Badfinger - Wish You Were Here [1974][2014][Japan Mini LP SHM-CD]



01. Just A Chance  
02. You're So Fine  
03. Got To Get Out Of Here  
04. Know One Knows  
05. Dennis  
06. Medley: In The Meantime/Some Other Time  
07. Love Time  
08. King Of The Load  
09. Medley: Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch/Should I Smoke
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**30 KBPS CBR
**Cover Art
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 Badfinger were a British rock band that originally consisted of Pete Ham, Mike Gibbins, Tom Evans and Ron Griffiths. The band evolved from an earlier group called The Iveys that was formed in 1961 by Ham, Ron Griffiths and David "Dai" Jenkins in Swansea, Wales. They were signed by the Beatles' Apple label in 1968 as The Iveys. In 1969, Griffiths left and was replaced by Joey Molland, and the band renamed itself Badfinger. In 1970, the band engaged American businessman Stan Polley to manage their commercial affairs. Over the next five years the band recorded several albums for Apple and toured extensively, before they became embroiled in the chaos of Apple Records' dissolution.

Badfinger had four consecutive worldwide hits from 1970 to 1972: "Come and Get It" (written and produced by Paul McCartney), "No Matter What", "Day After Day" (produced by George Harrison) and "Baby Blue". In 2013, "Baby Blue" made a resurgence onto the "Hot Rock Songs" Billboard 100 chart at number 14, due to its featuring at the end of the series finale of the hit TV show Breaking Bad. Their song "Without You" has been covered many times, including a Billboard number one hit for Harry Nilsson.

They signed to Warner Bros., but Polley's financial machinations resulted in a lawsuit by Warner over missing escrow account money. Warner's consequent withdrawal from market of the 1974 album, Wish You Were Here (seven weeks after its release), cut off the band's income. Three days before his 28th birthday, on 24 April 1975, Ham committed suicide by hanging himself, leaving a note that included damning comments about Polley.

Over the next three years, surviving members struggled to rebuild their personal and professional lives against a backdrop of lawsuits. The albums Airwaves (1978) and Say No More (1981) floundered, as Molland and Evans see-sawed between co-operation and struggle in attempts to revive and capitalise on the Badfinger legacy. Having seen Ham's body after Ham's wife had called him, Evans reportedly never got over his friend's suicide, and was quoted as saying in darker moments, "I wanna be where he is." On 19 November 1983, Evans also took his own life by hanging.
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Wish You Were Here is the sixth album by rock band Badfinger and their third consecutive album produced by Chris Thomas. It was recorded in the spring of 1974 at Colorado's Caribou Ranch and released in November of that year on Warner Bros. Records. Wish You Were Here was the second and last album the band released on the Warner's label.

Although the album received a favourable review in Rolling Stone magazine and is sometimes considered to be the band's best work, it was withdrawn from record stores in early 1975,[4] seven weeks after release, because of a lawsuit between Warner music publishing and Badfinger's management. The album's abbreviated manufacturing run and short tenure on the market has made the original LP relatively rare.

Before being recalled, Wish You Were Here had time enough to chart, peaking at number 148 in the United States. In the 1990s it was re-released in CD format in Japan and Germany only. The album was eventually issued on CD in the US in 2007. Many of the tracks have appeared on Badfinger compilation albums.

After completing Wish You Were Here, Pete Ham decided to quit Badfinger; he was replaced by keyboardist/guitarist Bob Jackson. However, after Warner's indicated that it would drop the band if Ham quit, he agreed to return, and Badfinger completed a tour as a five-piece group. Following this tour, Joey Molland resigned from the band.

Although the next Badfinger release was the Molland–Evans reunion album Airwaves, in 1979, Ham, Evans, Gibbins and Jackson recorded an album titled Head First in December 1974. The latter album was the band's seventh and last with the original Ham–Evans–Gibbins nucleus that dated back to the late 1960s, when the group was known as the Iveys. Head First was not released until 2000, however, because of further lawsuits between Warner Bros. and Badfinger's management.
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Personnel:


Pete Ham: vocals, guitar, keyboards
Joey Molland: vocals, guitar
Mike Gibbins: drums, keyboards, lead vocals on "In the Meantime"
Tom Evans: vocals, bass


Additional Contributors:

Average White Horns: horns on "Just a Chance" and "Should I Smoke"
Mika Kato: Japanese spoken words on "Know One Knows" (uncredited)