The Fifth Estate (Don Askew, Ken Evans, Wayne Wadhams, Rick Engler, Doug Ferrera, Chuck Legros, and Bill Shute) are of course best remembered for "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead", their elaborate pop song based on the classic tune from The Wizard of Oz. While the song certainly paved the way to national fame and furtune upon its release in 1967, it also earmarked them for years as either a "one hit wonder" group or as a novelty band.
60sgaragebands.com had the pleasure to transfer many unreleased and live songs from the Fifth Estate's personal archives to CD in 2005, and during the course of the project we were, simply put, astounded at the quality and depth of their other recorded work. From garage to pop to psychedelica, The Fifth Estate in all seriousness were masters of the '60's rock/pop song.
In 1967, the group decided to film themselves on stage (in an empty theater) with the intention of self-promotion. Drummer Ken Evans recalls, "We were set up on a stage in a theater up at Dartmouth College and I guess we were using the available movie and Drama Department's equipment. The lighting, I think, was all intense white (no color) but as we were in our Greenwich Village ART/Mod Rocker garb that we more often than not picked up at the Brick Shedhouse down there, we supplied about all the color and maybe more than anyone would ever want...We had hoped to use it as a promo video is used today. I think it actually was. We really didn't know what the hell we were doing. There was no audience and a filmsetting made it hard to get the same feeling!"
The band performed five songs, all originals: "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead", "Number One Hippie (On The Village Scene)", "That's Love", "Tomorrow Is My Turn", and "Morning Morning". Although the surviving film, as evidenced by the accompanying screen shots, is somewhat dark, the band displays all the charm and goofiness one would expect from a rock film the followed on the heels of A Hard Day's Night.
Ken Evans was hopeful in 2005 of interesting a music/film company in a CD/DVD release of their unreleased/live recordings and film footage, and if that happens it will certainly be a package worthy of purchase. As this promotional film conclusively proves, The Fifth Estate were much more than a "one hit wonder" or novelty band, and rightfully deserve to be included in any discussion of unjustly forgotten rock bands from the 1960's. |
