Wish You Were Here

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Artists: Badfinger.

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35 customer reviews.  5.0 out of 5 stars.

Badfinger's 1974 studio album & second for Warner Brothers after their highly successful spell on the Apple label. Features nine tracks, including 'Got To Get Out Of Here', 'Know One Knows' and 'In The Meantime Some Other Time'.

This is the last Badfinger album to consist of the four core members, as Pete Ham leaves after the recodings, is replaced by Bob Jackson, then returns, only to have Joey Molland depart. Each member contributes memorable songs, such as Pete Ham's DENNIS, JUST A CHANCE, KNOW ONE KNOWS; Joey Molland's GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE and LOVE TIME; Mike Gibbins' YOU'RE SO FINE, and Tom EVANS KING OF THE LOAD. There are two medlies on this CD, both done great, one written by Molland and Gibbins, the other by Ham and Molland. Quite possibly my favorite Badfinger second to STRAIGHT UP.

Have never heard of Badfinger until I came across them in a ListMania section while I was browsing. What intrigued me to give this CD a try was their sad story. Clearly a superb band, way ahead of their time and with a unparalelled talent. Really sad the way it ended but ironically that's makes them more of a real gem. I'm sure I'll be exploring more of them.

Instead of with Linda....

And with the songs serving as an outlet for severe personal and financial problems - As if McCartney needed to write a song like Layla...

That's how I've often thought of this CD. Great guitar work, and lots of big melodies. There's plenty of details in the other reviews, so I'll just add that Pete Ham is in his usual fine (musical) form here, and it's undoubtedly Joey Molland's finest hour. It took dire straits for the band, but Molland never sounded as inspired as he does here.

An odd thing I noticed after reading the Badfinger bio - In the closing verse to Dennis, a great Pete Ham song, the phrase "There's A Way Through" is repeated many times - reportedly the same phrase as Ham's final words to Tom Evans shortly before his death...

that chose to sue the band rather than understand what Pete, Joey, Tom and Mike were going through. The shame of it all is while rock was going into that transitory phase from British Rock and Roll and California Country Rock to Disco, Punk and whatever Springsteen calls his music??? Badfinger in 1974 had recorded an album that not only sounded like "Abbey Road" or even elements of the Beatles' "White Album", but evoke that same magical lyrical imagery so prevalent in the latter Lennon-McCartney era.

Peter Ham, disillusioned and broke, would take his life less than a year after recording this album, but some of his finest songs - maybe not hit tunes like "Day After Day", "No Matter What" or "Baby Blue" - were recorded here. Songs like "Just A Chance", "In the Meantime", and "Meanwhile Back at the Ranch". Tommy Evans contributed the cute and very Lennonsque "King of the Load" with a sweeping guitar solo (Ham? or Molland) that rivals George Harrison's best Beatle solos. Mike Gibbins stepped from behind the drums to sing "You're So Fine" with the three main singer Badfinger boys. The epic, chugging, masterpiece "Meanwhile Back at the Ranch-"Shall I Smoke" with an opening lead vocal by Ham and ending vocal by Joey Molland and with dual lead guitars by Ham and Molland is a breathtaking finish to a wonderous work. A work that sadly enough ended up in the bargain bins - and left the band in desperate debt because a label chose to punish an act over the misdeeds of its mismanagement.

Joey Molland once told me that yep, "Gotta Get Out of Here" was a blunt reference to what the band was experiencing due to lousy management and a label that really didn't care. A band that came directly out of being the Beatles' proteges, being outstanding musicians and composers in their own right and keeping the tradition of the Fab Four did not deserve such a terrible fate. Both Ham and Evans died needless, tragic, early deaths that shouldn't have been, and Molland deserves much more acclaim - at least Badfinger has been acknowledged as a major influence by bands like Cheap Trick, the Records, the Bangles and others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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