Birtles & Goble | |
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Genres | Pop, soft rock |
Years active | 1978–1980 |
Labels | Capitol |
Past members | Beeb Birtles Graeham Goble |
Birtles & Goble were an Australian pop music duo composed of Beeb Birtles (born 28 November 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands) and Graeham Goble (born 15 May 1947 in Adelaide, Australia). Although they were both full-time members of Little River Band, they released an album and three singles as a duo.
Birtles and Goble had worked together since 1972, first in the band Mississippi and then in Little River Band (LRB). LRB had an abundance of songwriters, with Birtles, Goble, Glenn Shorrock and David Briggs all contributing hit songs. [1] Birtles and Goble were prolific songwriters so, despite contributing to four LRB albums by 1978 ( Little River Band , After Hours , Diamantina Cocktail and Sleeper Catcher ), they had a wealth of material left over.
Birtles noted that "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". [2]
The Last Romance was recorded with numerous musicians including current and future members of Little River Band. Birtles and Goble each wrote three of the songs, three songs were co-compositions and one track ("He Gives Us All His Love") was written by Randy Newman. [3] The first single "I'm Coming Home" was a top ten hit in Australia and also sold over 100,000 copies in the Philippines. [4] Birtles & Goble performed the song live on television programs such as The Don Lane Show and The Paul Hogan Show. [5] The song earned Birtles and Goble a nomination for Best Recorded Songwriters at the 1979 Australian Pop Music Awards.
Goble believed that the duo suffered from a lack of promotion: "If The Last Romance album had been successful, I expect that Beeb and I would have left Little River Band and recorded as a duo, e.g. 'Hall & Oates'. Our record company (Capitol) were concerned about this possibility and so our album received little support. It was a great experience to record The Last Romance and it remains one of my favorite recordings." [6]
Birtles and Goble did not record again as a duo. Songs from The Last Romance were recorded subsequently by other artists: Mark Holden had an Australian top ten hit with the song "Last Romance", and The Imperials recorded "Into My Life". [7]
The third single from The Last Romance, Birtles' paean to his country of birth ("The Netherlands"), subsequently appeared in demo form as a bonus track on the 1997 re-release of the Little River Band album No Reins , [8] showing just how close the song came to being released initially by LRB. [4]
Title | Details |
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The Last Romance |
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album |
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AUS | |||
"I'm Coming Home" / "You'll Never Change Your Mind" | 1979 | 8 | The Last Romance |
"Lonely Lives" / "Megan" | — | ||
"How I Feel Tonight" / "The Netherlands" | 1980 | — |
Little River Band (LRB) are a rock band formed in Melbourne, Australia, in March 1975. The band achieved commercial success in both Australia and the United States. They have sold more than 30 million records; six studio albums reached the top 10 on the Australian Kent Music Report albums chart including Diamantina Cocktail and First Under the Wire, which both peaked at No. 2. Nine singles appeared in the top 20 on the related singles chart, with "Help Is on Its Way" (1977) as their only number-one hit. Ten singles reached the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Reminiscing" their highest, peaking at No. 3.
Glenn Barrie Shorrock is an English-born Australian singer-songwriter. He was a founding member of rock bands the Twilights, Axiom, Little River Band and post LRB spin-off trio Birtles Shorrock Goble, as well as being a solo performer.
Beeb Birtles is an Australian musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist. He has been a member of various Australian groups including Zoot (1967–71), Mississippi (1972–74), Little River Band (1975–83) and Birtles Shorrock Goble (2002–07). He has also worked as a solo artist, including releasing an album, Driven by Dreams (2000). In 2004, Birtles and other members of the classic line-up of Little River Band were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
The Net is the seventh studio album by Australian group, Little River Band. The Net was released in May 1983 and peaked at No. 11 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart and No. 61 on the Billboard 200.
David John Briggs is an Australian musician, songwriter and record producer, best known as lead guitarist in the rock band Little River Band between 1976 and 1981, having joined the band when original lead guitarist Ric Formosa left.
Graeham George Goble, is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and record producer, best known as a founding member of Australian rock group Little River Band.
Birtles Shorrock Goble are an Australian pop/rock group composed of the three original singers and songwriters of Little River Band, namely Beeb Birtles, Glenn Shorrock and Graeham Goble. The members are known for their extensive writing and performance of hit songs and distinctive vocal harmonies. They are sometimes referred to by the initials BSG.
Monsoon is the tenth studio album by Australian group, Little River Band, with Glenn Shorrock returning as lead singer after John Farnham left the group to release his solo album Whispering Jack. The album was released in May 1988 and peaked at number nine on the Kent Music Report albums chart.
Sleeper Catcher is the fourth studio album by the Little River Band, released in April 1978. It peaked at No. 4 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart and No. 16 on the Billboard 200. The album was certified Platinum by the RIAA in May 1979.
Time Exposure is the sixth studio album by Little River Band (LRB), which was recorded with producer George Martin at Associated Independent Recording (AIR) in Montserrat and released in September 1981. It peaked at No. 9 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart. In the United States, it reached No. 21 on the Billboard 200.
Uncovered is a solo studio album by British-born Australian singer John Farnham, produced by Little River Band's Graeham Goble, and released on 3 July 1980, which peaked at No. 20 on the Australian Kent Music Report album chart and was certified gold in 1981.
Derek Allan Pellicci is an English-born Australian drummer. He is best known as a founding member of Little River Band. Pellicci lives in Melbourne with his wife, Anne and a son.
Stephen Wade is an English-born Australian-based singer, songwriter and musician. He won the Australian Songwriter of the Year in 1989 and 1990. Wade was a member of the Graham Goble Encounter (1993–95), which recorded two albums and toured Germany. During 1994 he provided guitar and vocals for another group, Tempted, on their self-titled album. From 1996, for four years, Wade was a lead vocalist for the soft rock group, Little River Band. In 2001 he issued his debut self-titled album and during 2006 he was a member of the trio Pealing Wade & Young, with Mick Pealing (ex-Stars) and Gary Young, which issued an eponymous album. In April 2013 he auditioned for series two of The Voice, but was not selected.
Riccardo Formosa is an Italian-born Australian musician and composer. He was the lead guitarist of the pop band Little River Band from 1975 to 1976 and recorded their first two albums, Little River Band and After Hours.
Graham Davidge is an Australian musician. He has played with Little River Band (1975), Tidewater (1976), Goanna (1982–83) and numerous other Australian bands.
"Happy Anniversary" is a pop music song by Australian group Little River Band, released in territories outside of Australia in December 1977 as the fourth and final single from the group's third studio album, Diamantina Cocktail. It was co-written by Beeb Birtles and David Briggs. The song became the band's second top twenty single in the United States, peaking at number 16 in March 1978 on the Billboard Hot 100.
We Two Pty Ltd v Shorrock (2002) was presided by Justice Raymond Finkelstein of the Federal Court of Australia, Melbourne to determine the ownership of the name, Little River Band, its trademarks, logos and associated assets. We Two Pty Ltd, the applicant, was established in 1987 and had been solely owned by Stephen Housden of the music group, Little River Band since 1998. The respondents, Glenn Shorrock, Gerard Bertelkamp and Graeham Goble, were all founding members of the same group, in 1975. Housden had joined them in 1981.
Stephen Frank Housden is an English-born Australian musician. He joined the rock group Little River Band (LRB) in 1981 on lead guitar and vocals and ceased performing with them in 2006. Previously, Housden had worked as a session musician for various Australian artists. During the 1970s he was a member of Stevie Wright's band and Marcia Hines' touring and session bands. Housden released his debut solo album, New World Groove, in 1993.