Badfinger Warner Bros. Albums to Be Reissued

Real Gone Music has announced the Nov. 2 release of two 1970s albums by the power pop favorites Badfinger: the group’s self-titled 1974 LP (recorded in ’73) and Wish You Were Here, released later that same year. The albums, which came out after the Welsh band had exited the Beatles’ Apple label, fared poorly on the U.S. charts, peaking at #161 and #148, respectively.

The membership of the band at the time of these two releases was Tom Evans, Mike Gibbins, Pete Ham and Joey Molland. Ham would commit suicide in 1975, followed by Evans in 1983.

Badfinger cover model Victoria Germaise, today (with Luna)

According to a Real Gone press release, “Everything seemed rosy when, upon conclusion of their contract with Apple, Badfinger signed a new deal with Warner Bros. in 1973 for a big advance, but right away things went south as the label rushed the band into the studio and ended up releasing Badfinger at about the same time as Apple released the band’s last record for the label, Ass. Not to mention Warner Bros. rejected the band’s title for the record, For Love or Money, leaving the record without any title at all. Of course, commercial confusion ensued, and Badfinger sold poorly, even though it boasted such solid tunes as ‘Lonely You,’ ‘Shine On’ and ‘Love Is Easy.’ Real Gone’s Expanded Edition features the unreleased song ‘Love My Lady,’ plus nine more outtakes from the album sessions.”

Listen to “Shine On” from Badfinger

Related: We look back at Badfinger’s Straight Up

For Wish You Were Here, the release states, “Things went from bad to worse for Badfinger as Warner Bros. ended up pulling their second release after seven weeks in the stores due to their manager squirreling away publishing advance money, prompting a lawsuit by the label’s publishing arm. Yet, somehow in the midst of all the chaos, the band delivered its masterpiece. Recorded by Chris Thomas at the Caribou Ranch studio in Colorado and George Martin’s AIR studio in London, Wish You Were Here stands as Badfinger’s most cohesive and powerful artistic statement, with stellar contributions by all four of the band’s songwriters. It’s an album without a weak track, so it’s hard to single out any songs, but Ham’s ‘Dennis,’ Molland’s ‘Love Time’ and Evans’ ‘King of the Load’ might take the honors. For this Expanded Edition, we’ve unearthed an unreleased song (‘Queen of Darkness’), and uncorked eight new alternate mixes that highlight many unused vocals and novel instrumental arrangements.” Wish You Were Here was the last Badfinger album to feature the original lineup.

Listen to “Dennis” from Wish You Were Here