The Magic Garden is the second album by American pop group the 5th Dimension, released in 1967. 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 — and his time with singer and then-girlfriend Susan Horton. 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. Following the ubiquitous success of Up, Up and Away, which spawned two Top-20 singles on the Billboard Pop Chart, expectations were high for The Magic Garden. However, the album just missed the Billboard Hot 100, and no Top 20 singles would emerge from it in the US. The first single, "Paper Cup", rose only to #34. "Carpet Man", the album's second single, landed at #29 in the US, but found great success in Canada, charting at #3 on Toronto's CHUM chart, and #11 on the RPM chart, in March 1968. The group performed the song on Kraft Music Hall and the Ed Sullivan Show.
One of the album's cuts, "The Worst That Could Happen", was culled from the LP and recorded as a single by Johnny Maestro & the Brooklyn Bridge in January 1969, and became a top 3 hit in the US. The 5th Dimension would have to wait for their next album, Stoned Soul Picnic, to achieve the same chart placement. To capitalize on the success of "The Worst That Could Happen", Soul City Records re-released The Magic Garden as The Worst That Could Happen. The re-release reverses the front and back covers of the original LP. The vinyl label still carried The Magic Garden as its title. The original Magic Garden album was released in both mono and stereo. It is unknown whether its reissue as The Worst That Could Happen was also reissued in mono, as Soul City's parent company, Liberty Records began phasing out monaural releases in the US in 1968: stereo copies keep its original matrix number on Soul City / Liberty, SCS-92001.
Track listing
All songs were written by Jimmy Webb, except where noted. ;Side one
"Carpet Man" 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. Dusty Springfield recorded a cover of "The Magic Garden", which surfaced on a Springfield anthology in the 1990s.
