Little River Band: Home On A Monday

The Little River Band’s third Australian and second US album “Diamantina Cocktail” produced several hit singles in the US. Much like Capital Records did with The Beatles’ albums in combining several albums together to produce a unique American product. Capitol/EMI did the same thing with “Diamantina Cocktail” combining the Australian release of “After Hours” with the Down Under version of “Diamantina Cocktail.”

The album was released on the Harvest/EMI and the following songs came from the band’s previous album “After Hours”: “Days on the Road,” Another Runaway”; “Everyday of My Life,” and “Take me Home.” Only four songs were carried from the original Australian release of “Diamantina Cocktail”: “Help is on its Way,” “Happy Anniversary,” “Home on Monday,” and “The Inner Light.” Not included on the US version were the original album's selections:  “The Drifter,” “L.A. in the Sunshine,” “Witchery,” “Raelene, Raelene,” and “Changed and Different.”

I can’t judge the American release in comparison to its two Australian parents; however, I do know that I was completely satisfied when I purchased the album. I bought it largely based upon our feature song of the day “Home on Monday” which was played often at WVAF in Charleston, WV when they were operating with the Album Oriented Radio (AOR) format.

The US release include the following singles “Everyday of my Life,” “Help is on its Way,” “Home on Monday,” and “Happy Anniversary.” Although not all were released as singles in the US, only two songs charted on the US top 40: “Help is on its Way” at #14 and “Happy Anniversary” at #16. “Home on a Monday” failed to chart in the US.

As I said earlier, it was the airplay of “Home on a Monday” that prompted me to purchase this album. It’s still a great cut and our bubbling under feature for this Saturday. Here’s a live recording of the tune.