Customer Reviews

20th Century Masters The Millennium Collection: The Best Of Three Dog Night

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Why? Well, they were sort of a precursor of the boy bands - multiple-part harmony, performing songs written by others, became an easy listening (cough) err.... adult contemporary act near the end of their run, and were a hit machine.

When I saw this collection, The Best Of Three Dog Night at the local Coconuts for half price, I snapped it up, hoping it would be good. I don't have any other CDs by this band; my LPs (I think I have 4 or 5 of theirs and several hundred others) languish in the basement waiting for me to get a decent turntable and find a place for it.

They were a pleasure: my first album, my first rock concert (8th grade, circa 1968-1969 at the Northbrook (IL) Ice Arena), my first good argument with my parents about music, etc.

My parents saw the cover from one of their albums and announced that I shouldn't listen to them because they had long hair and a decadent lifestyle. Of course, they said nothing about my musical idol a few years later, Charlie Parker, who died of old age at 35 after a brilliant musical career and an even more prodigious career as a substance abuser. Well, my parents weren't going to tell ME what to do. I listened to the albums a lot.

Back to TDN. Their lead singers could really belt it out - singly and together. They had a very competent supporting band of keyboards, guitar, bass and drums and were well-produced and well-recorded. Even though they didn't do a lot of their own compositions, they performed songs from some very heavy writers:

Hoyt Axton: Joy To The World, Never Been To Spain
Harry Nilsson: One
Laura Nyro: Eli's Coming
Randy Newman: Mama Told Me Not To Come
Paul Williams: An Old Fashioned Love Song

(Among others)

The 12 songs here include most of their mega-hits throughout their meteoric pop music run from 1969-1974. At the beginning of that run, they had a well-deserved reputation as hard rockers. In particular, their first two studio albums, Three Dog Night and Suitable For Framing each had several tremendous rocking cuts that were not huge single hits, like Circle For A Landing, Feelin' Alright, Try A Little Tenderness and Chest Fever. Later, they branched into easy listening/adult contemporary and I lost interest in them a bit.

By 1973, their albums had gotten tired, as had their live performances - I saw them at the U of I in the fall of 1973, freshman year. It was a really boring show. There was no magic. My recollection was that they did their easy listening songs. It was also pretty poorly attended. I've since found that two of the lead singers apparently had serious drug problems and that could have contributed to the lackluster show. (see Chuck Negron's book, Three Dog Nghtmare" for details.)

I did like their last studio album, American Pastime in 1976. It had some interesting music on it, including a piece composed by Anita O'Day, and other cuts that signalled that the band was trying something new - whether desperation or artistic expansion. However, it flopped and the band broke up soon thereafter.

Mirroring their career, his CD includes a transition from the compelling Eli's Coming, issued in 1969 to the vapid The Show Must Go On , issued in 1974, the latter complete with a circus music intro.

At their best, they could be a compelling band, and much of that is represented here. However, it is a short 41 minutes. Given current CD technology, there really should be more. I undeerstand that there is a greatest hits album with 68 minutes available.

Three Dog Night enjoyed tremendous success for several years. Between the years 1969 and 1974, they released their own songs as well as cover songs that rose to the top of the pop and adult contemporary charts rather frequently. The music on this CD is incredible; and it holds your interest the entire way through. Their music remains remarkably fresh and strong even to this day.

The CD starts with the infectiously happy "Joy To The World." This song wishes happiness and peace not just to humans but to all creatures on our planet. It's the best antidepressant around! SMILES The musical arrangement exemplifies classic rock--YES!!!!

Shambala, the nest track on this CD, has another potent rock flavor. The song may have a somewhat more "laid back" feel to it than "Joy To The World;" but it works very well.

Other classic Three Dog Night songs on this CD include "An Old Fashioned Love Song;" a tragic ballad about a love gone awry entitled "The Song Must Go On" and "Easy To Be Hard" from Hair.

"Black & White" reminds us to love our fellow man regardless of the color of his or her skin; I remember this song fondly from my grade school years. We had a 45 rpm record of this song and at recess we played it so much we practically wore the grooves off the record! "An Old Fashioned Love Song" has a great intro with the organ playing; and the band performs this number with great sensitivity. "An Old Fashioned Love Song" is both romantic and hauntingly beautiful. People will remember "An Old Fashioned Love Song" for a long time to come. "I've Never Been To Spain" rocks and stuns you with its sensitivity. Excellent!

One of Three Dog Night's other hits was "Celebrate." The musical arrangement showcases the band's incredible sound with their singing and a solid musical arrangement.

Unfortunately, I have one complaint. Other reviewers have written that the CD is just too brief--and they are right. It is shameful that such a talented band does not get its proper due on this CD. I agree with the reviewer who writes that the other CD entitled The Best Of Three Dog Night is a much better buy; you can enjoy much more music from Three Dog Night. Go for it!

Three Dog Night will always be remembered as a band that produced remarkably fine rock hits while they worked together. Their music stuns you with its passion and the melodies are catchy and instantly memorable.

I recommend this CD for Three Dog Night fans or for people who want to become more familiar with the fine artistry of Three Dog Night. Diehard fans will want The Best Of Three Dog Night and other CDs by this unforgettable band. People who enjoy 1970s rock music will enjoy this CD, too. Great job, Three Dog Night!

This compilation provides a fair selection of hits by this remarkable band whose heyday was from 1969 till the middle 1970s. It opens with their anthemic hit from 1971, Joy To The World, and concludes with the magnificent track The Show Must Go On (1973) that was written by UK artist Leo Sayer who had a hit with it in the UK.

The best songs are Black and White, a cover of a song that was originally a hit for the reggae band Greyhound in the UK, the wonderfully atmospheric Mama Told Me Not To Come (a brilliant portrayal of a 1970s party) and the buoyant Celebrate. I don't much like Three Dog Night's Middle of the Road balladeering as in Old Fashioned Love Song or Never Been To Spain, although these did well on the charts.

Much better tracks to include would have been the catchy Family Of Man, similar to Black And White in its reggae rhythm, and the sensitive and beautiful Pieces Of April. This CD is not comprehensive but there are many Three Dog Night collections available for the completists. It still showcases a band of great versatility that made a substantial contribution to melodic rock and pop in the 1970s.

I've been collecting these "20th Century Masters" collections since their debut in 1999 and over all they're a decent overview of each artist's career, but if an artist or group had more than ten hits(or recorded for multiple labels besides one under the Universal umbrella), than these discs can come up missing a few songs. Three Dog Night, for example, had 21 top 40 singles(on the ABC/Dunhill label) from 1969-1974 but only 12 of them could be included on this budget-priced "best-of". So no room for "Family of Man", "Out In the Country" or "Pieces of April" and other lower-charting singles. For only a few dollars more I'd recomend the just-released "Complete Hit Singles" collection that includes all 21 of their greatest hits on one disc(plus a great booklet with liner notes and photos).

There's nothing wrong with the music here--what little there is of it. This CD earns its one-star rating for being a random selection of HALF of Three Dog Night's hits, thrown together as quickly and as cheaply as possible in a crass attempt to cash in on the "millennium" craze. If you want a single-disc collection of Three Dog Night's hits, pick up the similarly-titled "Best of Three Dog Night" (the one with three colorized close-up photos against a white background) instead. For just a couple of dollars more, you'll get all of TDN's hits except "'Til The World Ends."

My rating of this album speaks ONLY of what is included here; not the band. No "Family of Man", or "Sure as I'm Sitting Here" or "Out in the Country", for starters.

"The Best of Three Dog Night" gives half again as many songs (20!), and has much more of their great work.

From 1969 to 1974, Three Dog Night, named for the aboriginal tradition of sleeping with animals on cold evenings, had an unbroken series of almost 20 singles make the top 40. This album may miss a few of the more obscure tracks (Pieces of April, Sure As I'm Sittin' Here, One Man Band), but the tracks included are the most memorable. You could spend a lot more for a 3 Dog hits package, including a grossly inflated 2-CD package, but really, this is all the 3 Dog you need.

The songs included were written by Randy Newman, Laura Nyro, Paul Williams, Hoyt Axton, and Leo Sayer, among others. They are definite products of their time, but still hold up. Joy To the World is getting used in a camera commercial, Mama Told Me was a top 5 hit in England for Tom Jones this year.

This disc has some great tunes, as everything Three Dog Night touched turned to gold, but there is a much wider variety of masterpieces that these guys did. Get the Celebrate: The Three Dog Night Story, 1965-1975 set, with two CDs worth of great material.

This millinium collection contains a number of the group's hits, but some of them are only in mono. There's no excuse for MCA to put out mono recordings when the stereo ones are available. Stick with the single disc called "The Best of Three Dog Night". You not only get the stereo versions, but more hits as well! Also, I agree with the above reviewer that MCA is only trying to get the last dime out of customers by offering these millinium recordings.

This is a fairly recent "Greatest Hits" album by the super group "Three Dog Night", who released a string of pop radio hits from the late 60's to the mid 70's. This compilation includes some noteworthy hits from eight of their studio albums. All of these songs were very popular on the airwaves, and all of them have a sound characteristic of TDN, which cannot be described in words, but simply have that essence which unmistakably belongs to this band.

There are 12 songs to be found on this album. From their first album, the self-titled "Three Dog Night" is the lonely song "One", marked by a thumping acoustic piano in the background. Three songs were derived from their second album, "Suitable For Framing": these include "Eli's Coming", a fast-paced, frantic-sounding act; "Easy To Be Hard", a gentle piece originally found in the 60's soundtrack and Off-Broadway play "Hair"; and "Celebrate", a lively party song. One track, "Mama Told Me Not To Come", is extracted from their third album "It Ain't Easy". This super hit is noted for its spoken verses, while the chorus is sung by the group. Two hits come from the fourth album, "Naturally": "Liar", about dishonesty in a relationship, is sung by the group. The chorus is the title, shouted out repeatedly as if in anger at the offender. The super hit, "Joy To The World", is perhaps the group's biggest hit and is the first track on this album (while it was the last track on the "Naturally" album). The positive, upbeat theme in this song is what likely made it so popular.

From the fifth studio album, "Harmony", comes the heartfelt "An Old Fashioned Love Song" and the noteworthy "Never Been To Spain". In this poetic, memory-laden act about traveling to different places, the first verse is soft, the second has a country sound and is a little more energetic, and the last verse is really driven. Overall, this song is on a crescendo trend throughout the performance. A prosocial song, "Black And White", comes from the sixth album, "Seven Separate Fools". This upbeat, joyous tune is about racial harmony and people of different races living and working peacefully together. "Shambala" is found on their seventh album, "Cyan". The verses are sung by one person, while the chorus is performed by the group in joyful harmony. Finally, the remaining song, "The Show Must Go On", marches out from their eighth and last highly popular studio album, "Hard Labor". This track begins and ends with the familiar circus theme, and is about an unhappy circus performer. It is interesting that this song is the last track on this album.

The hits that were included on this album are all very popular, creative pieces that were very well-liked and enjoyed heavy rotation on the airwaves. All of these songs are of excellent qualilty, and are among the best of TDN's performances. However, there are quite a few other great hits by this group that were not included on this compilation. Seven of the eight studio albums mentioned above contained noteworthy hits that were somehow excluded here, for unexplained reasons. A better construction of this album would have included those hits, for a longer and more comprehensive treatment of TDN's accomplishments. At least 20 songs could have been placed on this album, and possibly up to 22 or 23 tracks might have been included here. The CD with an 80-minute capacity likely could have accommodated at least 22 or 23 of their hits. The outstanding quality of these songs deserves seven stars on a five-point scale, but the comprehensiveness and length of this album deserves no more than two stars. Overall, this album merits four or four and one-half stars out of five because it excluded so many good hits. The hypothetically longer version could have included up to 22 or 23 of their hits. Such a compilation would have theoretically qualified for five stars instead of four.

Although this album as is should get only four stars on this rating scale, the wonderful artistry, creativeness; and realistic issues (in most of these songs for many listeners) will bring five stars here. The outstanding quality of the items in this album shall override the brevity of twelve songs included in this product.