Badfinger
| Day After Day (2005) | ||
| 1. Sometimes 2. I Don't Mind 3. Blind Owl 4. Give It Up 5. Constitution 6. Baby Blue 7. Name of the Game 8. Day After Day 9. Timeless 10. I Can't Take It
|
|
|
| Notes: This live recording is taken from a 1974 concert given at the Cleveland Agora. The CD was mixed from the original multi-track tapes by Joey Molland and Mark Healey. | ||
$12.00 (CD)  |
||
| Head First +10 | ||
| CD
One: 1. Lay Me Down 2. Hey, Mr. Manager 3. Keep Believing 4. Passed Fast 5. Rock 'N' Roll Contract 6. Saville Row 7. Moonshine 8. Back Again 9. Turn Around 10. Rockin' Machine CD Two: |
|
|
| Notes: Badfinger completed
their best album in 1975, then had it pulled from the shelves in a
haze of managerial misdeals and contractual screw-ups. They were good
soldiers, at least for a while, heading into the studio (without Joey
Molland, who bailed at the last minute) to bash out another album for
Warner, completing it in two weeks. Warner rejected the effort, lead songwriter
Pete Ham committed suicide not long afterward, and the album sat in the
vaults until late 2000, when Artisan/Snapper released Head First as a
double-disc set (the second disc consisting of demos and outtakes). Head
First confirms that Badfinger had settled into a groove with Wish You
Were Here, finding an effective middle ground between their pop gifts and
hard rock inclinations, with both Ham and Tom Evans contributing equally
strong works. That they're equally embittered to the music industry (three
of the songs deal directly with their business troubles) is no surprise,
yet they manage to make it tough, melodic, and remarkably sympathetic.
There are no songs that shine as brilliantly, when isolated, as those
on its immediate predecessors, but Head First works as a cohesive album,
holding together better than any Badfinger record outside of Wish You Were
Here. It's not likely that it would have changed their destiny any if it
had been released in 1975, yet it certainly wouldn't have been an embarrassment,
and it's now a welcome addition to their catalog; it provides a sense of
closure. - Stephen Thomas Erlewine |
||
| $13.00
(2 CD)
|
||
| The Very Best Of Badfinger (2000) | ||
| 1.
No Matter What 2. Day After Day 3. Baby Blue 4. Name of the Game 5. Maybe Tomorrow 6. Come and Get It 7. Rock of All Ages 8. Carry on Till Tomorrow 9. Midnight Caller 10. We're for the Dark 11. I'll Be the One 12. Without You 13. I'd Die Babe 14. It's Over 15. When I Say 16. Dennis 17. Lonely You 18. Love Time 19. Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch/Should I Smoke |
|
|
| Notes: The difference between
2000's The Very Best of Badfinger and 1995's Come and Get It: The Best
of Badfinger is a simple one - the 1995 collection concentrated on the
group's Apple recordings, where the 2000 collection runs all the way until
1974's Wish You Were Here, the band's final album with Pete Ham. Not
only does the collection benefit from the expanded timeline, but it has
a sharp selection of songs from the classic Apple years - yes, "Flying"
is absent and Ass is bypassed (perhaps understandably so), but "We're for
the Dark" is a more than welcome addition. The 19 tracks may not be in
chronological order, but the sequencing packs a real punch and, in this
context, the best of the Warner material more than holds its own with the
Apple cuts. Inevitably, there are some fan favorites missing, but apart from
"Flying," all the classics are here and this compilation is unquestionably
the most thorough (and arguably the best) overview of Badfinger's entire
career yet assembled. - Stephen Thomas Erlewine |
||
| $13.00 |
||
