posted November 19, 2009
Dan Matovina reports:
Badfinger news:
STAN POLLEY IS DEAD
posted November 19, 2009
Dan Matovina reports:
When Pete Ham committed suicide in 1975, he left a note. The final sentences read:
“Stan Polley is a soulless bastard. I will take him with me.”
Early in 1970, after Badfinger’s “Come And Get It” single on The Beatles' Apple label had established itself as a worldwide hit, their British manager, Bill Collins, had set off to America in hopes of lining up touring in the States. He was introduced to a business manager, Stanley Polley, by Lou Christie’s British music agent, Barrie Marshall, who also booked Badfinger in the U.K. Within six months, Polley (who also managed other prominent and upcoming artists, writers, producers such as Al Kooper, Hank Medress, Sandy Linzer, Charlie Calello, Irwin Levine, Russell Brown) had signed the Badfinger members to a business management contract.
Down the road, with success coming in droves, Polley locked the band into numerous additional contracts and other schemes in which he lined up Badfinger’s income to be directed to him first, always with a huge contractual cut off the top for himself. It eventually came into the open that Polley was a nefarious crook who set up “ponzi schemes” on his clients, laundered their money, embezzled their funds and that he had an earlier background as a Mafia “bagman”!
Stan Polley with Lou Christie
When Pete Ham realized he absolutely was crippled by Polley (with no income, a stagnated record contract, and his trust in humankind forever disillusioned), he drank a lot one night and sadly made a rash choice - to take his own life by hanging. Also written in Ham's note: “I will not be allowed to love and trust everybody. This is better.”
Ham had been expressing his deepest concerns in many songs, leaving behind such then-unheard demos as “Ringside” and “No More.” These were finally released on the Rykodisc CD 7 Park Avenue in 1997. Bandmate Tom Evans, who later killed himself (having been totally broken by Ham’s suicide), also had laid out his feelings about Polley with his song “Rock’n’Roll Contract.” This was written in 1974 for the Head First album, and was also unreleased until 1983, with a version on the album Say No More.
When Ham died, Polley's reputation had already been starting on the downward slope to ruin in the music industry, yet he escaped any legal prosecution throughout the years. When prompted, he had often bragged that anyone under his wing would be so broken emotionally and financially that if they challenged him, they’d never even attempt to sue him. And he wasn’t averse to flashing a gun or joking about taking out someone’s eyeballs.
In 1988, Polley was sued for embezzling the funds of one, Peter Brock, a brilliant inventor with an automotive background. Brock had been conned, much as Badfinger and others were. Although Brock eventually won a lawsuit in 1991, Polley quickly claimed he was on death’s door to the courts. Brock received little to nothing of the judgment. Eighteen years later, Stan Polley has only recently died, in Rancho Mirage, CA on July 20, 2009. The home he had been living in was in nearby Palm Desert, so possibly he was at a nursing home when he passed on, but that is only a guess.
His second wife, Connie Polley, did not put out an obituary for him and it is only months later that his death has been revealed through the Social Security Death Index. Connie has run a beauty supply store in Palm Desert for years and Polley was comfortably situated at their home. Over the years, Polley had continually sold loads of Badfinger memorabilia (using a proxy), including contracts involving Badfinger with signed cancelled checks and cash receipts, clearly to leak every drop of blood money off their bones as he could.
And here we are today, November 19, 2009, the 26th anniversary of Tom Evans' suicide, with some of Polley’s items (which had very recently sold through a major auction house by his proxy) matriculated out further with an eBay seller having an auction up with one particularly notorious Badfinger contract with Warners Brothers. Additionally, this framed item features original signatures of the band and cut out pictures from my book on Badfinger, “Without You: The Tragic Story Of Badfinger.” Similar items had been sold in the past.
When Polley was approached by VH-1 for their television documentary on Badfinger, he declined an interview, as he did for my book. So who can judge if justice was ever paid for what he did in life. I do know his since-deceased earlier wife, Ardith Polley, despised him in her last years, fearing his retaliations; and rumors are that their son and daughter had disowned him (which I can’t fully verify). But if this means anything to anyone, I do know of a Badfinger fan who contacted Polley at his home one time and screamed into the telephone, “I just want you to know you killed a beautiful person in Pete Ham - YOU BASTARD!”
Let’s hope he had at least one sleepless night...
Pete Ham and Tom Evans
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RON GRIFFITHS' HEALTH
Ron Griffiths is currently dealing with some serious health issues at the moment. For more details, and to wish him well, please sign on to the Badfinger Library Message Board to show your support.
posted September 21, 2009
I WEAR THE BADFINGER SONG |
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| Madrigal Merchandise has struck a licensing deal selling new t-shirts using lyrics from Pete Ham and Tom Evans songs. Dan Matovina negotiated the use of "Day After Day," "Baby Blue," "No Matter What," and "Without You" lyrics. Some shirts are already available. Continued new designs will be coming. Here is the company's listed info and a link to order online below that... | |
"I Wear The Song" is a line of t-shirts from Madrigal Merchandise. The company is owned and run by music fans. We are partnering with some of the best songwriters of the past 40 years to create a fun and unique way to support your favorite song. Music and t-shirts go together like Lennon and McCartney. In the early 1960s, the first primitive merchandise table was set up by a rock band in the lobby of the Whiskey A Go Go. The enterprising rockers wanted to keep their girlfriends busy while they were on stage. Now, everywhere you go, fans and music lovers are showing support for their favorite band by wearing t-shirts with the band’s name and picture on it. Sometimes that’s not enough. It’s the song you fell in love with, it’s the song that’s playing in your head, and it’s the song you want to make a statement with! Madrigal Merchandise is an environmentally conscious company. All our shirts are available on fitted high quality 100% organic cotton or eco-blend fabrics consisting of recycled products. The designs are all unique and created especially for each song by Madrigal Merchandise’s design team. All songs are licensed from the songwriter and copyright holder, so you can be guaranteed that not only are you getting a quality shirt but you are also supporting the songwriter as well. Go ahead, let your freak flag fly, show the world what your favorite song is. Proudly show ‘em I Wear The Song! |
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NAME OF THE GAME MONO ACETATE SELLS AT EBAY AUCTION |
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On July 13, 2009, a one of a kind acetate of "Name Of The Game" by Badfinger sold on eBay for $799.10. It's is a one-sided 10 inch metal acetate in near mint condition. The audio quality of the disc is very clean. This track is the legendary Al Kooper version which was almost released as a single in May of 1971. While Badfinger were on tour in the New York area, Al Kooper added piano and organ overdubs to the track Badfinger had recorded in January with producer Geoff Emerick back in London. This mono mix was cut onto an acetate in New York. This was likely to evaluate the overdubs and their usefulness in the final mix. This copy was never intended as the final single mix, as all the piano & organ parts are present in the mix throughout the entire track. For the final single mix, various combinations of mixing in piano & organ parts were attempted with a final result never being achieved to everyone's satisfaction, and eventually it was decided that Badfinger were going to re-record the song anyway with George Harrison producing. This mono mix is extremely rare as it contains double-tracked Pete Ham lead vocals which cannot be heard elsewhere. |
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LOCK MY FEELINGS IN A JAR BY JEFF ALAN ROSS (A.K.A. ELLIOT JOFFREY) |
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Jeff Alan Ross, also known as Elliot Joffrey to Badfinger fans who were lucky enough to see the band live in 1986-1987 with Joey Molland and Mike Gibbins, has released his first CD of new material since 1989's "View From A Leaf". Jeff covers Badfinger's "Name Of The Game" in addition to 11 new, original songs. On the Badfinger Library website is an EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW conducted by Dan Matovina in January of 2009 and a review of his new CD by Tom Brennan. You can purchase his new CD on his website at: jeffalanross.com or on CD Baby. He also has a MySpace page at: http://www.myspace.com/jeffalanross where you can preview complete songs, including "Name Of The Game". On Jeff's website, there is also a link to his BBC interview recorded in December of 2008 where Jeff performs a solo acoustic version of Badfinger's "Baby Blue" in addition to two songs from his new CD. |
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Track listing:
01. Love Is Raining Down
02. A Sailor's Shanty
03. Grace Under Pressure
04. Harmony's Song
05. It Was Always You
06. Walk Into The Fire
07. Love That's Lost Inside Of Me
08. The Gift
09. Carrier Of The Dream
10. Angels In Disguise
11. Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Today
12. Name Of The Game
13. Love Is Raining Down [acoustic version]
CD Review by Tom Brennan
posted March 8, 2009
"THE 27S: THE GREATEST MYTH OF ROCK & ROLL" BOOK FEATURES PETE HAM |
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A new book released in the Fall of 2008 by Eric Segalstad with artist & illustrator Josh Hunter, celebrates the lives of famous musicians that died at the young age of 27, such as Jimi Hendrix, blues legend Robert Johnson, Jim Morrison of The Doors, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, and Pete Ham of Badfinger. The chapter on Pete Ham is 17 pages long with references to Dan Matovina's Badfinger biography, "Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger" and contains nice full page artwork of Pete. The author, Eric Segalstad, was interviewed by NPR's "All Things Considered" program on Sunday, April 5, 2009. |
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IVEYS SESSION OUTTAKES SURFACE FOR THE FIRST TIME |
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Part of The Iveys first session for Apple Records has surfaced on a Beatles bootleg that includes an early, alternate version of Revolution 1. It is a 2-CD set entitled, "Revolution take... your knickers off!". The entire 2nd disc of the set includes all Iveys session outtakes. The first half includes a rough mono mix down of takes 1-26 of "Come And Get It" recorded at Abbey Road Studios on August 2, 1969 with Paul McCartney producing. The second half of the CD includes a rough mono mixdown of the entire session of "No Escaping Your Love" (takes 1-11) recorded at Trident Studios on July 23, 1968 with Tony Visconti producing. The most interesting takes are take 1 of "Come And Get It" which has Paul McCartney singing a scratch vocal, take 21 of "Come And Get It", which has Ron Grifiths auditioning as lead vocalist, and take 11 of "No Escaping Your Love" which is a rough mono mixdown of the master take with no fade out. It is not known whether or not any other session tapes will surface. Note that in the booklet for the bootleg, the recording dates for "Carry On Till Tomorrow" are erroneously listed. [analysis of sessions: Come And Get It | No Escaping Your Love] posted February 26, 2009, updated March 1, 2009 |
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THE IVEYS & THE BEATLES WHITE ALBUM
The Beatles White Album is 40 today, so I've put together my version of what I think a single album should have been if the double album release had been cut down. Also, an article about The Iveys hearing "Hey Jude" when Paul came to visit them at Trident Studios in July of 1968, and the songs from the White Album that The Iveys played live in concert.
Double article about the White Album and The Iveys posted November 22, 2008
TREACLE TOFFEE WORLD (APPLE PUBLISHING, VOLUME 3) |
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"Treacle Toffee World - Further Adventures Into The Pop Psych Sounds From The Apple Era 1967-1969" completes the exploration of the catalogue of the Beatles’ Apple Music Publishing Company that began with RPM’s release of "94 Baker Street" In 2004 and continued with "An Apple A Day" in 2006. Eighteen new and very rare tracks appear on this CD. George Alexander of Grapefruit, Pete Ham, Tom Evans and Ron Griffiths of The Iveys/Badfinger, Dave Lambert of Fire/The Strawbs and Gallagher & Lyle were but a few of the impressive stable of songwriters under contract to Apple Music, and these are all represented here. Release dates are October 27, 2008 in the U.K. and November 18, 2008 in the U.S. (as an import). |
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Track listing:
01. Father’s Name Is Dad by Fire
02. Listen To the Sky by Sands
03. Trying To Make It To Monday by Grapefruit
04. Forgive And Forget by Peter Huckstep
05. Goodbye Mozart by Gallagher & Lyle
06. Spare A Copper by Fire
07. Even The Sun Shines Cold by Peter Huckstep
08. Bittersweet Adieu by The Iveys
09. Tea And Toast Mr. Watson by Denis Couldry
10. Treacle Toffee World by Fire
11. Fall Of The Castle by Grapefruit
12. Penny For The Wind by Denis Couldry
13. Vincent Van Gough by 23rd Turnoff
14. Thinking Pictures by Peter Huckstep
15. How Does It Feel by The
Iveys
16. Will I Find Love by Fire
17.
Fantastic Story Of The Steam Driven Banana by Legay
18. This Little Man by Grapefruit
CD Review by Tom Brennan
posted October 9, 2008, updated November 18, 2008
BADFINGER & IVEYS VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE
Brando has compiled a table of links to the best Iveys & Badfinger videos that are available on YouTube, which he will periodically update as new videos become available. Among them are Bob Jackson singing "Won't Forget You" live from the 1984 British Invasion Tour, "Shine On" from the 1973 Japanese documentary, "Take It All" from the never aired "Set of Six" first episode, various versions of The Iveys lip-synching to "Maybe Tomorrow",
The Dodgers performing "Down" live on TV in 1976, and many others.
posted September 4, 2008
NEW MYSPACE PAGES
Badfinger and Pete Ham now have their own MySpace pages. They include audio samples and YouTube videos.
Tom Evans has two pages: Tom Evans Badfinger and Tom Evans Badfinger Rocker with audio and video.
posted July 4, 2008, updated November 23, 2008
STATEMENTS FROM BOB JACKSON & TOM EVANS' WIDOW, MARIANNE
Bob Jackson has forwarded me two statements to publish, which I am doing here per his request. The statements are related to a blog posting made by a woman named Cheryl. In this blog posting, she alleges she talked to Pete Ham & Tom Evans when they were at Tom's house the night Pete died. She claims that Pete got on the phone with Cheryl and told her he didn't want a new baby and that he was unhappy with Anne, right before he hanged himself. Marianne Evans disputes Cheryl's claim and questions her motives.
posted June 10, 2008
NBA USES ORIGINAL BADFINGER VERSION OF "DAY AFTER DAY" IN NEW AD CAMPAIGN
Update: Congratulations to the Boston Celtics for winning the NBA championship by defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in 6 games! Also, thank you to Kevin Garnett - you brought home the championship, baby, and you made it soon!
updated June 18, 2008
To begin airing on November 30, 2007 on ESPN during the Boston Celtics @ Miami Heat game after 8:00PM EST will be the first ever television commercial to feature an original recording from The Beatles' Apple Records label and that features an original Badfinger recording*. 'Day After Day' will be used in the NBA's "Where Amazing Happens" campaign ("Where I Remember Happens"). For details, see the Q&A with Dan Matovina.
The 60 second version of the Kevin Garnett NBA ad is debuting December 25, 2007 on ESPN and ABC-TV televised games, however, it has already surfaced on the internet.
* Note for those of you who are interested in purchasing Badfinger's 'Day After Day' and 'Baby Blue' online from iTunes... All listings for these two songs are Re-Recordings whether they have been labeled as such or not - they are not the original Apple Records Badfinger recordings with the exception of 'Baby Blue' from "The Departed" soundtrack album. 'Baby Blue' cannot be purchased individually, only as part of the purchase of the entire soundtrack album due to the licensing agreement that was made with Apple.
posted November 16, 2007, 5:00 P.M., updated December 19, 2007
MIDNIGHT SPECIAL DVD RELEASE
Badfinger's 1973 live performance of No Matter What has been released as part of a DVD subscription series of "Burt Sugarman's The Midnight Special Legendary Performances." The Badfinger appearance was originally broadcast on March 2, 1973. It appears on the volume called, "Flashback To 1973". It also includes Anne Murray's introduction. This DVD is not available in stores, only by mail order subscription. The other performance by Badfinger from this show of Suitcase was previously released on video in 1997 as part of a Badfinger documentary.
posted November 27, 2007
KEITH JAMES RETURNS WITH MORE ISSUES OF "BETTER DAYS"
Keith James from Swansea, South Wales is back with issues 7, 8, and 9 of his printed Badfinger publication, "Better Days". For detailed listings of the new issues and to contact Keith about ordering, please download the pdf file. Copies of back issues 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 are still available. All 9 issues are available at a discounted price.
EVERYBODY I SHOT IS DEAD
Photographer Deborah Chesher has published a coffee table photo book of her Rock 'N' Roll photographs on November 1, 2007, called "Everybody I Shot Is Dead". Badfinger Library provides you with an exclusive look at 2 of the 8 Badfinger pages featured inside this excellent new book. The book is available on her website: www.cheshercat.com. All books purchased on this website will be signed. Individual photo prints can also be ordered at: http://www.cheshercat.com/store-badfinger.html. Forty-eight of the hundreds of musicians Deborah Chesher photographed from 1974-79 have since passed away. This is a collection of over four hundred of her never-before-published photographs and her personal stories. The book is 9.5"x11", 208 pages, hardcover with French-fold Jacket.
Read more about the musicians and the making of the book at Deborah's Everybody I Shot Is Dead blog. The book features such musicians as: Pete Ham, Tom Evans, Mike Gibbins, George Harrison, Harry Nilsson, Billy Preston, Gene Pitney, and Peter Wood (of Natural Gas).
BRAND NEW BADFINGER RADIO DOCUMENTARY TO AIR ON NEW YEAR'S DAY
A brand new BBC Radio Wales documentary titled "Without You: The Story Of Badfinger" will air on the radio and internet on New Year's Day, January 1, 2008. The documentary, narrated by James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers, has a running time of approximately 56 minutes. It includes interview material from Paul McCartney, Ron Griffiths, Deke Leonard, Bev Tucker, Bob Jackson, Marianne Evans, Mike Gibbins, Bill Collins, Tony Visconti, Pete Ham, Tom Evans, Dan Matovina, Harry Nilsson, Lou Christie, Ellie Gibbins, and Petera Ham.
The website address is http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/radiowales/. The initial airing will be on January 1st at 11:30 am in the U.K., 6:30 am EST in the U.S. (3:30am PST). On the BBC Radio Wales site, at airing time, you will see the programme title in the upper right corner under where it shows "listen live!" next to a speaker cone. Click on the "Without You: The Story Of Badfinger" link and the BBC iPlayer will load the programme and play. I recommend you test this on your computer well before January 1.
After the initial airing, the show will be available by internet stream for one week on the BBC Radio Wales website. The website address is http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/radiowales/. Click on "listen again!" with the speaker cone on the same page. The player window should open. Scroll down for the programme title "Without You: The Story Of Badfinger" and click on the title to play it. THE SHOW IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE TO LISTEN.
NEW BADFINGER WEB PAGES LAUNCHED
I am pleased to announce that in partnership with Badfinger Library is a brand new website, called badfinger-iveys.com, founded by Dan Matovina and Peggy Burneka, which includes web pages for both Pete Ham (peteham.net) and Tom Evans (tomevans.info).
To launch the new site are major reports with plenty of photos of the 2006 British Badfinger Convention held in Swansea, South Wales, written by Dan Matovina, Keith James and Mark Perkins. In addition, there are song excerpts from the solo concert performed by former Badfinger keyboardist/guitarist, Bob Jackson, as well as clips from the tribute to the Badfinger & Iveys members given by Dan Matovina.
Also included on badfinger-iveys.com are new web pages compiled and designed by Dan Matovina which are promoting the musical offerings of what is referred to as "Apple Seedlings," which are the children of Badfinger members, Beatles members and "Friends of Badfinger". Included so far are pages dedicated to the music of Owen, Adam, and David Gibbins (sons of Mike Gibbins), Emily Jackson (daughter of Bob Jackson), Sean Lennon (son of John Lennon), Dhani Harrison (son of George Harrison), Sean & Tyler Perkins (sons of Mark Perkins, artist of the Pete Ham and Tom Evans lithographs), and Jesper Vindberg (son of Morten Vindberg, webmaster of Badfinger, Wish You Were Here web page).
Not a new web page, but including major upgrades and additions is the Gary Walker & The Rain Library webpage. On February 28, 2007, the first official CD release of their one & only album, "Gary Walker & The Rain Album No. 1" came out as a limited edition in Japan only. This CD is very hard to come by, as it seems that most of the available copies have been bought up by collectors so they can be sold on eBay at inflated prices, at around $20 more per copy. A U.K. release for the CD is due in May 2008 and should be more affordable and easier to get.
Also, being launched at the same time is the Badfinger Library Message Board at: http://badfingertbbl.proboards84.com/. The new web pages listed above and the music related to them can be discussed on the message board. There are also poll questions where you can vote on various Badfinger related topics. To join, a valid e-mail address is required and a verification code sent to the valid e-mail address must be entered the first time a new user logs in to the message board.
posted June 5, 2007
COLLECTORS' CHOICE MUSIC RELEASES WB ALBUMS IN U.S. FOR THE FIRST TIME
On September 18, 2007, Collectors' Choice Music reissued the two albums Badfinger made for Warner Brothers Records in 1974, their self-titled LP and "Wish You Were Here". The CDs are most likely copies of the German CD reissues, and are low budget releases selling for a list price of $12.98.
PR-inside.com article
PERFECTION: THE SONGS OF BADFINGER'S PETE HAM & TOM EVANS |
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Bug Music, who now administers the U.S. copyrights of songs written by Badfinger's Pete Ham & Tom Evans, has released a promotional CD in August of 2006 of songs to promote the use of their songs in films, TV and cover versions by other artists. The disc has been manufactured with the cooperation of the Ham & Evans Estates, Apple Corps., Capitol Records, EMI, Warner Chappell, Warner Bros., WMG and Sony/BMG. The disc is intended to highlight the most commerical sounding songs written & recorded for Badfinger, and the excellent songwriting talents of Pete & Tom, both individually and collectively. The disc is a limited pressing of 1000 copies and is NOT intended for the general public; its target audience is music supervisors, artist producers & agents and film producers. |
As far as the content of the disc goes, all the tracks have been cleaned up & enhanced sonically by Dan Matovina, who has removed much of the muddiness from a lot of the tracks. All the songs have a sonic clarity to them now and sound more "punchy". There are no outtakes included (except the previously released outtake I'll Be The One), since this disc is intended to promote the more commercial sounding songs, however there is a newly created edit of Dennis (track 19) from the "Wish You Were Here" album intended to simulate what an AM Radio single version of the track may have sounded like had it ever been released to the general public (if history had run its course in a more favorable direction for the band). The disc also includes Harry Nilsson's smash hit cover version of "Without You" from 1972 at the end of the disc, which is the most famous & popular cover version of a Badfinger (or Pete Ham & Tom Evans) song in music history. All the "Straight Up" songs that are included are the standard versions; none of the alternate "early versions" are utilised. In short, this disc contains the best sounding copies of all of the best songs written by Pete Ham & Tom Evans from the period 1969-1974 released to date. This will hopefully encourage the reissuing of the Badfinger CD catalog and take advantage of the latest audio & computer technology. |
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[visit Dan Matovina's page for more details on this release; an exclusive interview with Dan Matovina will be coming here soon] |
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| Track listing: 01. Day After Day (3:09) 02. No Matter What (2:58) 03. Baby Blue [album version] (3:36) 04. Without You (4:41) 05. I'll Be The One (2:52) 06. Name Of The Game (5:16) 07. When I Say (3:05) 08. Blodwyn (3:24) 09. It's Over (3:24) 10. Carry On Till Tomorrow (4:44) 11. Lonely You (3:41) 12. Perfection (5:05) 13. I Can't Take It (2:52) 14. We're For The Dark (3:53) 15. Maybe Tomorrow ["Magic Christian Music" version] (2:50) 16. Just A Chance (2:57) 17. Believe Me (2:58) 18. Know One Knows (3:13) 19. Dennis [edited version] (3:47) 20. Midnight Caller (2:50) 21. Apple Of My Eye (3:05) 22. Without You [by Harry Nilsson] (3:08) |
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| NEW MOVIE, "THE DEPARTED" FEATURES BADFINGER'S "BABY BLUE" | |
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The soundtrack CD includes the following tracks: 01. Comfortably Numb [Roger Waters and Van Morrison] 02. Sail On, Sailor [The Beach Boys] 03. Let It Loose [The Rolling Stones] 04. Sweet Dreams [Roy Buchanan] 05. One Way Out [The Allman Brothers Band] 06. Baby Blue [Badfinger] 07. I'm Shipping Up To Boston [Dropkick Murphys] 08. Nobody But Me [The Human Beinz] 09. Tweedle Dee [ LaVern Baker] 10. Sweet Dreams (Of You) [Patsy Cline] 11. The Departed Tango [Howard Shore, featuring Marc Ribot & Larry Saltzman] 12. Beacon Hill [Howard Shore, performed by Sharon Isbin] |
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2-Disc DVD released February 13, 2007  |
UPDATE (March 1, 2007): |
| LATINO SINGING GROUP, IL DIVO COVERS "WITHOUT YOU" | |
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Track listing 01. Nights In White Satin 02. Caruso 03. Without You (Desde El Dia Que Te Fuiste) 04. Come Primavera 05. Un Regalo Que Te Dio La Vida 06. La Vida Sin Amor 07. Una Noche 08. Amor Venme A Buscar 09. Musica 10. Somewhere Note: all tracks are sung in Spanish |
| On November 21, 2006, Latino singing sensations, Il Divo, released a new CD titled, "Siempre". Track 3 is a Spanish cover of "Without You". The sub-title of Il Divo's interpretation translates to: "From The Day That You Were Yourself". The literal Spanish translation of "Without You" is "Sin Ti". | |
| ROD STEWART COVERS "DAY AFTER DAY" | |
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Track listing 01. Have You Ever Seen The Rain? 02. Fooled Around And Fell In Love 03. I'll Stand By You 04. Still The Same 05. It's A Heartache 06. Day After Day 07. Missing You 08. Father & Son 09. The Best If My Love 10. If Not For You 11. Love Hurts 12. Everything I Own 13. Crazy Love |
| On October 10, 2006, Rod Stewart released a new CD titled, "Still The Same...Great Rock Classics Of Our Time". Track 6 is a cover of Badfinger's only gold single record, "Day After Day". It's interesting to note the other (sort of) Badfinger connections on some of the other tracks: Mike Gibbins played drums on Bonnie Tyler's original recording of "It's a Heartache" in 1977 and Badfinger played acoustic guitars on George Harrison's 1970 version of Bob Dylan's "If Not For You". | |
| CLAY AIKEN COVERS "WITHOUT YOU" | |
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Track listing 01. Right Here Waiting 02. Lonely No More 03. Without You 04. Every Time You Go Away 05. Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word 06. When I See You Smile 07. A Thousand Days 08. (Everything I Do) I Do It For You 09. Because You Loved Me 10. I Want To Know What Love Is 11. These Open Arms 12. Here You Come Again 13. Everything I Have 14. Broken Wings |
| UPDATE (October 6, 2006): Clay's cover of "Without You" has debuted on the Billboard charts at #2! Former American idol runner-up Clay Aiken has just released a new CD of cover tunes, among them is the classic Ham/Evans composition, Without You which is track 3 on the CD. The release date was September 19, 2006. Clay's new CD is titled, "A Thousand Different Ways". |
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2006 BADFINGER CONVENTION IN SWANSEA
Keith James hosted the 2006 Badfinger Convention at The Dragon Hotel in Swansea, South Wales on May 13-14, 2006. On the evening of the 13th, Bob Jackson performed a 12-song
solo set which included Ron Griffiths joining in on the final song "Come And
Get It".
2006
Convention report by Tom Brennan
post-Convention
FAQ by Keith James posted June 17, 2006
| AN APPLE A DAY (APPLE PUBLISHING DEMOS, VOLUME 2) | ||
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Track listing |
11. Tomorrow's Today [The Iveys] |
| On April 10, 2006 in the U.K. and April 27 in the U.S., RPM released the sequel
to 2003's "94 Baker Street", called An Apple A Day: More Pop Psych sounds
from the Apple era: 1967-1969, catalog# RPM 312. 94 Baker Street , the Pop
Psych Sounds from the Apple Era 1967-1969 has been one of the RPM catalogue's
strongest sellers in recent years. Thus with the assistance of the author of "Those
Were The Days, an unofficial history of The Beatles Apple organization 1967-2002"
book, we have constructed a highly valuable second volume. |
The Apple Music publishing company was first into battle for the new Apple organisation, making its initial signings in mid-1967, in fact before the company even got to 94 Baker St. Over the next two years they demo'd many writers and placed recordings where possible. Inevitably, given the amount recorded, much remained unissued and we are happy to be able to give many of those songs a well deserved airing. The Publishing division of Apple came to an abrupt close in the summer of 1969 when Allen Klein took over control of the company. Highlights include previously unissued pop psych gems from the mainstay writers such as Pete Ham, Tom Evans and Ron Griffiths of The Iveys, George Alexander of Grapefruit, plus Benny Gallagher & |
Graham Lyle, an unissued recording by Turquoise, and the
cult group Bachdenkel who provide the title track. Mary Hopkin fans will recognize Gallagher & Lyle as being the composers of the folk-flavoured songs "Sparrow", "Heritage", The Fields Of St. Etienne", "Jefferson", and
"International". Mortimer is most known among fans of Apple Records for
having recorded an unreleased cover version of The Beatles song "Two Of Us"
under its working title of "On Our Way Home". |
| KEN MANSFIELD'S WHITE BOOK | |
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Published in November 2007 is a fascinating new book about the record business by former Capitol Records promotion manager and American head of Apple Records, Ken Mansfield. It's called The White Book and as the title suggests, the cover looks like The Beatles White Album. Inside the book is a bit on The Iveys plus a picture of the proposed U.S. cover and a letter regarding the technical details of the cover. Ken details his promotion of the "Maybe Tomorrow" single in the U.S., how he (and others) thought The Iveys would be the next Beatles, and what went wrong with the sales of the record. Among many other stories are the impromptu tea-time concert, staged in a London ballroom for a handful of employees of The Beatles' company, Apple, during which each Beatle played an instrument other than his own... For more details, James Rosen has an interview with Ken posted on FoxNews.com. |
| GEOFF EMERICK BOOK INCLUDES BADFINGER | |
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Published in March 2006 is this fascinating new hardcover book, called Here, There And Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles by recording engineer Geoff Emerick which includes the "studio years" of The Beatles (1966-1969) and the development of Apple Studios in the early '70s. There are about 4 pages total that discuss Badfinger projects, including the recording of Paul McCartney's "Come And Get It" demo, Mal Evans' involvement with Badfinger, and the recordings of "No Dice"' & "Straight Up" albums, although no specific details are given about any of the Badfinger songs (which is disappointing). |
| THOSE WERE THE DAYS APPLE BOOK BY STEFAN GRANADOS | |
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Those Were The Days, an unofficial history
of The Beatles Apple organization 1967-2002 by Stefan Granados was published in June 2002. This fantastic
new softcover book finally covers the entire history of The Beatles' Apple organization.
For now it's only available in the U.K. but it can be ordered as an import at: www.cherryred.co.uk/books/apple.htm or www.amazon.co.uk The U.S. edition with additional rare photos and interviews is due to be published in the next year or two. A few of the fascinating new bits of information I learned in this new book regarding Badfinger... The Apple promotions manager bought commercial time on a radio station in Chicago to get airplay for "Come And Get It" to get it heard initially because the program director refused to play it! The gold record Badfinger was presented for "Day After Day" at Carnegie Hall was actually another Gold Record that was grabbed off the wall of the New York Apple office because the correct one wasn't ready yet! posted August 17, 2002 |
THE MUSIC OF GEORGE HARRISON: WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS by Simon Leng
Published on January 18, 2003 from SAF Publishing Ltd.
in hardcover (224 pages) is a new book about George Harrison which focuses on his
music and all the musicians he has worked with. Klaus Voormann has done the cover
art -- a very evocative line drawing (a la "Revolver") of Harrison playing
slide.
Simon told me: "The Joey Molland interview is very good - Joey came up with
lots of info about "Straight Up", "Bangla Desh", "Imagine"
and "All Things Must Pass" that I've never read before. So, I think Badfinger
fans will be interested. The fact that Joey is from Liverpool gives him a very incisive
perspective on the whole Harrison thing - he tells a great story about the "Imagine"
session.
Amazon.com price is $17.16.
WITHOUT YOU: THE TRAGIC STORY OF BADFINGER by Dan Matovina
The only comprehensive biography on Badfinger
& The Iveys by Dan Matovina, Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger is now sold out in softcover. Fortunately a newly revised
edition of the book, with a CD of new rare material, will start shipping starting
July 24, 2000. As an added bonus for buying the book again (with updates and new
reference sections, of course), it will include a bonus 19 track/72 minute CD of
Pete Ham, Tom Evans and Iveys demos!!! Also, as an added bonus will be 8 new pages
of photos. The CD label and booklet are being designed by Mark Perkins, the artist
of the fabulous Pete Ham and Tom Evans lithographs. Order from Amazon.com
Record Collector Magazine, in their 1998
Critics' Poll, selected Dan Matovina's Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger
as the number 2 Rock Book. It was eclipsed only by a book on Keith Moon.
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