Little River Band: 36 All-Time Greatest Hits. How is it??

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by voicebug, Feb 6, 2008.

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  1. voicebug

    voicebug Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    now in Houston, TX
    I'm looking to dig a little deeper into the Little River Band's catalog. The only two LRB CDs I own are the original 12 track Greatest Hits and the dreadful expanded remaster of that title.

    There's one of those 3 disc, budget collections out there-----Little River Band: 36 All-Time Greatest Hits, and I was wondering if anyone can comment on the song selection and sound quality?

    Since I'm only familiar with the big U.S. hits, are the 36 tracks on this collection representative of their best work, or is there a lot of filler and weaker album cuts?

    Thanks!

    Here is the track selection:
    DISC 1:
    Lady
    Reminiscing
    Help Is On The Way
    Blind Eyes
    Everyday Of My Life
    Light Of Day
    Man On Your Mind
    Time For Us
    Sleepless Nights
    Face In The Crowd
    Fall From Paradise
    It's A Long Way There

    DISC 2:
    Lonesome Loser
    Night Owls
    Middle Man
    The Rumor
    I'll Always Call Your Name
    So Many Paths
    Man On The Run
    Love Will Survive
    The Other Guy
    Sweet Old Fashioned Man
    Lonely Lives
    It's Not A Wonder

    DISC 3:
    Cool Change
    Take It Easy On Me
    Through Her Eyes
    You're Driving Me Out Of My Mind
    Days On The Road
    Down On The Border
    Happy Anniversary
    We Two
    My Lady And Me
    Guiding Light
    The Man In Black
    Playing To Win
     
  2. CD Heaven West

    CD Heaven West Active Member

    Location:
    Tamarac, Florida
    It seems like a lot of filler to me. As has been discussed in a previous thread, your best bet is to try to find the out of print double disc set on rhino entitled Reminiscing which is a GREAT sounding collection.
    Bruce
     
  3. voicebug

    voicebug Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    now in Houston, TX
    Rats!! This one sure is easier to find than the Rhino set. Does anyone know how the sound quality is? Could this be one of those remarkable budget compilations that's a fairly flat transfer??
     
  4. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    Where does the track Dont Blame Me fit in? Was this a single after the LRB mark II took over? Have the LP with it and they did it at Live Aid Australia(OZ for Africa?). Great song.
     
  5. voicebug

    voicebug Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    now in Houston, TX
    No love for LRB? :shake:


    .....or maybe this compilation just stinks and nobody wants to comment. :laugh:
     
  6. CD Heaven West

    CD Heaven West Active Member

    Location:
    Tamarac, Florida
    There's actually a bunch of 3 disc sets in that same series you're talking about voicebug. I've seen a few of them but every one of them seems to be filled with filler. Unfortunately I can't speak for audio quality on any of them as I've never listened to them.
    Bruce
     
  7. peterC

    peterC Aussie Addict

    Location:
    sydney
    If you really want to dig a little deeper try some of the very early albums before they became too "polished", particularly the first self-titled album.

    Then again, if you're only familiar with the big US hits, you may not like the early albums.
     
  8. Chris C

    Chris C Music was my first love and it will be my last!

    Location:
    Ohio
    I love the Little River Band...well, the "original" band, before later members practically stole the name from the group's founders. The three main members of this band, Graham Goble, Beeb Birtles and Glenn Shorrock (I'm probably spelling their names wrong, sorry...it's early!) can't even use the name "Little River Band" anymore when they perform, due to legalities beyond belief. Needless to say, their music from their start, to around the "No Reins" album are filled with great little harmony-filled beauties. Originally when the band went from their radio friendly sound to being produced by the guy who produced Quiet Riot and made them sound like a rock band, (the "Playing To Win" album), I was less than amused, especially since I saw them live just before this album was released, trying out half of the new songs on us, but this was before the hard rock producer took control of their "sound". If and I do say, "if", they would have stuck with the tried and true LRB sound, instead of trying to change their image on that album, they may have had more success with it. Naturally, the album bombed and so did their career, for the most part after that. Today, I listen with a smile on my face to the "Playing To Win" album, because now I get it, but back then it wasn't very amusing.

    If you're new to LRB, I say good luck in finding their stuff on compact disc, as it's getting harder all the time. I agree with others that the ideal place to start is the wonderful RHINO 2-CD set, which covers all bases of the group. I also highly recommend, "Sleeper Catcher" and "Diamantina Cocktail", which are two of my favorites. The song, "Fall From Paradise" from, "Sleeper Catcher" is a brilliant overlooked gem in their catalog!

    Sorry that I don't have or need that 3-CD set, so I can't comment on it's quality. It looks like a fairly hoge podge collection of their work, not very essential, IMO, but when you don't have the music, it's at least a start.

    Chris C
     
  9. gloomrider

    gloomrider Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Hollywood, CA, USA
    The complete Rhino title?

    For those of us scouring the internet for a copy of the Rhino comp, could someone confirm the full title?

    Is it "REMINISCING: THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION LITTLE RIVER BAND" (forgive the all-caps copy-and-paste)?
     
  10. elgreco

    elgreco Groove Meister

    I'm also a big fan of the band, even up to their mid-eighties work. I have all their Capitol albums on CD (mostly the One Way reissues) and even Monsoon and Get Lucky, the first two MCA albums from the late eighties. After their AOR albums The Net and Playing to win (which are pretty good albums in that genre IMO) they returned to the country rock style that made them famous, but I have to admit that the formula was wearing thin by then.

    This 3 CD comp that the OP mentioned is a fairly good overview from all their Capitol albums. I wouldn't say it has a lot of filler (unless you're satisfied with a single Greatest Hits album). It doesn't necessarily have the worst album cuts, although it's a mystery to me how they could leave out Mistress of mine, one of my favourite LRB tracks ever, and the great a capella harmonies of Full circle. But if you want to delve a little deeper in their music, this albums seems like a fairly good buy, especially since the original albums are becoming scarce, as Chris C stated correctly.

    The Rhino 2 CD might be a more compact overview (and can't be beat sound-wise), but if you're unable to find it, this album might be a rather inexpensive alternative. Alas, I don't own it myself (you would have guessed that), so I can't comment on the sound quality.
     
  11. elgreco

    elgreco Groove Meister

    IIRC, it's from the Playing to win album, with the Mark II lineup featuring John Farnham. I don't remember it being a single, but it might have been one in their homeland.
     
  12. Chris C

    Chris C Music was my first love and it will be my last!

    Location:
    Ohio
    well, you're close, but the number is written out, so it's...

    "Reminiscing: The Twentieth Anniversary Collection" (Rhino #RS 71745) 1994

    Chris C
     
  13. gloomrider

    gloomrider Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Hollywood, CA, USA
    Thanks so much!
     
  14. voicebug

    voicebug Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    now in Houston, TX
    Hey, the 3 disc set does have this track! I might have to go ahead and pick it up. Plus, any Little River Band collection has got to be better than the completely horrible remastering of Capitol's expanded 'Greatest Hits' reissue. The sound on that one is just wretched. :shake:
     
  15. Hawkman

    Hawkman Supercar Gort Staff

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Collectables has a nice 2-cd set with Sleeper Catcher and Time Exposure. Time Exposure is my favorite LRB album. At $9.98, it's a nice deal. I didn't pay too much attention to them after Glenn Shorrock left. I love Birtles, Shorrock and Goble and they sound more like LRB than the 'real' LRB does!
     
  16. Hawkman

    Hawkman Supercar Gort Staff

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Probably. BUT...do you have one of THESE copies????

    [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Tensions got higher in 2000, when Capitol Records release a 17-track CD version of Little River Band's greatest hits, with three alternate takes of hits from Time Exposure - a version of Man on Your Mind to which George Martin had added horns; a guitar-heavy mix of The Night Owls; and an alternate take of Take It Easy On Me with Wayne Nelson, not Glenn Shorrock, on lead vocals. "Capitol broke the original contract," said Nelson. "No alternate versions or outtakes could be used on Greatest Hits packages. Capitol pulled all the rest of them back that they could, put the correct mixes on those three songs, and then they put the record back out. There are maybe 10,000 copies of the first version floating around out there - if anybody's got one it's a real rarity."

    http://www.chuckthewriter.com/lrb.html



    Here's a thread from three years ago that gets into the 'rare' version the Capitol Greatest Hits cd.


    [/FONT]
     
  17. Larry Mc

    Larry Mc Forum Dude


    I have a few of the 36 Greatest Hits sets and they sound great. I don't know about LRB, I haven't heard it. The Jethro Tull is good and has a version of "John Barleycorn" that is fairly rare. Like others have said, some of them have "filler" songs on them, but hey, they sound good. I got mine from Timeless Media Group
    http://www.timelessmusic.com/. Some of the jazz cds are transfers from OJC and some of the blues are from OBC.:)
     
  18. PTgraphics

    PTgraphics Senior Member

    I don't have any issues with my older 12 track Greatest Hits CD.

    In very tiny print on the back inlay it says "Mastered from the Sony Digital System by Wally Traugott at Capitol Studios."

    Pat
     
  19. voicebug

    voicebug Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    now in Houston, TX
     
  20. fathom

    fathom Senior Member

    Location:
    Florida
    The key question is: does it have the full-length version of "It's A Long Way There"?
     
  21. elgreco

    elgreco Groove Meister

    Good point. No other comp has it AFAIK, so that should make it really exceptional. This one has the disc space, with 12 songs on each disc. But I'm inclined to believe that it has the short version. In general, most comps go for the tracks that are easiest available. I think you have to track back the master tapes of their s/t album from 1975 to include the long version.
     
  22. Chris C

    Chris C Music was my first love and it will be my last!

    Location:
    Ohio
    I'm willing to bet that it does NOT have the long version, as a few of the songs on that disc are already fairly long, like, "Light Of Day", which clocks in at over 8 minutes!

    Chris C
     
  23. Chris C

    Chris C Music was my first love and it will be my last!

    Location:
    Ohio
    By the way, rare as that version of the "Greatest Hits" package is, with some of the wrong versions on it, I have one that's even rarer than that...

    Try finding the CD called, "Too Late To Load" (subtitled: The Unissued, Unavailable, and Ultra Rare LRB Masters, 1975-1986) (1988, EMI Australia #CDP 791693), with 12 rare LRB tracks, including the beautiful, "Please Don't Ask Me", which was played during the opening credits of an '80's HBO concert special. Some of these tracks have been released since as "bonus" tracks on various reissues, but some of these still remain obscure.

    ....and NO, I won't make any copies of it..."SOMEBODY" has to help "EMI" stay in business!

    Chris C
     
  24. Hawkman

    Hawkman Supercar Gort Staff

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Copies? We don't need no stinkin' copies! Why have a copy when one can get the real thing for a mere $125??
     
  25. cincyjim

    cincyjim Senior Member

    Location:
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    iTunes currently has this version of Expanded Greatest Hits with the three alternate songs listed above.
     
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