Birtles & Goble

Birtles & Goble was 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 & Goble
GenresPop, soft rock
Years active1978–1980
LabelsEMI
Associated actsMississippi, Little River Band, Birtles Shorrock Goble
Past membersBeeb Birtles
Graeham Goble

Background

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 believes 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]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Beeb Birtles and Graeham Goble, except where noted.

Side 1

  1. "Lonely Lives" – 3:31
  2. "Last Romance" (Birtles) – 3:02
  3. "I'm Coming Home" – 3:50
  4. "I Didn't Stand a Chance" (Goble) – 3:07
  5. "He Gives Us All His Love" (Randy Newman) – 4:56

Side 2

  1. "The Netherlands" (Birtles) – 5:02
  2. "Into My Life" (Birtles) – 5:39
  3. "You'll Never Change Your Mind" – 4:07
  4. "How I Feel Tonight" (Goble) – 3:25
  5. "Whales" (Goble) – 3:57

Discography
The Last Romance, Birtles & Goble
Album
  • The Last Romance – May 1980
Singles
  • "I'm Coming Home" / "You'll Never Change Your Mind" – 1979 AUS #6
  • "Lonely Lives" / "Megan" – 1979
  • "How I Feel Tonight" / "The Netherlands" – 1980

References
  1. "Little River Band: Greatest Hits". AllMusic. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
  2. Birtles, Beeb (2007). "LRB Timeline". birtles.com. Archived from the original on 13 November 2009. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  3. "The Last Romance". lrb.net. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  4. Au, Frankie (14 October 1997). "A web-interview with Mr. Birtles". lrb.net. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  5. "Music Clips - Birtles & Goble". graehamgoble.com. 2008. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  6. Au, Frankie (22 May 1997). "A web-interview with Mr. Goble". lrb.net. Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  7. "Birtles & Goble". lrb.net. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  8. "No Reins". AllMusic. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
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