Joy to the World: Their Greatest Hits is the twelfth album by American
rock band,
Three Dog Night, released in 1974.
Release
Joy to the World is the follow-up compilation to Golden Bisquits, consisting of eleven (out of twelve) charted hits from the group's previous four studio albums (the top 20 hit "
Pieces of April" was left off for reasons unknown), two charted hits that already appeared on their first greatest hits compilation ("
One" and "
One Man Band"), and non-charting B-side "I'd Be So Happy". In 1981 the album was reissued on
MCA Records with issue number MCA-37120.[1]
Reviewing in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981),
Robert Christgau wrote: "Things seem to be winding up for the Kings of Oversing, but this fourteen-song compilation demonstrates that the singles, unlike the albums, didn't diminish much. It also suggests that though they're praised when at all for translating weirdos like
Nilsson and
Newman into
AM, they also deserve credit for preserving the odd goody (two apiece) by the likes of
Paul Williams and
Hoyt Axton. Only
Lighthouse keeper Skip Prokop proves beyond help."[2]
Joe Schermie - bass guitar except as indicated below
Jack Ryland -
bass guitar on "Shambala", "Let Me Serenade You", "The Show Must Go On", "Sure As I'm Sittin' Here", "Play Something Sweet" and "I'd Be So Happy"