Wish You Were Here

I bought this album when it was released in 1974. Just before it was taken off the shelves by Warner Bros, due to so many lawsuits. But as we often do I lost it some years later while moving. This was such a good album I just had to get it again on iTunes. So now I can listen to it anytime I want to. It sure brings me back to those days. It was a simpler time, and sorry to say the music was so much better back then..

The more you learn about Badfinger, the more tragic it gets. That this album got pulled from release is criminal, and the fact is, it sounds better than ever, nearly forty years later. Can you imagine, had the world been just a little kinder, what these guys would have made next?

What can I say about this album. It was the very first I purchased at iTunes. Very well written songs equally well performed. Been one of my favorites since the era of the 8 track.

This album is an absolute classic. Every song is great and worth listening to over and over. The final song is a collaboration between Pete Ham and Joey Molland that is mindblowingly great and sounds like it belongs on Abbey Road. It's a terrible shame that they were taken advantage of by so many people in the music industry and that ultimately their two core members would go on to commit suicide. My favorite songs, in order: 1.) Meanwhile Back at the Ranch/Should I smoke 2.) Dennis 3.) You're So Fine 4.) Got to Get Out of Here 5.) Just a Chance 6.) King of the Load 7.) In the Meantime/Some Other Time 8.) Know One Knows 9.) Love Time

"I can remember, knowing you better some other time ... I can remember being in love with a friend of mine. Somehow we lost it, drifted apart ... really took a piece of my heart." So goes the lyric to "Some Other Time" on Badfinger's 1974 Wish You Were Here album, the chronicle of a rock band -- and some long-standing friendships -- breaking apart. By the time Badfinger was cutting this record in 1974, management problems, money woes, commercial missteps and internal jealousies had created a mood of despair within the group. Somehow, out of all the pain and disillusionment, came this brilliant set of songs. Wish You Were Here features Badfinger's trademark guitar interplay ("Meanwhile Back at the Ranch/Should I Smoke") as well as country-flavoring ("Your So Fine") and beautiful balladry ("Dennis"). But every song has something to recommend it. Casual fans should be forewarned though: those looking for the fresh-faced effervescence of past Badfinger hits like "Come and Get It" or "No Matter What" are not going to find much of that here. This is a mature rock record that deals openly with difficult and sad lyrical themes. Coded messages fly back and forth in the writing of guitarists Pete Ham and Joey Molland, bassist Tom Evans and drummer Mike Gibbons. The music is often beautiful, though, and despite the haunted ambience of the album, listeners who give it a chance will be rewarded time and again.

Although many people point to Straight Up as Badfinger's best work, this formerly rare and hard to find recording is the one that should have taken Badfinger to the top of the charts. This album takes off sonically like no other Badfinger album, and who knows what they would have achieved if their manager had not robbed them. Beautiful music, tragic ending. Rock on, Badfinger.

This where the songwrinting and production all came together, a lost classic of an album, no "hits" here as this was pulled from the shelves after legal problems. Mis-managed by Stan Polley, this one should have catapulted them to superstar staus, instead here we are 35 years later only lamenting what could have been. Such a sad story, but they left behind such a great treasure of an album, tracks like,"Just A Chance", Know One Knows", In The Meantime", "Dennis" and "Meanwhile/Should I Smoke" are all power pop at it's finest. Anyone who says different just doesn't get it.

The Final badfinger album with Pete Ham It's so sad that he died the next year There are alot of Great songs on here such as: Just A Chance Got To Get Out Of Here Dennis Love Time Meanwhile Back At The Ranch/ Should I Smoke

Although a followup album was recorded after this (without Joey Molland, who left the band) and Joey Molland and Tommy Evans re-grouped a few years later and released two albums under the name BADFINGER, WISH YOU WERE HERE is, for all intents and purposes, the last REAL BADFINGER album. And, it's a solid, cohesive effort. Pity that this band had such bad luck (see the original review and the legal entanglements), and then the tragic suicides of Pete Ham (within a couple of years of the release of this album) and Tommy Evans (several years later). Today, only Joey Molland remains alive of these four, and still writes and records. As for the album, it's probably their second best, with only STRAIGHT UP surpassing it (which featured hits like "Day After Day" and "Baby Blue"). No clinkers on this album, but, no really GREAT singles, either (like the previous mentioned songs from STRAIGHT UP), although that could be the fault, in part, to it's lack of promotion and series of legal entanglements. It's a strong series of album tracks, and Pete Ham is the main force here. Badfinger was as democratic a band as any of it's time and era. All four wrote, and they wrote in various combinations with each other. Ham's material was probably the most commercial, but Molland added a hard edge to the band with his more basic rock writing style and grittier vocals. They were a great combination that could have done amazing things, had they had a little bit of luck and some decent promotion. They were both blessed and cursed to have been "discovered" by the Beatles. At once introduced to the world by them through Apple records, they were also suffocated by them and got lost in the shuffle when the Beatles split, and lawsuits and other legal problems left Badfinger without any promotion or encouragement from their own label. They left Apple in 1973, and signed with Warner Brothers, but, then ran into similar problems with them. A tragic story of a band that deserved better. These guys could have been Rock and Roll Hall of Famers.

This last full band release by Badfinger is easily their best on the Warner Label. There is no true filler here, just some very fine musical pieces. Individual songs that I recommend are Just A Chance, You're So Fine, Got To Get Out Of Here, Know One Knows, In The Meantime, and Meanwhile Back At The Ranch. However, your money would still be well spent in buying the entire album.