Customer Reviews

Day After Day: Live

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I used to like this CD (hence my original 4-star rating, which I cannot change). I defended the overdubs by saying that overdubbing is common practice on live albums. However, that was before I read Dan Matovina's book Without You: The Tragic Story Of Badfinger (a must-have, by the way!), which spills the beans about exactly how MUCH was re-recorded: "virtually all of Joey's original vocals, most of his guitar solos, many of the rhythm guitars, and all of Tom's bass tracks. Re-sequencing was also done, [so that] all of Pete Ham's songs were shifted to the end." I always wondered why Joey's voice sounds so clear while Pete sounds as if he's singing from the back of the room...
However, this disc is STILL a rare representation of Badfinger live (partly, anyway). At least most of the best songs (PETE's) remain the least-molested.

First off, Badfinger was a terrific and noisy little group, far hotter live than their Apple records would have you think. It's long forgotten how striking and dramatic a guitarist Pete Ham was, how rugged and tough singers that Joey and Tommy were, how solid and pounding a drummer that Mike was. To a fair degree, you'll discover that on this short snapshot of a disc. To a degree...

The problem with this disc is that, for various reasons logical or not, Joey has put overdubs on the original tapes for this CD. These include a nasty sounding snare drum sample where Mike would be, and various electric guitar and bass overdubs. How much is actually "live" is really hard to tell.

Nonetheless, you can get something of a feel for what Badfinger were like in front of a happy crowd, at a time when all was well and lively with this ill-fated group. It's loud, dumb and fun, and worth your time.

Ah...but for the REAL live Badfinger, hit your "back" button and check out Live at the BBC...raw, unadorned and all Badfinger.

Joey Molland released this CD in the 1990's after remixing and overdubbing the tapes. The fault here is he tried to modernize the sound too much. Live Badfinger would have sounded much better left in the context of the 1970's. The biggest problem to me is the drum sound; it's far too loud, too echoey and reeks of drum samples grafted on in places. Joey also overdubbed his lead vocals and guitar parts, a common fix on live albums. Though out the disc I was drawn to listen to the remixing rather than the original Badfinger performance. Hence my two star rating.

Aside from the couple numbers on the "Concert For Bangladesh" album, this is the only document (so far) capturing Badfinger's original line-up in a live concert setting (I haven't heard the "BBC" collection, but in my experience those are usually more controlled, "live" in the studio sessions, sans audience.)The sound quality is good, but there is somewhat of a letdown in the execution of the material.The acoustic guitar and keyboard flourishes that gave the studio songs thier bright, melodic, power-pop shine is (understandably but dissapointingly) absent. What is most puzzling here is the lack of vocal interplay; while Tom Evans, Joey Molland and Pete Ham were all fine lead vocalists and evidently divided the chore in a democratic fashion, there is little or no of the Beatlesque harmony singing that earmarked the Badfinger "sound". What you end up with is a competently performed but rather pedestrian slab of bar-band boogie rock (two songs clock in at over seven minutes due to extended guitar solos- more like a Foghat album!). An OK historical item for completists, but a letdown for power-pop fans.

The album was first released in 1989 on Joey Molland's initiative, and it comes from a concert given in Cleveland March 4 , 1974. The concert was originally taped for a possible Warner Live-album release. Molland got hold of the tapes before he left the band late 1974, and towards the end of the 1980's he began to work on them. Molland has overdubbed most of his own singing and playing, which, judged from bootleg versions of the concert, was pretty uneven. What's worse: He also overdubbed Mike Gibbins` drumming; these overdubbed drums are mixed too loud and a lot of the fill-ins sound rather clumsy.

Still, there is in fact a lot of good music on this album. Personally I believe it gives a pretty good impression of a Badfinger concert 1974.

This low-quality rendition of a live performance was the only Badfinger CD easily available for several years, and it's worth owning in order to experience the live sound of the first post-Beatles Beatle-like band. And, it may be the only commercial CD you ever own that contains stage microphone squeals. Enjoy.

Everyone interested in Badfinger and who wish to read more about this album and resulting court case and Molland`s dishonesty ( he and his wife drew up an agreement with Ryko so that they would receive all royalties from this album rather than share equally with all of the band`s other living and dead members families ) should read the judges`s summing up - you can find it on the web - search using - badfinger music v evans 2000.
It`s bad enough that an earlier court case gave Molland and the others a share of all Ham & Evans royalties , taking money from their beneficiaries. Imagine a judge telling Lennon&McCartney instead of the 100% you are getting you are only going to get 35% of your songwriting
royalties . The remainder will be shared 5 ways - one share to each band member and the manager. On top of that Molland had the indecency of getting up on stage to accept an award as co-writer of Without You.
Molland must have had training from Polley.

Wow! What a great live collection of songs most of them being unknown. The more I listen to this cd the more I appreciate, what great band Badfinger was. The only two(top pop) songs that I was familiar with were Baby blue and Day after day. I've learned now, that there was much more to this band. The interplay among the band and solid performance has left me wanting more. I've also have been left to wonder how could this band ever met such a undeserving fate. I believe you will find the unfamiliar songs newly undiscovered treasures.

Overdubbing and resequencing do not save this limp outing by the original band members in Cleveland during 1974. I am unsure if the audience is less enthusiastic than the band but, this is far from a rousing performance and sounds more like a rehearsal.

Perhaps it was playing Cleveland or perhaps the band was about to unravel but there is little energy. Although the performance is competent it is not something you will play more than once unless a fanatical fan.

If it difficult to believe the source is the original 16-track master tape which Joey Molland kept at his house until 1990. It should have remained there under lock and key. But, than again, fans would have always believed that it was the lost holy grail rather than evidence confirming the crime.

This album was released before Straight Up was available on CD and I purchased a copy for DAY AFTER DAY and BABY BLUE live. The sound quality is fair with feedback heard during a few songs but the song selection makes up for any problems with the recording. Listening to Pete and Joey talking to each other and to the audience is great too. This one belongs in your collection if you like 70's rock.