Playing to Win
Playing to Win is the eighth studio album by Little River Band 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. Both Farnham and Little River Band are ARIA Hall of Fame inductees. The album peaked at No. 75 on The Billboard 200.
The first single from the album was "Playing to Win", which was released in December 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. In addition, it is the only song from the three LRB albums on which John Farnham sang lead vocals that he still continues to perform live in his solo concerts. The second single, "Blind Eyes", failed to enter the chart. The album was re-released on CD in March 1997 on One Way Records with bonus tracks.Track listing
- "Playing to Win" - 3:00
- "Reappear" - 4:07
- "Blind Eyes" - 4:59
- "Through Her Eyes" - 5:17
- "When Cathedrals Were White" - 4:25
- "Relentless" - 5:29
- "Piece of the Dream" - 4:12
- "Don't Blame Me" - 3:30
- "One Shot in the Dark" - 3:34
- "Count Me In" - 3:52
Bonus CD tracks
- "D" - 3:13
- "Playing to Win" - 4:25
Personnel
- John Farnham - lead vocals
- Graham Goble - guitar, vocals
- David Hirschfelder - synthesizer, guitar, piano, keyboards, programming, vocals
- Stephen Housden - guitar
- Wayne Nelson - bass guitar, vocals, lead vocals on "Piece of the Dream" and "Count Me In"
- Steve Prestwich - drums
Cover versions
Australian country duo O'Shea covered "Playing to Win" on their 2017 album 61–615, along with Travis Collins and The Wolfe Brothers.
Australian heavy metal band Dungeon covered "Playing to Win", included as a bonus track on the 2005 re-release of their Resurrection album.