# Stoneground 3
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> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoneground_3
> Source revision: 1291941039
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{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Stoneground 3
| type = Album
| artist = [Stoneground](/source/Stoneground)
| cover = Stoneground - Stoneground 3.jpg
| alt =
| released = 1972
| recorded =
| venue =
| studio =
| genre = [Pop rock](/source/Pop_rock), [blues rock](/source/blues_rock)
| length = 42:23
| label = [Warner Bros.](/source/Warner_Bros._Records)
| producer = [Sal Valentino](/source/Sal_Valentino)
| prev_title = [Family Album](/source/Family_Album_(Stoneground_album))
| prev_year = 1971
| next_title = Flat Out
| next_year = 1976
}}
'''''Stoneground 3''''', sometimes stylized as '''''Stoneground Three''''', is the third album by [American rock](/source/American_rock) band [Stoneground](/source/Stoneground), released in 1972 on [Warner Bros](/source/Warner_Bros._Records). It was the final studio album to feature the band's original lineup, as eight of the ten members quit shortly after the album's release.
== Composition ==
In contrast with the band's first two albums, which featured a blend of [hard rock](/source/hard_rock), [country](/source/country_music) and [blues](/source/blues), ''Stoneground 3'' is musically quite a bit more straightforward [pop rock](/source/pop_rock).[
{{Cite web
| last= Koch
| first= Bob
| url= http://www.isthmus.com/daily/article.php?article=32232
| title= Vinyl Cave: A Trio of Albums by Stoneground
| date= 2011-02-13
| work= [Isthmus](/source/Isthmus_(newspaper))
| accessdate= 2011-06-21}}]
The album consists of twelve original songs including six written by [Sal Valentino](/source/Sal_Valentino), who also produced the album. Only three songs clock in at more than four minutes, another departure from the band's earlier releases.[{{cite news
| title= Stoneground Happy with Black Vinyl
| last= Fong-Torres
| first= Ben
| newspaper= [Rolling Stone](/source/Rolling_Stone) (via [The Tuscaloosa News](/source/The_Tuscaloosa_News))
| date = 1978-09-29
| page= 15
}}]
With no label and escalating tensions within the group, Stoneground played a final concert on January 6, 1973 at the [Sacramento Memorial Auditorium](/source/Sacramento_Convention_Center_Complex). The performance was released in 2001 as an album titled ''The Last Dance''.[
{{cite web
| last= Elston
| first= Casey
| url= {{AllMusic|class=album|id=r556175|pure_url=yes}}
| title= ''The Last Dance: Live January 6, 1973'' - Review
| publisher= [Allmusic](/source/Allmusic) ([Rovi Corporation](/source/Rovi_Corporation))
| accessdate= 2010-06-21}}]
Within weeks of the concert, Valentino quit the group.[
{{cite magazine
| date = 1973-02-10
| title = From the Music Capitals of the World
| magazine = [Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))
| volume = 85
| issue = 6
| page = 26
| url =
| issn = 0006-2510}}]
Band members [Cory Lerios](/source/Cory_Lerios) and [Steve Price](/source/Steve_Price_(musician)) left and formed a new group, [Pablo Cruise](/source/Pablo_Cruise).[
{{cite book
| last=Joynson
| first=Vernon
| title=Fuzz, Acid and Flowers: A Comprehensive Guide to American Garage, Psychedelic and Hippie Rock (1964-75)
| edition= 4th
| publisher=Borderline Productions
| page=315
| location=Glasgow
| date=1997
| isbn=978-1-899855-06-3}}]
Bob Koch of ''[Isthmus](/source/Isthmus_(newspaper))'' wrote that album track "From a Sad Man into a Deep Blue Sea" is possibly Valentino's finest Stoneground composition. He also claimed that ''Stoneground 3'' is the band's "most coherent-sounding album due to the more unified sound," but was unsure "whether that coherency is an improvement over their earlier more free-wheeling efforts."