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Three Dog Night - Cyan

Well lookie what the cat dragged in from the bins today (I was going to say dog, but I have some pride). Three Dog Night's 1973 release Cyan. The record still had its original shrink wrap (mostly intact), and the heavy inner sleeve was almost like a second album cover. The vinyl was in need of a cleaning, but it looked good. Not sure why it was in the bin, but I wasn't complaining.

The cover features seven dashing men in their early '70s finery. I was looking forward to sitting and listening to this one. "Shambala" remains one of my favourite songs and was the reason I picked this up - that and it was only a buck. Yeah, I am cheap.

The first thing that jumped out at me as I held the sleeve, reading along as the band played, was that despite the lyrics and artwork, there was a distinct lack of actual credits. Half a page is used for the production and engineering credits, and equal space to the team who provided art direction and design. There is one small credit thanking Gordon De Witty for playing organ on "Let Me Serenade You," which is the album's other standout track.

Dang, I kind of wanted to put names to the guys on the cover. I suppose I'm going to have to go look this stuff up now. Where was the internet when I was a kid? Man, kids today have no idea what we went through to try and figure shit out. I had to walk five miles uphill each way to get to the record store, and then we had to wait in line because that's what we did. The radio only played what it wanted when it wanted to, and if you heard your favourite song, it was a banner day.

Near as I can figure, the guys on the cover are: Mike Allsup (guitar), Jimmy Greenspoon (keyboards), Jack Ryland (bass), Floyd Sneed (drums, and what a pounder), and three lead vocalists, which was pretty cool: Chuck Negron, Danny Hutton and Cory Wells. I wonder how they chose who got to do what? Cory Wells sang both of the singles off the album. Must have been a hell of a game of rock, paper, scissors.

The second thing (I listed a first thing, it's only courtesy to keep going) is the record, like so many albums back in the day, is short. A little over half an hour and covers nine tracks - two of which are killer songs, and hits for a reason. Regardless, I'm jibber jabbering. Getting to the deep tracks is a lot of fun, and actually the album is better than I expected.

I've been on an early '70s kick the last little bit. Not on purpose, that's just how things have played out in the basement. Kind of fun, to be honest. I was too young to appreciate a lot of stuff back then, and now it's part of the soundtrack to an era. Getting to listen with new ears never gets old.

I got their best-of CD a long time ago, and frankly, if you have an itch to hear the band, this is a great place to start. Or if you can find the double LP, that's even better.

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