Badfinger

From Wikipedia:

Badfinger were a Welsh/English rock band formed in Swansea that were active from the 1960s to the 1980s. Their best-known lineup consisted of Pete Ham, Mike Gibbins, Tom Evans, and Joey Molland. They are recognised for their influence on the 1970s power pop genre.

The band evolved from an earlier group called the Iveys, formed in 1961, which became the first group signed by the Beatles’ Apple label in 1968. The band renamed themselves Badfinger, after the working title for the Beatles’ 1967 song “With a Little Help from My Friends” (“Bad Finger Boogie”). From 1968 to 1973, Badfinger recorded five albums for Apple and toured extensively, before they became embroiled in the chaos of Apple Records’ dissolution.

Badfinger had four consecutive worldwide hits from 1970 to 1972: “Come and Get It” (written and produced by Paul McCartney, 1970), “No Matter What” (produced by Mal Evans, 1970), “Day After Day” (produced by George Harrison, 1971), and “Baby Blue” (produced by Todd Rundgren, 1972). Their song “Without You” (1970) has been recorded many times, and became a US number-one hit for Harry Nilsson and, decades later, a UK number-one for Mariah Carey.

After Apple Records folded in 1973, Badfinger struggled with a host of legal, managerial and financial issues, leading to Ham’s taking his own life in 1975. Over the next three years, the surviving members struggled to rebuild their personal and professional lives against a backdrop of lawsuits, which tied up the songwriters’ royalty payments for years. Their subsequent albums floundered, as Molland and Evans alternated between cooperation and conflict in their attempts to revive and capitalise on the Badfinger legacy. In 1983, Evans also died by suicide.

1961–1969: The Iveys

[…]

Signing to Apple

After receiving an invitation from Collins, Beatles roadie/assistant Mal Evans and Apple Records’ A&R head Peter Asher saw the Iveys perform at the Marquee Club, London, on 25 January 1968. Afterward, Evans consistently pushed their demo tapes to every Beatle until he gained approval from all four to sign the group. The demos were accomplished using a mono “sound-on-sound” tape recorder: two individual tracks bouncing each overdub on top of the last. When Evans signed the Iveys to Apple on 23 July 1968, they became the first non-Beatle recording artists on the label. Each of The Iveys’ members were also signed to Apple Corps’ publishing contracts. The Iveys’ early sessions for Apple were produced by either Tony Visconti or Evans.

The group’s first single, “Maybe Tomorrow”, produced by Visconti, was released worldwide on 15 November 1968. It reached the Top Ten in several European countries and Japan, but only number 67 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and failed to chart in the UK. The US manager of Apple Records, Ken Mansfield, ordered 400,000 copies of the single—considered to be a bold move at the time in the music business—and pushed for automatic airplay and reviews from newspapers, which he secured. Nevertheless, Mansfield remembered the problems: “We had a great group. We had a great record. We were missing just one thing … the ability to go out and pick up people, and convince them to put their money on the counter”. A second Tom Evans composition, “Storm in a Teacup”, was included on an Apple EP promoting Wall’s Ice Cream, along with songs by Apple artists such as James Taylor, Mary Hopkin and Jackie Lomax. The chart success of “Maybe Tomorrow” in Europe and Japan led to a follow-up single release in those markets in July 1969: Griffiths’ “Dear Angie”, also produced by Visconti. An LP containing both singles and titled Maybe Tomorrow was released only in Italy, Germany and Japan. This limited release strategy was thought to be the work of Apple Corps’ president, Allen Klein; an Apple Corps press officer, Tony Bramwell, remembered: “[Klein] was saying, ‘We’re not going to issue any more records until I sort out this [Apple Corps] mess.'”

After the unexpectedly limited releases of “Dear Angie” and Maybe Tomorrow, Griffiths complained about The Iveys’ handling by Apple in an interview for the Disc & Music Echo magazine, saying: “We do feel a bit neglected. We keep writing songs for a new single and submitting them to Apple, but they keep sending them back, saying they’re not good enough”. Paul McCartney read the interview and offered the song “Come and Get It” to the group, although he had written the song for the soundtrack of The Magic Christian. Before the recording on Saturday, 2 August 1969, Griffiths remembered the whole group being so excited they couldn’t sleep. Producing the track in under one hour, McCartney made sure that they copied his own demo note-for-note: “They were a young band … they said, ‘We want to do it a bit different, wanna get our own thing in’. I said ‘No, this has gotta be exactly like this, [McCartney’s demo] ‘cos this is the hit’.”

McCartney had been commissioned to contribute two other songs to the film’s soundtrack; after “Come and Get It” was successfully recorded, he offered to produce two of The Iveys’ original compositions to fulfill those commissions, for which he selected “Carry On Till Tomorrow” (commissioned as the main title theme for the film) and “Rock of All Ages” (commissioned as background music for a party scene). All three tracks appeared both in the movie and on its soundtrack album. McCartney then recruited George Martin to provide the string arrangement for “Carry On Till Tomorrow”. As Griffiths fell ill midway through these sessions, Evans played bass on “Rock of All Ages”, “Midnight Sun” and “Crimson Ships”.

Name change

Pending the release of “Come and Get It”, the band and Apple agreed that the name “The Iveys” was too trite for the prevailing music scene, plus The Iveys were sometimes confused with “The Ivy League”, so a name change for the band was needed. Suggestions were put forward, including Lennon’s “The Glass Onion”, “The Prix”, “The Cagneys”, and “Home” from McCartney. Apple Corps’ Neil Aspinall proposed “Badfinger”, in reference to “Bad Finger Boogie”; an early working title of Lennon–McCartney’s “With a Little Help from My Friends“, as Lennon had hurt his forefinger on a piano and was using only one finger. In December of 1969, the band agreed on Badfinger.

Harrison would later state that the band was named after Helga Fabdinger, a stripper the Beatles had known in Hamburg.

1969–1972: Badfinger

Departure of Griffiths and hiring of Molland

At the end of October 1969, Griffiths, who was the sole married occupant of the communal group’s home and also was raising a child (born in December 1968), left the group. His responsibilities created friction, mainly between Griffiths’ wife, Evans, and manager Collins. Griffiths later said: “Tommy [Evans] created the bad blood. He’d convinced the others that [I was] not one of the boys any more”. Drummer Gibbins remembered that he wasn’t even consulted about the decision: “I was considered a nothinghead at that point. I wasn’t even worth conversing with”.

As the release date of “Come and Get It” was approaching, The Iveys looked for a replacement for Griffiths. After unsuccessfully auditioning a number of bassists, they hired guitarist Joey Molland, who was previously with Gary Walker & The Rain, The Masterminds, and The Fruit-Eating Bears. His addition required Evans to shift from rhythm guitar to bass.

Initial success

“Come and Get It” was released as a single in December 1969 in the UK, and January 1970 in the US. Selling more than a million copies worldwide, it reached Top Ten throughout the world: number seven on the US Billboard chart on 18 April 1970, and number four in the UK. Because The Iveys’ Maybe Tomorrow album had only been released in a few markets, the band’s three songs from The Magic Christian soundtrack album were combined with other, older Iveys tracks (including both of The Iveys’ singles and five other songs from Maybe Tomorrow) and then released as Badfinger’s first album Magic Christian Music (1970). The album peaked at number 55 on the Billboard album chart in the US. In addition, Derek Taylor commissioned Les Smithers to photograph the band in March 1970. His photograph has been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery.

New recording sessions for Badfinger also commenced in March 1970, with Mal Evans producing. Two songs were completed, including “No Matter What”, which was rejected by Apple as a potential single. Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick then took over as producer, and the band completed its second album in July 1970. During the recordings, the band were sent to Hawaii on 4 June, to appear at a Capitol/Apple Records convention, and then flew to Italy to play concerts in Rome. No Dice was released in the US in late 1970, peaking at number 28 on the Billboard album chart. The Mal Evans-produced track “No Matter What”, as re-mixed by Emerick, was finally released as a single, and reached numerous Top Ten charts around the world—peaking at number eight in the US, and number five in the UK. An Emerick-produced album track from No Dice titled “Without You” became even more successful after Harry Nilsson covered the song in 1972; his version became an international hit, reaching number one on Billboard in the US, and also spending five weeks at the top of the UK chart. The song began as a merger of two separate songs, with the verses penned by Ham and the chorus penned by Evans. The song won Ham and Evans the 1972 Ivor Novello award for “Song of the Year”. […]

In the July 5, 1969 issue of Disc and Music Echo, The Iveys voiced their frustration with Apple at the time:

“We do feel a bit neglected,” said Ron Griffiths. “We keep writing songs for a new single and submitting them to Apple, but the Beatles keep sending them back saying they’re not good enough.”

“Mind you,” adds Tom Evans, “we’ve had a lot of things most groups could not expect. The Beatles bought all our gear for us, all the equipment and a group van, and we’ve had all kinds of concessions… all we need now is a hit single, or even just a new single, hit or not, and we’ll be happy!

“We’re going to keep on writing, and we’re determined to come up with something the Beatles like. At first we were adamant about not recording anything but one of our own songs, but now we’d record anything, so long as it was good…“

From interview with Disc and Music Echo, July 5, 1969

On July 23, 1969, the Iveys received a letter from Paul McCartney inviting them to meet with him on the 29th to discuss business matters.

Paul McCartney had been asked to contribute three songs to the soundtrack of “The Magic Christian,” a new film starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr. During the meeting, Paul offered the group one of his own compositions, “Come and Get It.” He played them the demo he had recorded on July 24 and told them they could contribute the other two tracks for the project.

He told us he had seen the article in Disc & Music Echo and was surprised to read that we felt neglected at Apple. He said, ‘Look. I’ve been asked to do the score for this film, The Magic Christian, which I’m not particularly wanting to do. I’m quite prepared to let you have a song I’ve written as a single release.’

Ron Griffith – From The Iveys – From “Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger” by Dan Matovina, 1997

On August 2, 1969, The Iveys recorded “Come And Get It,” with Paul McCartney producing the session. Paul also took on the role of producer for the two other songs: “Carry On Till Tomorrow”, and “Rock of All Ages.”

Before the release of “Come and Get It” in December 1969, The Iveys changed their name. Several options were considered — Paul McCartney suggested “Home,” but it was Neil Aspinall who ultimately proposed “Badfinger.” The name was inspired by “Bad Finger Boogie”, an early working title for “With a Little Help from My Friends,” referring to a time when John Lennon injured his forefinger and played piano using only one finger.

When I was head of A&R for Apple (which was an extremely fun job, I assure you), we signed quite a number of bands including one called the Iveys. The Iveys were brought into Apple by Mal Evans, the Beatles’ old friend, confidant, and roadie. It is worth remembering that when the Beatles began, Neil Aspinall and Mal Evans were the whole team, and Mal was a solid and reliable presence in whom everyone had great confidence. I liked him very much, and we were all delighted when he brought a tape of this excellent band he had found into one of my weekly A&R meetings. We signed them. We made an album. It had one small hit in the UK, “Maybe Tomorrow,” but it didn’t do much in America. And then we had an idea. First, we changed the Iveys’ name to Badfinger; I think the name change suggestion originated with Capitol Records in the U.S., who were not happy with “The Iveys” as a name. Neil recalled that the original working title for “With a Little Help from My Friends” was “The Badfinger Boogie,” and he suggested Badfinger as a new name for the Iveys. Then Paul gave them a song which he had written for the purpose, and it was a huge hit—“Come and Get It,” with its catchy opening line, “If you want it, here it is, come and get it.”

Peter Asher – From “The Beatles from A to Zed: An Alphabetical Mystery Tour“, 2019

I did a demo of ‘” Come And Get It” for Badfinger which took about 20 minutes, it was before a Beatles session. Phil McDonald was there and I got in – I always used to get in early because I lived just around the corner – and all the equipment was set up from the day before so I ran in and said, “Just do this, Phil, go on, it’ll only take twenty minutes” and I threw it away. I mean it’s really nice.

I said to Badfinger, “Look, lads, don’t vary, this is good, just copy this down to the letter. It’s perhaps a little bit undignified for you, a little bit lacking in integrity to have to copy someone’s work that rigidly, but this is the hit sound. Do it like this and we’re all right, we’ve got a hit. No one will know anyway. And if they do say anything say, ‘Yes, Paul did the arrangement, big deal, it’s not unheard of.’”

Paul McCartney – From “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” by Mark Lewisohn, 1988

I’d written the song Come And Get It and I’d made a fairly decent demo. Because I lived locally, I could get in half an hour before a Beatles session at Abbey Road – knowing it would be empty and all the stuff would be set up – and I’d use Ringo’s equipment to put a drum track down, put some piano down, quickly put some bass down, do the vocal, and double-track it. I said to Badfinger, ‘OK, it’s got to be exactly like this demo,’ because it had a great feeling on it. They actually wanted to put their own variations on, but I said, ‘No, this really is the right way.’ They listened to me – I was producing, after all – and they were good. The song was a hit in 1970.

Paul McCartney – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

I was down at a pub with Bill Collins called The Thistle, which was just around the corner from Savile Row. I was asked to suggest something. Badfinger just popped in my head. It was from an old Lennon thing. He was playing the piano and he had a bad finger so he called the piece he was playing ‘Bad Finger Boogie’ (which evolved into ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’). Somehow that came to me. Bill instantly liked it. He brought it back to the boys and I guess they liked it too. I remember someone suggesting High and Fun, but Badfinger won out.

Neil Aspinall – From “Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger” by Dan Matovina, 1997

I am not sure that Paul’s naming of the group came directly from ‘Badfinger Boogie’, the working title of the song ‘With a Little Help from My Friends’, as received wisdom has it. In 1969 my young son Arran, just a baby at the time, cut his finger on a knife and had an enormous bandage put on his hand. He was fascinated by his wound, as young children often are, and for several days took great pleasure in showing everybody his injury, pointing at it with his good hand and repeating endlessly in baby talk, ‘Bad finger, bad finger.’ I told Paul about this and he loved the childish exclamation, saying it would make a great name for a pop group. The phrase had obviously been in his head since 1967 when he had used it as the working title for the Sergeant Pepper classic, but as far as I’m aware it was this incident with Arran that spurred him into thinking of it as a potential name for a band.

Denis O’Dell – From “At the Apple’s Core: The Beatles from the Inside“, 2002

It is well documented that Paul McCartney was directly involved in the recording of “Come and Get It,” “Carry On Till Tomorrow,” and “Rock of All Ages” for Badfinger’s album “Magic Christian Music.”

In the book “The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present“, Paul includes a handwritten document that suggests he may have had a role in additional tracks from “Magic Christian Music.” The notes feature detailed diagrams of track layouts for “I’m In Love,” “Crimson Ship,” “Beautiful,” and “Blue, Midnight Sun.” He also sketched a rough version of a prominent visual element that would later appear on the album’s front cover.

While these documents indicate a deeper interest or involvement, the precise extent of Paul’s contribution to these additional songs remains unclear.

Albums, EPs & singles by Badfinger

Recording sessions Badfinger participated in