Reminiscing

This article is about the song by Little River Band. For other uses, see Reminiscing (disambiguation).

"Reminiscing"
International 7" cover art
Single by Little River Band
from the album Sleeper Catcher
B-side"Take Me Home"/"So Many Paths"
ReleasedJune 1978
Recorded1978
GenreSoft rock[1]
Length4:11 (album version)
3:29 (7" version)
LabelEMI Music
Songwriter(s)Graeham Goble
Producer(s)John Boylan, Little River Band
Little River Band singles chronology
"Shut Down Turn Off"
(1978) 		"Reminiscing"
(1978) 		"Lady"
(1978)

"Reminiscing" is a song by Australian soft rock music group Little River Band, released in June 1978 as the second single from their fourth studio album Sleeper Catcher. The song was written by the band's rhythm guitarist Graeham Goble, and sung by their lead singer Glenn Shorrock. "Reminiscing" peaked at number 35 on the Australian Kent Music Report[2] and at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.[3]

Background and recording

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In 2005, Goble spoke of his inspiration and recording of the song, saying "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."[4] Goble added "It's quite staggering; you don't realise you've written something like that until it happens, until it's history."[5]

Reception

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Record World called it "a highly danceable ballad" and praised the lead vocal performance.[6]

Impact and legacy

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At the Australian 1978 King of Pop Awards, the song won Australian Record of the Year.[7]

"Reminiscing" was given a BMI Five Million-Air award for five million plays on US radio—the highest achievement ever for any Australian popular song.[8]

According to Albert Goldman's biography, John Lennon named "Reminiscing" as one of his favourite songs. May Pang, erstwhile girlfriend of Lennon, said "Oddly, with all the fantastic music he wrote, "our song" was 'Reminiscing' by the Little River Band."[9]

Track listings

[edit]
Australian 7" (EMI 11738)
A. "Reminiscing" - 4:11
B. "Take Me Home" (Recorded Live at The Rainbow Theatre, London)
New Zealand 7" (EMI 1043)
A. "Reminiscing" - 3:26
B. "So Many Paths" - 4:22
North American 7" (Harvest 4605)
A. "Reminiscing" - 3:26
B. "So Many Paths" - 4:22

Chart performance

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Madison Avenue version

[edit]
"Reminiscing"
Single by Madison Avenue
from the album The Polyester Embassy
Released5 March 2001 (2001-03-05)[17]
GenreDance, house
Length3:35
LabelEMI International
Songwriter(s)Graeham Goble
Producer(s)Andy Van Dorsselaer
Madison Avenue singles chronology
"Everything You Need"
(2000) 		"Reminiscing"
(2001)

Australian group Madison Avenue covered the song and released it as a single in March 2001. Their version was certified gold by the ARIA.

Track listing

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Australian CD single

  1. "Reminiscing (Da Classic Remix - Edit)" – 3:31
  2. "Reminiscing (Original Mix - Edit)" – 3:24
  3. "Everything You Need (Olav Basoski Remix)" – 7:32
  4. "Reminiscing (Da Classic Remix)" – 5:06
  5. "It's Alright (Album Mix)" – 5:12

Charts

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Chart (2001) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[18] 9

Year-end charts

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Chart (2001) Peak
position
Australia (Australian Artist)[19] 9

Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[20] Gold 35,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Other versions

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  • In July 1978, Shorrock recorded a Spanish-language version of the song, titled "Recordando", using the original backing track and backing vocals.[21]
  • Thumbs Carllile recorded a jazz cover on his 1979 album Guitar Wizard.[22]
  • Barry Manilow covered the song for his 1996 album Summer of '78.
  • Tommy Emmanuel's covered the song for his 1998 album Collaboration featuring Shorrock.
  • Goble, Shorrock and Beeb Birtles, three of the original members of Little River Band, who reformed under the name Birtles Shorrock Goble, recorded "Reminiscing" for their 2003 CD and DVD Full Circle.
  • Carl Riseley included a jazz cover of the song on his 2008 album The Rise.
  • k.d. lang recorded the song for the Australian version of her 2011 album Sing It Loud.
  • Shorrock rerecorded "Reminiscing" for his 2019 album Glenn Shorrock Sings Little River Band.[23]

Samples

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Biz Markie sampled the song for his song "Throwback" on the album Weekend Warrior.

[edit]

References

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  1. ^ Fontenot, Robert. "Soft Rock Music and Songs - Oldies Music". Oldies.about.com. Archived from the original on 21 January 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  2. ^ a b Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 179. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  3. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–2001. Record Research. p. 147.
  4. ^ Miller, Chuck (2005) Born in the Sign of Water Archived 23 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine Goldmine, 4 February 2005. Retrieved on 14 January 2007.
  5. ^ Kruger, Debbie (2005) Songwriters Speak, Limelight Press, (ISBN 0-9757080-3-1).
  6. ^ "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. 15 July 1978. p. 1. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  7. ^ "Australian Music Awards". Ron Jeff. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
  8. ^ "Graeham Goble's BMI Award For His Little River Band Hit, 'Reminiscing'". Shorrock, Birtles & Goble. 15 February 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  9. ^ "Marvelous May..." ncf.ca. 23 September 2003. Archived from the original on 19 January 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  10. ^ "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  11. ^ "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. 17 July 2013. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  12. ^ "Little River Band – Reminiscing". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  13. ^ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  14. ^ "Billboard Top 100 - 1978". Archived from the original on 4 October 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2010.
  15. ^ "Top 100 Hits of 1978/Top 100 Songs of 1978". Musicoutfitters.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  16. ^ "Top 100 Year End Charts: 1978". Cashbox Magazine. Archived from the original on 27 October 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  17. ^ "The ARIA Report: New Releases Singles – Week Commencing 5th March 2001" (PDF). ARIA. 5 March 2001. p. 24. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 February 2002. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  18. ^ "Little River Band – Reminiscing". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  19. ^ "ARIA Charts - End of Year Charts - Top Australian Singles 2001". Aria.com.au. Archived from the original on 24 December 2008. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  20. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2001 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  21. ^ "Little River Band – Recordando". Shorrock Birtles Goble. 18 July 1978. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  22. ^ "Thumbs Carllile special limited edition CDs". Thumbscarllile.com. 22 June 2004. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  23. ^ Desk, TV News. "'Glenn Shorrock Sings Little River Band' is Out Today". BroadwayWorld.com. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  24. ^ BenStillerTube (4 March 2008). "American Idol - Ben Stiller singing". Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2018 – via YouTube.
  25. ^ "Freaks and Geeks - S1E4 "Kim Kelly is My Friend" Music and List of Songs". What-song. Archived from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  26. ^ "Monsters vs Aliens Soundtrack (2009) & Complete List of Songs". Archived from the original on 13 August 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  27. ^ "Reminiscing (From". tidal.com. Archived from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  28. ^ Lemire, Christie (4 August 2010). "Review: 'The Other Guys' goofs on buddy-cop movie cliches, and it actually works". The Canadian Press. Retrieved 29 August 2010.[dead link]
  29. ^ "The Middle" Taking Back the House (TV Episode 2011) - IMDb, retrieved 13 December 2021
  30. ^ "HBO's Divorce skillfully captures the painful absurdities of a failed marriage". The Week. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  31. ^ "Reminiscing by Little River Band Songfacts". www.songfacts.com. Archived from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
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