Customer Reviews

The Best of Badfinger

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a very fine compilation of songs that Badfinger recorded for Apple Records from 1969 to 1973. Contrary to popular belief, Badfinger was not a cheap imitation of the Beatles. Their music was undeniably influenced by the Beatles, but it was original and stood on its own merits. The tragic suicides of Pete Ham and Tom Evans have been well documented, so I won't go into them here. The hit singles on this CD are as follows: "Come And Get It","No Matter What","Day After Day", and "Baby Blue". Another song,"Without You", was a #1 single for Harry Nilsson in 1972. The melodies and lyrics on almost every of the 21 songs are top rate, and should not be dismissed as "filler". The last 4 songs on the compilation are from the album "Ass", which has never been released on CD. The last song,"Apple Of My Eye", is Pete Ham's message to Apple Records that it's time for the band to move on to another label. Badfinger was a band that was misunderstood by critics and fans, and never got the credit that it deserved.

The song selections here show only the Iveys/Badfinger up to the time of their departure from Apple. And while fans quibble about which songs were included and how they spotlight each of the members as personalities and performers, something everyone seems to agree on is the lack of punch this "remastering" has. Songs that should leap out of the speakers seem to have had a sonic neutering. A couple of good examples are "Rock of All Ages" and "Baby Blue". On vinyl and tape, these two songs literally scorch the grille cloth and pin the listener against the wall with their rocking power. Now they sound as if they've been mixed for a Muzak system. The depth of sound in ballads like "Name of the Game", "Day After Day" and "When I Say" so vibrant and rich previously has been reduced and compressed making these exceptional songs sound thin and hollow. Even the earlier songs like "Carry On Til Tomorrow" and "Maybe Tomorrow" sounded better with pops and crackles on my old vinyl LPs. This collection, though, was a must have for fans until the newest collection is released on September 12. That collection, even with fewer tracks, spans more of their career and hopefully will give the songs and fans better treatment this time. Tell everyone you know to catch the VH-1 "Behind The Music" segment on Badfinger when it premiers.

I can't believe the number of people getting this title mixed up with the one on which Joey re-recorded. THIS IS THE REAL BADFINGER! There are some great songs here, but there are a few that were left off that should have been included.

Badfinger was one of the most perplexing bands of the early 1970's. Anointed by The Beatles themselves as one of the first projects for Apple Records (along with James Taylor, Mary Hopkins and Billy Preston), and adopted by Paul McCartney (who slipped them their first hit single, 'Come and Get It' in February of 1970) and George Harrison, who employed them as a back-up band for the monumental 'Concert For Bangladesh' in 1972, Badfinger were either red hot or bland and mediocre throughout their brief tenure. This CD summarizes it all.

Badfinger started out as The Iveys in 1969 and nailed a #67 single with 'Maybe Tomorrow', a quaint song which anyone unfamiliar with the band is unlikely to recall. After some personnel changes, and a name change, the band achieved overnight stardom with the completely McCartneyesque 'Come and Get It', from 'The Magic Christian' soundtrack the following year. Later that same year the band released one of their three most defining tunes, 'No Matter What', which rose to number 8 on the national charts.

In 1971 Badfinger scored their biggest hit when 'Day After Day' rose to number 4. In the following year the band rode the fuzzy power-pop guitar sounds of 'Baby Blue' to number 14, and their hitmaking days were over, but these great songs etched their immortal legacy in rock. All of these aforementioned numbers are included on this disc, and constitute a quintet of exemplary songs that in themselves justify the purchase price of the disc.

There are two other recordings of note on 'Come and Get It: The Best of Badfinger'. The first is the original recording of 'Without You', penned by bandmates Tom Evans and Pete Ham and recorded at Abbey Road Studios in 1970. In 1972 Harry Nillson covered the song, turning it into a hit single. The Nillson version is of course more familiar, and in my opinion better than the Badfinger rendering, which is nonetheless a pleasant listen. The other is a blistering rock number from the band's 'Magic Christian Music' disc called 'Rock of All Ages'. With the capacity to rock out like this, it is easy to see why Badfinger fans frequently proclaim the band had it in 'em, and difficult to see why Badfinger so frequently opted for the safer confines of power-pop.

The remainder of the disc is schlock-pop. The compositions and performances are neither memorable or offensive... perhaps a little better than filler, but not much. So about a third of the disc is remarkable, the other two-thirds replaceable. In fact, the best thing about the disc aside from the 7 remarkable tunes is the great apple logo, which looks just as sweet on a CD as it did on vinyl discs when The Beatles first used it back in the 1960's.

Badfinger was accused at the beginning of their career of sounding like the Beatles. They aere found by George Harrison and the first song they did was written by Paul McCartney. But, the similarities end there. "Come And Get It" the song written by McCartney, does sound like the Fab Four. But, "No Matter What" "Day After Day" and "Baby Blue" are not that similar to the Beatles. They were a good top 40 band and deserved to have a good compilation. This is it.

I usually don't like best of's but this one is really great (probably because they were a more singles oriented band). 'Day after Day' and 'No Matter What' alone are worth the price of the CD, but they have tons of other great songs! Some reviewers have confused this CD with one on which Joey Molland re-recorded Badfinger hits. This is the actual Apple records release. But anyway, the music is really great. If you like this group check out Big Star, one of the greatest unknown pop bands of the seventies.

For so many years we waited for a Badfinger compilation. Finally in the mid-90s this showed up. Badfinger's four hits - "Come and Get It", "No Matter What", "Day After Day", and "Baby Blue" are sterling pop. All are included here in this overview of their four albums for the Beatles' Apple label. Although Badfinger wrote and recorded "Without You", it was Harry Nilsson's cover version that spent a month at the top of the US charts. The Badfinger version included here isn't on a par with Nilsson's knockout single but it's nice to have for historical purposes.

Once you get past those songs though, there's a serious dropoff in appeal. Back in the vinyl days I had the four singles already mentioned and the "Straight Up" album. At the time I wasn't all that enamored of the remainder of that album, though "Rock of All Ages", the b-side of "Come and Get It", was a decent rocker. A few years later I gave a listen to a roommate's copy of "No Dice", Badfinger's second album. Once it got past the delicious "No Matter What" it was all palatable but not particularly distinctive. So with this CD I was secretly hoping that I would discover some hidden gems from a golden era, or that I might find that my youthful taste was merely callow and time would provide a greater appreciation for Badfinger's album cuts.

Alas, no dice. Of the remaining cuts, nothing is bad but nothing particularly stands out. This is the kind of album for which individual mp3 downloads were made. So, once you've grabbed the four hits and maybe "Without You" or "Rock of All Ages", what to consider next? Knowing that "Apple of My Eye" was written as a farewell to their time on the Apple label adds a bit of significance to that song. "The Name of the Game" is a decent enough album cut. "Maybe Tomorrow" might appeal to some who especially like slightly overwrought ballads in the British Invasion tradition.

That said, if you're going to get a Badfinger compilation, might as well make it the one that came out five years later, "The Very Best of Badfinger". It's got two fewer songs, which probably works better, it front loads the playlist with all the best of the Apple years right in a row, and it replaces this set's lesser tracks with songs from a couple of later albums. Both compilations include half of "Straight Up". I realize there are many devotees of anything Beatles-related, but for myself the only Badfinger included on my playlists are the four hits. I wish I could say otherwise; I had high hopes for this Best Of.

BADFINGER-THE BEST OF BADFINGER: Often unfairly written off as Fab Four knockoffs, Badfinger was one of rock and roll's hookiest, most harmonic singles bands, thanks chiefly to the sweet 'n soulful songwriting and passionate vocal efforts of tragic figure Pete Ham. Although Paul McCartney penned their debut charter COME AND GET IT, the boys REALLY hit the stratosphere via Ham's benevolent ballad DAY AFTER DAY (on which GEORGE HARRISON contributes a nifty slide guitar solo) as well as sparkling three part harmony rockers NO MATTER WHAT and BABY BLUE; he also co-composed the beautiful Nilsson smash WITHOUT YOU, included in its sparse original form here. Other bright spots on this 22 track overview include MAYBE TOMORROW, a pre-Badfinger single from their days as the Iveys, though nothing appears from the band's brief comeback attempt without Ham. This is the closest to a picture perfect power pop postcard of early 70s radio as you are likely to find. So by all means, come and get it.

RATING: FOUR FINGERS UP

The guitar intro and break in "Day After Day" remain one of the most equisite and ground-breaking moments in recording history of classic rock. The sheer understatement of the guitar lead is simply breathtaking and mesmerizing! This is the "REAL THING!" You just listened to it. Neither Capitol nor Apple does re-makes. These are all the original recordings and mixes. I'm glad I bought my CD when I did. It's out of print and will continue to increase in value.

Badfinger were a band that were neither the pop gods that some fans claim them to be, nor were they as shamelessly derivative as their detractors would have you believe. They produced a number of classic singles that any rock fan should adore but the lps were inconsistent and a series of misfortunes hampered the band like few others, even by rock's storied standards. Having said all this, the band surely deserves better treatment than this shoddy package. This is NOT the Molland band recorded CD that some are claiming but it certainly bears little resemblence sonically to the original recordings made by this band. The remastering and sound is absolutely horrible. The dreaded 80's "gated snare" sound appears regularly, guitars are compressed and suppressed and the vocals are not as sharp either. How anyone can think this is an improvement on the original mixes is beyond me. I synchronized this CD with the original lp versions and when I compared them, it was not even close. That's the Badfinger I remember. Save your money, do not buy this CD.