Three Dog Night
Cyan

THE REVIEW

For their 1973 album, Three Dog Night abandoned their usual belle epoque-style covers full of arabesques and opted for a flashy, “physical” cover, with their seven hefty bodies dressed in white, plastically immortalized against a (fake) sky background.

At the top left, with double-tipped blondish hair and a seventies mustache, stands Los Angeles keyboardist Jimmy Greenspoon, the most prominent instrumentalist. Next to him, sporting an open-neck shirt in pure Riccione latin lover style, stands New York singer Chuck Negron. Beside him, a toned, proud bicep of color is shown off by Canadian drummer Floyd Sneed, and closing the line of those standing, a golf sweater encases Buffalo, NY singer Cory Wells.

Moving on to those seated, first on the left is the low forehead—thanks to his mop of hair—of Irish singer Danny Hutton, next to the newcomer, Californian bassist Jack Ryland, dressed exactly like Negron. The last on the right, dressed like Donald Duck or, if you prefer, Popeye, is Californian guitarist Michael Allsup.

For the record, Danny Hutton is the one who founded the group, initially involving his colleague Cory Wells. Together, they convinced Chuck Negron to join the project, after which the three singers sought out musicians, hiring various people and stabilizing the lineup as a septet for the first five years. From this album onwards, the group’s internal dynamics would start to become tangled, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

The hit tracks from this album are above all the U.S. No. 1 “Shambala” (aka legendary Himalayan kingdom), a poppy little song with a mystical lyric, written by Daniel Moore, a songwriter riding high at the time; the lead vocal is by Cory Wells. The other single is a cover of a modest 1968 track by their neighbors Rhinoceros, titled “Let Me Serenade You”, again with Cory Wells in the spotlight. As for the others, briefly:

_“Happy Song”: robust rock by guitarist Mike Allsup, with Chuck Negron on lead vocals

_“Play Children Play”: by Gary Stovall, yet another black soul singer, with Cory Wells on lead vocals

_“Storybook Feeling”: again by Allsup, a whiny number sung by Chuck Negron

_“Riding Thumb”: a Seals & Crofts cover, sung by Cory Wells

_“Singer Man”: boring reggae by Jamaican Derrick Harriott, with Chuck Negron in the foreground

_“Lay Me Down Easy”: once again penned by Moore, energetically sung by Danny Hutton

_“Into My Life”: solid R&B ballad again by Allsup, with Chuck Negron on the mic at his best

So, three “autochthonous” compositions—one third of the album, a record (!) for them—all written by guitarist Allsup, who until then hadn’t written anything for the group! The record doesn’t quite live up to its flashy cover, but it comfortably earns three stars because these gentlemen can really sing, big time.