Captured Live at the Forum

Album Review

Three Dog Night's initial foray into the Top Ten album chart, 1969's Captured Live at the Forum draws upon their first two LPs — the self-titled Three Dog Night (1968) and follow-up Suitable for Framing (1969). Hearing the combo in a considerably looser concert setting goes a long way in proving that vocalists Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron, and Cory Wells were dynamic frontmen. However, more significant is the aural evidence that the original lineup's instrumental quartet of Michael Allsup (guitar), Floyd Sneed (drums), Joe Schermie (bass), and Jimmy Greenspoon (keyboards) provided its fair share of what would have been considered a straight-ahead rock & roll sound in the late '60s. The show found the septet in fine form on September 12, 1969, at the (then) two-year old Great Western Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, CA. The show begins with a pair of Traffic remakes in the form of "Heaven Is in Your Mind" and "Feelin' Alright," each sizzling and setting the tone for the rest of the short but effective performance with a palpably high energy level as the combo feeds off the extremely enthusiastic crowd. After a brief spoken response to the audience members' requests, presumably to turn up the PA sound, Wells jokes "See, you shoulda got the $5.50 tickets in front...." The trio's vocal harmonies are given a workout on the primarily a cappella cover of the John Lennon/Paul McCartney-penned "It's for You" that kicks into a rousing jam when the band joins in during the conclusion. "Nobody" easily bests the version from their eponymous debut, while "One" — the first of the three Top Ten singles to be included — is greeted with screams of approval upon recognition of the song's familiar opening. A passionate solo from Greenspoon ramps up a nearly seven-minute take of the Band's "Chest Fever." Saving some of their best-known selections for last, "Eli's Coming," "Easy to Be Hard," and the driving and funky closer "Try a Little Tenderness" were all chart hits and are executed here with passion and soul that their studio counterparts merely hint at.