Graeham Goble
Encyclopedia
Graeham George Goble is a musician
, singer/songwriter
and record producer
, best known as a founding member of rock performers Little River Band
(LRB).
As a performer, Goble was responsible for the vocal arrangements and high harmonies on eleven studio albums and numerous Top 10 singles with LRB. As a songwriter he penned songs like "Reminiscing", "Lady", "Take It Easy On Me" and "The Other Guy" each played millions of times on radio. As a producer, Goble's credits include John Farnham
's Uncovered album and his own catalog of recordings.
Goble is a keen student of concepts such as spirituality
; he changed his first name from Graham to Graeham as a consequence of his interest in numerology
and feng shui
.
, The Hollies
, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Bread
and I always wanted to be in a band with harmonies. ... From my very first band we had 3 part harmonies"
Starting out as a drummer, Goble quickly progressed to the banjo
. "As soon as I had a stringed instrument in my hands I suddenly had all these melodies." Thereafter came the transition to guitar.
A number of bands followed in quick succession: The Silence (1966–67), Travis Wellington Hedge (1968), Allison Gros (1969–71) and Drummond (1971). Each of these bands was recorded, and Goble fans are always keen to hunt down the vinyl.
Allison Gros recorded their first single ("Naturally") on the Gamba label. Record producer David Mackay, impressed with this record, brought the band to the attention of Ron Tudor, owner of the Fable label. Tudor arranged for Allison Gros to travel from Adelaide to Melbourne where the band recorded two singles, "If I Ask You" and "All The Days".
The members of Allison Gros were recruited to record the song "Daddy Cool" but their Chipmunk
version was so atypical that they recorded under the fictitious name Drummond. Drummond would provide Goble with his first Number 1 hit single, albeit through unusual circumstances. The Australian band Daddy Cool
released their debut album in July 1971. That album contained the eponymous song "Daddy Cool", however, the song was overshadowed by the monster hit "Eagle Rock
". The website milesago.com reports their achievement thus: "Drummond's dopey Chipmunks-style assault on the vintage rocker Daddy Cool was a blatant cash-in on the success of Daddy Cool the group, who had covered it on their first LP
and had taken their name from it. Incomprehensibly, Drummond's version became one of the biggest Australian hits of the year, knocking Daddy Cool's Eagle Rock off the #1 spot." "Daddy Cool" would remain on top of the charts for seven weeks from 6 September. The song is available for listening here: http://www.lrb.net/realaudio/daddycool.ram
The success of the hit song "Daddy Cool" brought about greater awareness of Allison Gros/Drummond and led to a recording contract with the new independent record label Bootleg. The band morphed yet again, this time adopting the name Mississippi
. Still consisting of Goble, Russ Johnson and John Mower, the band was augmented by session musicians for the recording of their first, self-titled album.
The first single released by Mississippi would provide Goble with his first chart success as a songwriter, the song "Kings of the World" climbing to the Top 5. The album Mississippi would attract further success, receiving the ARIA
Award for Best Group Album of 1972, with "Kings of the World" awarded Best Group Single.
With a successful album and single behind them, Mississippi decided to hit the road. To fill out their live sound, the band was enhanced by the addition of top musicians including Beeb Birtles
(an ex-member of the band Zoot
, he had emigrated as a child from The Netherlands to Goble's home town of Adelaide) and drummer Derek Pellicci
. The first appearance of the expanded Mississippi took place on 28 October 1972 at Corbould Hall, Ballarat. With various personnel changes, but always including Goble, Birtles and Pellicci, Mississippi would go on to notch up over 400 live performances in 1972–74.
England was still the proving ground for aspiring Australian bands in the seventies. Mississippi decided to try their luck overseas on the back of encouraging interest in their album. So, in April 1974, the band sailed off as the resident band on the Fairsky, playing 28 nights during the voyage.
Prior to their departure, Mississippi recorded a single consisting of the songs "Will I" and "Where In The World". The latter song marked the first co-written song for Goble and Birtles, and Birtles recalls that "it's still one of my favourites to this day." The song is available for listening here: http://www.lrb.net/realaudio/whereintheworld.ram
The British venture proved to be disastrous. As Beeb Birtles recalls, "our management booked us to play the absolute worst disco gigs in and around London and it wasn't too long before we all knew the writing was on the wall. Mississippi fell apart in a matter of months." While the band members took temporary jobs and Goble headed off for a belated honeymoon, the core members Goble, Birtles and Pellicci still believed that the band had a future. They enlisted
ex-Masters Apprentices
bassist Glenn Wheatley
as manager and recruited the very experienced Glenn Shorrock
(formerly with The Twilights
and Axiom
) as lead singer and frontman. It was agreed that the nucleus of the new band would meet in Melbourne in January 1975.
and Roger McLachlan were recruited to complete the sound of the band. The new group performed in public for the first time in March 1975, still known as Mississippi. The new name Little River Band followed soon after, taken from a road sign to the town of Little River
as the band travelled to a performance in Geelong.
As principal composer, vocal arranger and co-producer, and with strong interest in the band's on-stage performance and day-to-day administration, Goble would soon come to be known as the "father figure" of the band. Glenn Shorrock put it less kindly, stating that "it's like having a policeman onstage with you every night". The creative tension, competition and differing personalities within the band would also fuel its subsequent rise to international stardom. As George Martin
would later remark, "That's what makes these acts what they are. It's a matter of harnessing this energy they have."
Contributing three of the nine songs on the band's eponymous first album, Goble was pipped for the first two Australian singles, those being Birtles' "Curiosity Killed The Cat" and Shorrock's "Emma". His epic eight-and-a-half minute "It's A Long Way There" was edited for American radio and garnered much interest and airplay. With a gold album, an opening set for Queen
in Hyde Park
and a European tour, the band was off to a remarkable start. Guitarist Formosa and bassist McLachlan were replaced by David Briggs
and George McArdle on the eve of the band's departure.
Goble and Little River Band continued a hectic combination of writing, recording and touring as the band built a solid international reputation, now headlining large concerts in their own right. Further hit songs flowed from Goble's pen, such as "Reminiscing" and "Lady". Glenn Wheatley acknowledged his overall contribution to the band:
As Wheatley diversified into other management and radio interests, Goble stepped up his influence in Little River Band. He recruited bassist Wayne Nelson
to replace the departing McArdle and to undertake some lead vocal work. Beatles producer George Martin agreed to produce the next album Time Exposure. The recording sessions in Montserrat
were tumultuous as internal friction rended the band. Yet the resulting album was a huge success, reaching the Top 10 and gold record status in the USA. Subsequently, Stephen Housden replaced Briggs on lead guitar.
It was Goble who acted as spokesman for the others in moving to have foundation lead vocalist Shorrock replaced by John Farnham
. The next US single, Goble's "The Other Guy", reached the Top 10 and a greatest hits compilation achieved platinum status. By the end of 1983 Billboard
magazine reported that Little River Band was the only act to reach the Top 10 every year for the previous five years.
As the band slowly began to slip from its glory days, Goble fought to keep it fresh and innovative. Original drummer Pellicci left and was replaced by Steve Prestwich
from Cold Chisel
, David Hirschfelder joined as the band's first permanent keyboard player and Beeb Birtles, Goble's team mate for more than a decade, left the band. The album Playing To Win featured a more raunchy sound from the band, now known simply as LRB. According to Goble, "that lineup [Goble, Nelson, Housden, Farnham, Prestwich and Hirschfelder] was the most talented LRB lineup that I had ever played in." "The live performances were so inspiring that I enjoyed playing live as much as recording. I count myself privileged to have experienced playing and singing with this line-up." The sales and the audiences diminished, however, and after the album No Reins Capitol did not renew the band's recording contract. Farnham left to pursue a solo career, later saying:
Remarkably, Goble convinced Shorrock and Pellicci to rejoin the band. A recording contract with MCA
produced two underrated albums, Monsoon and Get Lucky (plus an international compilation of these known as Worldwide Love). Past success was not forthcoming, however, and Goble retired from the band, first as a touring member and subsequently altogether. He would make his last appearance with LRB at the Brisbane Hilton Hotel on 21 April 1989. Goble would later say:
Goble sums up the LRB experience thus:
By 1976 Goble was in the American Top 30 with his ""It's A Long Way There", the first international hit for Little River Band. Two years later, he was in the Billboard
chart at Number 3 with the memorable "Reminiscing".
will always be remembered for "Night and Day"
and Paul McCartney
for "Yesterday"
, Graeham Goble will forever be associated with his most popular song "Reminiscing". First appearing on the album Sleeper Catcher in 1978, Goble had to fight to have it included:
In her autobiography, John Lennon
's erstwhile lover May Pang
describes how much Lennon enjoyed the song. "We spent the whole afternoon in bed, getting up only to play Reminiscing again and again. We must have listened to the song eight or nine times."
The legendary Frank Sinatra
also regarded the song very highly, saying that it was "the best 1970s song in the world".
Over the years, "Reminiscing" would appear regularly on AOR
and oldies
radio stations. This frequent airplay culminated in Goble being given a BMI
Four Million-Air Award for four million airplays in the United States.
"Reminiscing" has been interpreted by a variety of artists over the years. Some examples follow, with links to a sample of that interpretation:
The entire original Little River Band version on Sleeper Catcher (1978) may be heard here: http://www.lrb.net/realaudio/reminiscing.ram and compared with samples of their live versions on:
The complete original video clip is available for viewing here: http://www.graehamgoble.com/clips-lrb#flash6
"It's a Long Way There": "I wrote that song about how I moved to another state and I missed Adelaide a lot. I used to drive home 8–10 hours each month to visit my family. That's where the title came from. And then as we used to play 7 nights a week, we were battling for material, we'd go for very long jams on that song, sometimes 20 minutes at a time. And during the long outros, I would hear and come up with different passages, so I would often jot them down and rehearse them and add or take out a bit here and there. Today, I believe that the lyric is about a personal journey, a journey through lifetimes to your soul evolution."
"Mistress of Mine": "I thought that was the best thing we'd ever recorded. It was Glenn [Shorrock]'s best vocal." "We found it to be a favourite song of lots of people and surprisingly Glenn's father who has now passed away and my father who has also passed away, Glenn and I have both learnt that it was their favourite song." The lyrics of this song were inspired by some Humphrey Bogart movie dialogue.
"The Night Owls": "I felt a lot of my songs were being passed over because Glenn didn't feel a connection with them. When Wayne Nelson joined the band, I wrote The Night Owls for his higher voice range."
"We Two": "There's one lyric in We Two that's just about my favourite. [We make it so hard to find love, to feel free, to be fresh out of school]. I wrote that while watching a movie, too. It was in Europe, he was a racing car driver and this girl was dying of cancer. He loved her, but she wouldn't tell him that she was dying. One time she left and went on a balloon ride."
Altogether, 58 of Goble's songs have had airplay in the United States with total airplay of 12 million.
A deal was struck with EMI
Australia whereby the duo went into the studio and recorded the album The Last Romance as Birtles & Goble
. Released in 1979, the album's first single "I'm Coming Home" was a Top 10 hit in Australia. A video may be seen here: http://www.graehamgoble.com/clips-bg
The second single "Lonely Lives" (view video here: http://www.graehamgoble.com/clips-bg) did not fare as well. Birtles & Goble did not record as a duo again. Goble believes the album would have performed better with more promotion:
chose Graeham Goble to produce his 1980 album Uncovered. Aside from production and vocal arrangement, Goble also wrote or co-wrote nine of the ten songs on the album. The album reached Number 20 in the Australian album chart. One song, the Goble-written "Please Don't Ask Me" was subsequently considered for the LRB album The Net but failed to make the cut. It was released instead on the LRB rarities album Too Late to Load
. The LRB version of the song was also used during the opening titles of their 1983 HBO television program Live in Melbourne. The song would be given a third outing on Goble's 1995 album Stop, this time sung by Steve Wade
. That version may be heard here: http://www.lrb.net/realaudio/pleasedontaskme_goble.ram
Goble rates this song as his best: "Please Don't Ask Me is one of the songs I've written that really could become a world standard."
On his next two offerings Goble again eschewed the role of lead vocalist, offering that responsibility to Steve Wade on the albums Nautilus (1993) and Stop (1995). (Ironically, Wade would go on to take over lead vocals for Little River Band when Shorrock left for the second time in 1996.)
A chance meeting between Goble and Glenn Shorrock in 2001 (and a subsequent telephone call to Beeb Birtles) would lead to these three original members of LRB reforming as a group. Frustrated by their inability to refer directly to their Little River Band antecedence (another band member now owns the rights to the name), the trio perform as Birtles Shorrock Goble
(BSG). They have undertaken a number of Australian tours, released a live CD Full Circle and scored a gold award for the live DVD of the same name. To date, the chance to join the lucrative classic rock
arena tours in Europe and the USA has eluded BSG.
A Goble composition ("Praise") was included on the 2003 Boots and All album by singer Peter Brocklehurst. The song reinforced Goble's reputation for creating powerful emotive lyrics. At the requiem mass for Bishop John Heaps of Sydney it was noted that the lyrics of "Praise" evoked a deep response in him and brought him to tears.
In 2006 Goble finally released an album as lead singer. The Days Ahead is an optimistic collection of songs that is characteristic of the Goble style. The CD includes the bitter-sweet song "Someone's Taken Our History" that reflects on the history and legacy of Little River Band. That song (and a music video) have prompted considerable discussion and controversy.
Goble released a further solo album Let It Rain in 2008. A featured track is the complex "Initiation Suite" which Goble describes as follows:
Of the eleven tracks on the CD, two have been heard previously (albeit in different contexts). "Heart & Soul" appeared on the Birtles Shorrock Goble live DVD Full Circle (with Glenn Shorrock singing lead). "Let It Rain" was performed at the Farmhand Concert for Drought Relief and also popped up at some Birtles Shorrock Goble concerts in 2002. As he has done before, Goble recruited former Little River Band musicians to contribute to the album, including David Briggs, George McArdle, Roger McLachlan, Kevin Murphy and James Roche.
for American radio airplay in excess of one million, Goble's tally currently stands at four million plays for "Reminiscing", three million for "Lady" and one million each for "Take It Easy On Me" and "The Other Guy".
Goble has achieved more than 50 awards across four decades for songwriting, recording and performing, including:
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
Goble's many awards are detailed on his website.
Goble divorced in 1998 after 24 years of marriage. He has four children: Elisha, Joshua, Nathan and Charlotte; and two grandchildren: Lily and Harrison. A second marriage in 2000 ended in 2003. Goble remains close to his children. Three of them appeared on his 2006 album The Days Ahead, and all attended his 2004 induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
In April 2003, Goble sought treatment for codeine
dependence. Suffering from recurrent headaches, he had increased his intake of analgesic
s to an alarming level. Goble required three weeks' hospitalisation to treat his condition. He was forced to withdraw from six performances with Birtles Shorrock Goble, including a corporate function for Hagemeyer
in Bangkok
, Thailand
. Goble's son Joshua took his place for two of the six performances.
Goble believes that his life experiences have made him a better songwriter:
Goble currently lives in a suburb of Melbourne, Australia.
In 2008 Goble's son Joshua won the first NAB Songwriting Competition with his song "It's Our Time".
In February 2009, The Silence released a CD of their songs commemorating the 42nd anniversary of their music. All songs were written by Graeham. The CD is found here on Graeham's website.
The following albums represent his personal recording projects.
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, singer/songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, best known as a founding member of rock performers Little River Band
Little River Band
Little River Band is an Australian rock band, formed in Melbourne in early 1975.The group chose the name after passing a road sign leading to the Victorian township of Little River, near Geelong, on the way to a performance. Little River Band enjoyed sustained commercial success in not only...
(LRB).
As a performer, Goble was responsible for the vocal arrangements and high harmonies on eleven studio albums and numerous Top 10 singles with LRB. As a songwriter he penned songs like "Reminiscing", "Lady", "Take It Easy On Me" and "The Other Guy" each played millions of times on radio. As a producer, Goble's credits include John Farnham
John Farnham
John Peter Farnham, AO, formerly billed as Johnny Farnham , is an English-born Australian pop singer. He was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as...
's Uncovered album and his own catalog of recordings.
Goble is a keen student of concepts such as spirituality
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
; he changed his first name from Graham to Graeham as a consequence of his interest in numerology
Numerology
Numerology is any study of the purported mystical relationship between a count or measurement and life. It has many systems and traditions and beliefs...
and feng shui
Feng shui
Feng shui ' is a Chinese system of geomancy believed to use the laws of both Heaven and Earth to help one improve life by receiving positive qi. The original designation for the discipline is Kan Yu ....
.
Early career
Goble was drawn to music, in particular its harmonies, at an early age. "My early influences were bands like The BeatlesThe Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, The Hollies
The Hollies
The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...
, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Bread
Bread (band)
Bread was a rock band from Los Angeles, California. They placed 13 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart between 1970 and 1977 and were a prime example of what later was labeled soft rock....
and I always wanted to be in a band with harmonies. ... From my very first band we had 3 part harmonies"
Starting out as a drummer, Goble quickly progressed to the banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
. "As soon as I had a stringed instrument in my hands I suddenly had all these melodies." Thereafter came the transition to guitar.
A number of bands followed in quick succession: The Silence (1966–67), Travis Wellington Hedge (1968), Allison Gros (1969–71) and Drummond (1971). Each of these bands was recorded, and Goble fans are always keen to hunt down the vinyl.
Allison Gros recorded their first single ("Naturally") on the Gamba label. Record producer David Mackay, impressed with this record, brought the band to the attention of Ron Tudor, owner of the Fable label. Tudor arranged for Allison Gros to travel from Adelaide to Melbourne where the band recorded two singles, "If I Ask You" and "All The Days".
The members of Allison Gros were recruited to record the song "Daddy Cool" but their Chipmunk
The Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...
version was so atypical that they recorded under the fictitious name Drummond. Drummond would provide Goble with his first Number 1 hit single, albeit through unusual circumstances. The Australian band Daddy Cool
Daddy Cool (band)
Daddy Cool is an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in 1970 with the original line-up of Wayne Duncan , Ross Hannaford , Ross Wilson and Gary Young . Their debut single "Eagle Rock" was released in May 1971 and stayed at number 1 on the Australian singles chart for ten weeks...
released their debut album in July 1971. That album contained the eponymous song "Daddy Cool", however, the song was overshadowed by the monster hit "Eagle Rock
Eagle Rock (song)
"Eagle Rock" is a classic Australian song, released by Daddy Cool in May 1971 on the Sparmac Record Label. It went on to become the best selling Australian single of the year, achieving gold status in eleven weeks, and remaining at #1 on the national charts for a record ten weeks. "Eagle Rock"...
". The website milesago.com reports their achievement thus: "Drummond's dopey Chipmunks-style assault on the vintage rocker Daddy Cool was a blatant cash-in on the success of Daddy Cool the group, who had covered it on their first LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
and had taken their name from it. Incomprehensibly, Drummond's version became one of the biggest Australian hits of the year, knocking Daddy Cool's Eagle Rock off the #1 spot." "Daddy Cool" would remain on top of the charts for seven weeks from 6 September. The song is available for listening here: http://www.lrb.net/realaudio/daddycool.ram
The success of the hit song "Daddy Cool" brought about greater awareness of Allison Gros/Drummond and led to a recording contract with the new independent record label Bootleg. The band morphed yet again, this time adopting the name Mississippi
Mississippi (band)
Mississippi was an Australian band , which featured some big names in Australian rock music, Graeham Goble, Beeb Birtles and Kerryn Tolhurst...
. Still consisting of Goble, Russ Johnson and John Mower, the band was augmented by session musicians for the recording of their first, self-titled album.
The first single released by Mississippi would provide Goble with his first chart success as a songwriter, the song "Kings of the World" climbing to the Top 5. The album Mississippi would attract further success, receiving the ARIA
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
Award for Best Group Album of 1972, with "Kings of the World" awarded Best Group Single.
With a successful album and single behind them, Mississippi decided to hit the road. To fill out their live sound, the band was enhanced by the addition of top musicians including Beeb Birtles
Beeb Birtles
Beeb Birtles , is a Dutch / Australian musician, one of the founding members of the Little River Band....
(an ex-member of the band Zoot
Zoot (band)
Zoot are a pop/rock band formed in Adelaide, South Australia in 1965 as Down the Line. They changed their name to Zoot in 1967 and by 1968 had relocated to Melbourne...
, he had emigrated as a child from The Netherlands to Goble's home town of Adelaide) and drummer Derek Pellicci
Derek Pellicci
Derek Allan Pellicci is an Australian pop music drummer. He is best known as a founding member of Little River Band...
. The first appearance of the expanded Mississippi took place on 28 October 1972 at Corbould Hall, Ballarat. With various personnel changes, but always including Goble, Birtles and Pellicci, Mississippi would go on to notch up over 400 live performances in 1972–74.
England was still the proving ground for aspiring Australian bands in the seventies. Mississippi decided to try their luck overseas on the back of encouraging interest in their album. So, in April 1974, the band sailed off as the resident band on the Fairsky, playing 28 nights during the voyage.
Prior to their departure, Mississippi recorded a single consisting of the songs "Will I" and "Where In The World". The latter song marked the first co-written song for Goble and Birtles, and Birtles recalls that "it's still one of my favourites to this day." The song is available for listening here: http://www.lrb.net/realaudio/whereintheworld.ram
The British venture proved to be disastrous. As Beeb Birtles recalls, "our management booked us to play the absolute worst disco gigs in and around London and it wasn't too long before we all knew the writing was on the wall. Mississippi fell apart in a matter of months." While the band members took temporary jobs and Goble headed off for a belated honeymoon, the core members Goble, Birtles and Pellicci still believed that the band had a future. They enlisted
ex-Masters Apprentices
The Masters Apprentices
The Masters Apprentices were an Australian rock band fronted by mainstay Jim Keays on lead vocals, which formed in 1965 in Adelaide, South Australia, relocated to Melbourne in February 1967 and attempted to break into the United Kingdom market from 1970, before disbanding in 1972...
bassist Glenn Wheatley
Glenn Wheatley
Glenn Dawson Wheatley is an Australian artist manager and entertainment industry executive.Wheatley began his career as a musician in Brisbane in the mid-1960s and in the late 1960s became nationally famous as a member of leading pop-rock band The Masters Apprentices...
as manager and recruited the very experienced Glenn Shorrock
Glenn Shorrock
Glenn Barrie Shorrock is an English-born Australian singer-songwriter. He was a founding member of pop groups The Twilights, Axiom and Little River Band as well as being a solo performer....
(formerly with The Twilights
The Twilights (band)
The Twilights were an Australian rock music group of the mid to late 1960s. Alongside their own career successes, The Twilights are also notable for the inclusion of vocalist Glenn Shorrock, who later fronted Axiom, Esperanto and Little River Band, and guitarist Terry Britten who went on to become...
and Axiom
Axiom (Australian band)
Axiom were a rock band formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1969 and included musicians Glenn Shorrock and Brian Cadd.-Biography:Axiom's formation was a by-product of the annual Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds in which the top Australian bands of the day performed in front of judges for the prize of a...
) as lead singer and frontman. It was agreed that the nucleus of the new band would meet in Melbourne in January 1975.
Little River Band
The nucleus of Goble, Birtles, Pellicci, new boy Shorrock and manager Wheatley kicked off the revitalised venture. Guitarists Ric FormosaRic Formosa
-External links:...
and Roger McLachlan were recruited to complete the sound of the band. The new group performed in public for the first time in March 1975, still known as Mississippi. The new name Little River Band followed soon after, taken from a road sign to the town of Little River
Little River, Victoria
Little River is a town in Victoria, Australia, 51 km south-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area are the Cities of Wyndham and Greater Geelong. At the 2006 Census, Little River had a population of 375.-History:...
as the band travelled to a performance in Geelong.
As principal composer, vocal arranger and co-producer, and with strong interest in the band's on-stage performance and day-to-day administration, Goble would soon come to be known as the "father figure" of the band. Glenn Shorrock put it less kindly, stating that "it's like having a policeman onstage with you every night". The creative tension, competition and differing personalities within the band would also fuel its subsequent rise to international stardom. As George Martin
George Martin
Sir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...
would later remark, "That's what makes these acts what they are. It's a matter of harnessing this energy they have."
Contributing three of the nine songs on the band's eponymous first album, Goble was pipped for the first two Australian singles, those being Birtles' "Curiosity Killed The Cat" and Shorrock's "Emma". His epic eight-and-a-half minute "It's A Long Way There" was edited for American radio and garnered much interest and airplay. With a gold album, an opening set for Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
in Hyde Park
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
and a European tour, the band was off to a remarkable start. Guitarist Formosa and bassist McLachlan were replaced by David Briggs
David Briggs (Australian musician)
David Briggs is an Australian musician and record producer, educated at Wesley College, Melbourne best known for his time as a guitarist in the rock band, Little River Band between 1976 and 1981.In 1976 he joined Little River Band. He wrote their hit single "Lonesome Loser", as well as "Happy...
and George McArdle on the eve of the band's departure.
Goble and Little River Band continued a hectic combination of writing, recording and touring as the band built a solid international reputation, now headlining large concerts in their own right. Further hit songs flowed from Goble's pen, such as "Reminiscing" and "Lady". Glenn Wheatley acknowledged his overall contribution to the band:
"Graham was meticulous in every detail. He drove people crazy with his fanaticism but you had to respect and admire him for his absolute perseverance and his ability to write a good song. Without such songs we had nothing. Graham wrote some classics. He is also very intelligent, as I discovered in our many late-night discussions. Through all his quirks he is a very interesting human being."
As Wheatley diversified into other management and radio interests, Goble stepped up his influence in Little River Band. He recruited bassist Wayne Nelson
Wayne Nelson
Wayne Nelson is an American musician best known for being a member of the famed Australian rock band, Little River Band....
to replace the departing McArdle and to undertake some lead vocal work. Beatles producer George Martin agreed to produce the next album Time Exposure. The recording sessions in Montserrat
Montserrat
Montserrat is a British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands called the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies. This island measures approximately long and wide, giving of coastline...
were tumultuous as internal friction rended the band. Yet the resulting album was a huge success, reaching the Top 10 and gold record status in the USA. Subsequently, Stephen Housden replaced Briggs on lead guitar.
It was Goble who acted as spokesman for the others in moving to have foundation lead vocalist Shorrock replaced by John Farnham
John Farnham
John Peter Farnham, AO, formerly billed as Johnny Farnham , is an English-born Australian pop singer. He was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as...
. The next US single, Goble's "The Other Guy", reached the Top 10 and a greatest hits compilation achieved platinum status. By the end of 1983 Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
magazine reported that Little River Band was the only act to reach the Top 10 every year for the previous five years.
As the band slowly began to slip from its glory days, Goble fought to keep it fresh and innovative. Original drummer Pellicci left and was replaced by Steve Prestwich
Steve Prestwich
-External links:* *...
from Cold Chisel
Cold Chisel
Cold Chisel is a rock band that originated in Adelaide, Australia. It is one of the most acclaimed Australian rock bands of all time, with a string of hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s and huge sales that continue to this day, although its success and acclaim was almost completely restricted to...
, David Hirschfelder joined as the band's first permanent keyboard player and Beeb Birtles, Goble's team mate for more than a decade, left the band. The album Playing To Win featured a more raunchy sound from the band, now known simply as LRB. According to Goble, "that lineup [Goble, Nelson, Housden, Farnham, Prestwich and Hirschfelder] was the most talented LRB lineup that I had ever played in." "The live performances were so inspiring that I enjoyed playing live as much as recording. I count myself privileged to have experienced playing and singing with this line-up." The sales and the audiences diminished, however, and after the album No Reins Capitol did not renew the band's recording contract. Farnham left to pursue a solo career, later saying:
"There were some strong personalities in that band, Graham especially, and very strongly self-motivated. The membership changes down the line had something to do with the failure. The way we approached it was always very safe - never very adventurous. We never stuck our necks out."
Remarkably, Goble convinced Shorrock and Pellicci to rejoin the band. A recording contract with MCA
Music Corporation of America
MCA, Inc. was an American talent agency. Initially starting in the music business, they would next become a dominant force in the film business, and later expanded into the television business...
produced two underrated albums, Monsoon and Get Lucky (plus an international compilation of these known as Worldwide Love). Past success was not forthcoming, however, and Goble retired from the band, first as a touring member and subsequently altogether. He would make his last appearance with LRB at the Brisbane Hilton Hotel on 21 April 1989. Goble would later say:
"Little River Band no longer had a recording contract and there was no immediate possibility of recording. I always preferred recording to 'live work' and when the future of the band appeared to be just playing the greatest hits for the rest of its life, then I knew it was time for me to leave."
Goble sums up the LRB experience thus:
"There's been six bands from Australia that have made an impact in America. How incredible was our destiny to be one of the very few out of all these incredible bands. Think about the thousands of acts that tried - it's an extraordinary achievement."
Songwriting
Goble has been seriously writing songs since he was 16:
"I still write my songs the same way as when I first began. Usually an idea comes while I'm playing my acoustic guitar, but songs often come to me at any time of the day when I'm not playing my guitar. I sometimes dream complete compositions." Graham Goble (1997)
"I hear everything at once – melody, lyrics, it just comes in. There's a feeling that comes over me and I know that there's a song trying to come through. It's sort of like I'm taken over or someone's trying to contact me; I really believe very much that I'm in some ways channeling this thing. Because when I write a song it's always done very quickly, completed in 20 minutes or maybe half an hour. I never labour anything, or very rarely. The only labouring I've ever done in songwriting might be when I've completed a work, a song, and there might be a couple of lyrics I don't like, so sometimes I might sit with those and really put some brain power in how to fix up the lines. But for the most part it comes to me, it comes in and I can hear the whole thing finished with harmonies and everything." Graeham Goble (2001)
By 1976 Goble was in the American Top 30 with his ""It's A Long Way There", the first international hit for Little River Band. Two years later, he was in the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
chart at Number 3 with the memorable "Reminiscing".
Reminiscing
Just as Cole PorterCole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
will always be remembered for "Night and Day"
Night and Day (song)
"Night and Day" is a popular song by Cole Porter. It was written for the 1932 musical play Gay Divorce. It is perhaps Porter's most popular contribution to the Great American Songbook and has been recorded by dozens of artists....
and Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
for "Yesterday"
Yesterday (song)
"Yesterday" is a song originally recorded by The Beatles for their 1965 album Help!. The song first hit the United Kingdom top 10 three months after the release of Help!. The song remains popular today with more than 1,600 cover versions, one of the most covered songs in the history of recorded...
, Graeham Goble will forever be associated with his most popular song "Reminiscing". First appearing on the album Sleeper Catcher in 1978, Goble had to fight to have it included:
"I loved watching old black and white movies, and I always also loved the music of Glenn Miller and Cole Porter, that whole era of writing, and it was my attempt to write a song to depict the romantic era. It came out very quickly, I wrote it in about half an hour. Even though a lot of people think it sounds complicated, on the guitar it's very simple to play. It nearly never got recorded - when the time came to record it, the keyboard player I wanted to use, Peter Jones, was out of town, so we cut the band track with a different keyboard player. It didn't work. A few days later when we tried it again with a different keyboard player, again it didn't work, and the band was losing interest in the song. Just before the album was finished, Peter Jones came back into town, the band and I had an argument because I wanted to give Reminiscing a third chance. Peter played on it, we cut it, and finished it, and sent the album to Capitol. Capitol said that they couldn't hear any singles on the album, and didn't know what to release. Five weeks later, someone at Capitol's New York office said 'You're all crazy, Reminiscing is a smash.' Capitol put it out, and it just immediately caught on fire, and became our highest chart hit."
"It's quite staggering; you don't realise you've written something like that until it happens, until it's history."
In her autobiography, John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
's erstwhile lover May Pang
May Pang
May Fung Yee Pang is best known as the former girlfriend of John Lennon. She had previously worked as a personal assistant and production coordinator for Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono....
describes how much Lennon enjoyed the song. "We spent the whole afternoon in bed, getting up only to play Reminiscing again and again. We must have listened to the song eight or nine times."
The legendary Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
also regarded the song very highly, saying that it was "the best 1970s song in the world".
Over the years, "Reminiscing" would appear regularly on AOR
Album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.-Music played:Most radio formats are based on a select, tight rotation of hit singles...
and oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
radio stations. This frequent airplay culminated in Goble being given a BMI
Broadcast Music Incorporated
Broadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...
Four Million-Air Award for four million airplays in the United States.
"Reminiscing" has been interpreted by a variety of artists over the years. Some examples follow, with links to a sample of that interpretation:
- Barry ManilowBarry ManilowBarry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana ."...
(1996) included a traditional version on his Summer of '78Summer of '78Summer of '78 is an album by singer-songwriter Barry Manilow, released in 1996. The album was a collections of popular songs mostly from the 1970s, and was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee.- Track listing :#"Summer Of '78" - 1:48...
album http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B000002VPX001003/ - John O'BanionJohn O'BanionJohn O'Banion was an American vocalist and actor.-Early career:He was born in Kokomo, Indiana in 1947 and was performing in theater by the age of 13 as well as in a local Indiana band Hog Honda & the Chain Guards...
(1997) covered the song on his CD entitled Hearts http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B000000QVH001005/ - Tommy EmmanuelTommy EmmanuelWilliam Thomas "Tommy" Emmanuel AM is an Australian guitarist, best known for his complex fingerpicking style, energetic performances and the use of percussive effects on the guitar. In the May 2008 and 2010 issues of Guitar Player Magazine, he was named as "Best Acoustic Guitarist" in their...
(1998) has a jazz version (with Glenn Shorrock vocals) on the album Collaboration http://www.tommyemmanuel.com/music/clips/collaboration/08-Glenn_Shorrock_Reminiscing.m3u - Steve Veale (2000) features an instrumental version on Urban Oasis http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B00004NRUJ001007/
- Madison AvenueMadison Avenue (band)Madison Avenue was an Australian house music duo consisting of writer-producer Andy Van Dorsselaer and singer-lyricist Cheyne Coates. Madison Avenue is best known for the song "Don't Call Me Baby", which peaked at number two on the Australian singles charts in 1999.- History :Before joining Madison...
(2001) released a dance musicDance musicDance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
version that went to Number 9 on the Australian singles chart http://sg1.allmusic.com/cg/smp.dll?link=vyw5cfgqwcqui5hxsysb4g8&r=64.ra - Biz MarkieBiz MarkieMarcel Theo Hall better known by his stage name, Biz Markie, is an American rapper, beatboxer, DJ, comedian, singer, reality television personality, and commercial spokesperson. He is best known for his single "Just a Friend", an American Top 10 hit in 1989...
(2003) heavily samples "Reminiscing" on his hip hopHip hopHip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
song Throw Back on the album Weekend Warrior http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B0000DZ3EW001007/ - Mark Ham (2004) has a jazzy take on his album Growing Up http://www.sanity.com.au/service/play_track_popup_tracks.asp?trackid=10034296
- Glenn ShorrockGlenn ShorrockGlenn Barrie Shorrock is an English-born Australian singer-songwriter. He was a founding member of pop groups The Twilights, Axiom and Little River Band as well as being a solo performer....
(2007) re-recorded a bluesy solo version on his album Meanwhile http://www.sanity.com.au/service/play_track_popup_tracks.asp?trackid=10247810 - Ben StillerBen StillerBenjamin Edward "Ben" Stiller is an American comedian, actor, writer, film director, and producer. He is the son of veteran comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara....
(2007) sang a humorous, off-key version during an American IdolAmerican IdolAmerican Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
charity show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LhWKxxWyWw - Patton Leather Rhythm (2007) included an instrumental version on their eponymous album http://musicishere.com/getdemo.php?cid=767276
- Carl RiseleyCarl RiseleyCarl Riseley is an Australian singer and recording artist.-Early life and career origins:Born on the Gold Coast in 1982, Riseley started out playing the cornet, and progressed to the trumpet when he was sixteen. Riseley joined The Royal Australian Navy band in April 2003, as a trumpeter...
(2008) finished third in Australian Idol (season 5)Australian Idol (season 5)The fifth season of Australian Idol premiered on 5 August 2007 on Network Ten. It concluded on 25 November.-Format Changes:The series was again hosted by Andrew G and James Mathison with Ian "Dicko" Dickson returning to the show as one of the judges, along with Mark Holden, Marcia Hines and Kyle...
where he performed "Reminiscing", subsequently recording it for his debut album The Rise http://chaos.com/playtrack.asp?lngProductID=1698921&lngTrackID=1661053&lngArtistID=686066
The entire original Little River Band version on Sleeper Catcher (1978) may be heard here: http://www.lrb.net/realaudio/reminiscing.ram and compared with samples of their live versions on:
- Backstage Pass (1980) http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B000002R1W001007/
- Full Circle (2003, Birtles Shorrock Goble) http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B0009IW9BG001015/
The complete original video clip is available for viewing here: http://www.graehamgoble.com/clips-lrb#flash6
Other songs
Here are Goble's thoughts on other songs that he has written:"It's a Long Way There": "I wrote that song about how I moved to another state and I missed Adelaide a lot. I used to drive home 8–10 hours each month to visit my family. That's where the title came from. And then as we used to play 7 nights a week, we were battling for material, we'd go for very long jams on that song, sometimes 20 minutes at a time. And during the long outros, I would hear and come up with different passages, so I would often jot them down and rehearse them and add or take out a bit here and there. Today, I believe that the lyric is about a personal journey, a journey through lifetimes to your soul evolution."
"Mistress of Mine": "I thought that was the best thing we'd ever recorded. It was Glenn [Shorrock]'s best vocal." "We found it to be a favourite song of lots of people and surprisingly Glenn's father who has now passed away and my father who has also passed away, Glenn and I have both learnt that it was their favourite song." The lyrics of this song were inspired by some Humphrey Bogart movie dialogue.
"The Night Owls": "I felt a lot of my songs were being passed over because Glenn didn't feel a connection with them. When Wayne Nelson joined the band, I wrote The Night Owls for his higher voice range."
"We Two": "There's one lyric in We Two that's just about my favourite. [We make it so hard to find love, to feel free, to be fresh out of school]. I wrote that while watching a movie, too. It was in Europe, he was a racing car driver and this girl was dying of cancer. He loved her, but she wouldn't tell him that she was dying. One time she left and went on a balloon ride."
Altogether, 58 of Goble's songs have had airplay in the United States with total airplay of 12 million.
Side projects
Despite his busy schedule recording and touring with LRB, and his commitment to writing songs, Goble found time for a number of side projects.The Last Romance
By 1978 the prolific writers, Goble and Birtles, had amassed many songs that had missed the cut for LRB albums.
"We had an eight album contract with CapitolCapitol RecordsCapitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
but there was also the option to do duo albums or solo albums. We really wanted to do a duo album because we had a lot of material, particularly songs that didn't suit LRB because Glenn (Shorrock) didn't feel comfortable with some of the songs." Graeham Goble (2003)
A deal was struck with EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
Australia whereby the duo went into the studio and recorded the album The Last Romance as Birtles & Goble
Birtles & Goble
Birtles & Goble was an Australian pop music duo composed of Beeb Birtles and Graeham Goble...
. Released in 1979, the album's first single "I'm Coming Home" was a Top 10 hit in Australia. A video may be seen here: http://www.graehamgoble.com/clips-bg
The second single "Lonely Lives" (view video here: http://www.graehamgoble.com/clips-bg) did not fare as well. Birtles & Goble did not record as a duo again. Goble believes the album would have performed better with more 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 & OatesHall & OatesHall & Oates are an American musical duo composed of Daryl Hall and John Oates. They achieved their greatest fame in the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s. Both sing and play instruments. They specialized in a fusion of rock and roll and rhythm and blues styles, which they dubbed "rock and soul."...
. 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."
Uncovered
Australian singer and soon-to-be LRB frontman John FarnhamJohn Farnham
John Peter Farnham, AO, formerly billed as Johnny Farnham , is an English-born Australian pop singer. He was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as...
chose Graeham Goble to produce his 1980 album Uncovered. Aside from production and vocal arrangement, Goble also wrote or co-wrote nine of the ten songs on the album. The album reached Number 20 in the Australian album chart. One song, the Goble-written "Please Don't Ask Me" was subsequently considered for the LRB album The Net but failed to make the cut. It was released instead on the LRB rarities album Too Late to Load
Too Late to Load
Too Late to Load is a 1988 rarities compilation album by Little River Band . The album is subtitled "The Unissued, Unavailable, and Ultra Rare LRB Masters, 1975–1986".-Background:...
. The LRB version of the song was also used during the opening titles of their 1983 HBO television program Live in Melbourne. The song would be given a third outing on Goble's 1995 album Stop, this time sung by Steve Wade
Steve Wade (singer)
Steve Wade is an award-winning Australian singer, songwriter and musician. For four years he was the lead vocalist for Little River Band. Wade is a two-time winner of Australian Songwriter of the Year.-Singer:...
. That version may be heard here: http://www.lrb.net/realaudio/pleasedontaskme_goble.ram
Goble rates this song as his best: "Please Don't Ask Me is one of the songs I've written that really could become a world standard."
After LRB
Freed of his commitment to LRB (and touring in particular), Goble was able to indulge his passion for carefully crafted and meticulous studio recordings. His first offering was the 1990 album Broken Voices for which he was composer, producer, vocal arranger, harmony vocalist and acoustic guitarist. Goble recruited Susie Ahern to provide lead vocals.On his next two offerings Goble again eschewed the role of lead vocalist, offering that responsibility to Steve Wade on the albums Nautilus (1993) and Stop (1995). (Ironically, Wade would go on to take over lead vocals for Little River Band when Shorrock left for the second time in 1996.)
A chance meeting between Goble and Glenn Shorrock in 2001 (and a subsequent telephone call to Beeb Birtles) would lead to these three original members of LRB reforming as a group. Frustrated by their inability to refer directly to their Little River Band antecedence (another band member now owns the rights to the name), the trio perform as Birtles Shorrock Goble
Birtles Shorrock Goble
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...
(BSG). They have undertaken a number of Australian tours, released a live CD Full Circle and scored a gold award for the live DVD of the same name. To date, the chance to join the lucrative classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
arena tours in Europe and the USA has eluded BSG.
A Goble composition ("Praise") was included on the 2003 Boots and All album by singer Peter Brocklehurst. The song reinforced Goble's reputation for creating powerful emotive lyrics. At the requiem mass for Bishop John Heaps of Sydney it was noted that the lyrics of "Praise" evoked a deep response in him and brought him to tears.
In 2006 Goble finally released an album as lead singer. The Days Ahead is an optimistic collection of songs that is characteristic of the Goble style. The CD includes the bitter-sweet song "Someone's Taken Our History" that reflects on the history and legacy of Little River Band. That song (and a music video) have prompted considerable discussion and controversy.
Goble released a further solo album Let It Rain in 2008. A featured track is the complex "Initiation Suite" which Goble describes as follows:
"From a very young age I had a "sense" that I was meant to write an important piece of music. When I commenced writing my "Initiation Suite", I knew the moment had arrived.
Using the fairytale as inspiration, I've tried to tell the story of a person's life, from beginning to end & beyond, with all the stages (ups & downs, trial & tribulations) in between.
It's the universal story of mankind. The story has been told many times before, but this may be the first time it's been put into musical form, particularly the rock/popular music form.
Like the fairytale, my "Initiation Suite" has 12 sections (or periods) of a person's life experience on earth."
Of the eleven tracks on the CD, two have been heard previously (albeit in different contexts). "Heart & Soul" appeared on the Birtles Shorrock Goble live DVD Full Circle (with Glenn Shorrock singing lead). "Let It Rain" was performed at the Farmhand Concert for Drought Relief and also popped up at some Birtles Shorrock Goble concerts in 2002. As he has done before, Goble recruited former Little River Band musicians to contribute to the album, including David Briggs, George McArdle, Roger McLachlan, Kevin Murphy and James Roche.
Awards
Among Graeham Goble's numerous career awards, his four Million-Air Awards are arguably the most impressive. Presented by BMIBroadcast Music Incorporated
Broadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...
for American radio airplay in excess of one million, Goble's tally currently stands at four million plays for "Reminiscing", three million for "Lady" and one million each for "Take It Easy On Me" and "The Other Guy".
Goble has achieved more than 50 awards across four decades for songwriting, recording and performing, including:
1970s
- ARIAAustralian Recording Industry AssociationThe Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
Awards for Best Album and Best Single (Mississippi) - ARIA Awards for Best Group Performance and Album of the Year (Little River Band)
- Gold and Platinum AlbumsMusic recording sales certificationMusic recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
for Little River Band, After Hours, Diamantina Cocktail, Sleeper Catcher, It's A Long Way There and First Under The Wire - Grammy AwardGrammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
nomination for "Lonesome Loser"
1980s
- Gold or Platinum Albums for Backstage Pass, Uncovered, Time Exposure, Greatest Hits Volumes 1 and 2, The Net and Monsoon
- APRAAustralasian Performing Right AssociationThe Australasian Performing Right Association is a copyright collective representing New Zealand and Australian composers, lyricists and music publishers. The association's head offices located in Sydney Australia, and it has branch offices in Auckland, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth...
Gold Music Award for "Reminiscing" and "The Other Guy" - Advance Australia Award for outstanding contribution
1990s
- Platinum Album for The Classic Collection
2000s
- Gold Award for Full Circle DVD
- Inducted into the ARIA Hall of FameARIA Hall of FameSince 1988 the Australian Recording Industry Association has inducted artists into its ARIA Hall of Fame. While most have been recognised at the annual ARIA Music Awards, in 2005 ARIA sought to create a separate standalone "ARIA Icons: Hall of Fame" event as only one or two acts could be inducted...
(Little River Band) - Australian Entertainment AwardMo AwardsThe Mo Awards are long running annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia....
for Classic Rock Performers of the Year (Birtles Shorrock Goble) - Inducted into the Australian Songwriters Association Hall of Fame (with Birtles and Shorrock)
Goble's many awards are detailed on his website.
Personal life
Graeham Goble has spent much of his adult life in the study of spirituality and related concepts:
"I believe very much in spiritual realms. I've done a lot of spiritual study - not religious study, but spiritual study, I think there's a big difference - and I believe in things like guardian angels and the angelic realm. My studies have taught me that when we sleep our soul leaves our body and we go up and have interaction with the spiritual realms. ... My view has always been that no-one's got the dibs on truth, and I've moved through lots of different beliefs and actually arrived at Rudolf SteinerRudolf SteinerRudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist. He gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher...
."
Goble divorced in 1998 after 24 years of marriage. He has four children: Elisha, Joshua, Nathan and Charlotte; and two grandchildren: Lily and Harrison. A second marriage in 2000 ended in 2003. Goble remains close to his children. Three of them appeared on his 2006 album The Days Ahead, and all attended his 2004 induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
In April 2003, Goble sought treatment for codeine
Codeine
Codeine or 3-methylmorphine is an opiate used for its analgesic, antitussive, and antidiarrheal properties...
dependence. Suffering from recurrent headaches, he had increased his intake of analgesic
Analgesic
An analgesic is any member of the group of drugs used to relieve pain . The word analgesic derives from Greek an- and algos ....
s to an alarming level. Goble required three weeks' hospitalisation to treat his condition. He was forced to withdraw from six performances with Birtles Shorrock Goble, including a corporate function for Hagemeyer
Hagemeyer
Hagemeyer was a business-to-business distribution services group focusing on the markets for electrical materials, safety and other maintenance, repair and operations products in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. It was based in the Netherlands but was acquired by rival Rexel in 2008, with...
in Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. Goble's son Joshua took his place for two of the six performances.
Goble believes that his life experiences have made him a better songwriter:
"I think the quality of what I'm doing is very high and the songs are very meaningful because I've lived a lot now. I've written from the point of view of somebody who's been through the mill and come out the other side."
Goble currently lives in a suburb of Melbourne, Australia.
In 2008 Goble's son Joshua won the first NAB Songwriting Competition with his song "It's Our Time".
Discography
Graeham Goble has recorded with the groups The Silence, Travis Wellington Hedge, Allison Gros, Drummond, Mississippi, Little River Band and Birtles Shorrock Goble.In February 2009, The Silence released a CD of their songs commemorating the 42nd anniversary of their music. All songs were written by Graeham. The CD is found here on Graeham's website.
The following albums represent his personal recording projects.
| Album | Track Listing | Review |
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1) Lonely Lives 2) Last Romance 3) I'm Coming Home 4) I Didn't Stand A Chance 5) He Gives Us All His Love 6) The Netherlands 7) Into My Life 8) You'll Never Change Your Mind 9) How I Feel Tonight 10) Whales |
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1) Lessons Of Love 2) Halls Of Justice 3) Restless Heart 4) Into Your Arms 5) I Have No Words 6) Secret Affair 7) Wanted 8) Your Secret Is Out 9) Tangled Skeins 10) I've Got Everything |
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1) Can't Eat, Can't Sleep 2) 'Til Tonight 3) Full Circle 4) She Tells You, You Tell Me 5) Addicted To You 6) You Never Cry 7) I've Been Broken 8) Into The Silence 9) My Heart's Desire 10) It's Over, At Last |
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1) Two Emotions 2) Dressed To The Best 3) Stop 4) Please Don't Ask Me 5) Crazy Over You 6) Magic Time-Frame 7) The Waiting Game 8) For The Love Of You 9) Wanted 10) Time & Eternity |
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1) Can't Eat, Can't Sleep 2) 'Til Tonight 3) Addicted To You 4) She Tells You, You Tell Me 5) Restless Heart 6) You Never Cry 7) I've Found You 8) Into The Silence 9) My Heart's Desire 10) It's Over, At Last |
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1) In The Beginning 2) Fragile Heart 3) I'd Rather Be With You 4) First Time 5) No One (Just You) 6) This Train 7) The Man Nobody Loved 8) Somebody Please 9) You Can't Hold Me 10) The Days Ahead 11) Someone's Taken Our History |
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1) Almost Here 2) The Boy Inside 3) Loneliness 4) Distant Blue 5) Crossfire 6) You Knew Me 7) Heart & Soul 8) Heart & Soul (Reprise) 9) Will-O'-The-Wisp 10) Initiation Suite 11) Let It Rain |
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External links
- Graeham Goble's website
- Graeham Goble's MySpace
- Graeham Goble's Music Facebook
- Five-part video interview at undercover.com.au (2008)
- Video of song Someone's Taken Our History (2006)
- Article in The Age newspaper (2005)
- Graeham Goble: Composer Profile by Debbie Kruger (2001)
- Web interview by Frankie Aue (1997)