168: Badfinger - Straight Up (1971)
“I would like to think of Badfinger's music as mood music. Something with a bit of feeling, whether it's hard or soft.”
–Pete Ham
Of all the casualties of the Beatles’ Apple label, Badfinger is the most tragic. They had a very promising start, helped along by the Beatles and their associates, but a combination of bad management and personal tragedy stopped them from being as successful as they should have been. However, for a brief period everything worked out exactly right, and Badfinger came up with an album that deserves to be ranked among the all-time classics. From power pop to boogie rock and various points in between, Straight Up is a no-skips album that deserves your attention, so listen up.
Miscellany
The Fruit Eating Bears had such a good name that a later punk band repurposed it in the late 1970s. They were in the running for Eurovision at one point but didn’t make it.
Pink Floyd briefly changed the name of their upcoming album when they heard another band had used the title Wish You Were Here. Then Badfinger’s album flopped and Pink Floyd took the name back.
According to some sources, it was Neil Aspinall who came up with the name Badfinger.
The Geoff Emerick recording of “Name of the Game” was supposed to be released as a single, but it was cancelled by Phil Spector, who somehow was the head of A&R at Apple. Phil Spector did occasionally make some good choices.
Other links
They Sold a Million: Badfinger (BBC via YouTube)
Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger by Dan Matovina (Amazon affiliate link)
“Here Comes the Sun” with Pete Ham (YouTube)
Come On a Safari With Me: Listening To the Beach Boys, Song By Song by Benjamin Marlin (Amazon affiliate link)
Discord & Rhyme’s Straight Up playlist (Spotify)
Discord & Rhyme’s merch store (TeePublic)
Discord & Rhyme Roll Call
Amanda Rodgers (host)
Ben Marlin (moderator)
Mike DeFabio
Straight Up tracklist
Take It All
Baby Blue
Money
Flying
I’d Die Babe
Name of the Game
Suitcase
Sweet Tuesday Morning
Day After Day
Sometimes
Perfection
It’s Over
Other clips used
Badfinger:
No Matter What
Come and Get It
Without You
Name of the Game (Emerick version)
Suitcase (Emerick version)
Apple of My Eye
Meanwhile Back at the Ranch/Should I Smoke
Others:
Mariah Carey - Without You
Aimee Mann - Baby Blue
Big Star - When My Baby's Beside Me
Dave Clark Five - Any Way You Want It
The Who - I Can't Explain
The Nazz - Open My Eyes
The Moody Blues - Send Me No Wine
The Moody Blues - To Share Our Love
Wings - Mrs. Vandebilt
Susanna Hoffs - Name of the Game
The Moody Blues - Tuesday Afternoon
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Call Me the Breeze
The Beatles - The Ballad of John and Yoko
Joe Molland - Mirrors
Band/album personnel
Pete Ham – vocals, lead and rhythm guitars, piano, organ (1), slide guitar (7)
Tom Evans – vocals, bass guitar, 12-string guitar (8, 11)
Joey Molland – vocals, rhythm and lead guitar
Mike Gibbins – drums, percussion
George Harrison – slide guitar (9), guitar (5)
Leon Russell – piano (9), guitar (7)
Bobby Diebold – bass guitar (7)
Keith H – bass guitar session assistant
Klaus Voormann – electric piano (7)
Gary Wright – piano (6) (unconfirmed)
Bill Collins – accordion (8)
Todd Rundgren – producer (1–4, 8, 10–12)
George Harrison – producer (5–7, 9)
Peter Mew – engineer
Mike Jarratt – engineer
Credits
“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:
Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
Badfinger - Money (this episode only)
You can buy or stream Straight Up and other albums by Badfinger at the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich Bunnell, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and keep as cool as you can.