Badfinger 2010 reissues review by Tom Brennan (Magic Christian Music)

Magic Christian Music
Badfinger 2010 remasters
review by Tom Brennan
updated: 10/31/2010

Original album tracks:
01. Come And Get It
02. Crimson Ship
03. Dear Angie
04. Fisherman [version 2]
05. Midnight Sun
06. Beautiful And Blue
07. Rock Of All Ages
08. Carry On Till Tomorrow
09. I'm In Love
10. Walk Out In The Rain
11. Angelique
12. Knocking Down Our Home
13. Give It A Try
14. Maybe Tomorrow

Magic Christian Music CD (2010 remaster)

CD bonus tracks:
15. And Her Daddy's A Millionaire
[original version]
16. Mrs. Jones [stereo remix]
17. Sali Bloo [mono]
18. See-Saw Grandpa [mono]
19. I've Been Waiting
[unedited stereo remix]
Download-only bonus tracks:
Dear Angie [mono]
Think About The Good Times [mono]
No Escaping Your Love [mono]
Arthur [stereo remix]
Storm In A Teacup [mono]
Yesterday Ain't Coming Back [mono]

Evaluate remastering differences yourself - .mp3 segments play in this order...
1991 (Abbey Road) CD -- Perfection (Matovina) promo CD -- 2010 (Abbey Road) CD
Maybe Tomorrow
Carry On Till Tomorrow
Once the song loads up, you can scroll around.

Bonus track comments:

On the down side, Apple has decided not to reissue the Iveys album, but rather, add the tracks that were not carried over to Magic Christian Music as bonus tracks or download tracks. The big treat for fans here is the discovery of the tracks from the unreleased mono mix of the Maybe Tomorrow album. Bonus track highlights are the alternate "And Her Daddy's A Millionaire" and the remix of "I've Been Waiting".

"And Her Daddy's A Millionaire" is an alternate take that comes from the very first sessions The Iveys recorded for Apple Records. The song was eventually remade and released as the B-side to their first single, "Maybe Tomorrow". The arrangement didn't really change between the two versions other than the ending, the main differences being an overall cleaner sound and Pete Ham's use of the wah-wah effect on his lead guitar. Some fans may end up liking this version better than the officially released version. This is a welcome addition to The Iveys music catalog.

The stereo remix of "Mrs. Jones" benefits from a bit of reverb added that was not on the 1991 mix. On the mono mix of "See-Saw Grandpa", the vocals are more upfront and the guitars are a little bit lower in the mix compared to the stereo mix.

The stereo remix of "I've Been Waiting" is a must-own track. At last, it doesn't sound like it was perfomed in a tunnel anymore!!! Pete's lead vocal is much more clear and his lead guitar work really shines now. Another plus is that with the improved stereo separation, you can better appreciate the guitar playing of Tom Evans. Tom takes the first solo and Pete takes the second before the vocal harmonizing returns at the end of the track. The only thing I don't like with this new mix is that Tom's vocal outburst towards the end of Pete's solo is totally gone. And the last thing I must mention is that the performance is heard complete for the first time (no fade out).

"Sali Bloo" appears here in glorious mono for the first time ever. It highlights Ron's singing, and the guitar work is upfront where it belongs. And of course, Pete Ham's wah-wah guitar intro is back where it belongs. I don't know when Apple is going to restore the stereo mix with this intro. The download tracks provide us with the first official digital releases of both sides of the ultra-rare "Dear Angie" single and the promo Wall's Ice Cream EP track of "Storm In A Teacup" in their original mono mixes. The mono mix of "Dear Angie" is by far the superior mix of this song and is a must-own track.

The stereo remix of "Arthur" doesn't sound all that different, and we get two more Iveys tracks that didn't appear on Magic Christian Music in mono for the first time. It would have been nice to get the entire mono Maybe Tomorrow album on CD for the first time. From what's being made available to us, it's beginning to appear that the mono mix got more attention by the engineers and is the superior version of this album, just as it was for The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album.

Interview with Dan Matovina (October, 2010):

Tom - For the Maybe Tomorrow album - why all of a sudden did these mono mixes surface?

Dan – I started that off. EMI told me, at first, that they were not very interested in mono mixes. I think they hoped that enough quality stereo rarities existed. I told them that there would likely be mono mixes of the Iveys album and that might bear fruit. I had a feeling some mixes would be worthwhile. They were excited to find some really nice mono mixes that were quite different from the stereo. And a lot were used to fill out their download-only quota.

Tom - Why wasn't the Maybe Tomorrow album reissued on CD?

Dan - They decided that with The Iveys being the band playing on all of the Magic Christian Music album anyway, it would work out best economically if they bolstered one CD’s potential with all the Iveys rarities, rather then have two more diffused releases that might not sell as well together.

Tom - Why were "Mrs. Jones" and "Arthur" remixed?

Dan - I had suggested they do this because they were mediocre mixes from the '90s. They took the time to try new mixes and liked the results.

Tom - Why was "I've Been Waiting" chosen to be remixed so drastically different?

Dan – I had suggested something that put that in motion. First off, I knew there were likely a bunch of takes of the song that had the band jamming. Knowing the nature and history of the song, I suggested they search for one suitable outtake version and mix, highlighting a long jam, then also release the mono mix. However, they ended up re-mixing the actual released version. Two reasons: first, they didn't want to have two versions of the same song, and second, they didn't want any other attempted versions had no vocals; this was less appealing to them. I had suggested that they let it go all the way to the end, although I would have faded out just before that vocal glitch on the last note. In fact, I suggested that they extend a lot of outtake material so people could now enjoy the jamming side of the band.

Tom - Why was the first version of "And Her Daddy's A Millionaire" rejected?

Dan – At that time, Apple didn't like that first version enough to use. What's on this new CD is their first studio attempt of it. The unusual ending had been producer Denny Cordell's suggestion. He asked the group to come up with something on the spot to liven up the track.

Tom - What happened to the legendary version of "Rock Of All Ages" with McCartney singing?

Dan - I had strongly suggested that right off the bat. I said that it would be a significant promotional aspect for this CD. It was known to exist from Tom Evans interviews. EMI said "no" at first, thinking Paul sang a lead vocal. They were informed that it was just hollars, screams and whoops from Paul that were sung simultaneously with an alternate Tom vocal that was never used. They did try a mix, but it was unsupervised by a knowledgeable party of what was going on with the track. The engineer mixed in the original double-tracked Tom vocals along with the track of Tom & Paul singing together. It became a cacaphony of voices and Paul was buried. By the time I heard it and pointed out how desperately it needed a better mix, they agreed that it was too weak to use, but they later decided to drop the idea of using it at all. I think budget constraints had started to accumulate. It may get out some day.

Tom - Why are the original mono mixes of "Maybe Tomorrow" and "And Her Daddy's A Millionaire" still unreleased digitally?

Dan – Again, I think they didn't want redundancy, but they might use them later if they release more product.

Tom - Were you happy with the choices of bonus tracks and download-only choices on Magic Christian Music?

Dan - Generally, yes. They agreed on some of my suggestions, including bringing the rocking "Sali Bloo" mono mix to the CD format vs. download-only. Jeff Jones and Mike Heatley were very gracious in that they allowed me to offer input along the way, but I was certainly not a daily part of their team.

More Dan Matovina interview, reviews by Tom Brennan, and .mp3 comparisons of the original '90s remastering to Dan Matovina's promo Perfection CD remastering and 2010 new CD remastering on every album page!

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