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Three Dog Night
Greatest Hits Live
(Shout! Factory)
First Appeared in The Music Box, September 2008, Volume 15, #9
Written by John Metzger
Wed September 3, 2008, 06:30 AM CDT
Right from the start, Three Dog Night
was a pop band that found a way to appeal to a rock ’n‘ roll audience. Instead of writing its own material, the
outfit followed an old-fashioned approach of co-opting songs that were written
(and frequently made famous) by others. Its albums were streamlined, too.
Despite entering the music scene in the late 1960s, there were no extended
guitar solos or mind-boggling jams. The emphasis, at least in the studio, was
almost entirely placed upon Three Dog Night’s founding front men: Chuck Negron,
Danny Hutton, and Cory Wells. Likewise, the group’s endeavors, more often than
not, were prepped for mass consumption, and they adhered to proven formulas that
only a record executive could love.
At the same time, though, there remains something ridiculously infectious
about Three Dog Night’s work. Its singles in particular are strangely compelling
and alluring, and as hard as one might try to fight the urge, it is nearly
impossible not to want to sing along with tunes like Joy to the World,
Black and White, and An Old Fashioned Love Song. With the exception
of Try a Little Tenderness, no rendition of which came close to those
that Otis Redding had unleashed a few years earlier, Three Dog Night had an
almost impeccable ability to choose material that was well suited to its style
of performing. More than most outfits trying to play the same game, Three Dog
Night knew its strengths and its weakness, and it confidently managed to walk
the line between them, while always giving fans precisely what they wanted to
hear. As a result, it reaped the benefits as bodies were packed into stadiums,
and recordings consistently were certified gold.
Even so, there always has been a bit of a disconnected wire that ran between
the raw, unbridled energy of Three Dog Night’s stage persona and the slickness
of its studio pursuits. Its concerts were designed to be gigantic celebrations,
while its albums were crafted for the sole purpose of feeding the mainstream
radio market. The group released a pair of concert sets in the early 1970s —
Around the World with Three Dog Night and Captured Live at the Forum
— each of which was a solid, if somewhat flawed affair. Greatest Hits Live,
its latest endeavor, was compiled from recordings that were made during its
extended world tour in 1972 and 1973. Although the collection makes an attempt
to overcome the obstacles that undermined Three Dog Night’s earlier live
efforts, it too, falls short of its mark.
In terms of song selection, Greatest Hits Live does touch upon most of
the right bases. It leaves behind some of the lesser tracks that filled
Around the World with Three Dog Night, while also picking up some of the
better-known tunes that appeared on Captured Live at the Forum. Most
notably, though, Black and White is absent from the collection, as is
Three Dog Night’s expansive rendition of The Band’s Chest Fever. The
outing, however, does showcase the outfit’s full range by illuminating Three Dog
Night’s tight harmonies as well as the electrifying lead guitar playing of
Michael Allsup and the shimmering organ accompaniments of Jimmy Greenspoon. In
hindsight, some selections, like the explosive Liar, are tied too closely
to the bombastic arena rock of the 1970s, but overall, if Greatest Hits Live
is taken at face value, it does demonstrate Three Dog Night’s knack for
interpreting material in a way that was highly entertaining. 
Of Further Interest...
Chicago - Stone of Sisyphus / Chicago XXXII
Emerson Lake & Palmer - Beyond the Beginning
The Zombies - Live at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London
Greatest Hits Live is available from
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2008 The Music Box
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