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

Little River Band Little River Band (LRB) are a Rock music, rock band originally 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 studi ...

released on Capitol Records. This album is the second studio album with John Farnham 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 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 and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists ...

. 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 Graeham George Goble, (born 15 May 1947)Goble, Graeham (2006Graeham Goble: Biography. Retrieved on 14 July 2008. is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and record producer, best known as a founding member of Australian rock group Little Riv ...

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 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

. 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, D. Hirschfelder, S. Housden, S. Proffer, W. Nelson, S. Prestwich) - 3:00 # "Reappear" (G. Goble, S. Housden) - 4:07 # "Blind Eyes" (J. Farnham, D. Hirschfelder) - 4:59 # "Through Her Eyes" (G. Goble, S. Housden, 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) - 4:12 # "Don't Blame Me" (G. Goble) - 3:30 # "One Shot in the Dark" (G. Goble, S. Housden, 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, D. Hirschfelder, S. Housden, S. Proffer, W. Nelson, S. Prestwich) - 4:25

Personnel

* John Farnham - lead vocals *

- guitar, vocals *

David Hirschfelder David Hirschfelder (born 18 November 1960, Ballarat, Victoria) is an Australian musician, film score composer and performer. As a musician he has been a member of Little River Band and John Farnham Band. He has composed film scores for many films ...

- synthesizer, guitar, piano, keyboards, programming, vocals * Stephen Housden - guitar *

Wayne Nelson Wayne Nelson (born June 1, 1950) is an American musician best known for being the current lead singer of the rock band Little River Band, in which he also plays bass. Shortly after his birth, Nelson's family moved to Rome, Illinois, a suburb ...

- 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