BADFINGER PLAYLIST 1. Come and Get It 2. No Matter What ...2:21 3. Without You ... 5:20 4. We're For The Dark ... 10:03 5. Baby Blue ... 14:03 6. Day After Day ... 17:40 7. I'll Be the One ... 20:50 8. Apple of My Eye ... 23:40 9. Just A Chance ... 26:45 10. Timeless ... 37:32 A great band, with one of the most tragic and frustrating stories in rock and roll history. Formed in Wales they signed were by the Beatles' Apple label in 1968. Powered by the songwriting and singing of Pete Ham and Tom Evans, Badfinger had four consecutive worldwide hits from 1970 to 1972: "Come and Get It" (written and produced by Paul McCartney), "No Matter What", "Day After Day", and "Baby Blue. " The Ham/Evans-penned Badfinger song "Without You" became a Billboard number one hit for Harry Nilsson. Badfinger's sound was a mixture of Beatlesque melody, magical harmories with ringing guitars and splashy drums ... a prototype of what became known as "Power Pop." The songs "No Matter What," "Day After Day" and "Baby Blue" sound as fresh and engaging in the 21st century than they did 40 years ago. In 1970, the band engaged American businessman Stan Polley to manage their commercial affairs. Over the next five years the band recorded several albums for Apple and toured extensively, generating millions of dollars but they became embroiled in the financial chaos of Apple Records' dissolution following the Beatles' break-up. They signed to Warner Bros., but Polley's financial malfeasance resulted in a lawsuit by Warner Bros., over missing escrow account money. When Warner's withdrew their 1974 album, Wish You Were Here (seven weeks after its release), it cut off the band's income. On the night of April 23, 1975, Ham received a phone call from the United States, telling him that all his money had disappeared. Later that night he met Tom Evans and they went to a pub together where Ham drank ten whiskies. Evans drove him home at three o'clock in the morning and Ham hanged himself in his garage studio later that morning. His suicide note, addressed to his girlfriend and child read: "Anne, I love you. Blair, I love you. I will not be allowed to love and trust everybody. This is better. Pete. P.S. Stan Polley is a soulless bastard. I will take him with me." The next three years saw surviving members trying to rebuild their personal and professional lives against a backdrop of lawsuits, working as carpet installers and taxi drivers. Having seen Ham's body after Ham's wife had called him on the morning of the suicide Evans was haunted over his friend's suicide, and was quoted as saying in darker moments, "I wanna be where he is." On November 19, 1983, Evans also took his own life by hanging. The tragedy of Badfinger is NOT that they weren't the next Beatles; it was that they barely got to be Badfinger. Recommended listening: No Dice; Straight Up; Wish You Were Here

• published: 20 Jan 2014
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