Straight Up

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Artists: Badfinger.

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34 customer reviews.  5.0 out of 5 stars.

When I think of Badfinger I think of passion. For all it's perfect production qualities, Todd Rundgren and George Harrison could not drown out the passion of Straight Up. From beginning to end, the heart, soul & passion of this masterpiece comes through. Yes the sound is hauntingly Beatlesque. But there is so much more depth here that it would be a shame to place Straight Up in that Beatles box.

Badfinger was behind the eight ball from it's inception. Being compared to the greatest rock band of all time can only finish in tradgedy. If you sound too much like them, you loose. If you sound similar to them you can never come out from under their immense shadow and thus are never given any credit for originality.

Straight up is a great record. Badfinger could have been a great band, had they been given half the chance to let it be.

Sadly, Badfinger was a band that never got much respect from the critics. It was generally criticized for being, at best, a Beatles "sound alike" and, at worst, a Beatles imitator. "Badfinger recycles familiar riffs and harmonies in far less striking configurations" says The Rolling Stone Album Guide. There was plenty of other circumstantial evidence. Paul McCartney wrote their first hit, George Harrison produced some of the tracks for STRAIGHT UP, and they were on the Beatles' Apple label. Frankly, I don't know enough about music to judge the accuracy or fairness of all this. I only know what I like when I hear it, and I like both STRAIGHT UP and its predecessor, NO DICE, a lot.

STRAIGHT UP was originally recorded not too long after the release of NO DICE, the intent being to capitalize on the moderate success of that set. George Harrison produced much of it. The album's release was delayed, however, and eventually Todd Rundgren was brought in as producer and many of the tracks were re-recorded. The current CD contains the album that was ultimately released with Rundgren as producer, as well as some of the original tracks produced by Harrison. Personally, I'm glad Rundgren was brought in. I like the tracks done with him producing much better than the older ones.

This is a very listenable album. The twelve tracks originally released are a pleasure; there isn't a loser among them. My personal favorites include "Take It All", "Money", "Flying", "Suitcase", "Day After Day", "Sometimes" and "Perfection". "Baby Blue" and "Day After Day" were the Top 40 hits. Some are ballads and some are rockers, but nice vocal harmonies abound, there are lots of nice melodies and catchy riffs, and I particularly enjoy the jangly percussion and the guitar solo into the fade-out on "Perfection". Favorites and hits aside, though, I often just put the CD in and listen to the whole thing. There's not a bad cut in there anywhere.

Whatever the validity of all the criticism, it all ended tragically for Badfinger and, especially, for some of the bandmembers. It's all water under the bridge, now. Whether or not these guys were mining Beatles material for their music, the result sounds pretty darn good. It seems to me that if a rock band is going to look somewhere for inspiration, Beatles music is a pretty good place to start. The results are pleasing to the ear, and that's what counts.

I had a hard time coming up with a rating for STRAIGHT UP. I'll concede that Badfinger was never as original or unique as some of the other great bands of the period, particularly the Beatles. They never did anything to rival albums like "SGT. PEPPER...", WHO'S NEXT, EXILE ON MAIN STREET, LED ZEPPLIN IV, RUMOURS, or some others I could name. On the other hand, I like this album very much and still listen to it a lot. I decided to call it 4.5 stars and round up to five. Again, this isn't quite one of the real greats of classic rock, but it's an excellent piece of work and a pleasure to listen to. If you like classic pop/rock, you'll like STRAIGHT UP.

This album is a treasure -- and it has nothing to do with the band's relationship to the Beatles. It stands on its own. They sing with depth and a touch of melancholy the Beatles couldn't really do by the late '60's. When put into the context of the band's history, the songs are really touching and heard in a different light. Even in 2008, this album sounds fresh and new, partly because it was basically stripped down to its core -- piano, drums, vocals -- preventing it from becoming dated. Yes, if the Beatles had not broken up, they probably would have sounded like Badfinger; but Badfinger was talented in its on right and the music industry horror story that they lived -- serving as a warning and morality tale for future bands -- make this album one of the most poignantly beautiful in rock and roll.

Well Loved Then and Still Love it Now! It stand the test of Time!
How ironic though; In the song "Perfection" the line says "So listen to my song of life. You don't need a gun or a knife" Wow!, reflecting on these words now. I wish we could have prevented the suicide of both Pete Ham and Tom Evans. Heaven is rich!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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