April 28, 2020 —– Chart #17

Hello Musical Friends,

Today selection goes back to the UK. The year was 1970. Badfinger were a Welsh/English rock band formed in Swansea, Wales 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 recognized 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.

Today’s tune is “No Matter What”, a song originally recorded by Badfinger for their album No Dice in 1970, written and sung by Pete Ham and produced by Mal Evans. As a demo, “No Matter What” was originally recorded by Ham on acoustic guitar and performed with a mambo beat (as heard on the posthumous Ham solo CD 7 Park Avenue). A similar sound to the original demo can be heard on an album track from their next album Straight Up called “Perfection”. A rough, rockier version of the song was recorded by Badfinger in March 1970 and produced by Mal Evans. The song was recorded again by the band in April 1970 at Abbey Road Studios and it was this version that would appear on the album and single.

Although the song and recording was a favorite of Badfinger’s shortly after it was recorded, the hierarchy at Apple reportedly was not inclined to release it in any format. It was not until Al Steckler, the American director of Apple in New York, heard the tape in the summer of 1970 and considered it a strong entry by the band that it was slotted for the upcoming LP and as a single release.

This song is also noted for its false ending, after the final chorus, where, after a short pause, the song repeats the last line twice before its final ending chord.

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 capitalize on the Badfinger legacy. In 1983, Evans also died by suicide.

Studio Version remastered: https://youtu.be/ffzfa_PYUmY

And for you guitar players out there, here is how to play the song: https://youtu.be/fnAtkvazQUg

Enjoy,

Stan