Badfinger
The Very Best Of Badfinger

THE REVIEW

Among the countless meteors that have dotted the pop sky, the Welsh band Badfinger in the early seventies represented the dark and unlucky side of the music business compared to much brighter and more fortunate stars. Despite this, they produced a handful of commendable albums in terms of their compositional prowess and composed some excellent songs that are collected in this worthy anthology.

Listening to the delicacy and sweet harmony of their tracks, one would guess anything but the cruel fate that awaited the singer and songwriter Peter Ham, who committed suicide in 1975. For the record, staying on the topic of obituaries, of the four original members, only guitarist Joey Molland is still with us today: that's fate for you. They should have taken lessons from those devils, the Rolling Stones, who still jump and sing like madmen even today. Different stories, different destinies.

And to think that they started well. Endorsed by a certain Sir Paul McCartney (who welcomed them with open arms to Apple), and produced by talents like Tony Visconti and Todd Rundgren, our guys inserted themselves into the vast pop melting pot, well-represented by prominent names like Raspberries, Wings, Byrds, Kinks. Pop, as we know, is mainly about singles, and Badfinger churned out a significant quantity without ever managing to hit the winning note. Their most successful song (which isn't even their best) is "Day After Day" which reached number 4 in the United Kingdom.

Ironically, their most famous song, "Without You" (ignored in its original version), became a superb cover brought to success by Harry Nilsson (also deceased, of course!) and was played and sometimes screeched (as they were of poor quality) by all the Juke-Boxes across the peninsula at the beginning of the seventies, when that music box was one of the few means of spreading the magical seven notes. Some of you might have heard it in the recent version by Mariah Carey (unfortunately). However, I wouldn’t forget "Carry On Til Tomorrow", with vocal embroidery reminiscent of Simon and Garfunkel, the poignant "Midnight Caller", and further "Baby Blue", "Maybe Tomorrow" and that "No Matter What" placed at the beginning that aims to be their power-pop manifesto.

The Badfinger didn’t represent anything groundbreaking, as today (perhaps not even back then), no one remembers them anymore. However, it is curious and interesting to look back and discover that many of the so-called next big thing bands that have been offered to us over the years have indeed drawn from these sources.

The horrifying hairstyles typical of the period, showcased on the cover and even more so inside the booklet, clash with the syrupiness and gentleness of their musical offering, to the point that one feels compelled to encourage the unwitting to not be deceived by appearances.

It's only pop, but I like it.