Three Dog Night – Hard Labor 8-Track Tape C8023-50168

This listing is for Three Dog Night – Hard Labor 8-Track Tape C8023-50168.

Label: ABC/Dunhill Records – C8023-50168, ABC/Dunhill Records – S 104552

Format: 8-Track Cartridge, Album, Club Edition

Country: US

Released: 1974

Genre: Rock

Style: Classic Rock, 70s  

Condition: Untested

Tracklist:

A1 Prelude

A2 Sure As I'm Sitting Here

A3 Anytime Babe

B1 Put Out The Light

B2 Sitting In Limbo

B3 I'd Be So Happy (Beg.)

C1 I'd Be So Happy (Concl.)

C2 Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues)

D1 On The Way Back Home

D2 The Show Must Go On

Hard Labor is the eleventh album by American rock band Three Dog Night, released in 1974. For this album, the band replaced long-time producer Richard Podolor with Jimmy Ienner, who was known for his production work with the Raspberries. The original album cover, depicting the birth of a record album, was deemed too controversial and was first included with a manila file folder covering most of the cover. This was soon reworked with a huge Band-Aid covering the "birth". Subsequent printings had the Band-Aid printed directly on the cover. The packaging also includes an attached "birth record sheet" for the album. The CD reissue by MCA Records in the 1990s restored the cover to its original look showing the record. Tom Von Malder of the Daily Herald called Hard Labor the band's finest record up to that point, applauding the production and finding the choice of songs representing the band at "its most competent, most mature level". Malder singled out "The Show Must Go On" and "I'd Be So Happy" as its two best, and "almost perfect", songs. Cash Box called Inner's production "immaculate as always" and wrote that the album was marked by "mood changes both subtle and obvious", making it a "fantastic study in theatrical and musical contrast". Billboard found the track listing a "fine mix of material" and wrote that the instrumental section was "tight and almost perfect". Circus Raves writer Jon Tiven gave the record "two ears"—indicating an album to "listen to ... 'til the grooves grow old" and wrote that the band "are the best when they're transforming half-arsed songs into good ones, but they run into trouble when the original rendition of the tune was fine in the first place (e.g. 'The Show Must Go On')." Writing retrospectively, Joseph McCombs of AllMusic felt that the album's preference for songs with solo vocals rather than the group's previous use of harmonies led to the band "losing much of their soul and spirit" and saw the album as "showing the growing cracks in the band's armor". Like Malder, McCombs found "I'd Be So Happy" and "The Show Must Go On" the highlights of the album.

The 8-track tape (formally Stereo 8; commonly called eight-track cartridge, eight-track tape, and eight-track) is a magnetic-tape sound recording technology that was popular from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, when the compact cassette, which pre-dated the 8-track system, surpassed it in popularity for pre-recorded music. The format was commonly used in cars and was most popular in the United States and Canada and, to a lesser extent, in the United Kingdom. One advantage of the 8-track tape cartridge was that it could play continuously in an endless loop, and did not have to be ejected, turned around and reinserted to play the entire tape. After about 80 minutes of playing time, the tape would start again at the beginning. Because of the loop, there is no rewind. The only options the consumer has are play, fast forward, record, and program (track) change. The Stereo 8 Cartridge was created in 1964 by a consortium led by Bill Lear, of Lear Jet Corporation, along with Ampex, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Motorola, and RCA Victor Records (RCA - Radio Corporation of America). The 8-track tape format is now considered obsolete, although there are collectors who refurbish these tapes and players as well as some bands that issue these tapes as a novelty. Cheap Trick's The Latest in 2009 was issued on 8-track, as was Dolly Parton's A Holly Dolly Christmas in 2020, the latter with an exclusive bonus track.

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