Top 200 Album Charts after the release of its first three singles, none of which entered the Top 20 of the American pop music charts. Bell Records, hoping to see a return on the investment they made by signing The 5th Dimension after the group's contract at Soul City Records ended, made a fourth and final attempt at a hit - a relatively uncommon practice at the time - with the release of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "One Less Bell to Answer". The single rose all the way to #2 by Christmas 1970, becoming one of the group's greatest hits of all time. As a result, Portrait began climbing the charts once again, eventually peaking at #20. The single features Marilyn McCoo on lead vocal, and ushers in The 5th Dimension's transition from pop to adult contemporary artists. McCoo from this point became the primary vocalist for the group's subsequent chart hits, including "Last Night (I Didn't Get to Sleep at All)", "Love's Lines, Angles and Rhymes", "Never My Love", "If I Could Reach You", "House for Sale", "Everything's Been Changed" and "Flashback". This became a source of friction for the group as time went on, and was in part responsible for McCoo and husband Billy Davis, Jr. leaving the group after the release of Earthbound in 1975.

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Track listing

Side One

1. "Puppet Man" (Howard Greenfield, Neil Sedaka) – 3:00
2. "One Less Bell to Answer" (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 3:31
3. "Feelin' Alright?" (Dave Mason) – 4:28
4. "This Is Your Life" (Jimmy Webb) – 4:13
5. "A Love Like Ours" (Bob Alcivar, Lamonte McLemore) – 2:39

Side Two

1. "Save the Country" (Laura Nyro) – 2:39
2. "Medley" – 10:12
   • "The Declaration" (words are from the U.S. Declaration of Independence, the only known setting of it to music) (Julius Johnsen, René DeKnight)
   • "A Change Is Gonna Come" (Sam Cooke)
   • "People Gotta Be Free" (Eddie Brigati, Felix Cavaliere)
3. "Dimension 5ive" (Bob Alcivar) – 4:15

CD bonus tracks

1. "On the Beach (In the Summertime)" [*] (Landy McNeil) – 3:28

*bonus track on CD

Personnel

• Billy Davis, Jr. - lead vocals (tracks 3, 7), background vocals
• Florence LaRue - lead vocals (tracks 1, 4), background vocals
• Marilyn McCoo - lead vocals (tracks 1-2), background vocals
• Lamonte McLemore - background vocals
• Ron Townson - lead vocals (track 9), background vocals

Additional personnel

• Michael Anthony - electric guitar
• Mike Deasy - electric guitar
• Dennis Budimir - rhythm guitar
• Tommy Tedesco - rhythm guitar
• Fred Tackett - finger pickin' guitar
• Joe Osborn - bass
• Hal Blaine - drums, percussion
• Larry Bunker - congas, mallets, percussion, drums
• Gary Coleman - mallets, percussion
• Larry Knechtel - piano, organ, tack piano
• Jimmy Rowles - piano
• Gary Illingworth - electric piano
• Bob Alcivar - arranger

Production

As mentioned on the liner notes of the album, this was one of the first albums to be recorded on a 16-track recorder, and was recorded at the Wally Heider Studios in Hollywood. The sketches of the vocal recording sessions included in the album cover art are dated January 13 and January 14, 1970.^[2]

• Producer: Bones Howe
• Engineer: Bones Howe
• Mastering: Elliot Federman
• Digital transfers: Mike Hartry
• Reissue producer: Rob Santos
• Production coordination: Jeremy Holiday
• Production assistant: Bones Howe, Ann McClelland, Tom Tierney, Russ Wapensky
• Product manager: Mandana Eidgah
• Project coordinator: Arlessa Barnes, Glenn Delgado, Christina DeSimone, Karyn Friedland, Felicia Gearhart, Laura Gregory, Robin Manning, Brooke Nochomson, Ed Osborne, Larry Parra, Dana Renert, Bill Stafford, Steve Strauss
• Archivist: Joanne Feltman, Glenn Korman
• Research: Joel Whitburn
• Assistants: Larry Cox, Johnny Golden, Rik Pekkonen
• Arranger: Bob Alcivar, Bill Hollman, Bones Howe
• Art direction: Beverly Weinstein
• Reissue art director: Mathieu Bitton
• Design: Mathieu Bitton
• Cover painting: LeRoy Neiman
• Liner notes: Mike Ragogna

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Singles - Billboard (North America)

NOTE: "On the beach" does not appear on the original issue of Portrait, although released as a single in 1970. It appears as a bonus track on the CD reissue of Portrait.

References