BADFINGER Power Pop Showdown

[BARON CORNY DOG]

Two versions of power pop perfection from the same Badfinger record. Which do you choose? The chunky perfection of "Baby Blue" or the more slippery "Day After Day?"





They really did look like dorks.

[Sneelock]

Baron, it was the seventies. We all looked like dorks.
“Baby Blue”

[Charlie O.]

Today, this moment: "Baby Blue"

[Walk In My Shadow]

am I the only one going for Day After Day?

Power pop perfection they were a great band but totally mismanaged and ripped off.

Even their later albums had some good tunes.

[Count Machuki]

am I the only one going for Day After Day?

Power pop perfection they were a great band but totally mismanaged and ripped off.

Even their later albums had some good tunes.

Definitely 'Day After Day'
Get me every time, even if I very slightly prefer this live version that doesn't have that gloopy George Harrison slide thing all over it.

[The Modernist]

I prefer 'Baby Blue'. Neither are great though, it's middling stuff. Neither are anything like as good as 'No Matter What'.

[Spock!]

am I the only one going for Day After Day?

Power pop perfection they were a great band but totally mismanaged and ripped off.

Even their later albums had some good tunes.

Maybe tomorrow I might orefer Baby Blue, but for now, no matter what others might chose, the apple of my eye today is Day after Day.




Agree with you about the later albums, I think they eponymous album is generally under rated and Wish You Were a gem, though that does get many plaudits nowadays. Still get pleasure from Head First, though it's not one I play often.

I didn't bother with Airwaves - should I?

[Quaco]

Both very nice. Prefer "Baby Blue" because it has a bit more to it, with the bridge and everything. I agree with G that neither is in the same realm as "No Matter What".

[Sneelock]

me too. dynamite track. I'll never get tired of that one.

I remember when the last episode of "Breaking Bad" aired that "Baby Blue" topped I-Tunes for a while.
I'm assuming this generated some income. I certainly hope somebody that Peter Ham cared about or would have cared about got a piece of that.

I suspect all the lucre went to somebody who owns a company that owns a company. it might give Badfinger something resembling a happy ending if it were otherwise.

[Scally Mcgrew]

am I the only one going for Day After Day?

Power pop perfection they were a great band but totally mismanaged and ripped off.

Even their later albums had some good tunes.

Maybe tomorrow I might orefer Baby Blue, but for now, no matter what others might chose, the apple of my eye today is Day after Day.




Agree with you about the later albums, I think they eponymous album is generally under rated and Wish You Were a gem, though that does get many plaudits nowadays. Still get pleasure from Head First, though it's not one I play often.

I didn't bother with Airwaves - should I?

Nice Iveys reference there, John.

[fange]

I prefer 'Baby Blue'. Neither are great though, it's middling stuff. Neither are anything like as good as 'No Matter What'.

Yeah this. 'Baby Blue' is closer though.

[BARON CORNY DOG]

I prefer 'Baby Blue'. Neither are great though, it's middling stuff. Neither are anything like as good as 'No Matter What'.

Yeah this. 'Baby Blue' is closer though.

No, not that. It’s ALL WRONG.

[fange]

[Charlie O.]

I've never really understood the cult of "No Matter What". It's okay, but I'd easily choose any song from Straight Up over it.

[fange]

That's because you're willfully recalcitrant, Charlie. But i still love you. xo

[Bent Fabric]

I like em both, for sure (and, much like "No Matter What", they are now are as every bit as radio worn in my market as, say, "Sweet Dreams (Are Made..)" or "All Right Now").

There's something scrappy and slightly ragtag about "Baby Blue" that I really like - the instruments aren't QUITE in tune, and the drummer is going pretty heroic (ala Jody Stephens) whenever he gets a chance.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

This thread motivated me to listen to the 18 track 1st disc of the expanded "Straight Up" album
Lovely stuff.
2nd disc of 7 tracks has just started.

[Spock!]

am I the only one going for Day After Day?

Power pop perfection they were a great band but totally mismanaged and ripped off.

Even their later albums had some good tunes.

Maybe tomorrow I might orefer Baby Blue, but for now, no matter what others might chose, the apple of my eye today is Day after Day.




Agree with you about the later albums, I think they eponymous album is generally under rated and Wish You Were a gem, though that does get many plaudits nowadays. Still get pleasure from Head First, though it's not one I play often.

I didn't bother with Airwaves - should I?

Nice Iveys reference there, John.

Thank you.

One of the first singles was the Apple/Walls ep - The Iveys, Maty Hopkin, James Taylor & Jackie Lomax, the highlight being the Iveys' Storm In A Teacup which appealed hugely to the ten year old me. I first heard Badfinger when I bought the soundtrack to Magic Christian Music which has many songs from the Ivey's album, though credited to Badfinger. I think when they lifted tracks for Badfinger's Magic Christian Music album they did pick the best, but it is a respectable debut, though McCartney was right to point out to them that some of the tracks would not stand the test of time.

[BARON CORNY DOG]

For me it has to be "Baby Blue." It's weird, whenever I listen to "Straight Up" (my favorite of the Badfinger records I've heard), the other tunes seem to drag a little, basking in the creepy earth tones of the record jacket. But "Baby Blue" always slips by, almost under the radar. But when you hear it independently, it leaps out. It's just a gem, with the perfectly distorted guitar chugging through and eventually ringing out as the song picks up pace, slipping out at 3:30. I love power pop. I hate "power pop." This is everything I want it to be. Apart from some "Radio City" moments from Big Star, it's peerless.

"Day After Day" is great too, but there is something ineffably "Dan Fogelberg" that sits uneasily with me. I think it's the fucking tinkly piano bits. Still, I wouldn't blame anyone for choosing it. It's really magical when it picks up steam, adding instruments and vocals, and the Harrison licks in the middle of the song are gorgeous. Fuck off.

There's nothing wrong with "No Matter What." Badfinger Top 5? Probably. But it seems much more direct. Less to dig in to. More "power pop."

[Diamond Dog]

Neither are great though, it's middling stuff. Neither are anything like as good as 'No Matter What'.

Precisely. I think I prefer "Day After Day" and the George slide....