The Magic Garden

The Magic Garden
Studio album by The 5th Dimension
Released	December 1967 (1967-12)
Recorded	July 15, 1967 – November 1967
Genre	R&B, pop, soul, sunshine pop, psychedelic soul
Length	35:29
Label	Soul City Records
Producer	Jimmy Webb, Bones Howe
The 5th Dimension chronology
Up, Up and Away (1967) The Magic Garden (1967) Stoned Soul Picnic (1968)
Singles from The Magic Garden
"Paper Cup" Released: 1967 "Carpet Man" Released: 1968 "The Girls' Song" Released: 1970

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

The Magic Garden is the second album by American pop group The 5th Dimension, released in 1967 (see 1967 in music). Considered a concept album, it tells the story of a couple's love, and the end of their relationship. In more recent discussions of the album, that love affair is said to be about Jimmy Webb, who authored 10 of the album's 11 tracks, with singer and then-girlfriend Susan Horton. The song MacArthur Park is also about that relationship. The only non-Jimmy Webb song on the album, Ticket to Ride, is an unused track from the group's first album, Up, Up and Away, the title track of which was also written by Webb.

Carpet Man, the album's second single, found great success in Canada, charting at #3 on Toronto's CHUM chart, and #11 on the RPM chart, in March 1968. The song has been covered by The Nocturnes, The Charade, The Parking Lot, and by the founder of The 5th Dimension's Soul City record label, Johnny Rivers. The group performed the song on both Kraft Music Hall, on an episode hosted by John Davidson (entertainer), and on The Ed Sullivan Show.

One of the album's cuts, The Worst That Could Happen, was culled from the lp and released as a single by Johnny Maestro & the Brooklyn Bridge in January 1969, and became a smash top 3 hit in the USA. The 5th would have to wait for their next album, Stoned Soul Picnic, to achieve the same chart placement. To capitalise on the success of The Worst That Could Happen, Soul City Records re-titled The Magic Garden and re-released it as The Worst That Could Happen. The re-release reverses the front and back covers of the original lp. Although now titled "The Worst That Could Happen" on the album cover, the label on the vinyl itself still carried The Magic Garden as its title.

The original Magic Garden album was released in both mono (SCM-92001) and stereo (SCS-92001). It is unknown whether its reissue as The Worst That Could Happen was also reissued in mono: stereo copies keep its original matrix number on Soul City / Liberty, SCS-92001.

The album, retitled "The Worst That Could Happen". The front cover is an image originally used on the back cover of The Magic Garden.

Track listing

All songs were written by Jimmy Webb, except where noted.

1. "Prologue" – 1:24
2. "The Magic Garden" – 2:48
3. "Summer's Daughter" – 3:03
4. "Dreams/Pax/Nepenthe" – 3:24
5. "Carpet Man" – 3:16
6. "Ticket to Ride" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 4:00
7. "Requiem: 820 Latham" – 4:26
8. "The Girls' Song" – 4:09
9. "The Worst That Could Happen" – 2:37
10. "Orange Air" – 2:38
11. "Paper Cup" – 2:48
12. "Epilogue" – :56

Personnel

Music

• Billy Davis, Jr. – lead vocals (track 9), background vocals
• Florence LaRue – lead vocals (tracks 5, 8), background vocals
• Marilyn McCoo – lead vocals (track 8), background vocals
• Lamonte McLemore – background vocals
• Ron Townson – background vocals
• Jimmy Webb – orchestra conductor

Production

• Jimmy Webb – producer, music arranger
• Bones Howe – producer, engineer
• Armin Steiner – engineer
• Elliot Federman – audio mastering
• Mandana Eidgah – product manager
• Rob Santos – reissue producer
• Mike Hartry – digital transfers
• Joanne Feltman – archives coordinator
• Glenn Korman – archives coordinator
• Woody Woodward – art director
• Mathieu Bitton – reissue art director
• Ron Wolin – design
• Wayne Kimbell – illustrations
• Ed Osborne – photography
• George Rodriguez – photography
• Mike Ragogna – liner notes

Charts

Album

Billboard (North America)

Singles

Billboard (North America)

References