Fifth - Yesterday's Today b/w Something You've Got

Tracks

Side 1

		Track Name	Length
	1	Yesterday's Today	02:31

Side 2

		Track Name	Length
	1	Something You've Got

Photos

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Information/Write-up

Yesterday's Today was written by bassist Melvin C. Ksionzek on London Records and received the Lloyd C. Moffat Award in 1968 as the year's best Canadian produced rock recording. The Fifth had one more national hit in December 1967 and early 1968 with 'Tears', also on London Records. debut release from this Winnipeg group that included Ron Rene (who was earlier with The Quid) & Kurt Winter (who was later with The Guess Who).

The Fifth were one of the most popular acts in the Winnipeg area throughout the latter half of the sixties. But as Vance Masters, who drummed for the group in one of their many incarnations, recalled on his now-defunct blog, they trace their origins a little further north to the old summer resort town of Winnipeg Beach.

"Bassist Richard Gwizdak moved to Winnipeg in 1965, long before the Fifth became a band," he wrote. "He was rehearsing with another collection of musicians, but they never got to the point of actually playing any dates. When they drifted apart, Richard contacted the Saints, a group comprised of his friends from Winnipeg Beach who had only played the tiny resort and surrounding area, convincing them all to make the move to 'the big city'. And the Fifth came into being."

That band took up residence in Gwizdak's house and began rehearsing. It wasn't long before the two main pieces of their puzzle fell into place. The lads hooked themselves up with a manager, Peter Stone (ne Peter Slywka), who packed their schedule with bookings around town. And then in the fall of 1966, they managed to lure singer Ron Rene away from the Quid, who were enjoying some success that year with their frenetic garage corker 'Crazy Things'.

The Fifth issued a handful of singles, ranging from the loungy blue-eyed soul of their second single, 'Tears', in 1967 to the hefty blues of their final one, 'Tobacco Road', in 1970. But their best effort was the jangly debut, 'Yesterdays Today', which the guys recorded on a trip to Toronto's London Studios in the spring of '67. The Fifth, as mentioned, were a virtual revolving door of personnel changes, but a Peter Stone promo sheet lists the line-up here as Rene, along with guitarists Melvyn Chic and James Michals, bassist Richard Dack and drummer Craig Hamblin. What's more, it raves that "London Records were so impressed with their recent recording session in Toronto that they latched on to the group and are going out on an all-the-way promotion campaign". Those plans were obviously big, as the guys found themselves on bills with the Beach Boys, Sonny and Cher, the Seeds, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Herman's Hermits, the McCoys and - no surprise here, I guess - their mentors the Byrds .

The Fifth kept Winnipeg in its thrall for the rest of the decade. But by 1969, things began to untether, with three members moving on to form the short-lived 'supergroup' Brother. When Rene jumped ship that year, the Fifth reformed around organist James Grabowski. Unfortunately, that group severed ties with Stone, who owned the rights to the name the Fifth, and soldiered on as it were, issuing a pretty decent LP for Warner Brothers as the harder-rocking Next.
-Michael Panontin

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