Customer Reviews

The Best of Three Dog Night

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

From 1969 to 1974 you couldn't turn on the radio without being bombarded by the latest Three Dog Night hit--and they're all here from "Try a Little Tenderness" to "Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues)." The only missing single is their final Top 40 "Til the World Ends" (No. 32) from 1975. If your a completist you'll have to spring for the double-disc "Celebrate: The Three Dog Night Story," which includes that song as well as some album tracks and a few pre-Three Dog Night songs.

What you get on "The Best of Three Dog Night" is just that--all the hits, no filler. Over a five-year period they had twenty Top 40 hits, seven million-sellers, and three No. 1 hits. They didn't write their own hits, but they picked from among the best songwriters of the period: Randy Newman ("Mama Told Me Not To Come"), John Hiatt ("Sure As I'm Sittin' Here"), Hoyt Axton ("Joy to the World," "Never Been to Spain"), Laura Nyro ("Eli's Coming"), Paul Williams ("Family of Man," "Out in the Country"), and Harry Nilsson ("One").

The emphasis was on the trio of vocalists--Cory Wells, Chuck Negron and Danny Hutton--but the band provided more than adequate instrumental support in their mixture of pop, rock and soul. While they were never the critics' darlings, their radio-friendly pop are enjoyable reminders of the period.

My only complaint with this release is the skimpy packaging. No liner notes. No band history. No recording information. (By the way, the songs are not presented chronologically.) But the music is excellent. This is everything you'd ever want to hear from Three Dog Night. Buy and enjoy (before MCA decides to replace it with one of their 10-track 20th Century Masters rip-offs)! RECOMMENDED

"The Best of Three Dog Night" is a decent, single-disc T.D.N. collection. Only their final top-40 hit, "'Til The World Ends," is missing. There are some shortcomings, however, which make me limit my rating to three stars: First, there is the packaging, with a colorized cover photo and no liner notes. Second, the sound quality is a little tinny when compared to other Three Dog Night CDs. Third, if you're looking for the 45 versions you remember, you won't find them here. These are the LP versions ("Liar" and "Family of Man" are edited, but they're not the 45 mixes.) Finally, "Shambala" is presented here in a fake-stereo version which sounds like two synchronized mono tapes, each with different equalization (This song first appeared as a mono 45, and the mono master was electronically rigged into fake-stereo several months later for the "Cyan" LP. An authentic stereo version of this song has never been released.)

In spite of this CD's drawbacks, it's still the title to get for the casual T.D.N. fan who's looking for a single-CD collection with (almost) all the hits, and no filler.

I enjoy this anthology collection by Three Dog Night. They sing every hit song from the seventies era that I remember like "Joy To The World", "Liar", "Eli's Coming", "Mama Told Me Not To Come" and "Just An Old Fashioned Love Song". Which these are my favorite tunes and I recommend this CD even though if your 3 dog night fan you'll enjoy listening to this one. It's even way better than Celebrate The Three Dog Night Story ultimate collection 2 CD set.

I'm 18, and I've always liked Three Dog Night. Well, to be honest, I've always liked three of their songs: "Joy To The World," "One is the Loneliest Number," and "Mama Told Me Not To Come." I soon found out that these weren't the only great songs they sang. After getting word that Three Dog Night was coming to our fairly small town, I immediately made plans to go see them, and I'm glad I did. While I must admit that the best times of the concert came when they sang the aforementioned three songs, I was introduced to a whole lot of other songs, and decided to stay after the show to buy a CD. I decided upon their "Greatest Hits" CD so I could get the best of all the worlds. Then out comes Three Dog Night to sign autographs! I had them sign the booklet of my new CD, and exchanged words and handshakes with them before departing for home with one of my friends. Ever since I played that CD in my car on the way home, I've become hooked. They've got great, catchy songs like "Family of Man," "Shambala," "Old Fashioned Love Song," "Black and White,"...it goes on. There isn't one song on this CD that I don't enjoy listening to, as I can just press "play," kick back, and let the CD run itself out. It's great, and I recommend it to anyone who may be thinking about buying it. If you're a fan of mellow rock or good ol' rock & roll, you will love this CD, guaranteed!

I've always loved Three Dog Night, from the first time I heard them in 1968, when they opened for Steppenwolf in Chicago, to now, when I listen to them with the Tennessee Philharmonic Orchestra. They always had the great harmonies and wonderful songs that were always fun. Now I may be committing heresy, but I NEVER liked "Joy to the World." There, I said it. I've heard it a zillion times and probably heard it live half a zillion, but I have never liked it. I prefer some other their other hits...Michael Allsup's guitar and Danny Hutton's vocals in "Liar" are some of the best they have ever done. I've always been partial to "One Man Band" and my all time favorite is "Out in the Country." There comes a time when we all want to listen to really good music and remember what we were doing. This is one of the perfect albums for joy and memories. Get it and enjoy!

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection....I owned every one of these songs on vinyl when I was a teenager, and am amazed at the instrumental and vocal nuances that come through in the digital CD format which vinyl or tape can't reproduce. I would have given it the full five stars if it had included the song "Going in Circles"; but alas, the compilers let me down.........*SIGH*

One of the most prolific and successful groups to emerge in the late 1960s was Three Dog Night. Their range of hits was phenomenal, beginning with "Easy To Be Hard" and extending to "Celebrate". In the several years of their recording success, they produced a long line of hits that would make anyone proud; "Joy To The World", "Old Fashioned Love Song", "Shambala", "Never Been To Spain", "Black And White", and Eli's Coming". They also provided us with some wonderful songs that not only were big hits, but which continue to be played on the radio, such as have become part of our everyday culture, like "One Man Band", "One", "Out In The Country", and "Joy To The World", which is one of my personal favorites. They still make the rounds of the oldies tours, but no loner record. Given their considerable talents and wonderful record of producing immensely popular songs, it is a shame. Yet they have left us a wonderful legacy of songs, all of which are here for us to continue to play and snap our fingers to. Enjoy!

'Sure as I'm sittin' here' listening to my favorite 3 Dog Night songs taking me back to the late 1960's/early 1970's when I was a young child. My favorite songs then were: 'Joy to the World', 'Old Fashioned Love Song' and 'The Show must go on'

Back in the early 1980's, 3 Dog Night performed live at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. My friends and me made a beeline to see them; they were great. The Amphitheater was jammed packed with many fans that came to 'Celebrate'. I was really thrilled to see the Dogs perform live and they played their greatest hits on this CD.

The CD quality is excellent. The songs are as great today as they were 25 something years ago. I highly recommend this CD for 3 Dog Night fans.

One of the many mysteries of pop and rock is how Three dog night, hugely successful in their native America, had only a couple of minor chart entries in Britain. I was unaware of them until many years later, when I discovered that I actually recognized several of their hits via other versions.

Two of their best songs, Joy to the world and Never been to Spain, were written by the late, great Hoyt Axton - a brilliant singer-songwriter who is vastly under-rated. Two of the other songs here, The show must go on and One man band, were hits in Britain for Leo Sayer, who wrote one of them and may or may not have been the original singer of the other. Another song that I recognized is Black and white, though I'm not sure where I heard it first. All of those songs, as performed by Three dog night, are brilliant, but another familiar song, Otis Redding's Try a little tenderness, is ordinary by comparison.

There are many other great songs here, most of which will be familiar to Americans old enough to remember them at their prime. Brits may not recognize all the songs, but they were an excellent rock band and are worth investigating. The only flaw is the absence of liner notes, but it's the music that counts so they still get five stars from me.

Between 1969 and 1975, NOBODY on EARTH produced MORE hits than Three Dog Night. An impressive feat to say the least, and the idea that a group can have more than one or even TWO lead singers was a novel concept which served them well during their short, but incredibly successful stint on top of the world of popular music.

Despite Chuck Negron's increasingly disturbing drug problems, the band consistently produced some of the 70's highest points in music. Everything from their ballads to the harder edged stuff, it all seemed to have the Midas Touch when it came to popularity. 'Shambala' (which WAS in fact released in stereo, despite what an earlier reviewer has claimed) although not quite reaching the status of #1 (it lost steam at #3) was certainly proof that they could generate fast-moving catchy hits. Their first major success came in 1969 with 'One', but it wasn't until May of 1970 that they finally hit musical paydirt with their #1 smash, 'Mama Told Me Not To Come' written by Randy Newman. Their biggest success however came with the drug-plagued Negron on lead vocals of 'Joy To The World' which stayed atop the charts for 6 straight weeks in 1971. Many people think otherwise, but TDN only had 3 #1 hits, the last being 'Black & White' from August of 1972.

IF you ever have a chance to see one of the two incarnations of Three Dog Night currently touring (Danny Hutton & Cory Wells together, and Chuck doing things solo these days) give 'em a shot 'cuz they still sound pretty darned good after all these years. I'm most impressed with Chuck's ability to overcome his adversity with drugs (and he was about as low as anyone CAN be after achieving such tremendous success, especially after he pawned one of his gold records to get drug money) and today works tirelessly to help addicts to break the bondage that drugs have over them. Any TDN fan worth his/her salt needs to give this album a spin. It definitely WON'T be your last.