Reminiscing Cool Change Little River Band

Reminiscing Album: Sleeper Catcher (1978)
Cool Change Album: First Under The Wire (1979)
by Little River Band

If the Yacht is Rockin'... Don't come Knockin'

"Reminiscing" a romantic, nostalgic song finds a couple reminiscing about their past, recalling favorite songs and memories. It seems to have worked out very well for them, as they are now older but still go dancing in the dark, walking through the park and reminiscing...

There are references in the lyrics to a Glenn Miller concert and to the Cole Porter song "Night And Day." this places the timeframe in the early 1940s, indicating that this romance blossomed about 35 years earlier. The kids are probably all grown up with families of their own.

Reminiscing was written by Little River Band guitarist Graeham Goble, who along with lead singer Glenn Shorrock and the group's other guitarist, Beeb Birtles, was a primary songwriter in the band. Goble was a very focused writer and rather meticulous, which didn't always sit well with Shorrock but resulted in some of their biggest hits; Goble also wrote "Lady" and "The Night Owls."

"Reminiscing" was part of the band's fourth album; they released one every year from their founding in 1975 until 1979, with each one more successful than the last. The hectic pace and personality clashes took a toll though, and Shorrock was ejected in 1981, replaced with John Farnham. The hits dried up a few years later, and in 1985 the band broke up. They returned in 1988 with Shorrock, but never got back to form. By the late '90s, all original members left the group, giving up their rights to the Little River Band name in the process. Guitarist Stephen Housden, who joined in 1981, took control of the name, leading to legal squabbles in the '00s that worked out in his favor. Shorrock, Birtles and Goble started recording as BSG in 2002.

Along with AC/DC and the Bee Gees, the Little River Band was one of the first Australian groups to hit it big in the US, selling over 25 million records and scoring 13 American Top 40 hits. "Reminiscing" was their biggest, reaching #3.

The "hurry, don't be late" section is a great example of the harmonies that were a hallmark of the group, sung by Shorrock, Goble and Birtles. "Graeham was the harmony master," Shorrock said in an interview. "He was the Brian Wilson of the band."

Reminiscing garnered lots of airplay in America, where for decades it played on lite-rock radio, the kind heard in elevators and dentists' offices.

Reminiscing wasn't nearly as popular in their native Australia, where it stalled at #35. The group was surprised when their American label, Capitol, decided to issue it as a single. "We thought that was a bit of a radical song, but it turns out that's the most-played Australian song on American radio," lead singer Glenn Shorrock told Songfacts. "I wish I'd written it."

Unabashedly commercial, the Little River Band took some stick in their native Australia, where some critics dismissed them as "Little River Bland." This didn't bother the band, which considered the criticism a byproduct of their success.
The horn that comes in near the end of the track of Reminiscing is a flugelhorn played by the Australian musician Bob Venier.

If the opening bars of Reminiscing sound eerily familiar to you, and you grew up in Southern California in the late-1970s/early-1980s, rest assured - you're not going crazy! As confirmed by the folks over at IMDB, an instrumental version of "Reminiscing" was used as the theme to (channel 5) KTLA's Family Film Festival, hosted by Tom Hatten. However, it was used without permission, so they eventually replaced it with their own jazzed-up theme and intro. Tom Hatten also hosted The Popeye Show on the same station, drawing cartoons between episodes. This might be why you flashed on a mental image of Olive Oyl or Swee' Pea as soon as you heard the hook!

Reminiscing was covered by fellow Australian rockers Madison Avenue in 2001. Their version when to #9 in Australia.

Cool Change was written by Little River Band lead singer Glenn Shorrock at a time when tensions ran high in the band. Shorrock, who told Songfacts that he and guitarist Graeham Goble were like "chalk and cheese," needed a cool change from the internecine squabbles. In this song, he goes into reverie, dreaming of spending some tranquil time to himself in nature.

At the time, he kept this interpretation under wraps, but Shorrock later admitted the song was a "cry for help."

Much of the lyric is about sailing and the feeling of being on the "cool and bright clear water." Shorrock wasn't much of a seafarer at the time, but he did take up sailing a short time later, abetted in the expensive hobby by his earnings from this song. Shorrock lived on Sydney Harbor and later took a second home in Fiji. The South Pacific became one of his favorite places to sail.

With a mellow '70s sound and specific references to sailing, Cool Change is the apotheosis of yacht rock, a genre that became quite popular in America in the '00s and helped revive the music of the Little River Band. Glenn Shorrock stayed away from the various yacht rock tours due to contractual squabbles - he left the band for good in 1996 and was barred from performing under the Little River Band moniker as part of an agreement.

In 2001, the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) named this one of the 30 greatest Australian songs of the last 75 years. The song's writer, Glenn Shorrock, was invited to the ceremony, where he reconnected with fellow LRB founder Graeham Goble, who was being honored for the song "Reminiscing," which he wrote for the band. They hadn't been in a lineup together since 1990 and had cut ties with the band, but they got on well and decided to make more music together. They contacted Beeb Birtles, another founder and the third piece of their famous harmony vocals. Together, they formed a group called BSG and began performing in 2002.