Badfinger and George

[FPSHOT]

I was in a bookstore and saw a biography of Badfinger, called 'Without You'.

I read through the index and saw many references to the Beatles ofcourse to George too.

Not sure yet about buying it, because it looked pretty second hand material or it has been read by many out there, like I did for a few minutes.

Anyway, some things I saw about George were;

- Pete Ham and Tom Evans did backing vocals on It Don't Come Easy when George was recording it (you know the bootleg)

- Mike Gibbins did most of the percussion on All Things Must Pass (album)

- George once out of the blue (with Pattie) appeared in a New York club where Badfinger was to do a show and he suggested to the group to do the introduction for them. That was some time after they signed for Apple.

- they are being quoted to have Pete Ham joined various sessions for Living in the material world, funny enough there is no further reference of this

- for the recording of 'No Matter What' Pete Ham played the guitar solo on George's guitar which he used for 'I Me Mine'

I will try to get some more info, and I am going to email the remaining Badfinger members via their website http://www.joeymolland.com/Discussion_toc.htm

So, what do you think of Badfinger.
You will know they played on All Things Must Pass (mainly the acoustic guitars, like on Beware Of Darkness and My Sweet Lord) and the Bangla Desh Concert.

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"we tried to get the vocals to sound like somebody's asleep, which is very difficult"
George, about I'm Only Sleeping, 1966

[L'Angelo Misterioso]

Thanks for the info FP. I like Badfinger's music and the fact that they played on George's masterpiece alone justifies their place in the history of music.

Keep us informed FPSHOT. http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/images/icons/smile.gif

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Past is gone, thou canst not that recall
Future is not, may not be at all
Present is, improve the flying hour
Present only is within thy power.

[Clark Kent]

I haven't heard any Badfinger music but they did write one of my favourite songs "Without You".

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[FPSHOT]

Well Clark, in that case I suggest you listen to some of their work.

I would suggest to start with Day After Day, which to me is their Masterpiece, not alone because George produced it and played a nice slide solo (one of the first actually).

Our Mal Evans, who is not known from his Beatles period as musician, produced many of their songs, like No Matter What.

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"we tried to get the vocals to sound like somebody's asleep, which is very difficult"
George, about I'm Only Sleeping, 1966

[FPSHOT]

Joey Molland and Tom Evans played acoustic guitars on I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier by John.

I was reading on the Badfinger Message Board, where still Joe Molland and his wife write a lot and control the Board - how amazing that must be - and there was a question regarding the guitar used for No Matter What, as I mentioned above. The question was from a guitar player who read the liner notes about the guitar used and did not understand the sound on the record whereas it is quite different from what he gets out of those guitars.

This is what Joe answered;

Hey Scott, The probable reason for that lap steel not sounding normal to you is that I had never played one before that session.My solo was played on the Firebird originally, but I was fooling around on the lap steel,there was one laying around in the studio and whether it was Georges' I just don't know,anyway I decided to try something different so I played the solo on the steel.I believe the guitars used on "no Matter What" were-Pete,SG Standard,Tommy,Precision Bass and my Firebird.I can't remember what make the lap steel was.We didn't have much in the way of amps then,as I recall,a couple of AC30s,Tommy had a Fender amp he used for bass,I'm not sure which model. All The Best,Joe.

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Another remark by Joe about Day After Day;
George and Pete did the slide work on Day after Day and I know they both played Strats in the 2nd position,i.e.lead and middle p.u,s out of phase. I believe they also used Vibro Champs,but couldn't swear to it. Incidentally,George's Strat was an assemblage of 50's parts and Pete's was an early to mid 60's model. They recorded both parts at once,it took ages to get it tight,and I'm sure the interaction of the two guitar sounds produced the "bell tones" you speak of.


I am jealous, must be amazing to have one of the Lads answering to posts here.

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"we tried to get the vocals to sound like somebody's asleep, which is very difficult"
George, about I'm Only Sleeping, 1966

[This Message Has Been Edited By FPSHOT On August 21, 2002 11:34 AM]

[This Message Has Been Edited By FPSHOT On August 21, 2002 11:39 AM]

[backtotheegg]

Badfinger was a great group with the worst luck of any band in musical history.But they did work with each individual Beatle.
They worked on John's "Imagine" album.
They recorded Paul's "Come And Get It".
They worked on George's "All Things Must Pass" album.
They worked on Ringo's single "It Don't Come Easy"
If you get a chance, check out their story on VH1 Behind the Music.It'll break your heart.
some of my favorite songs:
Baby Blue (favorite Badfinger song)
No Matter What
Day After Day ( George plays slide guitar)
Carry on Till Tomorrow


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My mind not only wanders, it sometimes leaves completely.

[FPSHOT]

Well, if you're interested, have a look at their message board, it is quite alive and Badfinger even is touring this year.
http://www.joeymolland.com/Discussion_toc.htm

The official Badfinger webpage is here
http://www.joeymolland.com/badfinger/features.htm

and the Home Page has a picture of George upfront with their comment;
"Words cannot express our feelings... We will never forget you or the impact you made on our lives..."

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""I remember singing it [the Hare Krishna mantra]. just for days, John and I, with ukulele banjos, sailing through the Greek islands--Hare Krishna. Like six hours we sang, because you couldn't stop once you got going. You just couldn't stop. It was like as soon as you stop, it was like the lights went out."
George, November 1980

[This Message Has Been Edited By FPSHOT On August 21, 2002 12:02 PM]

[backtotheegg]

Pretty cool FPSHOT!
I liked that they put George on their front page.Very cool.
It's really a shame what happened to this band.They were so talented.

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I'd kill for a Nobel Peace prize.

[IAN TATERSHALL]

It's also a shame that with four Badinger members still alive that they don't unite and do something together. I always hate it when bands do this. Joey Molland and Mike Gibbins still occasionally release new music and bassist Ron Griffiths who was in The Iveys (Badfinger's name before they changed to Badfinger) before being replaced by the late Tom Evans still occasioally works with Gibbins. There is also Bob Jackson who temporarily replaced Pete Ham in the 70s line-up and stayed after Pete rejoined.

Why doesn't someone ask him why he and Mike don't reform?

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[FPSHOT]

There is a topic about Badfinger somewhere else so maybe it is nice to read this again.

[IAN TATERSHALL]

Someone mentioned a VH-1 Behind The Music special. Whilst not being a particularly big fan of their music I am fascinated by their heart-braking story so if this is ever repeated let us know.

[FPSHOT]

That VH-1 special has been repeated many times over the last years, it's quite good.

[FPSHOT]

This is what Joey Molland (Badfinger) said about Day After Day

"He kind of joined the band in a sense, he brought his Strat with him; we were in the big studio at Abbey Road. He'd come in there and plug in his guitar, so it was like he was one of us.

Pete (Ham)and I had done the backing track for Day After Day and George came in the studio and asked if we'd mind if he played. It took hours and hours and hours to get those two guitars in sync. Because they did it Live - George liked to do it together, Live. He and Pete sat there for hours trying different riffs

We were in the control room and George was dancing around to "I'd Die Baby" doing that shuffle thing he does, and in walks Leon Russel. And Leon was like an iceberg, very cool. So George got all chilled out too and just asked Leon to play a piano part on Day After Day - they just played it to him three times and he cut it"

"