Customer Reviews

Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger

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This exhaustively researched book gives a full picture of the band during their peak. The word tragic shows up in descriptions of Badfinger quite a bit,but it doesn't begin to do justice to this terrific band's sad story. This second edition of the book cleans up a handful of minor errors and misstakes that appeared in the text of the original version. It also includes an additional chapter on the recent court case that involved the original members (and the estates of two decease members). There are also a number of photographs that didn't appear in the original edition and a complete discography that includes the latest reissues of the band's material.

Nevertheless, the inside look at the manipulators and sharks in the music business is a very good cautionary tale for modern musicians. Ultimately, this is a tale all too common in the music business. Although all four members of Badfinger were talented songwriters and singers, Matovina focuses accurately portrays Pete Ham as the driving force behind the band. The unique chemistry of the four members was still an important factor in this fine band and Matovina doesn't sell the other members short. If there is a villian in this story it was the short sightedness of the band and the person they chose to manage them in the United States. If the band had a flaw it was its inability to look past the bs of the business and their trusting nature.

Matovina does a terrific job of drawing a full picture of all the members of the band. He manages to provide the best insight into Pete Ham (the most talented singer/songwriter in the band). Ham is a complex figure who, when under emotional distress, habitually puts out cigarettes on his hands. Ham commuicates his emotions through his songs, and is a good friend to everybody but, unfortunately, no one is able to get close to Ham and help him with the enormous burden of trying to keep Badfinger together.

Matovina also manages to capture the other members of the band with the same detail. The chapters on the band's post-Ham years are both as tragic and compelling as those written about the first incarnation of Badfinger. Evans and Molland's struggle to revive the band and the indifference they faced is particularly interesting given the band's previous success.

Eventually the pressures caught up with everyone in Badfinger. It's impact was sharp and explosive for two members of the band resulting in their suicide. In many respects the aftermath of the implosion of this great band resembles a messy divorce; all the participants had their own agenda and couldn't get past their own personal issues.

The inclusion of the 71 minute CD provides a series of snapshots of the band from beginning to the very bitter end. Most of these tracks haven't been available before (with the exception of poor sounding bootlegs). We get to hear one of Pete Ham's first demos for the band along with their first offical studio recording made under the supervision of the Kinks' Ray Davies. We also get to hear a number of Iveys' demos that were never performed by the band after their name change. These demos range in quality from interesting (Take Good Care of My Baby) to terrific (She Came Out of the Cold and a live version of Maybe Tomorrow sans the overbearing string arrangement on the original).

Included on this disc are 5 interviews with Ham and original member Tom Evans. It provides further insight that compliments the book. We get to hear (in their own words) both the highs and lows that drove the band to produce some of their most enduring work. The CD ends with one of Ham's last demo recordings (the powerful Ringside which Matovina produced for the posthumous Pete Ham solo album 7 Park Avenue) and an unreleased pair of Tom Evans demos from his brief post-Badfinger career.

Matovina provides more than one smoking gun in the book demonstrating that the forces that tore this band apart wasn't jealousy as much as the vultures in the music industry. Without You is both a powerful reminder of the evil in the music industry and the talented individuals that are victimized by these vultures.

Author Dan Matovina cuts no corners in WITHOUT YOU: THE TRAGIC STORY OF BADFINGER, which details the rise and fall of Badfinger, the pop band whose career spanned from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. You may find yourself staying up late as you turn every compelling page.

And your heart will break as you learn about the trust Badfinger musicians Pete Ham, Mike Gibbins, Tom Evans and Joey Molland put in several con artists who stole almost all the band's earnings. After Ham's resulting 1975 suicide, at times surviving band members end up working against each other for what's left of the money and glory. Instead of standing together, they let the show business parasites continue to divide and conquer.

Even the 1983 suicide of Tom Evans does not inspire enough people to do the right thing. WITHOUT YOU ends on the sad note of certain individuals standing on a bizarre technicality to take songwriting credit for the Pete Ham/Tom Evans standard, "Without You."

At least nothing will change the superb quality of Badfinger's music. Was there any other band where every member composed and sang on every album? Not even the Beatles can say that. In recent years Badfinger's records have been reissued. Get them while you can.

In the way the Securities and Exchange Commission protects investors from swindlers, there ought to be a "Badfinger Commission" to protect young artists from sleazy management. For now, read WITHOUT YOU: THE TRAGIC STORY OF BADFINGER.

What a fantastic book "Without You" by Dan Matovina is! I have read it through several times, and it has had such an effect on me. It is so good that sometimes it hurts to read it. I followed Badfinger in the early days and it brought back so many memories - happy and sad. I was lucky enough to know the boys when the song "Without You" was written, and Tommy gave me a rendition of his part before it was released, so I have very special memories.

Quite a few of the events in the book I can remember happening, and they have been retold with great accuracy, sometimes even bringing to mind bits I had forgotten, such as Bill Collins going on a separate flight when they went to Hawaii. Obviously Mr Matovina has delved deeply into Badfinger history, and spent a long time researching and writing the book. He has contacted hundreds of people - friends, families and business associates - in order to paint a clear and true picture of the good and bad times leading to the tragic consequences. Although I believe he never met Tommy or Pete, Dan Matovina got to know them well through interviewing other people.

It is clear that he put his whole heart into this brilliantly written book about the lives and work of Pete, Mike, Tommy, Joey and Bob. Truely a labour of love!

My overwhelming reaction after reading this marvellously researched book,is one of anger.Anger at the torments,both emotional and financial,that all the band members,especially Peter and Tom,must have gone through.It really shows that for all the idealism of the decade that the group came from,the music business,like all others,is filled with unscrupulous individuals with no decency whatsoever when they can smell money.However,against this awful background the group produced much truly marvellous music.Music that varies from the melancholic to the totally uplifting,and that is the bands true legacy and that is what they are remembered for.I have to say though,that the story of Badfinger should serve as a warning to any band entering the music business.Unfortunately,you have to be careful and you have to be clued up.We should be grateful that the full story of the band is available,both as a celebration and as a warning.
Finally,as someone from the same town as the four original Ivey's,my admiration for them has only gone up after reading this book.My beautiful home town of Swansea was not the most affluent place on earth in the sixties,and the part of it that Peter Ham came from was one of the poorer,at least economically,of that town.That a guy from that background wrote such marvellous songs,and even a classic or two,I find fantastic.Read this book,then enjoy the marvellous music of a band that were ahead of their time,and were probably in the wrong place at the wrong time.Ladies and gentlemen...Badfinger.

Dan Matovina's "Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger" is one of the finest books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Not only did its contents answer my every conceivable question but also filled in the notable gaps in and often total lack of historical information regarding the band from which I and many other Badfinger fans suffered for so many years. I found the author's research to be meticulous and the collected quotes from the band members, their families, their friends, and associates--which form not only the framework but the very foundation of the book--to be nothing short of voluminous. Over 400-plus pages Matovina's highly professional style of writing is detailed but concise, journalistic without subverting emotion. This makes for a very compelling and thoroughly enjoyable read. As a Badfinger fan of twelve years, Mr. Matovina's book confirmed what I had personally felt all along: Peter William Ham, composer of all of the band's hits save the McCartney-penned "Come And Get It", was the heart & soul and driving force behind what was arguably the most talented and star-crossed band in the annals of Rock & Roll. For so many years Pete was just a lovely voice on the scratchy vinyl, a name on the credits, a face on the faded dust jacket. "Without You" changed all that for me as, with every turn of the page, Pete Ham came more and more to life. By the time his suicide is recounted roughly two-thirds through the book, I felt I knew Pete as well as anyone possibly could who did not have the privlege of knowing the flesh-and-blood man. While it does not question their right to do so, the last third of the book conveys the sadness and utter futility of the surviving members carrying on the band's name without such a vital, and most would say central element. Can one imagine The Beatles without John? The Grateful Dead without Jerry? In closing I believe that Badfinger fans have a lot for which to thank author Dan Matovina: His saving from obscurity the Pete Ham demos which became "7 Park Avenue" and will become "Golders Green", the much-anticipated upcoming release of "Head First", and, most of all, "Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger", the definitive history of one of Rock's greatest groups.

Well, after attempting to write a review on a purchase I made through Amazon itself, my review was removed. Why I ask....who knows!?!

This is a wonderfully balanced book. Don't listen to the non-sense about it being biased. Both Joey and Mike have appeared with the author of this book. Apparently, somebody trying to create some sort of "Cheap Heat" to sell a little more copies.

Bottom line....awesome story of a Band which was done over, abused and a band who made some music that many people missed out on and were not able to listen to....a darn SHAME!!

If you like this Book.......please be sure to listen to Wish You Were Here LP (not to be confused with Pink Floyd) and watch the VH1 and the DVD release. Not to be missed...brilliant over-views!!!

The "tragic" story of Badfinger couldn't be a better title for this book or this band. So much talent and ability and such bad management and naivete' destroyed not just a band but many lives in the process. I believe every young musician should read this book and learn from their mistakes.

I have always liked Badfinger, but never knew the whole story behind what happened to the band, especially with Pete and Tommy's suicides. "Without You" gives out all the grim details...what a motion picture this story would make! The sad thing is it's a true story....and I am sure no one would want to play the part of the evil manager!
Hats off to Dan for a very well-written book...thanks for the CD insert too, it really adds a vocal narrative of music and voices to the story. Thanks to this book, I am looking forward to adding to my collection of Badfinger music.
(As a side note, it was great to learn the story of how the song "Baby Blue" was written...that song has always been one of my very faves!)
Long live on through your music, Pete and Tommy!

I first heard of Badfinger back in November of 1997 due to my brother. That is when I had the pleasure to first listen to No Dice and Straight Up. Soon after this I read this excellent Book about them called the Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger by DAN MATOVINA. And let me say this IT IS THE BEST BIOGRAPHY OF A BAND THAT I HAVE EVER READ. Dan tells the entire story with them on the Stage, to behind the scenes, and many other things including events in there personal lifes. With this Dan backs these up with personal interviews done by him or reaccounts by the actual band members and family. Also something that is different about this book than any others is that Dan makes you get so close to the characters and makes you feel and experience what the had to live through. (Especially Pete Ham) After reading what happens to Pete and Tom you realize that you felt like you knew them and were close friends. And that in its self makes a book great, living with and experience the ups and downs with the people or characters. Anyways I WOULD LIKE TO THANK DAN for making this book possible along with 7th Park Avenue and Golders Green (CD's of Pete Ham) and the reissues of Badfingers Classic albums. :-) I just simply can't thank him enough for everything.

Great book, well written, easy to follow and hard to put down. Gives a new meaning to the name Badfinger, where everyone point's the blame but noone excepts responsibilty. It is a tragic story that didn't have to be and I agree with the other reviewer who said it's a good book to read and see how not to act in a band setting.
I'd also like to add, shame on Joey Molland and the useless contributions of his wife and Bill Collins. If it weren't for Pete Ham & Tom Evans I'm sure myself and the rest of us wouldn't even have a Badfinger album in our collection right now.
Thanks to Dan Matovina for a good book.