Little River Band - Playing to Win (12 tracks) +Album Reviews

Why was this deleted?

02/28/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Who in their right mind would delete this excellent Little River Band recording from the compact disc catalog? It never ceases to amaze me what record companies will delete and what they will keep producing for distribution. I mean there is so much garbage out there on the market but this brilliant Little River Band compact disc is not available. I have the LP but wanted this on compact disc. This may very well be the BEST Little River Band effort ever recorded - and you can't buy it! How ridiculous! Let's hope the record company gets someone with enough sense soon to reissue this on CD. While they are at it, they can release as a bonus cut the song "Changed and Different" which was the flip side to the 1977 45 "Happy Anniversary." - Can't find that B-side anywhere!"

Little River Band goes hard rock.

N. Stock | Australia | 06/17/2001

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The beginning of the end for Little River Band.After ditching lead singer Glenn Shorrock and key harmony man Beeb Birtles,the band decided to go hard rock,but the changes were too much for fans with the album only reaching to number 75 on the Billboard charts and the "Playing to Win" single only reaching number 60.The band members heavily promoted the album on US radio,even changing their name temporarily to LRB but to no avail.New lead singer John Farnham provides some good vocals on songs like "Blind Eyes" and the title song,but the hard rock did not suit the bands harmony style.Had they stuck to the soft rock style of the previous "The Net" album,they might have had continued success,but with the loss of Beeb Birtles backing harmonies and the change to hard rock,it just fell apart.Fans didn't reject John Farnham,they rejected Graham Goble's hard rock experiment."

Change of style for LRB.

N. Stock | Australia | 05/31/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is the album where band member Graham Goble made the mistake of trying to turn LRB into a harder rock band,and was rejected by the fans.Beeb Birtles had left the band and his harmonies,and songs,were sorely missed.It still has some interesting tracks,such as the brilliant John Farnham vocal on "blind eyes",but the harder rock style was not suited to Little River band."

Great album!! Unlike any other Little River Band release.

N. Stock | 09/30/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This was an album that was originally released back in 1985 under the band title of "LRB" instead of "Little River Band". The look and sound of the album gave the stong appearance that the band was trying to make a big change in their image and sound. Unfortunately, it didn't catch. Likely because the BMI/ASCAP radio world didn't support it I guess, because the music is fantastic!! My college room mate bought the LP Record and our whole dorm (Univ. of Washington) loved it. We all waited for the CD ROM that never came. Finally it has been published for import. Buy it...you'll like it. Kind of like LRB does the Chicago 17 sound. Very cool."

Not a bad change.......

duofold_streamline_1931 | Metro-Denver | 06/05/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Little River Band changed members and styles; not the first time an established band has done that. This change was to the field of Power Pop, with all the audio signal processing that comes with that genre. Personally, I liked this album best, with second place (for the Little River Band) going to their next album No Reins. Production and mixing was top notch for Playing To Win and No Reins. I found the early Little River Band too syrupy for my own tastes, not to knock what others liked about that era of their music. I did love those early vocal harmonies, but prefer the Latin backbeats the Playing To Win offered. Power Pop with a lot of Latin backbeats and powerful vocals (not metal influenced) really sparked for me. This music paved the way for other Power Pop bands that followed. As the audio signal processing advanced technologically, other Power Pop bands borrowed from the styles that Little River Band presented on these two albums. I'd like to hear what Peter Gabriel thought of these two albums in their time. So if you like Playing To Win or No Reins, make sure to hear the other of the two; I feel they saved the best for last. Later albums were odd regroupings of past versions of the band. And that First Christmas album by Wayne Nelson and Steve Vaus, under the name of the Beat Boys, was inspired in a totally separate way; but good of type. But I have a soft spot for Steve Vaus anyway.
I feel a lot of Power Pop bands of the late 80's owe a debt to the pioneering work of Playing To Win and No Reins. Hint: the description of modern American life in No Reins' Paper Paradise is still relevant today. Maybe more now than when it was written!
Enjoy! (And thanks to Bruce F. for turning me on to this album!)"

Search - Little River Band :: Playing to Win

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