Badfinger - Straight Up. One of my ALL TIME FAVORITE. Do you love this album?

One of the most underrated Rock album.
Beautiful songs, great production.
But it is also Badfinger's most depressing album, there is so much sadness in
many songs.
From opener Take It All (Take it all... I don't need it anymore. So lovely and sad at same time.)
Both of album's hit singles have a feeling of loneliness, longing. (Baby blue and Day after Day.)
And it ends with a song called It's Over...
And how about The Name of the Game? It might be one of most depressing song ever...
But this album is so depressing and beautiful at same time.
Lots of great emotions keep this album as my all time favorite.

 

Its a great album to me. Pete was a great writer. The melodies and harmonies are unbeatable. Pete had an inner'esting way with words. I dont know anyone that wrote like him. Probably one of the greatest power pop writers ever. The album has The Beatles influence all over it in the absolute best light. Maybe the only group that could be hailed for carrying the torch yet at the same time not be contrived. One of the all time great 70s rock albums imo.

I mean how brilliant is it to start a song out at the end?

"I remember finding out about you."

That one line is so neat.

 

Yeah, I suppose this is the keystone album by Badfinger. Wish You Were Here was more consistent, but didn't have any hits. I prefer No Dice, more variety.

Pete Ham was really on a roll here, 5 winners. Lennon and McCartney didn't always do that. Lots of great stuff by Pete on No Dice, more variety as I mentioned. Management should have just given Pete half of every album, let him do what he wanted. But this band was managed poorly by multiple people in every way.

There are some weak cuts. I never cared for the Money-Flying thing, though a lot of people seemed to like it more than me. Seemed like weak songs, in the middle of Side 1. Sometimes is pedestrian. The original version of Suitcase was better than the one here. Amazing that I'll Be The One stayed in the can for so long. There were a couple of other outtakes that were better than what made the album.

Quite the accomplishment given the multiple producers and outtakes.

This album did not really sell exceptionally well even at the time, considering the two hits. Probably why the band decided to stretch out some, bid for some FM play on the later albums.

Others have mentioned the depression and forboding atmosphere around the band even at the best of times. Joey's songs are less depressing. I guess we know why now. Stan Polley was a shark, but Pete made a mistake. But we all have our weaknesses, Pete had his, plenty of that to go around in rock and roll.

 

Pete was really in the pocket at this point. His writing just seemed to flow. After Ass something happened, his work was still good and tuneful, but seemed more forced. Maybe he was under pressure or just lost the feel a bit, who can say.

 

I hope this thread doesnt go into all the sad and negative stuff about Pete. I know you arent trying to do that, it just always seems inevitable that all the horrible sadness will always be brought up as to the why's.

Pressure yes, other reasons yes. Then again maybe he was just having a bit of writers block. I think of Pete as somewhat a sensitive Brian Wilson type. He needed a lot of support and good feelings behind him to create. Or at least the space to do so. I dont think heaps of pressure was a good thing to place upon a soul like Pete Ham.

 

Their best along with No Dice and Wish You Were Here. One reason it may have not sold well is because it was damn difficult to find a copy when it was released. Weird I know, but Oklahoma was a real hotbed of great music stores and radio stations in the early 70s - particularly in Tulsa and Norman where OU is located (musicians, too - think Leon Russell). You could find virtually any import and boot you could ever want, BUT it took forever to find Straight Up. Maybe the distribution was just terrible? I never saw that with any other mainstream rock album before or since.

 

I love it so much! For me, the best Badfinger album. I remember when I first heard Baby Blue on the radio back in the '80s. I couldn't believe it.

 

Great album, but I prefer the self-titled and Wish You Were Here albums from '74. It doesn't seem likely Badfinger will get a decent vinyl reissue campaign?

 

Love that LP and I've owned it since shortly after it's original release date. One of my proudest possessions is my Straight Up songbook. Two arrangements per song, one for guitar and one for keyboard. Here's how I obtained it. Sometime in the early to mid-80's the housemate of one of my buddies was moving out of a group house and I was just hanging around that particular day.
The housemate (a guitar player) had a stack of songbooks he was giving away. I instantly laid eyes on the Straight Up songbook and laid claim to it, among a few others.
I gotta believe the guy now regrets making the impulsive decision to clear out his songbook collection.

 

Easily in my top ten albums of all time!

 

Amazing album, have loved it since its release. Name Of The Game?? Come on, it doesn't get much better than that! Recently acquired one of my holy grails--a Straight Up UK Apple "white label promo" (regular Apple label with "demo-not for sale" printed on the label) in unplayed condition. Amazing fidelity too, smokes every other version I have heard.
Yes, there is a special place in hell for Stan Polley for what he did to this band (not to mention Al Kooper and who knows who else).

 

Firmly in my top three. A complete masterpiece. This is one of those rare albums where every single track has at one point been my favorite from the album (although it always goes back go "Name Of The Game" for me).

A great band at the peak of their powers with an arsenal of fantastic songs, all coming together at the right time... Yeah!

I was happy to score a pretty good copy for $35 last week. I gave up on waiting for LP reissues... the world would probably fall into complete chaos if Apple didn't focus 100% of their energy on redundat Beatles reissues!

I'm still hoping we get good reissues - but I'm not holding my breath.

 

Solid album. I love it. I just upgraded my somewhat scratchy Canadian copy the other day for a VG+ to VG++ US STERLING Lee Hulko for $2 from a pawn shop!

 

It is a fantastic album and I think it sounds quite good too. It is almost impossible to find in pristine condition though. I agree, especially if the tapes are still around in good shape, the Badfinger albums are crying out for a good reissue campaign. Maybe a label like Intervention will pick this up and run with it.

 

Yes! I bought it in the early 90's as a used CD. One of the few records I was highly impressed with on initial listening. I had heard Day After Day for years, but the other tracks were a blessing as well. I have since then acquired a NM US LP and a NM UK LP.

 

It's been my favorite Badfinger album since I was a kid. I do have to agree with Jay_Z's post. I would rearrange the album a little to not have so many slower (weaker) cuts on side A.

But yeah, I scratch my head at how "I'll Be the One" never saw a release until being a bonus track.

 

I think it's a great album. It has great songs, great production, and pretty much anything else you could ask for in a power pop album. I'd rank it alongside Big Star's #1 Record in terms of all time great power pop albums. It's definitely Badfinger's best IMO.

 

Pulled out the CD and listening now. Yes, it's brilliant. Fantastic songs.

 

SOMETIMES is a great rocker !

 

Not a weak tune on it. The previous two albums were great but seemed to tale off late on side 2 imo ... not Straight Up, stellar start to finish.

 

Probably my favorite Badfinger album, I love everything about it. That cover photo is one of my favorite band photos of all time.

This record is emblematic to me of its time, when musicians had grown through and out of the turbulent sixties, had established Rock as the primary expressive force of their generation, and set about the business of expanding upon that foundation by growing in more "adult" directions. Straight Up is a thoroughly mature work.

This was the sweet spot era where the music had grown up, but before corporate interests took over.

 

I have an old Apple copy that sounds really good. I think it's a great album.

 

Love it! One of my faves. Perfection you might say...

 

Beyond the sad stuff there were other issues with the band that were probably going to cause problems anyway.

I like Joey in the band more than I like the other people, Ron Griffiths or Bob Jackson. Joey made Pete's material sound better. Brought a different sensibility. But there was tension there. Joey wanted to write singles. I think the chance of Joey writing a hit single was remote. I like his material all right, but a lot of his songs sound similar to each other.

The idea of the band was that everyone would write, like their perception of the Beatles. Of course with the Beatles, the Lennon-McCartney partnership kept order until late in the game. Badfinger was more of a free for all. Works in some bands, here it caused tension. Pete put in the most work as a writer, developed the most. After a while this was seemingly resented. So I think Pete started withholding some of his material that didn't sound like what Badfinger was supposed to sound like. He started writing Badfinger type songs instead of just putting his five or six best songs on every album. Probably didn't help his art.

The band probably would have broken up at some point over the Pete-Joey stuff even without everything else that was going on.

 

Also one of my faves of all time. Not a bad tune anywhere. I got me an original Apple lp and the first cd reissue from the 90's. Essential stuff.