It Ain't Easy (Three Dog Night album)

It Ain't Easy is the fourth album by American rock band Three Dog Night, released in 1970.

It Ain't Easy
Studio album by
Three Dog Night
ReleasedMarch 31, 1970
Recorded1969–70
StudioAmerican Recording Company
Length32:24
LabelDunhill, MCA, Probe
ProducerRichard Podolor
Three Dog Night chronology
Captured Live at the Forum
(1969)		 It Ain't Easy
(1970)		 Naturally
(1970)
Original "Wizards of Orange" Cover
Singles from It Ain't Easy
  1. "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)"
    Released: May 1970
  2. "Out in the Country"
    Released: 1970

Title and packaging

According to lead singer Chuck Negron's book Three Dog Nightmare, the album's working title was The Wizards of Orange, with a cover featuring the band's members wearing orange make-up and posing in the nude. The band's record company, ABC/Dunhill, rejected the original album title and cover art, although some configurations of their first "greatest hits" album, 1971's Golden Bisquits, would later be packaged using It Ain't Easy's original cover photo.

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic link
Christgau's Record GuideB[1]
Tom HullB[2]

Reviewing in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau wrote: "Admitting it won't gain me any of the hip cachet I crave, but I admired and enjoyed this group's first LP. I found the second mediocre and the live job that followed it wretchedly excessive, but this one—their fourth in just fourteen months—gets back: exemplary song-finding and not too much plastic-soul melon-mouthing or preening vocal pyrotechnique. Highlights: the hit version of Randy Newman's 'Mama Told Me Not to Come,' with just the right admixture of high-spirited schlock to turn it into the AM giant it deserves to be, and a departure from pre-Beatles times called "Good Feeling (1957)."[1]

Track listing

Side one
  1. "Woman" (Andy Fraser, Paul Rodgers) – 4:40
  2. "Cowboy" (Randy Newman) – 3:42
  3. "It Ain't Easy" (Ron Davies) – 2:46
  4. "Out in the Country" (Roger Nichols, Paul Williams) – 3:08
  5. "Good Feeling 1957" (Alan Brackett, John Merrill) – 3:46

Side two
  1. "Rock and Roll Widow" (Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron, Cory Wells, Mike Allsup, Jimmy Greenspoon, Joe Schermie, Floyd Sneed) – 2:56
  2. "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)" (Newman) – 3:18
  3. "Your Song" (Elton John, Bernie Taupin) – 4:01
  4. "Good Time Living" (Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil) – 4:06

Personnel

Musicians

Production

Charts

Album – Billboard (United States)[3]

Year Chart Position
1970 Pop Albums 8

Singles – Billboard (United States)

Year Single Chart Position
1970 "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)" Pop Singles 1
"Out in the Country" Pop Singles 15
Easy Listening 11

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[4] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: T". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 16, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  2. Hull, Tom (November 2013). "Recycled Goods (#114)". A Consumer Guide to the Trailing Edge. Tom Hull. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  3. Three Dog Night, Chart Positions Retrieved February 16, 2015
  4. "American album certifications – Three Dog Night – It Ain't Easy". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved February 14, 2019.
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