BADFINGER STRAIGHT UP APPLE LP IN SHRINK WRAP HYPE STICKER BEATLES SW-3387 EX

$

50

Ultra-rare Badfinger "Straight Up" LP in shrink wrap with hype sticker on Apple Records.  Sterling LH (indicating Lee Hulko mastering) in the deadwax on both sides of the vinyl . Vinyl is in excellent condition, with a minor warp that doesn't affect play on my turntable.

The closest anyone ever came to crossing Revolver with Abbey Road: a set of excellent, emotional, diverse pop songs with pristine lush production. Badfinger got criticized in their day for sounding like the Beatles, but time has shown that emulating that sound, in your own way, is pretty cool. In the '70's, with the former Beatles doing a somewhat patchy job of sounding like their old band, Badfinger came the closest of anyone. And pretty consistently, too:

Three of Badfinger's five best songs are here, all Pete Ham compositions: the heartstrings-tugging "Day After Day", the power-pop gem "Baby Blue", and the soaring "Name of the Game". (The fourth is Joey Molland's "Some Other Time", and the fifth... ah, impossible to narrow it down from so many great tunes.) In fact, Pete could do no wrong during this period; "Take It All" and "Perfection" are also standouts, and the diversity and quality of his contributions here recollect Paul's Revolver songs.

Like the Beatles, Badfinger was blessed with several great songwriters. Pete Ham was the giant, most comparable to McCartney, but Tom Evans (bass) and Joey Molland (guitar) were talents analogous to George Harrison, and Mike Gibbins (drums) came up with a good song every album or so. On this album, Joey contributes some pretty good pop/boogie songs ("I'd Die Babe" sounds kind of like Wings from this period) and a very cool, Allman Brothers-esque acoustic ballad, "Sweet Tuesday Morning". And Tom has the nice medley of "Money/Flying" on side 1 and the dramatic, foreboding "It's Over" closing out side 2. So, it's mostly Pete's show, with a couple more excellent tracks from Joey and Tom, and several more good ones that are a little too good to be just "filler".

It's impossible to listen to this stuff, especially the opening and closing tracks, without feeling the profound sadness and desperation that was gripping the band. Blessed with abundant talent and cursed by awful management, Badfinger got about as screwed over as you can get in the music business; Pete and Tom ended up committing suicide by hanging themselves over monetary woes. You can hear this in their music, much of which sounds like a call for help. Despite or because of the pressures Badfinger faced, they came up with one of the best bodies of pop from the early '70's. The "Straight Up" album, their shining star              

Side A
Take It All ...4:25
Baby Blue ...3:38
Money ...3:31
Flying ...2:37
I'd Die Babe ...2:05
Name of the Game ...5:49

Side B:
Suitcase ...2:53
Sweet Tuesday Morning ...2:31
Day After Day ...3:02
Sometimes ...2:57
Perfection ...5:10

This item will be shipped insured in the US. Sorry, no buyers in Texas allowed - any buyers purchasing with a Texas address will have their payment refunded. Check out my other auctions for more rare items