The Fifth Dimension – Viva Tirado

By , October 25, 2015 1:02 pm

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The Fifth Dimension

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Listen/Download – The Fifth Dimension – Viva Tirado MP3

Greetings all.

I woke up in mellow mood this morning so I thought I’d ease us all into the week with something suitably laid back.

The Fifth Dimension were one of the most misunderstood (yet very successful) groups of the 60s and 70s.

At first listen/glance they seemed to be taking the Mamas and Papas vibe in a soulful direction (though their discography is packed with as much (or more) art pop than it is outright soul), over the years they managed to employ the many distinct voices in their number in laying down some very groovy stuff.

The selection I bring you today is a little unusual, in that it is very mellow indeed, as well as a vocal take on a tune that is almost exclusively performed as an instrumental, Gerald Wilson’s oft-covered ‘Viva Tirado’.

Known to most via the hit version by El Chicano, the song has been recorded many times, as a big band feature (how Wilson did it originally) to smaller groups in a soul jazz, or slightly funkier style.

Here we have the Fifth Dimension (from the 1971 LP ‘Love, Lines, Angles and Rhymes’), with lyrics supplied by Norman Gimbel (who had a long and very successful career creating English lyrics to foreign language songs like ‘The Girl From Ipanema’ and ‘Summer Samba’ as well as adding lyrics to instrumentals like today’s tune), easing into the song as softly as humanly possible.

The lyrics aren’t terribly profound, yet there’s something cool about hearing the Fifth Dimension’s velvety harmonies sailing over the Latin foundation of the song. There are points where the simplicity of the lyric almost gives way to a vocalese feel, with the group’s voices taking on an almost instrumental role.

It’s neither heavy nor profound, but it is an interesting new way of hearing an old familiar song, and that’ll do for a Monday.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all on Wednesday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

 

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PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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