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The appearance of this CD in my mailbox elicited a cringe: would it be terrible? A crass attempt to capitalize on the reputation of a band that made some of the best music of its era? An undistinguished, middling effort? Something else?<\/p>\nThe appearance of this CD in my mailbox elicited a cringe: would it be terrible? A crass attempt to capitalize on the reputation of a band that made some of the best music of its era? An undistinguished, middling effort? Something else?<\/p>\n
The cover art and packaging did not allay my fears. A Union Jack? Yes, all four of Badfinger\u2019s prime-era lineup were from the UK (two from England, two from Wales), but the group never traded in such imagery, leaving it instead to The Who. And some strange, clip-arty graphics superimposed over the flag suggests \u2026 what? Hippies? A Native American? Who knows? The stylized Badfinger typeface is clearly intended to evoke thoughts of Straight Up<\/em>, the band\u2019s 1971 LP. And if one is being unkind, the title has an unintended meaning: No matter what<\/i>, it seems to warn us, we\u2019re revisiting the hits<\/i>.<\/p>\n Open the package and remove the disc, and you\u2019ll see that the lineup of this ersatz Badfinger is Joey Molland (a member of the band during its most well-known years, songwriter of exactly zero of the band\u2019s hit singles, and lead singer of the same number of hits) … on vocals and bass<\/em>, not his primary instrument of guitar. The other two core musicians are J\u00fcrgen Engler (member of German industrial band Die Krupps, producer, guitarist and ubiquitous figure on Cleopatra Records projects) and multi-instrumentalist Adam Hamilton (formerly of hair metal band L.A. Guns) on drums. Alrighty then. And recently I learned that the basic tracks for some of these recordings were laid down as long as as a decade ago; some may have even been released before without the “guest” overdubs.<\/p>\n Original Badfinger members Pete Ham and Tom Evans \u2013 who wrote the lion\u2019s share of the band\u2019s best material and all but one of its hits \u2013 as well as drummer Mike Gibbins are no longer alive. As the sole surviving member of the best-known lineup (1970-74), Molland claims some rights to the band name. Using similar reasoning, however, Ringo Starr or Paul McCartney might put together a band and call it the Beatles. It’s been my understanding that when performing, the guitarist must append “Joey Molland’s” to the band name. That’s certainly not done here; if an unsuspecting buyer purchases it without noticing the fine-print Revisiting the Hits<\/em>, they may feel misled.<\/p>\n The above hints at the reasons for the skepticism I brought to this CD prior to hearing it. Learning that each of its ten tracks features a guest artist (usually but not always singing lead) made me curious but no less concerned. Setting aside the questions as to whether there\u2019s any creative\/artistic justification for a re-re-recording of Badfinger\u2019s hit songs (and some worthy deep album tracks), the question remains: are these versions any good when considered on their own? The answer is: sometimes, yes; too often, no.<\/p>\n Mark Stein is best known as the lead singer of Vanilla Fudge. That\u2019s him gesticulating wildly and wonderfully over-emoting on The <\/i>E<\/i>d Sullivan Show<\/i> when performing \u201cYou Keep Me Hangin\u2019 On.\u201d Here he provides soulful \u2013 if unnecessarily histrionic \u2013 vocals and flourishes of Hammond organ on top of a faceless if workmanlike remake of \u201cNo Matter What.\u201d<\/p>\n Rick Wakeman of Yes adds piano filigree to the Paul McCartney-written \u201cCome and Get It.\u201d Wakeman\u2019s playing is always brilliant, but this song doesn\u2019t need fancy piano. When McCartney gave his one-man-band demo of the song to Badfinger, it came with strict instructions: sing and play it exactly the same as I have done<\/em>. There was a reason for that. Molland\u2019s weedy vocals \u2013 never his strong suit \u2013 are no match for those of the late Tom Evans, even in the age of Autotune.<\/p>\n \u201cI Don\u2019t Mind\u201d is an Evans-Molland co-write, an album cut from 1970\u2019s No Dice<\/i>. Buckinghams\u2019 Carl Giammarese does a nice job on vocals here, making it a standout track on the album.<\/p>\n The orchestration \u2013 courtesy the Manchester String Quartet \u2013 on \u201cDay After Day\u201d is lovely, and Ian Anderson\u2019s flute is nice enough, if superfluous. Terry Reid’s backing vocals prop up another weak lead vocal from Molland. He simply can\u2019t hit the notes that Pete Ham \u2013 one of rock-pop\u2019s best-ever singers \u2013 could.<\/p>\n \u201cLove is Gonna Come at Last\u201d really should have been a hit. Originally recorded for the Molland\/Evans Badfinger of the early \u201880s, the Molland-penned tune is among the best things the guitarist ever wrote. Guest singer Rick Springfield does a creditable job on the tune, and Engler faithfully re-creates Molland\u2019s fine lead slide guitar work. But why Molland doesn\u2019t play those guitar parts himself remains a mystery.<\/p>\n Matthew Sweet is an artist of unassailable taste. His guitar work on a faithful remake of \u201cBaby Blue\u201d is nice, and his backing vocals provide a sonic crutch for Molland, who gamely attempts to sing Tom Evans\u2019 parts. Still, with due respect to Sweet, the guitar fills are somewhat gratuitous, seeming to exist mostly to telegraph Hey, I\u2019m here<\/em> rather than to add anything of value to a song that really can\u2019t be improved upon.<\/p>\n \u201cMidnight Caller\u201d is fascinating; The Legendary Pink Dots\u2019 Edward Ka-Spel adds Mellotron and Leslie\u2019d keyboards to the arrangement. The song otherwise follows the original very closely, and once again Molland strains unsuccessfully to sing Pete Ham\u2019s beautiful lead vocal lines. Still, \u201cMidnight Caller\u201d is among the best non-single Badfinger tunes ever written, and this arrangement does in fact do justice to it.<\/p>\n Molland\u2019s stinging slide guitar work is at the core of Badfinger’s original recording of his \u201cSuitcase.\u201d But here it\u2019s guest guitarist Sonny Landreth(!) playing, and Molland doing his best to re-create his 1971 vocal. Landreth plays impressively, but as his reading is a nearly note-for-note remake of Molland\u2019s original guitar work, its reason for existing can be called into question.<\/p>\n \u201cSweet Tuesday Morning\u201d is another Molland tune. Albert Lee overdubs guitar while Molland turns in a vocal performance that is \u2013 shall we say \u2013 of a piece with his other work on this album.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout You\u201d was completely and brilliantly re-imagined by Harry Nilsson (and later robbed of all nuance by Mariah Carey). But the original Badfinger version is oddly underdeveloped, and doesn’t rank among the band’s better recordings. The remake follows that version, and features a giant talent \u2013 Todd Rundgren \u2013 on guitar and vocals. (An odd choice, this, as while Todd did<\/i> produce Badfinger, he didn\u2019t work on this song.) Sadly, the recording is rote, forgettable, and does nothing to distinguish itself. In the context of Rundgren\u2019s massive and superb body of work, it\u2019s four-plus minutes best forgotten.<\/p>\n Even for listeners who\u2019ve somehow failed to acquire the original \u2013 and in every single case<\/em> superior \u2013 recordings of these songs, there\u2019s simply no reason to purchase this album. For fans of the artists involved — Springfield, Anderson, Rundgren, Landreth et. al. \u2013 there\u2019s nothing here to warrant their attention. For fans of Joey Molland, they\u2019d do better directing their attention to the album he released last year with Mark Hudson. Be True to Yourself<\/i> features sturdy songwriting, solid musicianship and Hudson deftly glossing over Molland\u2019s vocal inadequacies by way of massive overdubs. That album \u2013 unlike No Matter What: Revisiting the Hits<\/i> \u2013 has a legitimate reason to exist.<\/p>\n A notch or two above dreadful, this release at best is little more than a minor curio, and at worst the latest in an ongoing run of cynical and deceptive attempts to cash in on the good will associated with one of the finest bands of the early ’70s. Beyond that, it does nothing to burnish the reputations of any of its participants. Caveat emptor.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The appearance of this CD in my mailbox elicited a cringe: would it be terrible? 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