Finally........... "Around the World..." on CD
Patrick Randall | massapequa, n.y. | 09/20/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"For whatever reason, "Around the World with Three Dog Night" was the only one of their best-selling LPs thru '74 that was not released on CD when the rest came out 'round 20 years or so ago. (Were they not able to fit 75 min. on in the early days?) Fortunately, this better-late-than-never issue on Edsel does not disappoint. Some of you may have already purchased the title on a particularly popular auction site (as I did a year or two ago) only to find that while the sound quality wasn't bad, it was transferred at the wrong speed (too fast), and contained a *skip* at the beginning of "An Old-Fashioned Love Song" (I returned mine with no problem). They also misidentify track 4 as "The Family Man". Well, this is the real deal, and they also do a good job mixing the 4 LP sides together so that it plays thru without any silent breaks. (I think there's a few seconds of chatter missing from the intro to "Good Feelin' 1957", but I believe that was cut from the original cassette version as well - minor quibble). I was a little nervous when I saw on the cover shot the *Promo - Not For Sale* sticker in the corner, wondering if they would have actually used that vinyl as the source for the CD. Obviously not. And if you've not yet heard this recording in any form, but have had their other (Forum - '69) Live album in your collection, you can be sure that this sounds infinitely better (the other was simply poorly recorded). And it took me quite a few listens of the original release to realize that they actually used the original *studio* recordings on 2 of the tracks ("Black and White", "Out in the Country"), although editing them in well enough to fool my then-teenaged ears (at least temporarily). The rest of the album is *authentically*, apparently, "Live". I was hoping that when this was finally released on CD, they might expand it to 2 discs and include a bunch of other tunes from the same tour ("Celebrate" and "One" being two notable omissions). Maybe in 5 years or so, or whenever they release it in the U.S., or whenever they finally make it into the Hall of Fame (hello.... anybody home??) No offense to Percy Sledge, but how many people can name one *other* song that he recorded? Anyway, as far as "Seven Separate Fools" goes, not much to say here if only because it has continued to be reasonably available on CD from the original issue, though a quick listen to "Pieces of April" with the headphones confirmed that the sound quality is great. And if you're wondering how they managed to get 3 vinyl LPs onto 1 CD.... they didn't. The current Amazon info is incorrect.... this is a well-priced 2-disc set. Now if they'll just give us a 3-fer of "Coming Down Your Way", "American Pastime", and "It's a Jungle"."
1 out of 2 ain't acceptable.
Brian Curtis | Springfield, IL United States | 09/27/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This package of "Seven Separate Fools" & the previously unreleased (legitimately, that is) on CD "Around The World..." is spoiled by poor audio mastering on the "Seven Separate Fools" disc - in particular, "Black And White" starts out with obvious tape warble, while both "Chained" & "Midnight Runaway" are faded out early. The original MCA cd release is far better. In regard to the second disc (and yes, this is a 2-disc set - there's no way both albums would fit on a single disc, considering that the live album was a 2-LP set back in 1973), it is a fair transfer of the original audio content, but nothing to get excited about."
Around the World with Three Dog Night
C. G. Gilmoor | 04/24/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I was very pleased to order this double CD, since I've been searching for quite a while for the Around the World with Three Dog Night album. At first it was very expensive, later it wasn't available anymore. Through continuos searching as I constantly do I discovered the set. I hadn't heard this songs since the end of the Eighties. It's comforting to know the eventualy one can find what one is looking for. You got to have patient though, but it pays off as in my case with various artists. So far I've found albums by 5 different artists which (the albums) were either way too expensive or simply not avilable (yet)."
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1