After Hours (Little River Band Album)

After Hours (Little River Band Album)

In Australia, After Hours was the second album from the Australian rock band Little River Band. It was released in 1976 by Capitol Records. The first single from the album, "Everyday of My Life", was a top-ten hit in Australia.

Lead singer Glenn Shorrock names this Australian version of the album as his favourite album by the band. However, it was not released internationally until decades later. There were two reasons for this. Firstly, the band's record company contract at the time did not cover international releases. Secondly, at the time of its release in Australia, the band's first album, Little River Band, had not yet become a hit in the US. When the first album entered the US charts, following the delayed success of single "It's a Long Way There", any potential US release of After Hours was delayed.

In the meantime, the band recorded their third album, Diamantina Cocktail. However, Capitol Records deemed that album to be not commercial enough. In response, Capitol selected five tracks from the Australian After Hours plus four tracks from the Australian version of Diamantina Cocktail and released this compilation in the US under the name Diamantina Cocktail. On that album, the tracks from After Hours were released in different mixes than on the original album, and "Days on the Road" was partly re-recorded. Subsequently the remaining tracks from both Australian albums were compiled and released (in 1980) on another album, titled After Hours, including a re-recorded version of "Take Me Home". Thus, all tracks from the two original Australian albums were eventually released in the US (remixed and re-recorded, to some extent), on albums of the same names as the Australian albums, but in a scrambled form across the two albums. The AllMusic rating for After Hours is for the version that is a scrambled compilation of leftovers.

The album, in its international form, was re-released with bonus tracks in 1997 by One Way Records. On 30 July 2010, the original Australian version of After Hours became available for the first time in the US, as a download (in digitally remastered form) at the iTunes Store.

In between the recording of After Hours and Diamantina Cocktail, two founding members of the band departed: Ric Formosa (lead guitar) and Roger McLachlan (bass).