Little River Band - The Net (1983)

Following the departure of Glenn Shorrock, Little River Band embarked on a 3 album experiment featuring John Farnham on lead vocals.

Farnham was and is a better singer than Shorrock. Unfortunately this set Farnham apart from his bandmates. Where Shorrock's voice blended nicely with Graham Goble & Beeb Birtles Farnham's voice being so much stronger stuck out like a sore thumb.

On its own merits The Net is not a bad album. It certainly has its moments. Farnham is an exceptional vocalist, the tight harmonies were still there. But the laidback country-rock vibe that had made them so popular in the late 70s was replaced with a more electric and polished pop-friendly sound.

The album starts with a bang on the horn-laden You're Driving Me Out of My Mind which would not have sounded out of place on a Chicago album. The album charges ahead on the passionate and empowered We Two that really shows off Farnham's vocal range. It was almost as if the rest of the band thought, "look at our new toy, check this out!"

While all 3 of the LRB albums with Farnham make LRB sound more like Farnham's backing band than the much more cohesive unit they'd sounded with Shorrock handling the lead vocals, the disparity is particularly noticeable on The Net.

The trademark tight vocal harmonies still make ocassional appearances on songs like Mr. Socialite and Down On the Border but even then they sound as if they exist more to prop up Farnham's vocals than a tight cohesive unit unto themselves.

Generally, this album is more for the die-hard fans of Little River Band, although casual fans of Farnham's solo work would likely also enjoy this release.

Related Links
John Farnham (official site)
John Farnham (wikipedia entry)
Beeb Birtles (official site)
Beeb Birtles (wikipedia)
Graeham Goble (official site)
Graeham Goble (wikipedia)
Wayne Nelson (wikipedia)
Other Little River Band/John Farnham related reviews on The Review Revue

Little River Band - Time Exposure (1981)

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.

Related Links

The Night Owls

Man On Your Mind

Take It Easy On Me

The Other Guy (live 1983)

Little River Band (official site)*

Birtles Shorrock Goble (official site)*
Little River Band (wikipedia)
Birtles Shorrock Goble (wikipedia)
Time Exposure (wikipedia)
Glenn Shorrock (wikipedia)
Beeb Birtles (official site)
Beeb Birtles (wikipedia)
Graeham Goble (official site)
Graeham Goble (wikipedia)
Wayne Nelson (wikipedia)
David Briggs (wikipedia)**
John Farnham (official site)***
John Farnham (wikipedia entry)***
Other Little River Band related reviews on The Review Revue

*The founding members of Little River Band lost the rights to use the Little River Band name. The current band is comprised of no original members. As a result Beeb Birtles, Glenn Shorrock, and Graeham Goble briefly toured as Birtles Shorrock Goble from 2006 to 2008.

**While Beeb Birtles, Glenn Shorrock, and Graeham Goble are barred from discussing their time in Little River Band, apparently David Briggs is not. He recently wrote The Diary of the Loneseome Loser about his time in the band (1976-1981).

***I only included the Farnham links due to the inclusion of The Other Guy on the 1996 CD release of this album. Farnham was not in the band at the time of the recording or release of Time Exposure.

John Farnham - Whispering Jack (1986)

After a brief stint as the lead vocalist of Little River Band, a union that worked far better in theory and on paper than it did in practice, John Farnham resumed his solo career with what would become the first album in Australia by an Australian musician to sell over 1 million copies. Much to the detriment of the US population this album remains largely unheard outside of Australia.

Whispering Jack is everything that was good about eighties pop. It was catchy, it was fun, and it got into your bloodstream. As with most albums, there are indeed some songs that are better than others, but none of the material on this album is weak. Even the “weak” tracks on this album are stronger than some of the better tracks by other artists of this era.

While 2 of the songs on the album Pressure Down and A Touch of Paradise were Australian hits. The hallmark of this album, the one song that transcended the term “hit” and became not just a hit song but an Australian anthem is You’re the Voice which is easily the strongest song on the album. Farnham’s exceptional voice was the perfect vehicle to spread the message of the song across the entire nation of Australia.

Farnham’s voice has a depth and presence that sets it apart, and maybe that’s why his stint in Little River Band was so short-lived and didn’t translate to the success many believed it should have. While Glenn Shorrock’s voice blended into the tapestry of vocalists in the band, Farnham’s stood apart. And part of what made LRB’s music work was the tightness of their vocals and vocal harmonies and having someone with a voice as distinct as Farnham’s was bound to upset that vocal balance.

Much of the material on those Farnham-led Little River Band albums was just as strong as the material on Whispering Jack, but to many fans it just wasn’t “Little River Band”—it was John Farnham with Little River Band—the balance had been upset. Part of the reason of the success of this album can be attributed to a restoration of that balance. Farnham was back on his own, and Glenn Shorrock returned to Little River Band and both once again sounded as they should.

Rife with synthesizers and drum machines that were so inescapable in the eighties, the album does sound somewhat dated. Despite sounding dated the album remains eminently enjoyable.