Badfinger on Track

Sonicbond Publishing Limited

www.sonicbondpublishing.co.uk

Email: [email protected]

First Published in the United Kingdom 2022

First Published in the United States 2022

This digital edition 2022

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data:

A Catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Copyright Robert Day-Webb 2022

ISBN 978-1-78952-176-4

The right of Robert Day-Webb to be identified

as the author of this work has been asserted by him

in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from Sonicbond Publishing Limited

Graphic design and typesetting: Full Moon Media

Acknowledgements

I would like to dedicate this book, with love, to my family:

Rie, Josh, Lolly, Matt and Dan.

I would also like to say a big thank you to Stephen Lambe at Sonicbond, not only for the opportunity to write this book but also for all the help, guidance and patience.

Huge thanks also to all the people out there who have previously carried out the invaluable research utilised within this book, particularly the following individuals:

Dan Matovina, whose biographical tome on Badfinger was an indispensable resource (Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger – Frances Glover Books, 1997; second edition 2000).

Tom Brennan and his truly phenomenal Badfinger Library website which provided additional and up-to-date information.

Michael A. Cimino, for his book, Badfinger and Beyond – The Biography of Joey Molland (Cottage Views, 2011) which provided valuable information from Joey Molland’s perspective.

Finally, of course, the biggest thank you of all goes out to Pete, Tom, Joey and Mike (and, indeed, everyone else who passed through the ranks of Badfinger) for the wonderful music you created.

Without You…

Contents

Introduction

Prologue

Maybe Tomorrow

Magic Christian Music

No Dice

Straight Up

Ass

Badfinger

Wish You Were Here

Head First

Airwaves

Say No More

Epilogue

Further Related And Recommended Albums Of Interest

Bibliography

Introduction

The story of Badfinger is famously renowned for being one of the most tragic in all of rock ‘n’ roll history. Indeed, they are possibly more well-known for their devastatingly ruinous trials and tribulations than their actual music. Whilst their tale is certainly a cautionary one rife with examples of abysmal and shameful management, complex and seemingly unending legal proceedings and persistent financial problems, all culminating in the dreadful suicides of two of the band’s main protagonists, it should not be allowed to overshadow their musical legacy.

Frequently touted back in the day as ‘the next Beatles,’ ‘the new Fab Four’and other similar Beatle-comparing labels, Badfinger were global superstars-in-waiting. They were the very first act signed to The Beatles’ Apple Records label (albeit in their pre-Badfinger guise, The Iveys) and enjoyed a run of four consecutive worldwide hit singles in the early 1970s (the first of which was the Paul McCartney-penned ‘Come And Get It’, followed by ‘No Matter What’, ‘Day After Day’ and ‘Baby Blue’). They reportedly went on to sell fourteen million albums worldwide and with the track ‘Without You’, co-written by band members Pete Ham and Tom Evans, they also created a true classic pop standard which has subsequently been covered by numerous artists, most notably by Harry Nilsson and Mariah Carey, who both scored global number one hits with their respective versions of the song.

The band’s classic line-up of Pete Ham, Tom Evans, Joey Molland and Mike Gibbins shared a unique and magical chemistry, and two of their albums in particular, Straight Up and Wish You Were Here, are frequently hailed by critics as genuine classics. Inextricably linked with The Beatles, members of Badfinger even found themselves playing on their patrons’ solo LPs – George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass and John Lennon’s Imagine.

Whilst managerial, legal and financial issues ultimately put paid to any chances of the band fulfilling their true potential at the time, their music has posthumously endured, and to this day, it continues to reach out and touch fans across the world. Indeed, as recently as 2013, a whole new generation of fans discovered the band via their track ‘Baby Blue’, which was used in the final ever episode of cult US TV drama, Breaking Bad. Within this book, I shall take an analytical look at every official album and track they released in their lifetime (including their pre-Badfinger incarnation, The Iveys) whilst also offering some insight into what was happening behind the scenes during the respective album periods in order to flesh out their story. I will, therefore, inevitably touch upon the various managerial, financial and legal woes that the band endured, but since the specific focus of this book is on the actual music, I would direct interested readers to other related tomes that delve much deeper and more comprehensively into the complex web of business shenanigans that continually plagued the band (such as Dan Matovina’s superlative band biography). My primary aim here is to shine a light on their musical legacy with an honest and truthful critical analysis of their recorded output. Hopefully, fans old and new will enjoy reading the following pages and, afterwards, if it sends you scurrying off to investigate the Badfinger songbook further, then I will consider my work well and truly done!

[Note: All US chart placings within the book refer to the Billboard 200 chart (for albums) and the Billboard Hot 100 (for singles); all UK chart data is sourced from the Official UK Charts Company.]

Prologue

The origin of the Badfinger story can be traced back to South Wales (UK) in the early 1960s, when Swansea native and budding musician, Pete Ham (born 27 April 1947), formed a band initially called The Panthers. Over the next few years, the band’s line-up and moniker changed several times until 1964, whereupon the band, now centred around the core line-up of Pete Ham (guitar), Ron Griffiths (bass guitar) and David ‘Dai’ Jenkins (rhythm guitar), settled upon the name The Iveys (which had been inspired by several reasons – Ivey Place, a small street in Swansea, the song ‘Poison Ivy’ which the band were fond of, and the fact that the moniker made for a pleasing association with The Hollies, a band for whom they had much admiration). They acquired a new drummer in 1965 in the form of one Mike Gibbins, another Swansea-bred lad (born 12 March 1949).

The following year, a gentleman by the name of Bill Collins took a shine to the band and, seeing a lot of potential in the boys, became their manager (interestingly, Bill Collins was the father of future film and TV actor Lewis Collins, who later found fame in the late 1970s/early 1980s playing ‘Bodie’ in the British TV show, The Professionals). Bill soon convinced the band to relocate to London in order to seriously pursue their musical career and so, by the second half of 1966, the band members found themselves ensconced in Park Avenue, Golders Green, London, not too far from Abbey Road Studios. Once settled in London, the band fervently set about writing and recording demos and gigging. Even at this early stage, Pete Ham displayed a lot of promise in the songwriting department, so much so that Kinks leader Ray Davies even wanted to produce them (in actual fact, he ended up producing three demos with the band). By the end of 1966, Bill Collins had officially formalised his position with the band by signing a management contract with the boys.

Around August 1967, Dai Jenkins was replaced by Liverpudlian musician Tom Evans (born 5 June 1947), and by 1968, all four band members were writing and contributing material with their compositions all tending towards melodically-oriented pop songs. By this time, they were also a fairly successful live act and the lads were beginning to build up a decent following.

On the back of their growing popularity, Bill Collins managed to attract the interest of one Mal Evans, famed Beatles roadie and friend. Mal liked what he heard and decided to take some demos back to the recently Beatle-formed Apple corporation for the attention of the powers that be (including the Beatles themselves). Mal relentlessly promoted the band at Apple and eventually convinced the Apple bosses to sign The Iveys. The band were duly signed to Apple Records in July 1968, in the process becoming the first non-Beatle act to be signed to the label. In addition to the record deal, the band also signed a publishing contract with Apple Music in October 1968. Subsequently, a sense of euphoria naturally pervaded the jubilant band’s camp at this time and the world was seemingly theirs for the taking…

Maybe Tomorrow

Personnel:

Pete Ham: vocals, lead guitar, keyboards

Tom Evans: vocals, rhythm guitar

Ron Griffiths: vocals, bass guitar

Mike Gibbins: vocals, drums, percussion

Recorded at Trident, Olympic and Morgan Studios, London, UK (July 1968 – March 1969)

Produced and arranged by Tony Visconti except for * produced by Mal Evans and arranged by John Barham and Mal Evans

Not released in US or UK (only released in Italy, Germany and Japan: September 1969)

Almost immediately after signing with Apple, the band entered Trident Studios in Soho, London, and set about recording some of their material. Initially, Denny Cordell (who’d worked with the likes of The Moody Blues, Procol Harum and The Move) was assigned as producer, but due to ongoing production commitments elsewhere, he was replaced after just one day by his assistant Tony Visconti (who was also working with Marc Bolan/Tyrannosaurus Rex and David Bowie at the time). These first few months of recording sessions saw the band attempt to find a potential hit single. They ended up recording several good, solid numbers (all self-penned by respective band members), but none of them leapt out as being an obvious choice for that all-important first single.

It wasn’t until they attempted Tom Evans’ ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ that they discovered they were onto something very promising. Visconti subsequently weaved his production and arrangement magic on the track and Apple duly approved of the completed song and confirmed that it would be the band’s debut single. A promotional film was also shot for the track, which featured the youthful and fresh-faced foursome, dressed in matching suits, lip-syncing to the song. Whilst the single was being prepped for release, the band remained busy, spending their time either recording, rehearsing or performing live gigs. November 1968 saw the release of the ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ single in the UK, accompanied by some decent reviews in the music press. Disc and Music Echo had this to say:

This is as good as you could wish – very gentle, very warm, super lead singer who sounds like McCartney and very, very pretty.

The New Musical Express (NME) was almost as positive in its review:

This is a pungent beat-ballad with a rather wistful lyric … pleasant vocal blend, though I thought the soloist’s exaggerated soul contributions were a little overdone. And the gorgeous stringy scoring is positively scintillating.

However, overall, the promotional campaign was a little lacking (mainly due to internal issues at Apple), and by mid-December it became apparent that the song was not going to be a hit in the domestic market. Pete Ham later shared his thoughts on the song’s domestic chart failure (in the Magic Christian Music songbook, 1970):

I was brought down when our first record with Apple, which was ‘Maybe Tomorrow’, didn’t do anything. The trouble was, we were stupid and we sat back and thought it would just happen. And it didn’t.

Tom Evans’ feelings concerning the disappointing chart performance of the single also echoed those of his bandmate. From the same 1970 Magic Christian Music songbook, he had this to say:

That period depressed me more than I can say. I hit bottom. I began to think that maybe we weren’t really good enough, even with Apple behind us. What I came to realise was that the fault was entirely ours. We sat back. We thought it would just happen. We’d come to Apple and it was the big pop star thing, we didn’t need bother, effort.

Around this time, plans for an actual Iveys album began to form and, following a move to Olympic Studios in November, further songs were worked on for the forthcoming album. Late December 1968 saw the band move to another studio, this time to Morgan Studios, with a view to recording a follow-up single to ‘Maybe Tomorrow’. With Mal Evans at the production helm this time, the band came up with a song called ‘Storm In A Teacup’ but this track was ultimately rejected as the next single. The beginning of the new year saw the band return to Trident to continue recording for the new album (with Mal Evans remaining in the producer’s chair in place of Tony Visconti). Pleasingly, early 1969 also saw some welcome chart success for the ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ single in continental Europe. However, this success was not replicated in the US, where the single, released in January, only managed to peak at #67 in the Billboard chart.

In between UK touring commitments, the band continued work on the album in the studio. By mid-March, the LP was completed but the band were still in search of a follow-up single to ‘Maybe Tomorrow’. They, therefore, returned to the studio in April and worked on a song called ‘Give It A Try’, but, once again, it was rejected by Apple, which proved incredibly frustrating and disappointing for the band. Unfortunately, the air of despondency hanging over the band’s camp was not to improve over the coming months. By mid-1969, Apple was already in a state of internal chaos and American business manager Allen Klein had been brought in to take over the reins of the corporation. This, in turn, led to further problems for the band, for whilst a global release date had initially been set for the new LP, it appeared that Klein had decided to postpone multiple record releases while attempting to resolve the financial chaos at Apple. However, due to the underperformance of the ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ single in the UK and US, Apple ultimately decided to cancel outright the release of the new album in these markets (although some copies of the LP were actually pressed and distributed in the UK before being pulled). Thankfully, because the single had done well in some other European markets and also Japan, the new LP was still released in these regions (in September 1969). A follow-up single, ‘Dear Angie’, was also pulled from the new record for release in the territories where the lead single had achieved some success. With things not working out quite as expected with Apple, the band were not surprisingly feeling a tad disappointed at this juncture. Indeed, in the July 1969 edition of Disc and Music Echo, the band revealed their feelings at the time – Ron Griffiths:

We do feel a bit neglected … We keep writing songs for a new single and submitting them to Apple, but the Beatles keep sending them back saying they’re not good