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Badfinger :
Pete Ham (1947-1975) - Guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals
Tom Evans (1947-1983) - Bass, vocals
Joey Molland (1947) - Guitar, piano, vocals
Mike Gibbins (1949) - Drums, vocals
All songs written and arranged by Badfinger
Produced by Todd Rundgren, except tracks 5 and 6 on side one and 1 and 3 on side two which were produced by George Harrison.
Original sleeve design was by Gene Mahon and Richard DiLello, with photographs by Richard DiLello.
In March 1992 the album was digitally remastered from the original two-track stereo master mix tapes by Ron Furmanek,
and engineered by Mike Jarratt and Peter Mew at Abbey Road Studios.
This re-issue came with a 12-page booklet which has some very detailed and lengthy sleeve notes written by Andy Davis (of Record Collector) and
researched by Dan Matovina. The package was designed by Phil Smee at Waldo's Design.
The 1992 c.d. has a catalogue number of CDSAPCOR 19 (0777 7 81403 2 0).
Excerpts From C.D. Liner Notes - 1992
On 9th January 1971 Badfinger set about the task of recording a follow-up to the critically acclaimed "No Dice" album.
With Geoff Emerick and the band working together on the production, recording took place at three London Studios, Abbey Road, Air and Command in Picadilly.
Much to the band's annoyance their American manager then arranged a ten week tour of the U.S. This meant rushing the new album before March and
as they ran out of time, mixing the final tapes in one day. As they flew to the states the still untitled L.P. was left at Apple.
When Badfinger returned to Britain on 16th May they discovered that the recordings had been rejected as their next album and any immediate
plans for a follow-up to No Dice had been dropped. The band considered the tapes their most accomplished work to date and to their ears sounded superb, but
Apple decided they were a bit crude. The original running order of the unreleased album was to be:
Side 1 : Suitcase
I'll Be The One
No Good At All
Sweet Tuesday Morning
Baby Please
Mean Mean Jemima
Side 2 : Name Of The Game
Loving You
Money/Flying
Sing For The Song
Perfection
While on tour in America Badfinger had visited the Bell Sounds studios in New York, and Al Kooper had added piano and organ overdubs to a remix of
"Name Of The Game", which with "Suitcase" as it's B-side was allocated a catalogue number (APPLE 35) and announced as the next single.
Then plans for this single release were also dropped. The band were dejected as all their recent recordings had been shelved and three months of
hard studio work seemed wasted.
But more than adequate consolation was in store as George Harrison expressed a wish to produce the band. George wanted a more polished
Abbey Road sound for them.
The new album was a fresh start with no recordings from the original set to be used. Some of the previous songs would be used, but
re-recorded from scratch. With George at the controls, four tracks were begun - two new songs, I'd Die Babe and Day After Day and remakes of
Name Of The Game and Suitcase. George played slide guitar on Day After Day and brought in Leon Russell to lay down some piano.
With just four tracks completed, George suddenly had to leave the project to work on the Concert for Bangla Desh at the request of his friend Ravi Shankar.
Badfinger were also brought in to the charity concert where they augmented the superstar line-up.
By the time Badfinger returned to Britain to resume the ill-fated follow-up album, George was busy mixing the Bangle Desh tapes for release so a new
producer had to be found. Todd Rundgren was chosen. The band had never heard of him and had to rush out and buy some of his records to find out who he was.
Rundgren took charge and within two weeks the album had been completed.
Apple had given Todd carte-blanche to finish the sessions as he saw fit and as well as recording a batch of new songs he chose to re-work and mix tracks
from both the original aborted L.P. and the George Harrison sessions. With Rundgren at the controls the album received a complete overhaul falling
into line with the required sophisticated sound which George originally had in mind.
Straight Up was finally released in February 1972 and went on to become Badfinger's most popular and enduring album.
The Bonus Tracks
The first four bonus tracks are from the original unreleased and untitled Badfinger album.
Money/Flying - Original version with orchestrations by George Martin. The segue between the two songs is more apparent here, and Flying
starts with phased vocals. (Todd's later version features Joey's vocals sped up about a tone and a half higher).
Name Of The Game - The original faster and shorter version with horns and orchestra. Different from the final version on "Straight Up" and from the
Al Kooper overdubbed version which remains unreleased so far.
Suitcase - The original version with an electric guitar intro, extra piano at the end and uncensored lyrics. To avoid any drugs inference the words
"pusher, pusher on the run" had been changed to "butcher, butcher ..." on the later album version.
Perfection - Original version, shorter in length with synthesiser and harmonica refrain instead of guitar riff at the end of the song. There are no
percussion overdubs as there are on the final version.
Baby Blue - The single mix with reverberated snare as issued in the U.S.
To see where this album release sits in the apple releases, see the
Apple Records Album Listing.
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