birtles shorrock goble

GREATEST BAND YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF, 2009
There's a band out there you don't know from Adam. Except you do. If you saw their syllable-rich name on a marquee, you'd probably walk by. But theirs is a strange kind of obscurity, responsible as they are for 25 million albums sold. How can an obscure band with a shyster law firm name be responsible for that kind of musical history? In 1975, Australians Glenn Shorrock, Graeham Goble, and Beeb Birtles were the founding singer/songwriters of the Little River Band. Over the next seven years, they had thirteen top 40 hits, including "It's a Long Way There", "Lady", "The Night Owls", "Lonesome Loser", "Take It Easy On Me", and "Reminiscing", one of my (and John Lennon's) favorite songs. In 1982, Shorrock wanted to explore other musical directions, so the band sacked him. In 1983 Birtles, also unhappy with the band's musical direction and feeling estranged because of his christian fundamentalism, quit. Goble, who preferred studio creativity to the road, quit in 1989 when the band no longer had a recording contract. As he was leaving, Shorrock returned and stayed until 1995, when he left again. Throughout it all though, replacements in the six-member lineup kept coming and coming, and that's where it gets bizarre. There's still a version of the band touring, yet they're little more than a tribute band, and a bad one, at that. But because of legal nonsense, they retain the rights to the name. The original layered harmonies and rich vocals have morphed into a "progressive rock" sound. I had the misfortune to hear them in concert once. There have been no fewer than thirty-five, count 'em, thirty-five members in and out of the lineup. A mercy killing is long past due. Particularly because the real thing is actually out there now.
In 2002, Glenn, Beeb, and Graeham reconciled. Unable to use the name they made famous, they hit the stage.
And the results are majestic.
They sound better than they did in their heyday. They have a concert disc out, FULL CIRCLE. There are a handful of tracks that are a bit boring, but mostly it's a gem. Especially stunning is the obscure "Mistress of Mine", with an amazing prelude in A minor by guitarist Simon Hosford. If you aren't familiar with their old songs, get an anthology, then come hear how they sound twenty years on. I have the CD. The DVD has twelve additional tracks. They don't seem to be touring outside of Australia and New Zealand, so if you have a Learjet, let's go hear a show.