During their 8-year run,Three Dog Night were one of the biggest selling bands of the early 70’s, arguably their best albums came from the late 60’s including this one.
Written by: Eric
ARTIST: Three Dog Night
ALBUM: Suitable For Framing
LABEL: Dunhill
SERIAL: DS 50058
YEAR: 1969
CD REISSUE: 2009, BGO Records, BGOCD865 (2 on 1 with Three Dog Night)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: 
LINEUP: Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron, Cory Wells – vocals * Jimmy Greenspoon – keyboards * Michael Allsup – guitars * Joe Schermie – bass * Floyd Sneed – drums, percussion
Additional Musicians: James Pankow – trombone * Lee Loughnane – trumpet * Walter Parazaider – saxophone
TRACK LISTING: 01 Feelin’ Alright * 02 Lady Samantha * 03 Dreaming Isn’t Good For You * 04 A Change Is Gonna Come * 05 Eli’s Coming * 06 Easy To Be Hard * 07 Ain’t That A Lot Of Love * 08 King Solomon’s Mine * 09 Circle Of A Landing * 10 Celebrate
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
Originally under the tutelage of The Beach Boys Brian Wilson as Redwood, Three Dog Night became one of the biggest selling bands of the early 70’s. With 13 gold albums and an amazing 21 top 40 singles, the group set the groundwork for the AOR movement to come, but by 1976 Three Dog Night had run its course.
Vocalist Chuck Negron’s eye-opening 1999 autobiography ‘Three Dog Nightmare’ painted a less than complimentary picture of the band and although a big influence on this reviewer, I’m hardly a fanboy when it comes to pop tripe like ‘Joy To The World’ and the unbearable ‘Mama Told Me Not To Come’.
The Songs
‘Suitable For Framing’ was the band’s second album and I think it’s their best. Coming off their superb 1968 debut and the massive selling Harry Nilsson penned single ‘One’ under their belts, this record featured no less than three top 10 singles.
The achingly gorgeous ‘Easy to Be Hard’, the gritty ‘Eli’s Coming’ and perennial crowd pleaser ‘Celebrate’ which featured Chicago‘s brass section all of which are over 40 years old, continue to be pop staples. Like the debut with the exception of drummer Floyd Sneed’s atmospheric instrumental ‘King Solomon’s Mines’ and vocalist Danny Hutton’s trippy ‘Dreaming Isn’t Good For You’, it’s an album comprised of material from outside writers.
While this might leave some to believe the band were less than authentic, I find Three Dog Night’s arrangements wonderfully creative and I’d rather have an album of good cover versions than a stack filled with crappy originals.
It’s a solid album from start to finish although there are a couple stand-outs beyond the singles including their cover of Traffic‘s ‘Feelin’ Alright’ which gives Joe Cocker‘s popular version a serious run for his money. But the creme d la creme is ‘Lady Samantha’. Originally released the same year by Elton John as his second single, Three Dog Night’s take on the song is altogether different, creating a baroque beauty with a dark and deliciously moody edge.
In Summary
Paired with the debut on BGO, ‘Suitable For Framing’ is a CD worth owning as is any ‘best of’ package as well as the two west coast pop albums ‘Ahead Of The Storm’ and Touch Me’ from Cory Wells, both released in 1978.
Three Dog Night reunited for an out of character Ska influenced 1981 EP ‘It’s A Jungle’ but their better days were over and the oldies circuit was just around the corner.
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