Because Todd Rundgren and George Harrison took turns producing Badfinger’s third album, Straight Up, one would think that it might accidentally be “over-produced.” This wasn’t the case for the record that produced the hits “Day After Day” and “Baby Blue.” Badfinger were a poor man’s Beatles, but they did have a sound that was unique to themselves. (Badfinger got their name from John Lennon during the Magical Mystery Tour sessions).

“Take It All” and “Sometimes” sound like they could be off of the Beatle’s Rubber Soul. I sometimes wonder if I would even like them if not for the Beatles. At times you just can’t answer those questions. Badfinger just had the Brit-pop thing down and are music folklore just the same.

In terms of songwriting, it was a particularly dazzling album for band founder Pete Ham (“Take It All,” “Baby Blue,” “Name of the Game,” “Day After Day,” “Perfection”). Ham was a remarkable musician and songwriter, and his life and death has been music folklore for the past 30 years.

In 1974 Badfinger switched labels to Warner Brothers and released Wish You Were Here (a year before the Pink Floyd record of the same name). However, at about the same time, a large sum of money went missing from their account, and the record was withdrawn from distribution only days after its release. Ham was living with Anne Ferguson, and they were expecting a child together, but the band’s finances were overdrawn, and Ham was unable to pay the mortgage on his new house in Surrey. On the morning of April 24, 1975, he was found dead, having hanged himself in his garage. The suicide note blamed then manager Stan Polley. Guitarist Tom Evans also hung himself in 1983, after failing to overcome financial difficulties as well. That’s just creepy.

Copyright 2005 Ad Media Inc.