Album of the Day — September 23
Badfinger — Straight Up
Badfinger — Straight Up
23.September.2020
Badfinger
Straight Up
1971
Badfinger was a Welsh band that made both good music AND have hits …while being in the eye of the hurricane that was The Beatles record label, Apple Records.
Badfinger was the first non-Beatle signing to Apple Records …and serve as a cautionary tale about what can happen to bands signed to other bands boutique labels.
Nonetheless, Badfinger miraculously scored four international hits between 1970 and 1972:
“Come and Get It” (written and produced by their boss — Paul McCartney)
“No Matter What”
“Day After Day” (produced by one of their other bosses, George Harrison)
“Baby Blue” (produced by musical savant Todd Rundgren)
Their song “Without You” was a hit for many people over the years, most notably Harry Nilsson and Mariah Carey.
The four men who made up Badfinger were:
Pete Ham — lead vocals, acoustic guitar, slide guitar
Tom Evans — backing vocals, bass guitar
Joey Molland — backing vocals, acoustic guitar
Mike Gibbins — drums, percussion
The band had three solid songwriters (Ham, Evans, Molland) and three solid singers (Ham, Evans, Molland), although it is primarily considered Pete Ham was the better of the three at both.
Released in 1971, Straight Up was Badfinger’s fourth album.
In between touring for their previous album No Dice, Badfinger would grab studio time with No Dice producer Geoff Emerick (engineer of The Beatles later work). Over several months, they had managed to record an album’s worth of material. Unfortunately, the recordings were not up to snuff for the executives at Apple Records, and those Emerick tapes were shelved.
Next into the producer’s chair was George Harrison, who managed to handle some of the new sessions before becoming caught up in his Concert for Bangladesh. Harrison passed the baton to Todd Rundgren, who would eventually complete the recording and mix Straight Up.
Rundgren’s fastidious recording style and notoriously prickly personality made the sessions tense. But in typical fashion, Rundgren produced results …and hits.
The song “Name of the Game” was scheduled to be the first single off of Straight Up, but its path to singledom was problematic:
Phil Spector was the “de facto” head of A&R for Apple Records and canceled the release of the single Geoff Emerick produced “Name of the Game” so that he and George Harrison could remix the song (the Spector & Harrison remix was ultimately rejected by Apple Record US majordomo Al Steckler).
Legendary Al Kooper recorded piano and organ for the song and remixing it …also meeting the same fate as the Emerick and Spector & Harrison versions.
Even though a band favorite “Name of the Game” ended up being relegated to the side one closer of Straight Up.
“Name of the Game” would finally be released as a single …in the Phillipines, with production credit to Harrison & Rundgren.
The Pete Ham penned “Day After Day” would end up being the lead single from the album and being one of Badfinger’s biggest hits.
Ham shared slide guitar duties with producer Harrison while Leon Russell played piano. When released, “Day After Day” would reach #4 in the United States and #10 in the UK, becoming Badfinger’s only gold single.
The always outspoken Rundgren, having taken over production duties and mixing the album, was irked that he didn’t receive a co-production credit on any of the Harrison-produced tracks (like “Day After Day”). He told writer Peter Doggett: “[Harrison] didn’t finish any of the songs, though he was perfectly willing to take the credit for the songs that I finished.”
The albums second single, “Baby Blue” — also written by Ham — became a hit, almost despite itself, which is a testament to the song and Todd Rundgren’s production.
US Apple Records head, Al Steckler, felt the song needed a stronger opening …so he covertly remixed the track (again) with engineer Eddie Kramer.
Steckler was confident of the song’s potential, but Apple UK remained unaware of its commercial potential.
When released, “Baby Blue” would reach #14 and be the band’s last hit single.
Although the single was assigned a release number and date (March 10, 1972) for the UK, it was never released. However, “Baby Blue” was eventually released as a single and charted in the UK in 2013 — when it was used in the series finale of the TV show Breaking Bad.
Pete Ham wrote the song about an alleged groupie, Dixie Armstrong, that he met and dated on Badfinger’s last US tour.
Baby Blue
Guess I got what I deserve
Kept you waiting there, too long my love
All that time, without a word
Didn’t know you’d think, that I’d forget, or I’d regret
The special love I have for you, my Baby Blue
All the days became so long
Did you really think, I’d do you wrong
Dixie, when I let you go
Thought you’d realize, that I would know, I would show
The special love I have for you, my Baby Blue
What can I do, what can I say
Except that I want you by my side
How can I show, you, show me a way
Don’t you know, the times I tried
Guess that’s all I have to say
Except the feeling just gets stronger, every day
Just one thing, before I go
Take good care, baby, let me know, let it grow
The special love, you have for me, my Dixie dear
Straight Up, as an album, was not a blockbuster, only reaching #31 in America. Initial reviews of the album were mostly mixed, but over time critics began to see the album for what it was, a diamond that somehow found a way out of the tumult that was Apple Records.
CRITICS:
Robert Christgau, the Thomas Pynchon of music reviews, provided one of his lyrically cryptic thoughts: “Once again I’m forced to wonder whether I wouldn’t like this record if it were by the Beatles. But without mentioning what the question says about the group, which is called Badfinger, the answer is that the Beatles couldn’t have made this record. Except for ‘Day After Day’ and ‘Perfection,’ not one of these unabashedly tuneful tunes has any magic to it, which isn’t simply a matter of cautious tempos and harmonies — it’s a matter of magic. Nor will any of them add any phrases verbal or musical to our common language, although they might keep a few in circulation.”
William Hanson of MusicHound gave the album five-stars and said: “Straight Up assured [the band] a spot in pop history thanks to its unforgettable singles.”
Joe Marchese of The Second Disc writes: “Straight Up might just be Badfinger’s masterpiece, and its consistency is remarkable considering the three diverse, and strong-willed, producers involved.” — (Emerick, Harrison, Rundgren)
David Fricke of Rolling Stone lists Straight Up first among his top five non-Beatle Apple albums, saying it was the band’s “power-pop apex, despite its difficult birth.”
Despite the hits, the extensive touring, and the support of The Beatles, Badfinger never realized their full potential. The band would eventually end up being part of the collateral damage left in the wake of The Beatles break-up and the shuttering of Apple Records.
The result led to lead singer and songwriter Pete Ham to take his life in 1975. Badfinger tried to carry on without Ham, but the personal and professional lives of Joey Molland and Tom Evans continued to unfurl until 1983 when Tom Evans also committed suicide.
As tragic and cautionary as the Badfinger story is, the music they left behind transcends the tragedies and chaos surrounding its creation.
It’s always about the music. Always. And Badfinger’s music is that good.