Badfinger Articles

The Famous Apple Label Re-issues

Extract From the British magazine Mag Pie 1992 Badfinger could be described as a microcosm of all of Apple's ups and downs. Being a part of the Beatles empire may have sounded like a license to print money, but in reality, it unfairly set them up as a second division act, forever in the shodow of their paymasteres. Eventually, buisness problems and an inhability to substain their commercial succes put an end to the bands career and, sadly, also the lives of two of it's pricipal songwriters, Pete Ham and Tom Evans, who both committed suicide. Badfinger released five albums at Apple, three of which now are available on CD. They began as the Iveys with Maybe Tomorrow, a debut which shows the group finding their feet. It's full of accessible pop tunes, with standout tracks like See Saw Grandpa and the funky Think About The Good Times, but lack the real clout to make lasting impression. The most iteresting moment comes with the uncharacteristically heavy I've Been Waiting- the neares Iveys or Badfinger for that matter, came to psychedelia. Sadly the group didnít pursue that particular direction any further. The reissue has four bonus cuts, No Escaping Your Love, And Her Daddy's a A Millionaire, and the previosly unreleased Mrs. Jones and Looking For My Baby. After a line-up change which signalled a new direction, The Iveys became Badfinger and began toughen up their sound. Their next release, though, Magic Christian Music, Was still in effect an Iveys recording, and the development was not immediatly apparant. In fact, the album fetured six songs lifted wholesale-via a little remixing- from their previos collection. Of the eight new tracks Carry On Till Tomorrow, and the raucous Rock Off All Ages, and the McCartney penned Come And Get It, were featured in the zany Peter Sellers/Ringo Starr comedy of the albums title. Neither the Albom nor the film made much impression, but Come And Get It launched Badfinger into top ten. No Dice, the first propper Badfinger LP, followed less than a year after and demonstrated a remarkable transformation. Now the group began to show its true colours, carvin out their own niche within the no-frills , melodic rock genre. Most of the excesses of early 70s self-indulgence had up to then passed by, and they relied instead on straightforward three minute pop songs like No Matter What. The results were never less impressive, with Pete Hamís and Tom Evans songs displaying a promising maturity. Perhaps as many as half-a-dozen racks on No Dice were strong enough to go alone as singles. But it took Harry Nilsson to pick the obvious hit Without You, which he turned into an international million seller. Unfortunately for Badfinger they never enjoyed such succes with their own recordings, and had to content to bask in Nillson's reflected glory. No Dice now features five bonus tracks all previously unreleased: Get Down, Friends Are Hard To Find, Mean Mean Jemima, Loving You and Iíll Be The One By Reccord Collector's Andy Davis