STRAIGHT UP BADFINGER

Like the cover of Abbey Road, Badfinger’s Straight Up album had no words on the front, just the four guys posing for a picture. It was a Beatlesque move, but everything about Badfinger was Beatlesque. Their vocal harmonies were spot on, their pop tunes had a rocking edge, their melodies were infectious and great. They even sounded like The Beatles, especially when tracks like “Come and Get It,” “No Matter What,” “Baby Blue,” and “Day after Day” hit big on the radio. And the guitar player on that Straight Up album cover even looked a little like Paul McCartney, especially in the eyes.

All of this made sense, as it was The Beatles’ own employee Mal Evans who had discovered the band that had been formed in Wales as The Iveys and brought them to the Apple label. McCartney himself wrote their first single, they released four albums on The Beatles’ Apple label, they appeared on George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass album and on stage with George and Ringo at the Concert for Bangladesh. Their song “Without You” was a huge hit for Beatles best mate Harry Nilsson. Their name had come from a John Lennon demo called “Badfinger Boogie.” Two of them even showed up on John Lennon’s Imagine album (credited as “Joey and Tommy Badfinger”).

And somehow, Badfinger’s Joey Molland, who has been singing “Come and Get It” on stage for nearly half a century, has still