Kicking off with the infectious single "Black and White," Seven Separate Fools appears to be another winner for
Three Dog Night, a group who had been blessed with an uninterrupted string of six hit albums. And album number seven did indeed turn into a blockbuster, largely because of that irresistible single, but in retrospect it could be seen as the beginning of the end. Throughout the record,
Three Dog Night steadfastly sticks to their appealing, polished pop-soul sound, relying on a bevy of outside songwriters for material. The difference is, they didn't have the same knack for picking terrific songs that they did before. Seven Separate Fools begins strongly with "Black and White" and Randy Newman's "My Old Kentucky Home," but then sharply falls off, picking up only occasionally from there on out ("Pieces of April," "Tulsa Turnaround," "Freedom for the Stallion"). These moments are pretty enjoyable on their own, but they're too isolated to make the record a consistently enjoyable listen, even for dedicated fans. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine