Electric Flag - An American Music Band / A Long Time Comin' (1968-69 us, psychedelic blues soul rock masterpieces)

I was suppoose to add the Joe Viglione's fantastic reviews about these two albums, but it got me when I started to listen 'm again ( I own the vinyl version), Bloomfield's guitar is ..just heavenly, my man Nick the Greek is singing like raging lava, Buddy Miles beats the hell out of his drums and all the band stands in their highest level.  This was about 44 years ago, the music that flows into the grooves hasn't  lost any drop of its magic. If you haven't got (by fault I presume) these two masterpieces don't make any further mistakes, just get them, add them to your audio player, close your eyes and let the music guide you.

Tracks
1969  An American Music Band
1. Soul Searchin' - 2:58
2. Sunny - 3:58
3. With Time There Is Change - 3:15
4. Nothing to Do - 4:20
5. See to Your Neighbour - 2:34
6. Qualified - 2:59
7. Hey Little Girl - 2:37
8. Mystery - 2:55
9. My Woman Hangs Around the House - 3:15
1968  A Long Time Comin'
10.Killing Floor - 4:10
11.Groovin' Is Easy - 3:03
12.Over-Lovin' You - 2:10
13.She Should Have Just - 5:01
14.Wine - 3:12
15.Texas - 4:46
16.Sittin' in Circles - 3:51
17.You Don't Realize - 4:58
18.Another Country - 8:44
19.Easy Rider - 0:51

Musicians
1968  A Long Time Comin'
*Mike Bloomfield – Guitar, Vocals
*Buddy Miles – Drums, Vocals
*Barry Goldberg – Keyboards
*Harvey Brooks – Bass
*Nick Gravenites – Vocals, Guitar
*Herbie Rich – Organ, Baritone Saxophone, Guitar, Vocals
*Michael Fonfara – Keyboards
*Marcus Doubleday – Trumpet
*Peter Strazza – Tenor Saxophone
*Stemsy Hunter – Alto Saxophone
*Richie Havens – Percussion, Sitar
*Sivuca – Guitar, Percussion
*Paul Beaver – Keyboards, Moog Synthesizer
*Leo Daruczek – Strings
*Charles Mccracken – Strings
*Bobby Notkoff – Strings
*Julius Held – Strings
*Roy Segal – Engineer
*Jim Marshall – Cover Photo
*Joe Church – Percussion, Producer
*John Court – Percussion, Vocals, Producer

1969  An American Music Band
*Harvey Brooks - Bass, Guitars, Tenor Sax, Vocals
*Terry Clements – Tenor Saxophone
*Marcus Doubleday - Trumpet
*Virgil Gonsalves - Flute, Baritone, Soprano Horn, Wind
*Nick Gravenites  - Guitar, Percussion, Vocals
*Stemsy Hunter - Alto Saxophone, Vocals
*Buddy Miles - Drums, Vocals
*Herbie Rich - Guitar, Horn, Keyboards, Organ, Tenor  Saxophone, Vocals
*John Simon - Horn, Organ, Piano,
*Roger Troy - Bass
*Hoshal Wright - Guitar

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Brownsville Station - School Punks (1974 uk, sharp hard boogie glam rock, Wounded Bird issue)

Flush from the success of "Smokin' in the Boys Room," which climbed all the way to number three on the pop charts, Brownsville Station was eager to keep the party going, deciding the best way to do so was to capitalize on the juvenile delinquent image they captured so perfectly on their big breakthrough.

Hence, the title of their quickly released follow-up is School Punks; the illustrated cover pictures the trio all decked out in leather in front of a graffiti-ridden school wall; the opening cut, "Kings of the Party," references the hit; "Meet Me on the Fourth Floor" rewrites it; and "Mama Don't Allow No Parkin'" and "Fast Phyllis" tell similar tales of high-school misadventures.

Unlike Yeah!, which had only two originals, School Punks is heavy on new material from Cub Koda and Michael Lutz, which are punctuated by well-chosen covers like Geno Washington's "I Get So Excited," a blues medley of "I've Got Love if You Want It/I'm a King Bee," and Gary Glitter's "I'm the Leader of the Gang." The other big change is that Koda has become the unofficial leader of the band. He sang "Smokin' in the Boys Room" and he sings everything here with the exception of the cover of Dee Clark's "Hey Little Girl," which Lutz sings.

Cub gives the band an appealing, funny, down-and-dirty persona that suits the band's heavier attack on School Punks. While there's nothing as undeniable as "Smokin' in the Boys Room," "Kings of the Party" and "I'm the Leader of the Gang" are rampaging rockers, "Ostritch" is a very funny stomping country-rocker, the band gets to stretch out on the blues medley, and the whole record just feels like one nonstop party.
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Tracks
1. Kings of the Party (Koda, Weck, Lutz) - 4:16
2. Mama Don't Allow No Parkin' (Koda, Lutz) - 3:07
3. Meet Me on the Fourth Floor (Koda, Lutz) - 2:58
4. Fast Phyllis (Koda, Morris, Lutz) - 2:40
5. I Get So Excited. (Gordon, Grant) - 2:55
6. Ostritch (Koda, Lutz) - 2:53
7. I Got It Bad for You (Koda, Lutz) - 2:32
8. Hey Little Girl (Stevenson, Blackwell) - 2:04
9. I've Got Love if You Want It/I'm a King Bee (Moore) - 4:07
10. I'm the Leader of the Gang (Glitter, Leander) - 3:20

Brownsville Station
*Cub Koda - Guitar, Vocals, Harmonica
*Michael Lutz - Bass, Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
*Henri "H-Bomb" Weck - Drums, Vocals

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Grand Funk Railroad - On Time (1969 us, solid classic heavy blues rock, 2002 remaster and expanded)

The foundation of what was to become "Grand Funk Railroad" was laid in Flint, Michigan in the mid 1960's. Richard Terrance Knapp was a popular local D.J. who decided to leave radio to enter the music end of the business. After deejaying at record hops with a local band named "The Jazz Masters", which consisted of Don Brewer (drums), Al Pippins (guitar), Bob Caldwell (keyboards), and Herm Jackson (bass), Knapp lied to them that he was personal friends with Mick Jagger and Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones. Because of this and his radio connections, the band invited him to join the group as their lead singer. To sound more "English", they renamed the band "The Pack", and Richard Knapp started using "Terry Knight" as his stage name.

The group soon developed a large local following and reached number 46 on the national record charts with a song called "I Who Have Nothing", released on the small "Lucky Eleven" label. Herman Jackson was drafted, and was replaced by a local kid named Mark Farner. Eventually, Terry Knight left the band and The Pack continued on without him.

By 1968, Farner and Brewer decided to leave and form a new band of their own. They recruited bass player Mel Schacher from Question Mark and The Mysterians, and renamed themselves "Grand Funk Railroad", inspired by a Michigan landmark, The Grand Trunk Railroad. By this time, Terry Knight had landed a job at Capitol Records in New York, but accepted an invitation to become the trio's manager.

After a wildly successful performance at the Atlanta Pop Festival on July 4, 1969, the band landed a recording contract with Capitol Records and immediately began making its name by performing at several large pop festivals.

Their first singles reached the charts but Grand Funk soon proved its real strength in the album market. "On Time" reached number 27 in 1969 and was recorded in 3 days during the summer of 1969 at Cleveland Recording Company Studios, and it's unquestionably one of the best hard rock debuts ever. While some bands honed their sound over the course of a few albums, GFR had already found its niche with ON TIME, which was one of the first albums to be termed "heavy metal." Sample a young and hungry Grand Funk, with highlights including "Anybody's Answer," "Into the Sun," "Time Machine," and "Are You Ready?"
Classic-Bands

Tracks
1. Are You Ready - 3:28
2. Anybody's Answer - 5:17
3. Time Machine - 3:45
4. High On A Horse - 2:56
5. T.N.U.C. - 8:42
6. Into The Sun - 6:29
7. Heartbreaker - 6:35
8. Call Yourself A Man - 3:05
9. Can't Be Too Long - 6:34
10.Ups And Downs - 5:01
11.High On A Horse (Original Version) - 4:25
12.Heartbreaker (Original Version) - 6:52
All songs written by Mark Farner

Grand Funk Railroad
*Don Brewer: Drums, Vocals
*Mark Farner: Guitar, Harmonica, Keyboards, Vocals
*Mel Schacher: Bass, Vocals

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The Who - A Quick One (1966 uk, classic second album, japan SHM-CD double disc box remaster)

The Who weren't always a nostalgia act or merely makers of pleasant Broadway fodder. Their tough, early tracks are a key punk resource, so it hardly matters that they were forever doomed to third place behind the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in the British-pop sweepstakes. At best, the Who's raw power and intelligence offered essential messages to any era.

A Quick One is the second album by English rock band The Who, released in 1966. American record company executives at Decca Records released the album under the title Happy Jack, rather than the sexually suggestive title of the UK release, and due to "Happy Jack" being a top forty hit in the U.S. "Happy Jack" was not included on the UK version of the album, but instead was released as a non-album single. This is widely regarded by fans to have been a pivotal album for the group, due to the departure from the R&B / pop formula featured on the band's first release.

Part of the marketing push for the album was a requirement that each band member should write at least two of the songs on it (although Roger Daltrey only wrote one), so this Who album is the least dominated by Pete Townshend's writing. The album was also the band's first foray into the form of rock opera, with "A Quick One, While He's Away", the title track of the LP, a nine-minute suite of song snippets telling a story of infidelity and reconciliation. The Who would later go on to write and record the full scale rock operas Tommy and Quadrophenia.

The Who's second album is a less impressive outing than their debut, primarily because, at the urging of their managers, all four members penned original material (though Pete Townshend wrote more than anyone else). The pure adrenaline of My Generation also subsided somewhat as the band began to grapple with more complex melodic and lyrical themes, especially on the erratic mini-opera "A Quick One While He's Away". Still, there's some great madness on Keith Moon's instrumental "Cobwebs and Strange", and Townshend delivered some solid mod pop with "Run Run Run" and "So Sad About Us". John Entwistle was also revealed to be a writer of considerable talent (and a morbid bent) on "Whiskey Man" and "Boris the Spider".
by Adamus67

Disc 1   Mono 
1. Run Run Run - 2:31
2. Boris The Spider - 2:28
3. I Need You - 2:24
4. Whiskey Man - 2:56
5. Heat Wave - 1:55
6. Cobwebs And Strange - 2:29
7. Don't Look Away - 2:52
8. See My Way - 1:52
9. So Sad About Us - 3:01
10.A Quick One, While He's Away - 9:07
11.Substitute - 3:47
12.Circles - 2:28
13.I'm A Boy - 2:37
14.In The City - 2:22
15.Batman - 1:25
16.Bucket T - 2:08
17.Barbara Ann - 1:58
18.Disguises - 3:10
19.Happy Jack - 2:11
20.I've Been Away - 2:07
21.Substitute (US Single Version) - 2:57
22.I'm A Boy (Alternate Version) - 3:17
23.Batman (Instrumental) - 1:12
24.Happy Jack (Acoustic Version) - 2:52
25.Happy Jack (Alternate Mix) - 2:13

Disc 2 Stereo
1. Run Run Run - 2:43
2. Boris The Spider - 2:27
3. I Need You - 2:22
4. Whiskey Man - 2:56
5. Heat Wave - 1:53
6. Cobwebs And Strange - 2:29
7. Don't Look Away - 2:52
8. See My Way - 1:51
9. So Sad About Us - 2:58
10.A Quick One, While He's Away - 9:09
11.I'm A Boy - 2:36
12.In The City - 2:21
13.Batman - 1:34
14.Bucket T - 2:07
15.Barbara Ann - 1:57
16.Disguises - 3:19
17.I've Been Away - 2:07
18.Man With Money - 2:43
19.My Generation ~ Land Of Hope And Glory - 2:04
20.I'm A Boy (Alternate Version) - 3:43

The Who
*Roger Daltrey – Vocals, Trombone
*Pete Townshend – Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards
*John Entwistle – Bass Guitar, Keyboards, Horns, Vocals
*Keith Moon – Drums, Percussion, Vocals, Tuba

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James Taylor - James Taylor (1968 us, an eye-opening mix between country, blues, and some antique folk styles)

James Taylor was the first artist to be signed to record on the Beatles' short-lived vanity Apple label. In late 1968, Taylor's sophisticated self-titled disc foreshadowed the introspective singer/songwriter genre that dominated pop music in the early and mid-'70s.

Although often touted as his debut, this release is chronologically Taylor's second studio outing. James Taylor and the Original Flying Machine -- an EP recorded a year earlier -- contains rudimentary versions of much of the same original material found here. The album is presented with two distinct sides. The first, in essence, presents a unified multi-song suite incorporating several distinctly Baroque-flavored links connecting the larger compositions. The second is a more traditional collection of individual tunes.

This unique juxtaposition highlights Taylor's highly personal and worldly lyrics within a multidimensional layer of surreal and otherwise ethereal instrumentation. According to Taylor, much of the album's subject matter draws upon personal experience. This is a doubled-edged blessing because the emphasis placed on the pseudo-blues "Knocking 'Round the Zoo" and the numerous other references made to Taylor's brief sojourn in a mental institution actually do a disservice to the absolutely breathtaking beauty inherent in every composition.

Several pieces debuted on this release would eventually be reworked by Taylor several years later. Among the notable inclusions are "Rainy Day Man," "Night Owl," "Something in the Way She Moves," and "Carolina in My Mind." Musically, Taylor's decidedly acoustic-based tunes are augmented by several familiar names. Among them are former King Bees member Joel "Bishop" O'Brien (drums) -- who had joined Taylor and Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar in the Original Flying Machine -- as well as Paul McCartney (bass), who lends support to the seminal version of "Carolina in My Mind."

The album's complex production efforts fell to Peter Asher -- formerly of Peter and Gordon and concurrent head of Apple Records A&R department. The absolute conviction that runs throughout this music takes the listener into its confidence and with equal measures of wit, candor, and sophistication, James Taylor created a minor masterpiece that is sadly eclipsed by his later more popular works.
by Lindsay Planer

Tracks
1. Don't Talk Now - 2:36
2. Something's Wrong - 3:00
3. Knockin' Round the Zoo - 3:26
4. Sunshine Sunshine - 3:30
5. Taking It In - 3:01
6. Something in the Way She Moves - 2:26
7. Carolina in My Mind - 3:36
8. Brighten Your Night With My Day - 3:05
9. Night Owl - 3:38
10.Rainy Day Man (Taylor, Wiesner) - 3:00
11.Circle Round the Sun (Traditional arr. Taylor) - 3:24
12.Blues Is Just a Bad Dream - 3:42
13.Sunny Skies - 2:12
14.Let Me Ride - 3:57
15.Sunshine Sunshine (Demo) - 2:51
16.Carolina in My Mind (Demo) - 3:06
All songs by James Taylor unless otherwise noted.

Musicians
*James Taylor - Guitar, Vocals
*Peter Asher - Percussion, Vocals
*Louis Cennamo - Bass
*George Harrison - Vocals
*Richard Hewson - Strings, Bassoon, Oboe
*Skaila Kanga - Harp
*Paul Mccartney - Fender Jazz Bass, Guitar, Vocals
*Bishop O'Brien - Drums, Percussion
*Freddie Redd - Keyboards
*Don Schinn - Keyboards
*Mick Wayne - Guitar

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Various Artists - Piccadilly Sunshine Part 3 (1967-70 uk, groovie psych pop)

Artists - Tracks

1. Grapefruit - Ain't It Good - 2:33

2. Sight And Sound - Little Jacky Monday - 2:15

3. J.A. Freedman - Dance With The Man In The Teapot - 2:29

4. Dukes Nobleman - Thank You For Your Loving - 3:00

5. Montanas - Hey Diddle Diddle - 2:23

6. Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera - Dreamy - 2:30

7. Spectrum - Samantha's Mine - 2:19

8. Vanity Park - Waiting For Nightfall - 2:32

9. Young Idea - Mr. Lovin' Luggage Man - 2:24

10.Dave Clark Five - Man In The Pinstripe Suit  - 1:51

11.Now - The Handle On The Clack Stands Still- 3:21

12.Keith Field - Stop! Thief - 2:10

13.Paul Jones - Come Into My Muisic Box - 2:39

14.Cupid's Inspiration - Look At Me - 2:16

15.Peanuts - Emily - 3:09

16.Shoes - What In The World - 2:47

17.Twinset - Sneakin' Up On You - 2:23

18.Wath Committee - Now I Think The Other Way - 2:00

19.John Bryant - She's In Need Of Love - 3:21

20.Tony River And The Castaways - Pantomime - 3:45

21.Denis Couldry And The Next Collection - I Am Nearly There - 3:16

22.Grapefruit - Come Down To The Station - 2:59

23.Martha Velez - Swamp Man  - 2:50

24.Keith Field - The Day That War Broke Out - 3:03

25. Hayden Wood - The Last One To Know - 2:29

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Steve Howe With Bodast - The Early Years (1969 uk, mod beat)

One of Steve Howe's several obscure pre-Yes projects, Bodast filled the gap between his stint in Tomorrow and his recruitment for Yes. Apart from Howe, the line-up consisted of Clive Skinner (vocals, guitar), Dave Curtis (vocals, bass), and Bobby Clarke (aka Woodman) (drums). 

Curtis and Clarke had previously played together in ex-Searcher Chris Curtis's short-lived group Roundabout, comprising the portion of the band that didn't end up in Deep Purple, and Clarke's history in rock 'n roll went back to playing in the house band (playing skiffle) at the legendary 2 I's coffee bar in Soho during the late 1950's, and subsequent gigs with Screaming Lord Sutch and Vince Taylor's band. Curtis's previous work had included recording backed by his own band, the Tremors. 

As a psychedelic-cum-progressive rock outfit, Bodast was a strange link between those skiffle and early rock 'n roll roots and early '70s art-rock. Bodast slogged around the underground circuit in 1968 and 1969, never releasing any official product; some interest on part of Deep Purple's label (Tetragrammaton) came to naught, and they seldom played live, although they spent lots of time writing and rehearsing original material. Howe actually turned down offers from the Nice and Jethro Tull out of loyalty to the group, but finally gave up after the Tetragrammaton deal failed to come through. 

They did record some unreleased material in 1969 with ex-Tomorrow vocalist Keith West producing. These tapes, eventually released in the 1980s, showed them to be an average band reflecting the transition of British underground rock from psychedelia to progressive rock; it's of interest mostly to Howe fans, and even then it isn't among his more notable work.

Tracks
1.  Do You Remember  - 3:37
2.  Beyond Winter  - 2:53
3.  Once In A Lifetime  - 3:26
4.  Black Leather Gloves  - 3:17
5.  I Want You  - 3:20
6.  Tired Towers  - 3:06
7.  Mr. Jones  - 3:06
8.  1,000 Years  - 2:40
9.  Nether Street  - 3:00
10. Nothing To Cry For  - 4:06

The Bodast
*Steve Howe - Guitar
*Bobby Clarke - Drums
*Clive Skinner - Vocals, Guitar
*Dave Curtis - Vocals, Bass

Similar Act
1968  Tomorrow

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Iveys - Maybe Tomorrow (1969 uk, baroque psych pop, 2010 remaster)

The story is well-known: south Wales pop group, the Iveys, are discovered by the Beatles' aide-de-camp Mal Evans, who not only signs them to Apple Records but produces their first sessions. Their first single, the glorious Bee Gees-like ballad "Maybe Tomorrow," is released in November 1968, yet it unaccountably stiffs. Disheartened, Apple shelves the planned U.S./U.K. release of the Iveys' debut album, though it does eventually sneak out in Japan and Germany.

The group replaces bassist Ron Griffiths with Liverpudlian Joey Molland and, at label exec Neil Aspinall's suggestion, changes their name to Badfinger, swiped from Paul McCartney's working title for "With a Little Help From My Friends." (John Lennon wanted to call them "Prix," preferably with the final letter pronounced.) Despite their early success, Badfinger goes on to become probably the unluckiest and one of the most tragic bands in pop music history.

However, very few people have ever heard the Iveys' Maybe Tomorrow album; copies of the original Japanese and European pressings were hens-teeth rare, and even the 1992 CD reissue with bonus tracks was seemingly in print for about 35 seconds. This is a shame, because Maybe Tomorrow ranks with Badfinger's best; in some ways, it's actually preferable to Badfinger's albums, because the production (four tracks by Mal Evans, the rest by a then-unknown Tony Visconti) is much fresher and less precise than it would be on Badfinger's slicker later albums. (Even the six tracks that eventually ended up in remixed form on Badfinger's debut, Magic Christian Music, sound better here.)

Though the party line has always been that the Iveys sounded like the Beatles, in reality, these 12 tracks have much more in common with the minor-key mopery of the early Bee Gees, from the heartbreaking "Dear Angie" (Griffiths' only writing contribution, which ironically would show up again on the first Badfinger album after he was kicked out of the group) to the frankly rather silly music hall-style "They're Knocking Down Our Home," a Pete Ham exercise in maudlin sentimentality that makes "She's Leaving Home" look subtle, though it does feature a nice clarinet part. Mike Gibbins' Kinks-like "Think About the Good Times" is the album's undiscovered gem, though the Ham and Tom Evans co-write "Yesterday Ain't Coming Back," with its weird staccato reeds section and unexpectedly aggressive middle eight, complete with burping, frog-like bass vocals, is probably the best track.

Of the four bonus tracks, the extremely silly "Looking for My Baby," from the Iveys' 1967 Apple demo, and the Creation-like rocking flip of the "Maybe Tomorrow" single, "And Her Daddy's a Millionaire," are the best, with "No Escaping Your Love" and the previously unreleased "Mrs. Jones" there for completists' sake.
by Stewart Mason

 

Tracks
1. See-Saw Granpa (Pete Ham) – 3:33
2. Beautiful And Blue (Tom Evans) – 2:38
3. Dear Angie  (Ron Griffiths) – 2:39
4. Think About The Good Times (Mike Gibbins) – 2:21
5. Yesterday Ain't Coming Back (Ham, Evans) 2:57
6. Fisherman  (Evans) – 3:09
7. Maybe Tomorrow (Evans) – 2:52
8. Sali Bloo (Ham) – 2:35
9. Angelique (Evans) – 2:26
10.I'm In Love (Ham) – 2:25
11.They're Knocking Down Our Home (Ham) – 3:41
12.I've Been Waiting (Ham) – 5:15
13.No Escaping Your Love (Evans) - 2:12
14.Mrs. Jones (Ham) - 2:15
15.And Her Daddy's A Millionaire (Ham, Evans) - 2:08
16.Looking For My Baby (Ham) - 2:08

Iveys
*Pete Ham - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
*Tom Evans - Guitar, Vocals
*Ron Griffiths - Bass, Vocals
*Mike Gibbins - Drums, Vocals

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Badfinger - No Dice (1970 uk, marvelous power pop, 2010 remaster with xtra trax)

Badfinger's second album No Dice kicks off with "I Can't Take It," a rocker that signaled even if Badfinger still played pop and sang ballads, they considered themselves a rock band. What gave Badfinger character is they blended their desire to rock with their sensitive side instead of compartmentalizing. Even when they rock on No Dice, it's never earthy, like, say, the Stones. 

Badfinger's very sensibility and sound is modeled after the early British Invasion, where bands sang catchy, concise love songs. Yet there's a worldliness to their music absent from that of their forefathers, partially because Badfinger styled themselves as classicists, adapting the sound of their idols and striving to create a similar body of work. No Dice bears this out, boasting old-fashioned rockers, catchy pop tunes, and acoustic ballads. On the surface, there's nothing special about such a well-crafted, sharply produced, straight-ahead pop record, but the pleasure of a power pop album is in the craft. 

No Dice is not without flaws -- a byproduct of an all-writing, all-singing band is that some songs don't measure up -- but it does achieve the right balance of craft, fun, and emotion, due in no small part to Pete Ham's songwriting. Ham dominates the record, providing note-perfect openers and closers, along with the centerpiece singles "No Matter What" and "Without You," the latter a yearning, painful ballad co-written with Tom Evans. 

Collaborating with new guitarist Joey Molland, Evans wrote two other excellent songs ("I Don't Mind," "Better Days"), while Molland's own "Love Me Do" chugs along with nice momentum. Still, the heart of the album lies in Ham's work.. He proves that songcraft is what separates great power-pop from good, and it's what makes No Dice a superb pop record. 

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Tracks

1. I Can't Take It (Pete Ham) - 2:56

2. I Don't Mind (Tom Evans, Joey Molland) - 3:14

3. Love Me Do (Joey Molland) - 2:59

4. Midnight Caller (Pete Ham) - 2:49

5. No Matter What (Pete Ham) - 3:01

6. Without You (Pete Ham, Tom Evans) - 4:43

7. Blodwyn (Pete Ham) - 3:27

8. Better Days (Tom Evans, Joey Molland) - 4:00

9. It Had To Be Me (Mike Gibbins) - 2:28

10.Watford john (Tom Evans, Mike Gibbins, Pete Ham, Joey Molland) - 3:23

11.Believe Me (Tom Evans) - 3:00

12.We're For The Dark (Pete Ham) - 4:02

13.I Can't Take It (previously unreleased extended version) (Pete Ham) - 4:14

14.Without You (previously unreleased studio demo version-mono) (Pete Ham, Tom Evans) - 3:58

15.Photograph (AKA Friends Are Hard To Find) (previously unreleased version) (Joey Molland) - 3:25

16.Believe Me (previously unreleased alternate version) (Tom Evans) - 3:04

17.No Matter What (previously unreleased mono studio demo version) (Pete Ham) - 2:57

Badfinger
*Pete Ham - Guitar, Piano, Vocals
*Tom Evans - Bass, Vocals
*Joey Molland - Guitar, Vocals
*Mike Gibbins - Drums

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Badfinger - Straight Up (1971 uk, power glam pop, 2010 bonus tracks remaster)

Straight Up winds up somewhat less dynamic than No Dice, largely because that record alternated its rockers, pop tunes, and ballads. Here, everything is at a similar level, as the ballads are made grander and the rockers have their melodic side emphasized. Consequently, the record sounds more unified than No Dice, which had a bit of a split personality.

Todd Rundgren's warm, detailed production makes each songwriter sound as if he was on the same page, although the bonus tracks -- revealing the abandoned original Geoff Emerick productions -- prove that the distinctive voices on No Dice were still present. Frankly, the increased production is for the best, since Badfinger sounds best when there's as much craft in the production as there is in the writing. Here, there's absolutely no filler and everybody is in top form.

Pete Ham's "Baby Blue" is textbook power-pop -- irresistibly catchy fuzz riffs and sighing melodies -- and with its Harrison-esque slide guitars, "Day After Day" is so gorgeous it practically aches. "Perfection" is an unheralded gem, while "Name of the Game" and "Take It All" are note-perfect pop ballads. Tom Evans isn't as prolific here, but the one-two punch of "Money" and "Flying" is the closest Straight Up gets to Abbey Road, and "It's Over" is a fine closer.

Still, what holds the record together is Joey Molland's emergence as a songwriter. His work on No Dice is enjoyable, but here, he comes into his own with a set of well-constructed songs. This fine songwriting, combined with sharp performances and exquisite studio craft, make Straight Up one of the cornerstones of power-pop, a record that proved that it was possible to make classic guitar-pop after its golden era had passed.
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Tracks

1. Take It All - 4:28

2. Baby Blue - 3:37

3. Money - 3:30

4. Flying - 2:36

5. I'd Die, Babe - 2:34

6. Name Of The Game - 5:21

7. Suitcase - 2:54

8. Sweet Tuesday Morning - 2:31

9. Day After Day - 3:11

10.Sometimes - 2:53

11.Perfection - 5:09

12.It's Over - 3:35

13.I'll Be The One (Bonus Track) - 2:54

14.Name Of The Game (Earlier Version) - 4:25

15.Baby Blue (US Single Mix) - 3:37

16.Baby Please (Previously Unissued Bonus Track) - 3:05

17.No Good At All (Previously Unissued Bonus Track) - 2:10

18.Sing For The Song (Previously Unissued Bonus Track) - 3:20

Badfinger
*Pete Ham - Guitar, Piano, Vocals
*Tom Evans - Bass, Vocals
*Joey Molland - Guitar, Vocals
*Mike Gibbins - Drums
Guest Musicians
*George Harrison - Slide Guitar
*Leon Russell - Piano On
*Bobby Diebold - Bass
*Klaus Voorman - Electric Piano

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