Three Dog Night

Weighing it at a generous 20 tracks, The Best of Three Dog Night may be a little much for some casual listeners, yet it's unquestionably the definitive collection, featuring all of their hits, plus a nice selection of album tracks. There isn't anything major missing, and while some of the non-singles material isn't particularly strong, there are enough worthwhile moments to make this a fairly consistent, enjoyable listen, in addition to being the one Three Dog Night album most fans will need.

2005 and 2006 are going to be remembered as a golden era for fans of Three Dog Night – oh, not based on the then-current version of the group featuring Danny Hutton and Cory Wells (although they probably deserve credit for endurance if nothing else). Rather, it's the crop of audiophile-quality reissues of their original albums on the Gottdisc and Edsel labels that should excite admirers of their sound. This Edsel release is a case in point. Given the reputation of the two albums included, it should not be that good a CD.

Three Dog Night (1968). Three Dog Night's self-titled debut is one of the strongest and most cohesive offerings by the combo. Their claim to fame would come via overhauls and sleepers from a wide spectrum of luminous singer/songwriters. The moniker refers to lead vocalists Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron and Cory Wells, but credit is overdue for the incendiary instrumentalists: Mike Allsup (guitar), Jimmy Greenspoon (keyboards), Joe Schermie (bass) and Floyd Sneed (drums). The combo's initial achievement came in April of 1969 after their remake of Harry Nilsson's loner/heartbreak anthem "One" landed in the Top Five. So successful was the track, the record label emblazoned the name of the song onto the cover art - resulting in the long-player also (albeit erroneously) being identified as "One"…