Customer Reviews

Definitive Collection

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Little River Band were a hugely successful Australian band that had a string of infectious Top 10 hits in the late seventies and early eighties. But this so-called DEFINITIVE COLLECTION (which was released two years ago in Europe!) doesn't warrant replacing 2000's 18-track GREATEST HITS.

Consider this: GREATEST HITS included all thirteen of the band's Top 40 U.S. hits; DEFINITIVE COLLECTION omits their final U.S. hit "You're Driving Me Out of My Mind" (No. 35, 1983). GREATEST HITS includes all three Hot 100 hits that failed to crack the Top 40--"I'll Always Call Your Name" (No. 62, 1977), "It's Not a Wonder" (No. 51, 1980), and "Playing To Win" (No. 60, 1985); DEFINITIVE COLLECTION only includes "Playing To Win."

Of course, these are minor complaints, and both compilations hit all the highlights; but I'm going to stick with GREATEST HITS as the more complete collection.

I'll throw away that Greatest Hits album that I bought at Las Vegas last year and pick up this one!!!!!! This is more comprehensive and tells you more about the band than past albums! All the hits they had from 1975 to 1983 are on here as well as some minor post-'83 songs that didn't chart high. They were one of the best bands of the late '70s with an emphasis on well structured songs. Some people say that they sounded mellow, but they rocked hard to me! They even gave the already popular Eagles a run for their money. I still love Reminiscing, Lonesome Loser, Take It Easy On Me, the funky Man on Your Mind,the R&B sounding Happy Anniversary, the similar songs of Lady and Cool Change, and the underrated We Two--this band had an endless string of hits for about 5 to 6 years straight until they had run out of steam. It's good to hear that they still perform despite band member changes and conflicts. This is a good introduction to today's audiences of how huge this band was in the '70s with this compilation. An Australian band with this American-based sound that's still unbelievable to this day.

This album is great--all the hits are here including the long awaited long version of It's A Long Way There (Remastered with that great guitar solo) This will make everyone happy including Richard Thompson,the reviewer from Texas (6/24/05) The set includes a lot of great songs, all remastered. But, if you are a Little River Band fan like me and saw them in concert many times in the sixties-seventies-you probably like all their songs and demand a Box Set!!!! Lets hope one is going to come up soon for these guys deserve a box set of all their songs with unreleased material,too.

At last we finally get the "Long" version of "It's A long Way There". I must admit it was worth the wait. I always thought the single version was missing a few things. I was right. The only downside is that you get the single version of "Playing to Win" as to where the 2000 collection has the album cut. Oh well you cant be too picky as the album overall is damn good.I must admit that I would have combined the tracks from this and the 2000 "Greatest Hits" Collection. Now that would have been a "definitive collection". All in all this is a fantastic compilation for longtime fans and newcomers alike.

Now that there is another greatest hits compilation of the Little River Band, what everybody really wants to know is: Is the version of "It's a Long Way There" the full-length original album version (9 plus minutes) or the standard single edit that is around 4 1/2 minutes. This is a big selling point for those who have been searching for the longer version in a "remastered" mordern format. To those people that have already purchased this disc, Please let all of us know, so we can decide if this is a must-by addition to our collections. Thank-you

Unlike other reviewers, I cannot cite statistics or dates. I can only speak personally. Way back in the '80's I bought an audio cassette by the Little River Band and loved it so much, I literally played it into breaking and never replaced it. A few weeks ago I accidentally clicked into a section of Amazon that popped up a Little River Band CD! Voila, I said. Let's relive past music. Instead of buying THE CD I loved so much, I went for the "Definitive Collection."

You know how certain songs make certain events that happened at that same time period pop up in your mind? That's how "It's a long way there," the first song did. But I couldn't remember an event, just a general aura of an era. It was like running into someone you used to know really well, but just don't have anything in common any more. So I played through the CD, skipping about one-third of the songs. I was disappointed. Where was the music I so loved?

I also vaguely remember a controversy about the lead singer. Coming into their popularity at the very end, I didn't appreciate what the hoopla was about because I really liked whoever the second lead was. I bought "Definitive Collection" to have both singers to compare them, but the liner notes don't go into that information.

After listening to the entire CD several times now, I'm comfortable with it and play all the songs.

After finally remembering to google the group, I discovered that John Farnham is the singer whose voice I like so much, especially in "Down on the Border" and "We Two." In fact, the history of Little River Band is fascinating in its own right. Their name was taken from a road sign in Australia (the band is Australian) and membership changed fairly often because of extensive touring in the United States.

What sets this band apart from others is lush harmonies, actual melodies, and soft rock.

Oh? That other CD? It is Little River Band - Greatest Hits and it is as good as ordered!

This Capitol collection has much better sound quality than
the 2000 Capitol "Greatest Hits" collection plus the long
version of "It's A Long Way There" and the beautiful "Home
on Monday".

What can I say...this is one great audio CD! My wife and I bought every one of their 45s as they were released and some of their "albums" while we were dating. We love their up beat style...gets your feet movin'.

I have the original 1982 LRB Greatest Hits CD on Capital pressed by EMI MFG, 12 tracks. Please, anybody chime in on the sound quality of this remastered "Definitive Collection" CD. I have read the reviews on LRB "Greatest Hits" CD from 2000 with extra tracks and some of the reviews bash the "remastered" sound. I don't want to buy a "brick-walled" sound remaster. Thanks.

Great collection on one CD. Purchased for a few songs I love, found other great songs I didn't know about.