"Head First": Hearing previously unreleased Badfinger for the first time
Written: May 14 '01 (Updated Jun 16 '05)
Product Rating:
Pros: Two CDs with 21 tracks and over an hour of music.
Cons: The suicide of two of the band's members sometimes overshadows the listening pleasure.
The Bottom Line: If you're a fan of Beatles-inspired pop, and especially a die-hard Badfinger collector, this is a value-priced album well-worth adding to your collection.
Badfinger was an ill-fated hit-making entity that made some great music and endured incredible tragedy in its short life as a band.
They may be best-known for a song they recorded in 1970, "Without You" ("...Can't live / if living means without you..."). It was written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans of the group as an acoustic guitar number, appears on the group's "No Dice" album and was not a hit for the group.
It was a hit for the late Harry Nilsson in 1971-72 when Nilsson's cover of the song spent 19 weeks in the Billboard Hot 100. His heavily-orchestrated pop interpretation of the tune spent four weeks at # 1 and won a Grammy Award. It also sold a million copies to earn a Gold Record Award for Nilsson. In the '90s, Mariah Carey released her version of the song for a Top 10 hit as well.
You might think this made a mint for Pete and Tom. On paper, it did. It did make a lot of money for people they trusted. It was devastating for both men to learn that the songwriting money had disappeared as quickly as it was earned, taken by management that was poorly chosen by the band.
Badfinger had hits on its own, of course. Discovered by The Beatles, signed to The Beatles' Apple Records label, they were named by John Lennon. They performed the music for Ringo Starr's "The Magic Christian" movie.
A third Beatle, Paul McCartney, wrote the first single they recorded for Apple, "Come And Get It," which went to # 7 in 1970. The fourth Beatle, George Harrison, produced their album "Straight Up" in 1971 with Todd Rundgren.
Badfinger had three additional Top 20 hits by 1972 (all written by Pete Ham) with "No Matter What" (# 8), the million-seller "Day After Day" (# 4; Gold Record Award) and "Baby Blue" (# 14). Eric Carmen of The Raspberries said in 1972 that Badfinger "is the best band I've ever heard."
Band members recorded on outside projects such as John Lennon's "Imagine" and George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" albums. In the movie, "The Concert For Bangla Desh," Pete joined Harrison for an acoustic duet of The Beatles' "Here Comes The Sun."
The band members, involved in heavy touring and constant recording, paid little attention to the money end of the business. They lived on a small salary each week, thinking their earnings were being invested for them. It just never occurred to the band that someone might take advantage of them.
They left Apple in 1973 for Warner Brothers Records, recording two released albums for the label. It was at this point that the band learned of the mismangement of its earnings --- the band had received a huge advance from the label for signing with them and the acountants at the label suddenly discovered that the money couldn't be accounted for by Badfinger's management.
It was 1974, with the second Warner's album, "Wish You Were Here," selling 25,000 copies a week, when Warner's discovered the problem. Badfinger's management rushed the band into Apple Recording Studios to record "Head First" while they still had an album ("Wish You Were Here") to promote on Warner's.
It was a new Badfinger this time out. Guitarist Joey Molland (who currently tours as Joey Molland's Badfinger) had quit in November, 1974, so Bob Jackson was brought in on keyboards while Pete (on guitar, keyboards), Tom (bass) and Mike Gibbins (drums) continued on.
Tom conceived the album cover of a roaring lion --- according to Dan Matovina's notes in the CD bookley, "he wanted the album cover to symbolize the band going into a roaring lion's mouth."
The album was recorded in 13 days, with mixing done by February, 1975. Warner's by this time had stopped circulation of the band's previous release, had frozen their money and was suing the band, so "Head First" became an unreleased album.
For lead singer Pete Ham, the timing was awful. He couldn't pay any bills and his girlfriend was expecting a child. In April 1975, at age 27, he hung himself. Eight years later, bassist Tom Evans, his "Without You" cowriter, did the same thing (after trying to continue the band with Joey in the late '70s/early'80s). It would be the '90s before the money situation was fully sorted out, which benefitted the families of Pete and Tom, and the band's other two members (Badfinger had a unique arrangement among its members: no matter who wrote a song, the royalties were split among the band's members).
Over the years since the band's demise, Badfinger has become legendary as one of the founders of the "power pop" movement (the term belongs to Pete Townshend of The Who, who described his band's music as "power pop"). In the fall of 2000, the cable music channel VH-1 aired a "Behind The Music" special about Badfinger which saw the various Badfinger albums that had been re-released on CD suddenly enjoy sales increases of between four- and six-times their normal sales in the weeks following the show's airing.
With the revived interest, it was time for the "unreleased" LP to become a "released" CD. "Head First" was finally released by the Artisan/Snapper label as a 2-CD set for the price of one CD.
CD # 1:
The 10-track album itself, clocking in at a total running time of 33 minutes and 40 seconds, kicks off with Pete writing what is obviously an attempt at a hit single (in 1974, it had been two years since Badfinger's last Top 10 hit). His "Lay Me Down" revolves around a stunning melody with ferocious guitars and powerful drums supporting a sweet lead vocal and chorus.
"Take me high / take me low / show me anything that you know / but tonight / little lover / lay me down / make me laugh / make me sigh / tell me how / and tell me why / but tonight / little lover / lay me down / ... / take and give / take and live / all the love that we have found / and just send all the problems away / play me fun / play me sad / tell me things that can make you glad / but tonight / love a little / lay me down..."
It's a wonderful song, catchy as any melody I've ever heard, but there is obvious irony in the song knowing that Pete would be laid down for the last time in 1975, only months after recording this. His suicide note, according to the liner notes, said his faith in "love and trust" had been destroyed by Badfinger's management (worth seeking out are two solo CDs by Pete Ham released in the last few years which contain previously unreleased demos which show what a great songwriter and sensitive guy Pete really was).
Likewise, Tom's suicide in 1983 overshadows his warning "Hey Mr. Manager":
"Waiting for the phone to tell me you and I are through / And I'm not alone, I guess that everybody wants it, too / You got no feeling, you've been dealing all the wrongs / The lives you're stealing / Lord, I think you should be gone / Hey, Mr. Manager / You're messing up my life / Hey Mr. Manager / Don't think I need that kind of strife..."
Pete's sweet ballad "Keep Believing" (which features Pete's famed steel guitar work) seems to describe the band's problems as well, although Pete is singing to a lost sweetheart in the tune:
"I couldn't wish you any bad / I only miss the highs we had / Our problems made it hard to smile / But I still loved you all the while / I can't deny that times have changed / I only wish we could have rearranged it / We were the pawns in someone else's game..."
Tom is very introspective on "Past Fast" ("...your eyes have seen the glory of the future that is past..."; written with Bob Jackson) and brutally honest on "Rock 'n' Roll Contract" (Evans):
"Wrapped up in a rock 'n' roll contract / Lots of paper I had to sign lots of times / Man you told me not to worry 'bout the business / Just keep poppin' those hits / ... / You made me your slave / Whatever God gave me / You took to the grave..."
"Saville Row" is a 30-second instrumental by Pete, a very odd synthesizer piece that seems out of place on this album.
Drummer Mike Gibbins comes upfront for the soulful reflection of "Moonshine" (Gibbins-Evans-Jackson), a little bit of country crooning on "Back Again" (Gibbins) and the strange "Rockin' Machine" (by Gibbins, who sings "A-one, two, buckle my blues...").
Bob Jackson's tune "Turn Around" sounds a great deal like Eric Clapton (Jackson had just come off a tour supporting Clapton when he joined Badfinger), an odd sound coming from a "Beatle band." Very much a "progressive rock" tune, it features some searing lead guitar from Pete.
CD # 2:
Demos and bonus tracks recorded at the same time as the original album tracks, these 11 songs bring an additional 26 minutes and 55 seconds to the album's total running time.
The tracks on the second CD: "Time Is Mine" (Pete's melody for a song he apparently hadn't written lyrics for yet; very pretty), "Smokin' Gun" (Ham), "Old Fashioned Notions" (Gibbins; a delightful piano-based surprise), "Nothing To Know" (Ham), "You Ask Yourself Why" (Gibbins), "Keep Your Country Tidy" (Ham, who sings "...keep your country tidy, keep rubbish off the floor, poor old mother nature, can't take it any more..."), "To Say Goodbye" (a very pretty, Beatle-ish Jackson tune), "Queen Of Darkness" (Evans), "I Can't Believe In" (Ham), "Thanks To You All" (Gibbins) and a lovely demo version of "Lay Me Down" that's just Pete's lead vocal over his acoustic guitar that shows him crafting a lovely tune.
The overall picture:
Two CDs, with a total of 21 tracks and a total running time of 60 minutes and 35 seconds. A wonderful, well-illustrated 20-page CD booklet that contains lyrics to all the songs and details on the recording of the album written by Dan Matovina, author of a book on the band, "Without You: The Tragic Story Of Badfinger" (which I reviewed for Epinions a while back).
The package is presented inside a plastic jewel box which is inside of a cardboard slip-cover.
This is not Badfinger's best album. That title belongs to the Harrison-Rundgren produced "Straight Up" (containing the hits "Day After Day" and "Baby Blue"). However, this inexpensive 2-CD package is still a treasure for fans of melodic pop and good songwriting (great songwriting in the case of Pete Ham). The demos also offer a rare glimpse into the songwriting/recording process that may be of interest to fans.
Of interest:
Badfinger fans will probably enjoy Capitol/EMI's 24-bit digitally remastered CD "Greatest" by Raspberries which was released in May of 2005 in the U. S. and Europe. Raspberries original lineup (Eric Carmen, Wally Bryson, Dave Smalley and Jim Bonfanti) reunited in 2004 and played before sell-out crowds on tour in 2004 and 2005. "Greatest" by Raspberries features all 7 of Raspberries Hot 100 singles, has 20 tracks and runs 78:53 minutes: http://www.epinions.com/content_186044681860
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