The remnants of what used to be one of the world's top concert groups combine with a symphony to reprise their hit songs.
--Randy
Three Dog Night: Live With The Tennessee Symphony Orchestra
Directors: Sandra Harris
Producers: Danny Hutton, Cory Wells, And Steve Hall
Writers: Unknown
Features: Full-screen, Photo Gallery, Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0, And DTS Stereo.
Characters:
Vocals...Danny Hutton
Vocals...Cory Wells
Keyboards...Jimmy Greenspoon
Guitars...Michael Allsup
Bass...Paul Kingery
Drums...Pat Bautz
Genre: Music
Review:
I don't know why there aren't more DVD's out of rock groups in their heydey rather than what they look like and sound like today. Maybe no one bothered to film the groups for an entire concert or let any tapes made waste away from neglect. When Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin was trying to pull tapes together to make the DVD "How The West Was Won" he found a lot of archival tape missing or incomplete and had to put out notices to bootleggers for help in finding them. So out there somewhere are tapes or film that is needed for older rock groups to put together a film on DVD of what they were in their prime. Some one just has to do it. Another problem may be legal difficulties as members of some rock groups are no longer friendly with other members due to who knows what. This might be the case with Three Dog Night. I don't know their history like a good fan should, but I do know that one of the three main singers is missing from the lineup in the DVD called "Three Dog Night: Live With The Tennessee Symphony Orchestra." Since their rise to fame in the late sixties this group has stood out for two things: There were three lead singers fronting a four piece band and they did not write their own songs as most other rock groups did. The group's name also focused attention on the three lead singers, Chuck Negron, Danny Hutton, and Cory Wells. Three lead singers...Three Dog
Night, get it? The name of the group had nothing to do with the amount of singers and instead referred to on old saying to describe how cold a night was in a northern climate. Three dogs huddling together was a sign of a very cold night. Chuck Negron is the missing vocalist and I have heard rumors he had a drug problem in the past which I think he has beaten, but apparently things don't jive with him and the other members of the group. In this DVD whenever there is flashback footage of Danny Hutton and Cory Wells you never see Chuck Negron in the background. Even some photos look like they have been cropped to eliminate a certain person. If you had never known anything about Three Dog Night and watched this DVD you would come away unaware that someone was missing. Two of the four backup band members are gone, but no one ever notices the backup members.
I saw Three Dog Night in their prime, right after the release of their hit "Shambala." They had T-Rex open for them and T-Rex was so bad onstage I thought the sound system was broken. When Three Dog Night took the stage everything was perfect and it was one of the best concerts I had ever seen. Other people must have agreed to how good they were live because I remember seeing that they were the number two concert group of 1971, right behind Creedence Clearwater Revival.
On this DVD which was filmed in 2002 at the Renaissance Center in Dickson, Tennessee, the band fronts the Tennessee Symphony Orchestra. There are four original members, Danny Hutton, Cory Wells, Mike Allsup(Guitars) and Jimmy Greenspoon(Keyboards). They have Paul Kingery on bass and Pat Bautz on drums. The DVD starts out with a nifty logo of wolves howling at a moon and then a collage of the orchestra doing an overture of Three Dog Night melodies while fans are heard and seen talking about how great the group is and so forth. Then there is a very short scene of Danny Hutton talking about how good it will be to have the group's music be done by an orchestra. After this the orchestra leads into "Black And White" with Danny Hutton appearing in color for a few seconds and the orchestra in black and white. Then it all integrates to color. Hutton is wearing a black outfit with a black leather jacket. His hair is salt and pepper, but his eyebrows are pitch black. He is still thin. Cory Wells looks ghostly as he helps a little on the singing while playing a guitar. He looks very pale and sickly and is wearing mainly black. They both appear jaded as if they have performed this song too many times. The song comes off matter of fact with no passion behind it. Cory does the vocals on the next song, "Shambala" and still no passion. Then there is a break as Cory and Danny talk about how great "Liar" will sound with the orchestra. The orchestra takes a long intro into "Liar" before Danny joins in on vocals. The long lead in was boring and I thought the orchestra dimmed "Liar." Mike Allsup does a short guitar solo and is followed by Jimmy Greenspoon doing a keyboard solo. At the end of the song, Danny introduces the band. Hearing and seeing how flat Three Dog Night sounds I am reminded of their two live record albums which were also flat even when recorded at the group's peak. Then the song "Eli's Coming" starts up with Cory doing vocals, but looking close to death. Paul Kingery helps out on vocals too. As the song begins to pump even Cory can't help but be animated and he starts to show signs of life. He is moving with a soulful vigor. There is very well done camera work. When the song finishes there is a cut to another interview segment with Cory saying how he feels classical music is being cut back in schools and maybe young people will see this DVD and realize how everything musical is not rock 'n' roll. Next, there is a close-up of a harp being strummed, followed by a violin being plucked and then a flute being played with Cory's head superimposed over most of the orchestra. Then things are back to normal as Cory sings "Brickyard Blues" with Danny in the background looking bored. This is not one of their best songs. There is another interview break as Cory talks about how things got down after the group faded from the spotlight. Danny quips that things got better after they stopped fighting. There is still no mention of Chuck Negron. Then back in concert Cory sings Randy Newman's "Mama Told Me Not To Come" which was the song that really put them over with the kids back in the day. Cory can now be seen livening up and Danny joins him on vocals. There is another cut to Cory talking aout how the group was looking for a song with a country flavor and found "Out In The Country" which is then presented in concert with both singers doing the vocals. Cuts of bucolic scenery is superimposed over the concert for most of the song. That leads into "Never Been To Spain" with Cory singing. Back to the interview as Cory and Danny talk about how important it is to find the right song and that they try to continue that today and then then scene shifts back to the concert as Danny performs "Sault Ste. Marie" with Cory on harmonica. Danny continues to sing on "Old Fashioned Love Song" as old black and white films of lovers are intermittently shown including some of Elvis and Priscilla. Then Cory launches into "Try A Little Tenderness" which starts slow, but revs up. Cory is looking very alive now. Then it's back to an interview as Cory and Danny talk about how their original guitarist Mike Allsup is underated. Cory talks about Jimmy Greenspoon and his photographic memory. Back at the concert, Danny is seen performing "Family Of Man" and he too is beginning to look animated. Danny and Cory share vocals on the soulful "Easy To Be Hard." In still another interview break, Danny and Cory talk about how they used Paul Kingery on guitar in the eighties when Mike Allsup was having health problems and for this tour asked him to learn bass which he did in three weeks. They compliment Pat Bautz, the drummer, too. Then in concert they do "Celebrate" as the last song and walk off the stage to be called back for an encore of "Joy To The World." The crowd continues to give them a standing ovation that started in the previous song as they leave the stage not to return. Then there are shots of the orchestra as it does another overture of Three Dog Night songs and the ending credits roll.
The DVD is full-screen with Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 and DTS 5.1. The only extra feature on this DVD is a photo gallery that once in action will keep pictures clicking at a comfortable pace. There are only a few of the band backstage with most of pictures being of the huge empty Renaissance Center.
Toward the end of this concert the two vocalists could be seen getting into it, but there were too many cuts for interviews to allow the listener the same pleasure. With an armload of hits there should never have been a need to break the rhythm. The interviews should have been one separate feature. Because of the constant interruptions to this concert DVD, "Three dog Night: Live With The Tennessee Symphony Orchestra," is not one I would recommend unless you were a die-hard Three Dog Night fan. I would give this DVD two out of five stars
----Randy