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Three Dog Night: Live in Concert was filmed at The Renaissance Center in Dickson, Tennessee alongside the Tennessee Symphony Orchestra to give the proceedings a more classical bent.
Many a classic is performed here, including Harry Nilsson‘s One – used as the theme tune to Magnolia, the soulful Try a Little Tenderness and their crowning glory, Mama Told Me Not To Come, which I was first introduced to in 1990 after hearing it on Stockport’s KFM Radio and it was covered more recently by Tom Jones and the Stereophonics.
However, if they’re such good tracks then why has this concert scored a low rating? It’s because of the inclusion of the orchestra and the fact that so many of the songs sound far more sanitised in this concert than they should and have lost their raw hard rock edge, which is a definite shame.
There are 18 chapters to the concert, with 16 music tracks topped and tailed with an Intro – featuring audience members singing the band’s tunes VERY badly – and an Overture (end credits with music from the Tennessee Orchestra):
- 1. Black and White
2. Shambala
3. Liar
4. Eli’s Coming
5. One
6. Brickyard Blues
7. Mama Told Me Not To Come
8. Out in the Country
9. Never Been to Spain
10. Sault Ste. Marie
11. Old Fashioned Love Song
12. Try a Little Tenderness
13. Family of Man
14. Easy to be Hard
15. Celebrate
16. Joy to the World
There are no artifacts on show, but the concert looks like it has been shot on NTSC film and the conversion to PAL gives it that soft look that you’d expect. Also, for such a recent concert I expect a 16:9-format presentation, but it appears in standard 4:3.
The sound comes in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 flavours, but given the lack of the edge in what’s being performed, it’s just not as interesting to listen to and doesn’t get your blood flowing in the same way the original tracks used to.
The only extra is a rather poor photo gallery which shows several photos of the concert hall, music studio and assorted band and crew members for around 90 seconds. That’s it. Why bother?
There are no subtitles/lyrics on the disc and some of the menu screens feature music and subtle animation from the concert.
Three Dog Night: Live in Concert is available now on DVD.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
4 7 6 1 |
| OVERALL | 4.5 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 85 minutes
Year: 2002
Distributor: Pinnacle Records
Region(s): 2, PAL
Released: 2002
Chapters: 18
Cat.no: IX1250TDUKD
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
Languages: English
Subtitles: None
Screen ratio: 4:3
Disc Format: DVD9
Director/Producer: Sandra Harris
The Band: Cory Wells, Danny Hutton, Jimmy Greenspoon, Michael Allsup, Paul Kingery and Pat Bautz
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.