What is their best album?

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Netflix trailer:

I really wanted to write about “The Eastern Gate,” but at the end it disappointed me.

I love a visceral series. Something dark and edgy as opposed to bright and in your face. Something that draws you into its world and doesn’t let go.

And that’s how “The Eastern Gate” was in the beginning.

And it’s only six episodes long.

So what we’ve got here is a Polish spy show. You see there’s a strip of land keeping the Russians from Poland and if it’s compromised, so are they. Yes, this is a timely show, considering what is going on in Ukraine. People don’t realize how close these countries are. Like the next state over.

The star is Lena Góra as Ewa. Don’t worry, I haven’t heard of her either. But the way she quietly stares… You can see the meaning, on the other hand she’s like an automaton, trained by the government to do a job.

And “The Eastern Gate” is really pretty good, but it just doesn’t sustain at this level. However, the youthful idealism of Ewa’s nephew, the dedication to the cause of Ewa and the ultimate duplicity resonate. This show is made at a high level, it’s not popular dreck. It’s on MAX and you can check out the trailer here:

As for “The Diamond Heist”… It’s so new that it doesn’t have a RottenTomatoes rating yet. But there’s a lot of buzz, and it was in the Netflix Top Ten and…

Maybe you’re aware of it.

What we’ve got here is a documentary. But it plays like a movie, as in are these really the people? They’ve got the re-enactments of network news magazine shows, but…

You’re still riveted.

On one hand it’s cheesy, on another hand you’re focused, because you want to see how it plays out.

What causes someone to become a robber? How are you brought up, where do you turn?

Lee Wenham is the star. Is this actually the guy who participated in the plan? Yes, it is. Which is brain-wrenching. Then again, the robbery was twenty five years ago. Yes, that’s how distant the millennium was. There are people of age having babies who were born in this century. They’re on OnlyFans. And if that doesn’t make you feel old…

So in reality we’ve got a somewhat dry telling of the story, but it’s jazzed up with Guy Ritchie production styles. He’s not the director, just the executive producer, but the headline fonts, the juxtapositions, the brassiness, is straight of of his movies. And the music keeps it all humming, because on some level this is a sort of dry, straightforward story.

And some of the real people, like the reporter, seem straight out of “Inside Edition.” And even the cop from the Flying Squad… You almost don’t believe it’s him. Maybe that’s because usually they get an actor to punch up the character, someone much more attractive and dynamic… But both the reporter and the cop are actually pretty good-looking.

You’re constantly guessing, is this real or not?

And why haven’t I ever heard of this story?

And there are only three episodes, each less than hour, and if you start you have to watch until the very end, otherwise don’t even begin. Yes, you learn things…

But I wouldn’t trust one of these guys to be my partner. These are not the best and the brightest, the sharpest tools in the shed. But this is what they do, rob.

But the funny thing is the amount at stake is what a banker can make in a year, sometimes a multiple of that. That’s the world we live in, where there’s a great divide between the haves and have-nots. A banker would like the money, but he’d need more to fund his lifestyle, whereas these robbers want to retire on the spoils and live the good life.

This is not a satire like “Money Heist.” Then again, that’s fiction and this is real. But is it really real?

Once again, I wouldn’t put “The Diamond Heist” at the top of your list, then again, I’m constantly stunned at the crap people watch, and by those standards, it’s pretty good.

The whiz-bang elevates the story. And who isn’t interested in a good robbery?

And even more in a good spy story?

Then again, most spy stories are now cartoons, like James Bond. But there really are spies and there really are robbers. Here are two tales.

Thanks for the shout out on Little River Band. The original members are all good friends that I try to stay in touch with, especially Glenn. His autobiography, “Now Where Was I?” tells the story of the band very well, including the shady legal moves that ended up with the original members not owning the name. It’s one of the great travesties I’ve experienced in my very long time in music.

I first saw the group in the mid-1970s, when I was in Australia as part of a series of lectures I was involved in at the behest of the music industry in New Zealand and Australia. They were called “Mississippi” then, but I was blown away by the tightness of their three-part harmonies and the really original timbre of their sound. It seemed to me an amalgam of the California country rock scene and the harmonies of the Hollies. I came back to LA and in a conversation with Capitol A&R executive Rupert Perry, I told him how impressed I was. Two years later, he called me to invite me to see the group, now renamed Little River Band, at Santa Monica Civic. They sounded better than ever to me, especially their current hit, “It’s a Long Way There.” Rupert arranged for me to have lunch with the band and their manager, Glenn Wheatley, at Au Petit Café (remember that place?). We hit it off, and I was invited to produce their next album in Melbourne.

When I told my friends around town that I was headed Down Under, they thought I shouldn’t take the gig, but I kept hearing those harmonies in my head and I ignored their advice and went. This was not an idle decision, since my contract with Epic Records at the time only allowed me to do one outside project a year.  I distinctly remember the 17-hour flight during which I began to wonder if I’d made a mistake. Wheatley picked me up at the airport and we went straight to a rehearsal. It was just the three principals, Glenn Shorrock, Beeb Birtles, and Graham Goble with two acoustic guitars. They wanted to play me some new songs to get my reaction. The first songs they played were “Help Is On Its Way” and “Home on Monday.” I know people say they can hear a hit, and I’ve thought from time to time that I could, but the truth is, it’s a crap shoot. However, those two songs were so obviously good, that I knew I’d made the right move. We went to work at Armstrong Studios in South Melbourne with engineer Ross Cockle, who helped me immensely. In three weeks, I flew back with the 24-track masters and mixed them with my regular engineer, Paul Grupp, at Westlake Studios. Rupert Perry loved the album, and before I knew it, “Help Is On Its Way” was climbing the charts, followed by “Happy Anniversary,” Beeb’s breakup tune. “Home on Monday,” Glenn Shorrock’s love letter to his girlfriend, later wife, Jo Swann, became a staple at FM radio.

The group and I went on to do three more albums together, some of the best times I’ve ever had in the studio. I also did a solo album with Glenn Shorrock called “Villain of the Peace,” which I am very proud of although it was not a resounding success in the US. I am also very proud of the very eclectic body of work we created. “Reminiscing” and “Lonesome Loser” are about as far apart stylistically as you can get. Kudos from my colleagues were very rewarding as well. I remember Al Kooper coming up to me in the lounge of the Record Plant in the summer of 1979 asking, “How the fuck did you get that killer snare sound on “Cool Change?”

I know there are haters – every group has them, but you can probably guess what I think of that. I loved what my fellow Bard College friend Donald Fagen said when somebody asked him what he thought of the term “Yacht Rock.” I second that emotion.

I can’t imagine my career without those original six guys. There’s no question that they were in the vanguard of music from Australia finally making it to the world stage. The fact that their music still lives on in the culture is beyond gratifying.

Best,
John Boylan

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