Sleeper Catcher alone is worth the price of this double feat
Parrish A. Highley | Somewhere I've Never Travelled | 09/26/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Although they may never get the credit they deserve for paving the long way to America for other Australian acts like Air Supply and Men At Work, The Little River Band did so with stellar musicianship, beautifully arranged vocal harmonies, and some incredibly versatile songcraft. Anyone who truly lends Sleeper Catcher the ear it so richly deserves would be hard-pressed to force it into any single conventional category. While generally regarded as soft rock or adult contemporary, in truth The Little River Band harnessed any number of progressive elements to make their particular brand of popular rock music far more intriguing than many of the groups with whom they typically get lumped.
Shut Down Turn Off opens Sleeper Catcher with a nicely progressive chord structure before "progressing" into the core of the song. It then ends in such a cleverly ambient manner that I cannot help but think that it would probably make Alan Parsons proud. It's the sort of album-oriented song that used to thrive in the 1970's and make the album experience unique to simply listening to the radio. But as much as I love Shut Down Turn Off, I love the languidly jazzy and beautifully arranged "Light of Day" even more!
The two big hits off Sleeper Catcher are Reminiscing and Lady. While I like the former, I love Lady for its, again, more progressive arrangement which ebbs and flows whereas the arrangement of the former is much more straight-forward and conventional. That said, one cannot find fault with the chord progression in album's biggest hit. Other songs that really standout are "Fall From Paradise" and "Sanity's Side" which seems almost like a prelude to another fantastic LRB song Cool Change.
While Sleeper Catcher is a solid five-star achievement, Time Exposure is best rated with four stars. Good, but just not inspired in the same manner that Sleeper Catcher clearly was. But even with that said, there are several fantastic songs on Time Exposure like Take It Easy On Me, Man On Your Mind, and, especially, the standout track on the album The Night Owls! The album-oriented songs on this album probably won't grab a newer listener immediately, but, given time, I think many will grow to appreciate Ballerina, Guiding Light, and We Two."
My favorite LRB albums.
Sheila Parker | Aberdeen, USA | 07/28/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"These are my 2 all-time favorite LRB albums. I have them on vinyl and I was happy to see that they came out on cd, which includes 2 extra tracks, You're Driving Me Out Of My Mind and We Two, which also happen to be my favorite LRB songs. These have been my favorites albums for over 25 yrs. Get it, you won't be disappointed."
