Three Dog Night/Suitable For Framing

Three Dog Night's first album was a masterpiece of blue-eyed soul. Covering Otis Redding's Try a little Tenderness and an obscure soul song, Nobody cemented them into underground radio's ever-growing playlist of previously forbidden music! Then came "Eli's Comming" and "Easy to be Hard" enlightening, but they lost their "cool" factor. Me? I didn't care. I had fallen in love with both records, songs like Celebrate, etc. After the 4th album, It Ain't Easy, I got into other things, but I did like their occasional hits. But this is the one with the original magic. Sadly, Cory's gone, Denny Hutton, who had a semi-successful solo career, started getting into drugs and after a few more albums, the magic was gone. Hutton left, leaving the surviving 2 to tour as Three Dog Night.

While not really known highly for original music, Three Dog Night superbly delivers as a musical unit regardless especially with 3 lead singers-Chuck Negron, Cory Wells and Danny Hutton[Who unsuccessfully auditioned for The Monkees, did voice-overs for Disney and Hanna-Barbera and even became friends with Brian Wilson before TDN]. Probably best known for interpreting other artists' works, TDN definitely don't disappoint when it comes to reinterpreting works by Harry Nilsson, The Band, Traffic, Randy Newman, Otis Redding, Tim Hardin, Neil Young, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Lennon and McCartney, Elton John, Sam Cooke, and Laura Nyro to name a few over these first 2 albums of TDN repackaged on a single CD release. This group's eponymous debut album kicks off with, coincidentally enough, "One"[Nilsson]. An excellent way to start I must say. It's interesting to note that they chose a non-Beatles Lennon/McCartney tune to cover-"It's For You[Recorded by Cilla Black]. Traffic's "Heaven Is In Your Mind"(Composed by Steve Winwood/Jim Capaldi/and Chris Wood) is nicely covered here. Same could be said for The Band's "Chest Fever"[On their Music From Big Pink album]. Their first interpretation of Randy Newman offered here is "Bet No One Ever Hurt This Bad"(His other song they covered "Mama Told Me Not To Come" was on their 3rd album). Neil Young's "The Loner" is nicely done as well as his Crazy Horse bandmate Danny Whitten's "Let Me Go". Tim Hardin's "Don't Make Promises" is also worth mentioning here. The first album closes off with "Try A Little Tenderness", a unique touch.Traffic's Feelin' Alright(Written by Dave Mason also covered by Joe Cocker) launches TDN's sophomore effort Suitable For Framing[Which I once had on vinyl years back and it's nice have again on CD despite the inclusion of the debut album). Elton John's "Lady Samantha"[Which was Elton's debut single] is wonderfully done. Sam Cooke's posthumously released song "A Change Is Gonna Come" is beautifully done here. The main reason of this album is the inclusion of 3 top 20 singles[Two of which were actually in the top 10]. The first of these was Laura Nyro's "Eli's Coming", second is "Easy To Be Hard"[From the musical Hair and my personal favorite track here] and lastly, "Celebrate", which is the album's closer despite the endless chorus(ala "Hey Jude"). Jimmy Greenspoon's keyboard work shines on these 3 songs. Also covered here is "Ain't That A Lot Of Love", which was made famous by soulmen Sam & Dave[Taj Mahal recorded this on his sophomore effort Natch'nl Blues as well]. My least favorite here is "King Solomon's Mines" provided by drummer Floyd Sneed[For percussion lovers only]. The horn section from Chicago-Walter, James and Lee were employed for this effort to give an extra punch to the TDN sound. My other reflection of this album was the gatefold photo shot where the band members and girlfriends/wives dressed in carnivalesque/renaissance-like garb and drummer Floyd Sneed dressed as "the kid from Borneo"[Yum-yum, eat 'um up-For all Little Rascals enthusiasts] and was my first exposure to a pregnant woman baring her(painted) belly to the world with the group's name on it, which was unusual for that time(1969) as opposed to today's expectant mothers especially the latter months of pregnancies who had their bellies decorated as well as being exposed altogether, which is too much in my honest opinion. Otherwise the music says it all from both albums and nothing BUT the music. Three Dog Night delivers, truly.

This CD is a splendid introduction to the talents of Three Dog Night - Cory Wells, Danny Hutton, and Chuck Negron. Three Dog Night was one of the greatest groups to come out of the late '60s and early '70s, their smooth harmonies blending three great voices similar to the great Lettermen. Cory, Danny, and Chuck each took leads and showed their chops as lead vocalists but it was the blend of those voices that makes this dual-album stand out. I've heard them live several times and unlike many groups, their live performances sounded just like their albums, a sure sign they had the talent and skill all great performers have. I recommend this album to any fan of great vocal music, it's a must have!!!

Most of the songs played without problem until the end of the disk, then suddenly the last 3 songs from Suitable for Framing (one of the groups best albums) encountered the digital equivalent of skips. Horrible! Buyer beware.* Subsequent playing seemed to resolve most issues. One song still won't play. There were no issues using a cd drive. The issue may revolve error correction of the drive suggesting the quality of the disk may not be very good.

Bought this set to help complete my Three Dog Night collection. Now The best music of theirs was not on these two albums, especially the first Album "Three Dog Night", but the second album is much better with the hits Elis Coming, Easy To Be Hard and Celebrate. The first album only has "One" with the rest of the songs being much more then covers(most of these I do not like). Actually some of the non covers are bit better then the covers. It receives a four star mainly because of "Suitable for Framing".

I love Three Dog Night since I met them in 1968. These TWO albums, THREE DOG NIGHT (One) & SUITABLE FOR FRAMING, are my best loved of them. Power & inspiration in all interpretations.The sound is much better than the other old editions in CD (who are worst than the scratched vinyl albums).Many thanks for these moments of pleasure!

Fabulous music. I don't see what the fuss was about, hearing that remasters of Three Dog Night were no good. I usually have my equalizer on, and found that for this disc, and discs like it, I have to bypass the equalizer settings and just play it on regular, flat settings. Then everything comes thru. 2 albums. Often wonder why not more of their music became hits. Almost all afe great!

En 1968 apparait aux States un groupe d'un genre nouveau, avec 3 vocalistes principaux, soutenus par un bon guitariste et un organiste, batteur, bassiste...7 personnes au total...bien plus que le "quatuor Rock de base"....et croyez-moi...ça fait du bruit !!! du BON gros son, en harmonie(s) et en délire !Essentiellement des reprises pour ces 2 premiers albums regroupés sur 1 CD (bonne idée !), mais quel niveau ! à faire pâlir les "originaux"...Tout l'esprit euphorique de la fin des sixties est sur ce CD.A se procurer d'urgence, ne serait-ce que pour la reprise de "Chest Fever" (The Band) ou "Nobody" ou "The Loner"...A ne pas manquer.

Delivery was good , with things the way they are I was satisfied . CD is great had few songs that I totally forgot about. Good choice. In all happy customer. Thank you.