Mississippi members Beeb Birtles, Graeham Goble and Derek Pellicci meet with Glenn Shorrock and Glenn Wheatley in London, England and make loose arrangements to meet back in Melbourne, Australia during the early months of 1975. 1975 After auditioning guitar players and bass players, they recruited the services of Roger McLachlan on bass guitar. Roger, a New Zealander, had been playing bass with the Australian cast of Godspell. Rick Formosa was added on lead guitar. Rick's Italian family had migrated to Australia from Canada and had only been in the country a few months. At this stage the band started rehearsing original songs as well as covers of some hits of the day and performed their early gigs under the name of Mississippi. Glenn Wheatley, acting as manager, proceeded to invite A&R people from record labels to their early performances.
Fans of the band let it be known to them that they should not be an Australian band with an American name and this prompted the band members to start looking for a new name. On the way to one of their first appearances in Geelong, Victoria, they passed the Little River exit sign, when Glenn Shorrock mentioned that this would make a good title for a song. But within a split second he said, "hey, how about Little River Band?" The rest of the guys approved! By June of that year Little River Band were signed by EMI Records Australia and entered Armstrong Audio/Video (AAV) to record their first album. The budget for the album was $15,000 AUS and the story goes that EMI hit the roof when the band went $2000 over their approved budget. Between the three main songwriters in the band, they had close to 60 songs from which to choose 10 to 12 for their first album. Because of the lengthy "It's A Long Way There" (8 minutes and 39 seconds), only 9 songs made the album. The Australian release of Little River Band featured a very cheesy cover portraying the guys as cartoon characters driving down the road in an English make Ford Zephyr, also in cartoon form. The album cover was embarrassing to say the least! The album was produced by manager Glenn Wheatley and Little River Band and the recording engineer was Ross Cockle. "Curiosity (Killed The Cat)", a song written by Beeb Birtles during the time Mississippi were still living in London, was chosen as the band's first single. It was a top ten hit and brought them instant national recognition. The second single, "Emma", written by Glenn Shorrock, also climbed the Australian charts, making it the band's second hit single.
Glenn Wheatley flew to the U.S.A. and proceeded to approach record labels there for an American release of the band's first album. The band was signed to Capitol Records and released on the Harvest label. Little River Band was released in the U.S.A. almost a year later to the day the album was released in Australia. Capitol Records insisted on a new cover, which featured the band standing outside of a building with the shot taken from inside through an open door. "It's A Long Way There" was released as the band's first single in America. The single was played in its entirety by college stations all over the United States. Little River Band broke out of Jacksonville, Florida because of Bill Bartlett, a D.J. at a local FM radio station who became a fan of Australian rock bands. "I'll Always Call Your Name" was released by Capitol Records as the band's second U.S.A. single but it failed to do anything on the charts. Meanwhile back in Australia the band were busy recording their second album, After Hours. Once again the number of songs presented for this album was staggering. Something like 40 to 50 songs. After Hours was produced by the band itself, recorded at Armstrong Audio/Video (AAV) and engineered once again by Ross Cockle. This album had a distinct country rock flavour to it. The first single from After Hours was "Every Day Of My Life", a song written and sung by Beeb Birtles. It was another Australian top ten hit for the band. "Broke Again" was released as their second single and received a lot of airplay although it didn't do as well on the charts. Because of mounting tension between the band members during the recording of After Hours, it was decided that they would enlist the services of a producer for their next recording project.
On the eve of the band's departure for their first American tour, Roger McLachlan and Rick Formosa were replaced by David Briggs on lead guitar and George McArdle on bass. Briggs and McArdle were thrown off the deep end but because the band was opening for other artists, there were not that many songs to be learned. The band tightened up in a matter of weeks and was favourably received by audiences across America. Capitol Records, feeling that the band's second album was not strong enough, made a decision not to release After Hours in the United States. Instead, the label combined the best songs from After Hours and Diamantina Cocktail, the band's third album, to come up with the U.S. compilation of Diamantina Cocktail. It was around this time that Glenn Wheatley approached Stephen Shrimpton, managing director for EMI Records Australia, for the band to be released from their recording contract with EMI Australia so they would be free to sign directly with Capitol Records in the States. The deal with Capitol Records was worth 8 million dollars over the span of recording 6 albums. Stephen Shrimpton, being at the end of his tenure with EMI Records, released Little River Band from their recording contract, allowing the band to sign direct with Capitol Records. It would be the start of a long, fruitful and rewarding relationship between the band and their new record label. Capitol Records reps loved working with the band because of their willingness to do radio, television and newspaper interviews. 1977
The band enlisted the services of John Boylan as producer for Diamantina Cocktail although the production credits read as produced by John Boylan and Little River Band. Their third album was recorded once again at Armstrong Audio/Video (AAV) with Ross Cockle as engineer. For the first time they recruited the services of Jo Ford and Ray Wilkinson for album art design. The two owned a bulldog named "Skittles" who became the band's mascot for the next four albums. Jo and Ray would present them with a long list of possible album titles from which to choose the appropriate one. The themes always revolved around Australianisms because of America's fascination with all things Australian. Hence the name "Diamantina Cocktail" which was a mixed drink made back in the old days of the Diamantina River area in Queensland, Australia. The drink was mixed with a blast of Bundaberg rum, a dollop of condensed milk, and one surely whipped emu's egg and poured briskly over bald ice and garnished with a gum leaf. The band was dressed in clothes from the era for the cover shoot.
"Help Is On Its Way", the first single, written by Glenn Shorrock, was the band's first number one single on the Australian charts. "Witchery" was released as the second single and was also a top-ten hit. The interesting story about "Witchery" is that it was originally recorded by the band as a jingle for an Australian clothing chain known as "Witchery". In the early days, Glenn Wheatley approached the band saying they could make some money if they wanted to write a commercial for "Witchery". Beeb Birtles recalls, "I was sitting on the front porch of my flat with a really bad cold, playing my guitar, fishing for an idea for "Witchery" because the title presented a challenge to me. I must have written that jingle in about ten minutes, fastest song I've ever written. I played it for the rest of the guys and we ended up recording it for the "Witchery" chain where it was played in every one of their stores throughout Australia". When it came to the song selection for Diamantina Cocktail, Birtles presented "Witchery" as another song. Birtles and Goble completed the song because the jingle version was really only a stripped down version for radio. Jingles are normally only 30 or 60 seconds long so they had to lengthen the commercial to turn it into a full three-minute song. "Happy Anniversary" was released as the third single from Diamantina Cocktail. The album was released in the United States on Capitol Records in 1977 and produced the first top ten single, "Help Is On Its Way". The second U.S. single, "Happy Anniversary", was also a top ten hit.
1978 Sleeper Catcher was the title of the band's fourth album. Once again, sticking to an Australian theme for the cover artwork, Jo Ford and Ray Wilkinson came up with the album cover concept. Sometimes called "Australia's National Game", two-up is a form of gambling which, though illegal, has long been a favourite pastime. The "Sleeper Catcher", an accepted participant in the game, retrieves bets left on the floor by tardy backers. This album produced the band's two biggest American singles, "Reminiscing" and "Lady". In Birtles' mind, the most adventurous and "complete" album the band ever recorded, it produced the best consistency of great songs. "Reminiscing" was released as the first single and climbed to number 3 on the Billboard charts. "Lady" was released as the second single and was also a top ten hit. The interesting fact about "Lady" is that it had been presented for every one of their previous albums and missed selection for those albums until it was finally recorded for Sleeper Catcher. Being the democratic band they were, the songwriters would present the same songs over and over for every album until they were eventually recorded.
This is also how Birtles and Goble came to record The Last Romance. "We had so many good songs left over which the guys thought were unsuitable for Little River Band, that we decided to approach Glenn Wheatley with the idea of recording a duo album using our unwanted songs". Birtles had written the song, "Last Romance" as a top ten hit for teen idol, Mark Holden, and Birtles and Goble scored a top ten hit with "I'm Coming Home". Sleeper Catcher was produced by John Boylan and Little River Band, recorded at Armstrong Audio/Video (AAV) and engineered by Ross Cockle and Ernie Rose. A guest appearance was made by Mal Logan on Hammond organ, who later joined the band as keyboard player. Sleeper Catcher was the last album featuring George McArdle on bass as he did not enjoy the long tours the band made in support of their albums. "Shut Down Turn Off", written by Glenn Shorrock, was released as the first single from Sleeper Catcher in Australia. EMI Australia released the album It's A Long Way There - Greatest Hits as the band's first "best of" collection later that same year. 1979
After the departure of George McArdle, the band were not in a hurry to replace him for the recording of their next album. First Under The Wire was recorded with studio musicians Mike Clarke and Clive Harrison on bass guitar. The album was produced by John Boylan and Little River Band, recorded at Armstrong Audio/Video (AAV) and engineered by Ern Rose with assistant engineers, Jim Barton, Ross Cockle and Ian McKenzie. The album concept was once again by Jo Ford and Ray Wilkinson and featured "Skittles", the bulldog, for the last time. An interesting fact about the album cover is that Jo Ford and Ray Wilkinson originally presented it with the inside sleeve as the outside cover which Capitol Records rejected. They wanted the inside sleeve to be the outside cover of the album with the band sitting in the bleachers of the Waverley Football Stadium in Melbourne. All the people used for the colourful inside sleeve shot were people the band knew personally including the jogger, Tim, a friend of the band's, who worked for an advertising agency. The band purposely left a space between Derek Pellicci on the right and the rest of the guys on the left, symbolically showing the departure of George McArdle. The band liked the title of this album because they were considered to be the first Australian act to break into the international charts whilst still maintaining Australia as their home base.
1980
It was clear, after the constant recording and touring schedule up until this point, that the band needed a break before recording their next studio album. During the 1979 American tour for First Under The Wire, the band recorded some of their live shows on the west coast which became the second record of their double live album, Backstage Pass. The album featured some new songs the band had never before recorded on any of their previous albums. "Red Shoes" and "I Don't Worry No More" were written by Beeb Birtles and "Let's Dance" was written by David Briggs. The release of the album bought them time to decide when and where to record their next studio album, as well as finding another producer. It was also during this tour that the band came to play with the Jim Messina Band with Wayne Nelson on bass guitar. Wayne was asked to come down to Australia and play with the band, replacing Barry Sullivan who was no longer wanting to tour because of family commitments.
1981 For the first time in the band's recording career they decided not to record in Australia and through Glenn Wheatley, they interviewed possible producers. Tom Dowd was one name which came up among others but they decided to go with George Martin, famed producer for the Beatles, and owner of AIR STUDIOS in London and Montserrat, West Indies. Recording on Montserrat interested them because they wanted to be away from home with as little or no interruptions whatsoever. The recording of Time Exposure was not a pleasant experience for most of the band members despite the fact that the album produced three top ten singles in the States. The album's three hits stood head and shoulders above the rest of the material chosen to be recorded. The song selection was nowhere near as strong as on the albums Sleeper Catcher and First Under The Wire. On returning to Australia, David Briggs was asked to leave the band and was replaced by Stephen Housden in time for the tour later that year. At the end of the tour, Glenn Shorrock was replaced as lead vocalist by known Australian singer, John Farnham. 1982
Before leaving the band, Glenn Shorrock had suggested that the best guy for the lead singer role was John Farnham. As it turned out Graham Goble had produced Farnham's Uncovered album using Derek Pellicci on drums, Wayne Nelson on bass and vocals, David Briggs on guitar and Mal Logan on keyboards. Capitol Records releases the Greatest Hits album containing the band's last American top twenty single, "The Other Guy". In Australia the album featured two extra songs, "Home On Monday" from Diamantina Cocktail and "Statue Of Liberty" from Little River Band. "Home On Monday" should have been released as the third single in America considering the airplay it received from radio. In Australia, the first single from their second greatest hits album was "Down On The Border" featuring new lead singer, John Farnham. In the States, the first single, "The Other Guy" climbed the charts into the twenties but failed to crack the top ten.
1983 The Net was released with "We Two" as the first single. It failed to crack even the top twenty in the States and did nothing in Australia. Birtles believes the band had lost the support of its label, Capitol Records, because of the switch in lead singers from Glenn Shorrock to John Farnham. "You're Driving Me Out Of My Mind" was released as the follow-up single but failed to anything on the American charts. Mainly due to musical differences, Beeb Birtles quit the band after the band's final performance at the Universal Ampitheatre in Los Angeles on October 24. Little River Band holds the distinction of having scored a top ten hit for five consecutive years between 1977 and 1982. |
LRB Albums
Little River Band (1975)
After Hours
Diamantina
Cocktail
Sleeper Catcher
The Last Romance
Beginnings
It's a Long Way There--Greatest
Hits
First Under the Wire
Backstage Pass
Time Exposure
Greatest Hits
The Net |
