Badfinger -- what might have been......
The very first time I heard Badfinger, I was hooked. They sounded very much like the Beatles, and I was a big Beatles fan (though Pete Ham always hated that comparison). I went out and bought their very first album and other ones, too. I still have them all.
In 1981, I was very fortunate to see the 3 living original members of Badfinger (Tom Evans, Joey Molland, and Mike Gibbins) in concert at The Chance in Poughkeepsie, NY. They had a couple other guys on stage, too, and they put on a great show.
Pete Ham had committed suicide in 1975, and they paid tribute to him during the concert. It was very moving. Everything about that show was great. The mixer did a great job, the sound was perfect, the music and vocals were fabulous.
After the show, I talked a buddy of mine into hanging around to see if we could meet them. Our wives left, and we hung around, slipping the guy at the bar $20 to let us stay. We sat at the bar while everyone around us was cleaning up and the roadies were packing up the band's gear.
About ten minutes or so, Tom Evans walked out to the bar and sat down a few stools from us. As star struck as i was, I was taken back how short he was. And he seemed so frail. It seemed the biggest thing on him was his rather large nose.
We told him what a great show it was and I asked him if I could buy him a drink. He smiled and said yes, so my buddy and mine moved over on each side of him. We talked about 15 or 20 minutes with him and bought him a couple of drinks, and he could not have been nicer. He went through the problems which had plagued them with Apple records, their American agent, and all the law suits.
When I felt comfortable enough, I asked him about Pete's suicide, and he took a long sip of his drink, then very softly said in his thick British accent, "I was the one who cut him down, you know". He briefly went through what happened that night and early morning and finished by saying, "he never met his daughter, you know"... "she was born about a month after we buried him". It was very sad. We didn't ask him any more questions after that, but told him we hoped they would stay together and put out more albums.
We thanked him for being so gracious to us and he shook our hands and thanked us for the drinks. We left, and talked about how great he was all the way home. We were like two teenage girls having seen a matinee idol.
Unbelievably, it was just about two weeks later (as I remember) that I heard the awful news that Tom Evans had hanged himself. I could not believe it, and neither could my buddy, George. I called him and gave him the awful news, and we couldn't even speak. We just held the phones to our ears and stayed silent. We still talk about that all these years later and still can't believe we met him and talked with him. It was a JFK moment.
Some time after that, Joey Molland's group played The Chance. My buddy and his wife and my wife could not wait to go. We were so happy that we'd hear those great Badfinger songs again, live.
I have been to many concerts in my life, but that night, Joey Molland and his band were horrible. They played so loud your ears felt as if they would explode, and their vocals and music were terrible. They sounded like some cheap imitation band trying to do Badfinger songs. It got so bad, that when they finished their last song, only about half the people kept clapping for them to come out and do an encore (and we were not among them). Finally, Molland came out, grabbed a mike, and shouted, "you f****** sit on your hands all night and then you expect us to give you more!!". I couldn't believe it. His band had come out and he turned and said, "let's do one more and get the f*** out of this s***hole!".
That was it. We left, knowing full well that Badfinger was dead. Molland could not do their songs justice with his new band, and he certainly didn't care about the fans.
Ironically, Molland is the only surviving member. I don't know if he still plays shows and does Badfinger songs or not. But I wouldn't walk across the street to see him if he does. We learned the real stars of Badfinger were Pete Ham, Tom Evans and Mike Gibbins. Molland is an excellent guitar player, but as a person, he's a zilch. He's an arrogant, spoiled brat who is clueless.
In any case, this CD is great. Because it's them at their very best and at the very beginning. If you love Badfinger, I can't recommend this CD enough. The only shame is their volume of songs is so small. The greatest tragedy of all is we'll never know just how great they could have been. George Harrison knew they were great. And so do I.
Long live the original Badfinger and their great songs.
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