Rock, Metal

Little River Band ‎– Little River Band (1975)

2021-04-14T09:51:14Z

Little River Band ‎– Little River Band (1975)


1		It's A Long Way There	8:39
2		Curiosity (Killed The Cat)	3:40
3		Meanwhile...	3:35
4		My Lady And Me	5:45
5		I'll Always Call Your Name	4:48
6		Emma	3:35
7		The Man In Black	5:06
8		Statue Of Liberty	3:28
9		I Know It	3:21
+
10		Please Don`t Ask Me		3:18

Beeb Birtles 	Guitar, Vocals
Beeb Britles 	Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Steve Cooney 	Mandolin
Ric Formosa 	Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Slide Guitar
Graham Goble 	Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Gary Hyde 	Percussion
Peter Jones 	Piano
Col Laughnan 	Saxophone 
Ian Mason 	Piano
Roger McLachlan 	Bass, Guitar (Bass)
Derek Pellicci 	Drums, Percussion
Glenn Shorrock 	Harmonica, Percussion, Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Geoff Skewes 	Keyboards

An Australian sextet, Little River Band's debut album sounds as American as anything by the Eagles or the Doobie Brothers, and is driven by "It's a Long Way There" -- whose eight and a half minutes of crunchy electric guitars, luminous acoustic guitar, and smooth harmonizing is spread across a musically dramatic arc that is worth every second of its running time. This is an astonishingly strong debut album. There aren't any surprises, just seven more eminently enjoyable if slightly looser structured mainstream rock songs in the same vein, inventive where they had to be (like on the solos or the variations on the extended choruses), all more modestly proportioned than the hit and thoroughly enjoyable. Guitarist Graham Goble dominated the songwriting with the single and "I Know It," but singer Glenn Shorrock contributed significantly with the delightfully exuberant "Emma" and the hauntingly beautiful movie-within-a-song "The Man in Black," and guitarist Beeb Birtles showed himself no slouch in the ballad department with "I'll Always Call Your Name," which overstays its welcome by about 30 seconds but is otherwise nice and catchy. [The remastering job on the 2001 reissue by Australian EMI is also first-rate, capturing the group's loud, punchy sound and decent annotation about the band's roots and origins.] ---Bruce Eder, AllMusic Review

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Little River Band ‎– Time Exposure (1981)

2021-04-22T08:27:57Z

Little River Band ‎– Time Exposure (1981)


A1		The Night Owls	5:16
A2		Man On Your Mind	4:14
A3		Take It Easy On Me	3:45
A4		Ballerina	Lead Vocals – Beeb Birtles	4:02
A5		Love Will Survive	4:38
A6		Full Circle	1:54

B1		Just Say That You Love Me	3:59
B2		Suicide Boulevard	3:23
B3		Orbit Zero	4:27
B4		Don't Let The Needle Win	5:55
B5		Guiding Light	3:36
B6		The Other Guy	2:49

Bass, Vocals – Wayne Nelson
Drums, Percussion – Derek Pellicci
Guitar [Lead, Acoustic] – David Briggs
Guitar, Vocals – Beeb Birtles, Graham Goble
Piano [Acoustic, Electric], Organ [Hammond] – Peter Jones
Synthesizer [Prophet], Clavinet, Organ [Hammond] – Bill Cuomo
Vocals – Glenn Shorrock

My road to discovering Little River Band was a rather unusual and somewhat circuitous one involving a cop in Boston who shared many of the same musical tastes that I had. In one of our many email exchanges he recommended that I check out Australian vocalist, John Farnham and his work with Little River Band. I didn't act on his recommendation initially. But I tucked away his advice in the cobwebby filing cabinet of my mind.

A year or so later, I finally got around to picking up their greatest hits album. Other than It's a Long Way There, Night Owls, and Lady it didn't really grab me at first. But I listened to that CD again and again. Eventually I was hooked.

I've often thought of Little River Band as an Australian answer to the Eagles. Their country-rock stylings and tight vocal harmonies bore more than a passing resemblence to their more successful American counterparts.

That being said, Little River Band, were an excellent band in their own right. They spawned a string of hits including It's a Long Way There, Happy Anniversary (peaked @ #16 in 1977), Help Is On Its Way (peaked @ #14 in 1977), Lady (peaked @ #10 in 1979), Cool Change (peaked @ #10 in 1979), and Reminiscing (peaked @ #3 in 1978) which even John Lennon commented was one of his favorites.

Time Exposure was the last album recorded with lead singer Glenn Shorrock before he was replaced with John Farnham. Incidentally, Shorrock would later return and record a few more albums with LRB. But Time Exposure marks the end of an era.

The album opens with the Wayne Nelson sung Night Owls (peaked @ #6 in 1981) and follows with two more hit singles-- Man On Your Mind (peaked @ #14 in 1982), and Take It Easy On Me (peaked @ #10 in 1981). And while none of the other songs on the album were released as singles, many of them including Full Circle and Just Say That You Love Me easily could have been released as singles. In addition to Shorrock's lead vocals the vocal tandem of David Briggs, Beeb Birtles, and Graeham Goble provide harmonies so tight they sing as one. Where the Eagles were likely better musicians, I'd argue that Little River Band's vocal harmonies were superior to those of the Eagles. There was a tightness, a cohesiveness that was pure vocal magic.

What likely prevented this album from matching the success of the 2 previous LRB albums (1978's Sleeper Catcher and 1979's First Under the Wire both went platinum) was the disparity between the stronger and weaker songs on this album. While the strong material is as good as their best tracks on their previous albums, their weaker material on Time Exposure feels uninspired and some might argue "phoned in."

Over twenty-five years after its release, the stronger material still holds up as well as any of Little River Band's other material (not to mention their better material holds up as well as some of the better material of the Eagles as well). The weaker material sounds sadly dated.

A 1996 re-issue featured the John Farnham sung The Other Guy (peaked @ #11 in 1982) as a bonus track. An enjoyable yet curious inclusion considering that song was recorded after Time Exposure was released.

All in all, while not essential this album is certainly a worthy inclusion into any classic rock collection. If you're new to Little River Band, I'd start with either their greatest hits album, Sleeper Catcher or First Under the Wire before picking up Time Exposure. ---perplexio76.blogspot.com

Zespół powstał w 1975 roku w Australii, ale jego niektórzy członkowie - Glenn Shorrock, Glenn Wheatley, Beeb Birtles, Graham Goble byli znani rodzimej publiczność już wcześniej - związani byli m.in. z takimi formacjami jak Twilights, Zoot czy Masters Apprentices. Wkrótce do kolegów dołączył perkusista Derek Pellici. Panowie zapoczątkowali działalność coverem nagrania Everly Brothers "When Will I Be Loved". Pierwszy album pod taką samą nazwą jak nazwa grupy zespół wydał w 1975 roku. Ważnym momentem w życiu grupy był występ jako support przed koncertem Queen i Average White Band.

Kolejne albumy grupy cieszyły się dużą popularnością i zapewniły im trwałe miejsce w historii australijskiej muzyki, jednak dopiero nagranie utworu "Help Is On Its Way" zapewniło im ogromny sukces. Niestety potem drogi muzyków rozeszły się - nie tylko nagrywali osobno, ale także w trasę koncertową udawali się każdy we własnym zakresie, pokazując się razem tylko na scenie. Za namową Grahama Goble'a wymieniono wokalistę - Shorrocka zastąpił nieznany John Farnham, później z zespołu odszedł Birtles. Z Farnhamem grupa nie odniosła już takich sukcesów jak z jego poprzednikiem i po nagraniu kilku wspólnych albumów muzycy rozstali się.

Na początku lat 90. Shorrock i Pellici nawiązali ponownie współpracę z Grahamem Goble'em. Dołączyli do nich nowi muzycy - Wayne Nelson i John Housden, co zaowocowało ostatnim albumem w karierze zespołu - "Monsoon". Muzycy na dobre rozstali się w 1991 roku. ---m.rmf.fm

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Little River Band – Diamantina Cocktail (1977)

2021-05-04T09:13:19Z

Little River Band – Diamantina Cocktail (1977)


1		Help Is On Its Way	4:02
2		The Drifter	4:53
3		L.A. In The Sunshine	3:07
4		The Inner Light	3:31
5		Witchery	2:45
6		Home On Monday	3:50
7		Happy Anniversary	3:07
8		Raelene, Raelene	4:27
9		Changed & Different	4:02

Arranged By [Strings, Brass], Conductor [Strings, Brass] – Rick Formosa
Arranged By [Vocals] – Graham Goble
Banjo – Pete Hayes
Bass – George McArdle
Drums, Percussion – Derek Pellicci
Lead Guitar [2nd], Acoustic Guitar, Harmony Vocals – Beeb Birtles
Lead Guitar, Guitar [Slide], Acoustic Guitar – David Briggs
Lead Vocals, Harmony Vocals – Glenn Shorrock
Piano, Clavinet – Peter Sullivan
Piano – Ian Mason
Rhythm Guitar, Harmony Vocals – Graham Goble
Saxophone [Tenor Solo] – Tony Buchanan

Diamantina Cocktail was the first Little River Band album to make signficant commercial headway in America, peaking at number 49 on the album charts and spawning the hit singles "Happy Anniversary" and "Help is on Its Way." With its laidback, sweet country-rock, the album has a simliar sound to the band's debut, but the melodies are a little sharper and catchier, making the album a better, more fully-rounded collection. ---Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic Review

So here's the story: There are two versions of Diamantina Cocktail — an Australian version that came out in April 1977 and an international version that came out a few months later, once "Help Is on Its Way" started climbing that charts.
The international version — the one you and I are familiar with — is a nine-track album that combines cuts from the original Diamantina Cocktail and the group's previous Australian album, After Hours. The version on Spotify has the original Australian track listing.

This sort of thing used to be fairly common with acts as they began to find international success after they already had achieved some renown in their native countries. The most famous case is The Beatles: British and American fans grew up with markedly different catalogs - albums with the same names but different track listings, as well as compilations in one country that the other never saw. (When The Beatles catalog moved into the CD and streaming ages, everybody got only the British versions of the albums.)

As I've pieced things together, here's what happened with Little River Band: They released their first album in 1975 and achieved enough success, particularly with "It's a Long Way There," that their manager started pushing them in other countries and secured a U.S. record deal.

But by the time "It's a Long Way There" finally made its way onto U.S. airwaves, the Little River Band was ready with its second album, After Hours. The U.S. label passed on After Hours, but when "Help Is on Its Way" took off worldwide, the label took their favorite songs from that album and the Australian version of Diamantina Cocktail and released that compilation. By the time Sleeper Catcher, came out in May 1978, the Australian and American labels were on the same page, and that album — with its massive, worldwide smash "Reminiscing" — was the same everywhere.

If you want to listen to the album the way you remember it (and why wouldn't you?), my suggestion would be to create a playlist recreating it with the tracks from the two Australian albums. That's what some of my American friends have had to do to experience The Beatles albums from their youth. --- brian_mansfield, community.spotify.com

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