Captured Live at the Forum

by

Three Dog Night

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Talk about a blast from the past. When my father was stationed in Japan he belonged to the tape club, where you could go and make reel-to-reel copies of records and albums (such was technology at the end of the Sixties), so we had lots of tapes and not that many actually records. That changed for my birthday one year when I put on my list (and actually received!) "Steppenwolf Live!" and this Three Dog Night album. I had selected it because looking over the tracks on "Captured Live at the Forum" this 1969 had all of the best songs from the group's first two albums, "Three Dog Night" and "Suitable for Framing" that also came out that year (remember when groups put out multiple albums in one year?). However, for a concert album this turned out to be a pretty good one; in fact, it was the group's first album to crack the Top 10, making it all the way to #6.

One thing you cannot accuse Three Dog Night of doing in concert is singing their songs exactly like what you heard on the radio, providing extended versions of "Chest Fever" and the big finale, "Try a Little Tenderness." Singers Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron, and Cory Wells were certainly slick, but they worked in enough soulful vocal harmonies to give their songs some gravity. Equally important, they pick songs by some pretty good songwriters like Harry Nilsson ("One"), Laura Nyro ("Eli's Coming"), Dave Mason ("Feelin' Alright"), Stevie Windwood ("Heaven is in Your Mind"), and Lennon & McCartney ("It's For You"). They also joined the bandwagon in terms of making songs from the tribal rock musical "Hair" fit for public consumption ("Easy to Be Hard").

While the sound quality is not as clean as what was produced in the studio, the energy of the live performances is hard to deny. Putting out a live hits collection for your third album might seem like a premature move, but "Captured Live at the Forum" simply convinced a lot of people that this was a group worth seeing in concert. Special props to keyboard player Jimmy Greenspoon who repeatedly shines through out the album, and not just on the moody beginning of "Eli's Coming." The rest of the band is Mike Allsup on guitar, Joe Schermie on bass, and Floyd Sneed on drums. Admittedly this one of those albums that people will enjoy rediscovering from their youth, but that is what the guilty pleasure part of your record library is for. Final Note: In 1969 you could get a front row ticket at a Three Dog Night concert for $5.50 (or buy an album) and today you would be lucky to park your car for that much at a concert. How time flies.