''Playing to Win'' is the eighth studio album by Australian group,

Little River Band Little River Band (LRB) are a rock band formed in Melbourne, Australia, in March 1975. The band achieved commercial success in both Australia and the United States. They have sold more than 30 million records; six studio albums reached the top ...

released on Capitol Records. This album is the second studio album with

John Farnham John Peter Farnham (born 1 July 1949) is a British-born Australian singer. Farnham was a teen pop idol from 1967 until the mid-1970s, billed as Johnny Farnham. He has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer.McFarlane (1999). Enc ...

as lead vocalist and the first to be recorded by the band in the United States. The album peaked at No. 38 on the Australian

Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music historian David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July 19 ...

Albums Chart and at No. 75 on

The Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a recordi ...

. The title song, "Playing to Win", had been drafted by Farnham. By the time it had been through LRB production, every member of the band had a share. Band member Graham Goble analysed the lyrics to determine who contributed, and what percentage of royalties they deserved. Farnham eventually received 55.5% of the royalties. The first single from the album was "Playing to Win", which was released in November 1984 and reached No.59 on the Australian Singles Chart, No. 15 on the ''Billboard'' Mainstream Rock chart and No. 60 on The Billboard Hot 100. Channel 7 used "Playing to Win" as its football promo for its VFL coverage in early 1985. The second single, "Blind Eyes", failed to enter any chart. The album was re-released on CD in March 1997 with bonus tracks.

Track listing

# "Playing to Win" (J. Farnham, G. Goble, S. Proffer) - 3:00 # "Reappear" (S. Housden, M. Wakeford, G. Goble) - 4:07 # "Blind Eyes" (J. Farnham, D. Hirschfelder, R. Chapman) - 4:59 # "Through Her Eyes" (S. Housden, M. Wakeford, G. Goble, S. Proffer) - 5:17 # "When Cathedrals Were White" (G. Goble, D. Hirschfelder, S. Housden) - 4:25 # "Relentless" (G. Goble, S. Proffer) - 5:29 # "Piece of the Dream" (W. Nelson, D. Scheibner, S. Shepherd) - 4:12 # "Don't Blame Me" (G. Goble) - 3:30 # "One Shot in the Dark" (S. Housden, M. Wakeford, G. Goble, S. Proffer) - 3:34 # "Count Me In" (W. Nelson, D. Scheibner) - 3:52 Bonus CD tracks # "D" (B. Birtles, G. Goble) - 3:13 # "Playing to Win" (Extended Version) (J. Farnham, G. Goble, S. Proffer) - 4:25

Personnel

- lead vocals * Graham Goble - guitar, vocals *

David Hirschfelder David Hirschfelder (born 18 November 1960) is an Australian musician, film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cu ...

- synthesizer, guitar, piano, keyboards, programming, vocals * Stephen Housden - lead guitar * Wayne Nelson - bass guitar, vocals, lead vocals on "Piece of the Dream" and "Count Me In" *

Steve Prestwich Steven William Prestwich (5 March 195416 January 2011) was an English-born Australian drummer, guitarist, singer and songwriter. After relocating from Liverpool, Prestwich was the founding and long-term drummer for the band Cold Chisel, which for ...

- drums

Charts

References

1985 albums Capitol Records albums Little River Band albums One Way Records albums {{1980s-rock-album-stub