The Complete Hit Singles
Geffen/UTV/UMe – May 25, 2004
One
Try A Little Tenderness
Easy To Be Hard
Eli’s Coming
Celebrate
Mama Told Me (Not To Come)
Out In The Country
One Man Band
Joy To The World
Liar
An Old Fashioned Love Song
Never Been To Spain
The Family Of Man
Black And White
Pieces Of April
Shambala
Let Me Serenade You
The Show Must Go On
Sure As I’m Sittin’ Here
Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues)
‘Til The World Ends
Three Dog Night – The Complete Hit Singles INCLUDES FOR THE FIRST TIME ON ONE CD ALL 21 TOP 40 HITS, FROM “MAMA TOLD ME (NOT TO COME)” AND “JOY TO THE WORLD” TO “AN OLD FASHIONED LOVE SONG” They defined “pop anthem” and made Three Dog Night one of the world’s most popular bands. Still today those recordings have endured the fickleness of pop, waves of ’70s nostalgia and the test of time. Now, more than 25 years since the group disbanded as a hit machine, comes the first single-CD U.S.-issued retrospective to include all 21 of the band’s Top 40 singles: Three Dog Night – The Complete Hit Singles (Geffen/UTV/UMe), released May 25, 2004.
Each selection, including 11 Top 10s, seven of them gold singles, has been 96k/24-bit digitally remastered. Included are all of the classic Three Dog Night recordings of songs by then up-and-coming singer-songwriters Randy Newman, John Hiatt, Harry Nilsson, Laura Nyro, Paul Williams and Hoyt Axton.
How phenomenally popular was Three Dog Night? The first four albums from the group led by its trio of singers–Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron and Cory Wells–were released in the span of just 18 months, and yielded 10 Top 40 hits. 1969’s “Try A Little Tenderness” was the first, reaching #29. The second, the Nilsson-penned “One,” went to #5 and was the group’s first gold (sales of 1,000,000 copies pre-1976). A cover of the musical Hair’s “Easy To Be Hard” reached #4; Nyro’s “Eli’s Coming” #10, and the infectious “Celebrate” #15.
In 1970, Three Dog Night scored its first #1 with its gold rendition of Newman’s “Mama Told Me (Not To Come).” “Out In The Country,” co-written by Williams, peaked at #15. After “One Man Band” hit #19, 1971 opened with “Joy To The World” (written by Axton), a gold single that stayed #1 for six weeks, became the group’s signature song and whose opening line “Jeremiah was a bullfrog” remains a ’70s touchstone. The #7 “Liar” followed. Also that year, the gold “An Old Fashioned Love Song,” written by Williams, was a pop #4 and, from Axton, “Never Been To Spain” a #5. Williams also co-wrote the #12 “The Family Of Man” which charted early the next year. Heard too in 1972 were the gold “Black And White” (#1) as well as “Pieces Of April” (#19), which introduced then-unknown songwriter Dave Loggins.
Two more singles went gold: “Shambala” (#3, 1973) and “The Show Must Go On” (#4, co-written by Leo Sayer, 1974). The remaining Top 40s are “Let Me Serenade You” (#17), Hiatt’s “Sure As I’m Sittin’ Here” (#16), Allen Toussaint’s “Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues)” (#33) and the group’s final charter, 1975’s Loggins-penned “Til The World Ends” (#32).
Three Dog Night disbanded in 1977. Today, Negron, is a solo artist, and Three Dog Night, with Danny Hutton and original bandmate Michael Allsup continue to record and perform for fans who have never forgotten the joy they brought to the world of music.