Three Dog Night - Suitable for Framing 1969

Suitable for Framing followed Three Dog Night's debut disc by only a few months, sharing the charts with its predecessor for a while. This second release contained two Top Ten chart makers: "Easy to Be Hard" from the rock musical Hair, and "Eli's Coming," written by quirky songwriter Laura Nyro (who also wrote "And When I Die," a hit for Blood, Sweat & Tears the same year). It also introduced the songwriting team of Elton John and Bernie Taupin to American audiences with a version of "Lady Samantha," from John's British-only first album release, which provided a hit single for Three Dog Night. Another popular song from this album was the classic "Celebrate," with its blaring horn lines and easily sung "Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music" chorus and coda. Suitable for Framing also included a soulful take on Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," and provided the first popular cover version of Dave Mason's soon-to-be-oft-recorded "Feeling Alright." Although the hit singles were plentiful, the album only reached number 16, showing the gap between the singles-buying audience and those who purchased albums. Nonetheless, Suitable for Framing confirmed the group's musical strength with the AM radio audience while appealing to more "hip" listeners as well. AMG.

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Three Dog Night - Suitable for Framing 1969

Suitable for Framing followed Three Dog Night's debut disc by only a few months, sharing the charts with its predecessor for a while. This second release contained two Top Ten chartmakers: "Easy to Be Hard" from the rock musical Hair, and "Eli's Coming," written by quirky songwriter Laura Nyro (who also wrote "And When I Die," a hit for Blood, Sweat & Tears the same year). It also introduced the songwriting team of Elton John and Bernie Taupin to American audiences with a version of "Lady Samantha," from John's British-only first album release, which provided a hit single for Three Dog Night. Another popular song from this album was the classic "Celebrate," with its blaring horn lines and easily sung "Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music" chorus and coda. Suitable for Framing also included a soulful take on Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," and provided the first popular cover version of Dave Mason's soon-to-be-oft-recorded "Feeling Alright." Although the hit singles were plentiful, the album only reached number 16, showing the gap between the singles-buying audience and those who purchased albums. Nonetheless, Suitable for Framing confirmed the group's musical strength with the AM radio audience while appealing to more "hip" listeners as well. AMG.

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Three Dog Night - Naturally 1970

Three Dog Night kept up its reputation for putting other artists' songs on the charts with Naturally, one of the group's finest offerings. With Hutton, Wells, and Negron sounding amazingly tight and fluid, they took their soft rock dynamics and mixed them with an abundance of hooks and harmonies to produce three Top 20 singles, eventually earning the band a gold disk. The fresh-sounding "One Man Band" hit number 19 in December of 1970, followed by Three Dog Night's most acclaimed tune, the Hoyt Axton-penned "Joy to the World," which spent six straight weeks at number one, and Russ Ballard's "Liar," which peaked at the number seven spot only four months later. But Naturally's energy stretches far beyond the album's hits, mainly because Three Dog Night managed to carry the spirited groove and boundless, unconfined feeling of the late '60s into the next decade with most of the songs on this album. The peace-and-love aura of past hits like "Eli's Coming" and "Easy to Be Hard" shows up in tracks like "Sunlight" and "Heavy Church," while the remaining cuts are just as forceful, utilizing the trio's bare vocal power to produce some rather eloquent yet intoxicating music. With the help of Jimmy Greenspoon on keyboards and Mike Allsup's guitar work, songs like "I Can't Get Enough of It," "Fire Eater," and "I've Got Enough Heartache" keep the album's liveliness afloat by lending some carpeted instrumentation to the front-and-center vocals. The rest of the album is often disregarded because of the strength of Naturally's hits, when in fact this is one of Three Dog Night's most well-rounded contributions. AMG.

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