The 5th Dimension - Puppet Man

ORIGINATION 45
RECORDED IN 1970
LAST LISTENED TO yesterday, briefly
RATING ★★★★★

Funk! Yes! Well, almost. This starts out with a certain kind of late '60s variant of funk, at least until the singing begins. Once that happens, it rapidly becomes funk filtered through an easy listening pop choir, which, not to put too fine a point on it, is exactly what this is. The 5th Dimension were (and appear in some guise still to be) a pop group of five vocailists. Their best-known singles back in the day were Up, Up And Away and Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In. Following only a few years after those, Puppet Man does have something of the flavour of those two tunes to it, with more than enough 'bah-bah-bah-bah's for any fan or their work to enjoy. However for those non-easy lovers, the music is where it's at. From the drum roll intro on into the strong lead guitar fills, this is some fairly heavy funk rock. It is taken at a moderate pace and it has plenty bite to it. On paper, the two elements seem rather disparate, yet here they mesh really rather well.

The 5th Dimension - Puppet Man

ORIGINATION 7" (b side)
LAST LISTENED TO january
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT small
RATING

The 5th Dimension were a pop-soul outfit who reached their most popular with slightly hippy sounding tunes, scoring their biggest hit in '69 with Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In, a medley of tunes from the musical Hair. By '72, when they recorded this tune, they were on a new label and a short while over the crest of their wave.

Puppet Man is the b side to a forgettable ballad (the name of which i have indeed forgotten). It is mostly vocal led, although there is a continual presence of both guitar and piano, which pulls along the melody. Small portions of brass help round things out and a load of 'ba ba bas' are just the icing on top.