Theirs was a career beset by chaos and tragedy, as well as a sense that their recorded output never matched the potential of what they could have done. Often, through no fault of their own, Badfinger came up short of the sum of their talented parts.
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With the 1972 album Straight Up, however, Badfinger, if ever so briefly, delivered an album that matched their copious skills. That they managed this in the midst of several stops and starts while making the record, well, that was just par for the course for what this band was forced to endure.
Playing it Straight
When The Beatles started their Apple Records label, they mostly went for artists that were either a little left of center or at least featured musical expertise not quite in the same lane as the Fab Four. Badfinger, with multiple fantastic songwriters, ace singers, and top-flight instrumentalists, was the exception.
At times, they even sounded a lot like The Beatles, who certainly gave Badfinger exposure and, in the case of the Paul McCartney-penned “Come and Get It,” a massive hit single. But having the Fab Four as their label heads didn’t always pan out for the group. The Beatles were dealing with their own band trauma, and they’d spread themselves a little too thin to give any particular artist the necessary attention.
Considering Badfinger seemed to be heading in the right direction based on their 1970 album No Dice, which featured both the hit “No Matter What” and “Without You,” later a smash for Harry Nilsson, this shouldn’t have been a problem. But the process for making Straight Up began in uncertainty, as tracks produced by Fab Four associate Geoff Emerick were all scrapped.
George Harrison then stepped up and assumed production duties for the album. While the band appreciated the direction he was taking them, Harrison also stressed them out with his meticulousness. And then he had to boogie before the album was complete due to his commitment to the Concert for Bangladesh.
Finally, Todd Rundgren entered the picture. Rundgren angered the band with his maximalist production style, which made it difficult for them to repeat the songs from Straight Up when played live. Despite worries of too many cooks spoiling the broth, Straight Up overcame all that, in large part because Badfinger hit a songwriting groove from which no amount of interference could detract.
Revisiting the Music of Straight Up
At first, Straight Up built its reputation based on its two hit singles, both penned and sung by Pete Ham. “Day After Day,” buoyed by Harrison’s aching slide guitar, and “Baby Blue” are as good as it gets when it comes to power pop, with emotional lyrics, gorgeous melodies, and sumptuous vocal melodies.
But it doesn’t stop there. Straight Up is the one Badfinger album that sizzles from start to finish. Guitarist Ham was clearly at the top of his game. It’s easy to imagine “Take It All” or “Name of the Game” could have been massive hits as well had they been chosen instead of the others.
As mentioned above, this was a group with several songwriters who could wow you. Bassist Tom Evans’ “Money” allows the band to get a bit bluesy. And guitarist Joey Molland also rises to the occasion with several winners, including the lilting, folk-flavored “Sweet Tuesday Morning.”
The album closes out with the elegiac “It’s Over.” Sadly, those words might as well have applied to Badfinger, whose subsequent work (brief as it was before Ham’s suicide death in 1975) didn’t match up to what preceded it. At least with Straight Up, we received a fleeting but wonderful album-length taste of their limitless capabilities.
Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images
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