Badfinger - Magic Christian Music

A pretty good debut for the band, but not among their best releases. Yet, MAGIC CHRISTIAN MUSIC was just putting their toe in the water. Songs like CRIMSON SHIP, MIDNIGHT SUN, and possibly BEAUTIFUL AND BLUE have the Badfinger sound. Let's not forget the great COME AND GET IT penned by Paul McCartney, as well as tunes such as MAYBE TOMORROW, ROCK OF ALL AGES, and CARRY ON TILL TOMORROW.

Good debut from Mal Evan's (Beatles roadie's) discovery. Actually this is a compilation of the Iveys album and the then current soundtrack to the Peter Sellers film of the same name. Good stuff for any rock fan.

This is a review of the original American vinyl LP, which includes everything here except "Angelique", "Give It a Try", "Storm in a Teacup", and "Arthur". I'll have nothing to say about these four additional tracks. I've never heard them, in fact.

It may be natural to suppose this the soundtrack to "The Magic Christian" movie; it is nevertheless not so. I watched the movie for the very first time a month or so ago. It's dreadful--but, more to the point, only one of its three songs found here is heard there in its entirety, and there is a lot of other music in the film that isn't included here.

Since the Ivey's LP was never released either in the United States or in the United Kingdom, I don't consider it particularly relevant whether or not some of their songs made it to this record.

"Magic Christian Music" is essentially a period bubblegum record, by which I don't mean to disparage it, only to point out that it would be very foolish to take any of it at all seriously. The best thing about it is its ensemble singing, particularly on its two best tracks by far, "Maybe Tomorrow" and "Carry On", and also on the refrain of "Fisherman". (Unfortunately, the very ending of "Maybe Tomorrow" is corny, and the singing falters here as well.) These vocal arrangements are elaborate enough and significantly more sophisticated enough than the core group's fairly crude instrumental performances, that I'm inclined to wonder whether a professional outside vocal arranger had been brought in. The solo singing tends to be a bit weak and occasionally just slightly out of tune--"Maybe Tomorrow" is an exception. Although there is some fine drumming in "Maybe Tomorrow", in general there is also a great contrast in musicianship between the core group and the outside studio musicians--who deserve to have been credited, especially the solo violin player in "Maybe Tomorrow" and the obbligato trumpet player in "They're Tearing Down Our House".

Magic Christian Music was the first album to bear the Badfinger name, though 6 of the songs on the album are in fact old Iveys recordings that had already been released on the Maybe Tomorrow album. Some of the recordings were done with Paul McCartney, and he obviously helped the band create their characteristic sound. Great tracks like "Midnight Sun", "Crimson Ship" and "Come and Get it" point clearly in the direction of the classic follow-up album "No Dice". "Walk Out in the Rain" is another stand-out track. "Rock of All Ages" is probably the wildest rocker the band ever recorded. "Maybe Tomorrow" which had been a minor hit for the Iveys, was also selected for this album.The material in this album is too varied in style and quality to make a real strong consistent album. The two bonus tracks are Iveys recordings from late 68 - none of them very interesting.

My favourites: Come and Get it, Crimson Ship, Midnight Sun, Beautiful and Blue and Walk Out in The Rain

Magic Christian Music (1970.) Badfinger's second album, and the first to be released under the name Badfinger (their first album was released under the band's original name, The Iveys.) This album is actually a collection of songs from various sources. To give you a better understanding of this album/compilation, I am going to deviate from my normal reviewing style.

INTRODUCTION:
In the latter half of the sixties, Great Britain was filled with rock bands trying to make it big. Among these was a little group called The Iveys. Pete Ham (guitar), Mike Gibbons (drums), Ron Griffiths (bass), and David Jenkins (rhythm guitar) made up the band. Early on the band got a job backing up singer David Garrick in live shows and in the studio. Around this time, David Jenkins left the band. His replacement on rhythm guitar was Tom Evans. The band released its first and only album under the Iveys name, Maybe Tomorrow, around this period. A new rhythm guitarist also entered the band, Joey Molland. Evans switched to playing bass when Griffiths left the band. Soon, the band got signed to the Apple Records label, and changed its name to Badfinger. The band was asked to contribute some songs to the Ringo Starr film The Magic Christian, and they did. They also recorded several other songs in this era. By combining these recordings with older Iveys songs, they put together Magic Christian Music, which is now recognized widely as the first Badfinger album. Read on for my review of this album.

RECYCLED IVEYS TRACKS:
-Dear Angie
-Beautiful And Blue
-I'm In Love
-Angelique
-Knocking Down Our Home
-Maybe Tomorrow
Comments: These tracks were taken from the band's only album released under the Iveys name, Maybe Tomorrow. Dear Angie is classic melodic pop rock at its very best. Beautiful and blue is another excellent pop rocker that's tough to top. The blues-inspired Angelique is also excellent. It's a shame the album that originally featured these tracks is out of print and harder than hell to find, but I'm greatly relieved to see that some of them are on this album.

TRACKS FROM THE FILM "THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN":
-Come And Get It
-Rock Of All Ages
-Carry On Till Tomorrow
Comments: These are the tracks the band recorded for the film The Magic Christian. Come and get it was written by Paul McCartney, and it really shows. It's about as good as pop music gets. The other two tracks the band recorded for the film are also excellent.

NEW RECORDINGS FOR THE ALBUM:
-Crimson Ship
-Midnight Sun
-Walk Out In The Rain
-Give It A Try
-Fisherman
Comments: To make the album more "complete", the band recorded these songs to go along with the others. Fisherman is not the same recording that appeared on the Maybe Tomorrow LP - It's an all new recording (I haven't gotten a chance to hear the original yet.) This track is bizzare but still good. Give It A Try is a classic example of Beatles-esque rock that must be heard to be appreciated. And don't even think of overlooking Crimson Ship - sixties-style pop music never sounded better!

BONUS TRACKS FOR COMPACT DISC REISSUE:
-Storm In A Teacup
-Arthur
Comments: These are two bonus tracks, only available on this, the compact disc reissue of the album. Arthur is previously unreleased. It's a shame this track didn't get released until now, because it's very good. Storm In A Teacup is noticably different from the band's other material (it has a much more "soulful" sound), but it's still excellent.

FINAL VERDICT:
Overall, this is a great first album. If you're a fan of classic rock, Badfinger is a band you must not overlook. It's a shame these guys go unappreciated in the modern age, because their music is an infinite number of times better than that junk that gets played on the radio today. This has been referred to as the band's most Beatles-sounding album, but I think that's a GOOD thing. If you're fortunate enough to find this album, BUY IT.

Actually it's only a Badfinger disc in name only. Most of the tunes on the album were done earlier when the band was called the Iveys and the rest were done after the name change but before second guitarist Joey Molland joined the band. The result is a mis-mash of different styles of songs. The Paul McCartney penned "Come and Get It" starts out the disc in fine form. Simple and irresistibly catchy, with Mike Gibbins drums driving the song home. It's no surpise the song went deep into the top ten. "Crimson Ship" is up next and its a slow-paced song that just hints at the creativity of the Pete Ham-Tom Evans partnership. "Dear Angie" sung by departed Ron Griffths is the kind of older British pop that seems dated compared with some of the other songs on this disc but has some interesting jazz noodling on guitar by Ham. "Fisherman" is another of those dated Ivey songs. Indeed its almost a novelty song. "Midnight Sun" puts the boys back on the right track with a stunning vocal by Ham. The rhythm guitar is mixed real high giving the song extra punch. "Beautiful and Blue" while poppy, showcases developing songwriting talent. "Rock of All Ages" is another impressive track by the band. This has Tom Evans giving it his all in his best rock 'n roll voice. It's one of those songs that doesn't stop moving. "Carry On Till Tomorrow" showcases the bands vocal abilites, which not fully mined on this disc would be explored later on. The strings on this song help immeasurably, however the electric guitar is a little bit off putting to such a gentle song. "I'm in Love" is still another Iveys old song, just remixed to be used on this disc. However, its better than some of their other attempts but still it sounds of its time. "Walk Out in the Rain" is a nice gentle Pete Ham vehicle. "Angelique" a total throw away. "Knocking Down Our Home" is a song about the effects of progess elegantly and effectively performed in the dance-hall style. Its one of the underrated songs on the disc. "Give It a Try" is more old dated Brit-Pop. "Maybe Tomorrow" was the Iveys first single--its simply overdone with Tom Evan's vocal histronics and orchestration and timpanis. The bonus tracks, "Storm in a Teamcup" and "Arthur" add nothing to the original disc. It's obvious here, on several songs at least, that early in 1970 Badfinger was a group to watch.

Magic Christian is made up of a mix of originals recorded for this album and a handful of tracks remixed from their debut as The Iveys. The stylistic contrast between Badfinger and The Iveys is quite pronounced on some tracks. Tony Visconti's production on Maybe Tomorrow (the album The Iveys tracks were culled from)wasn't bad just a bit over the top.

Paul McCartney produced at least two tracks here (the self penned Come And Get It and Rock Of All Ages both used in the film), while Mal Evans produced the bulk of the rest of the original material. The more recent Badfinger tracks are the stronger songs included. Maybe Tomorrow, while a fine song, doesn't belong here--it's sound is florid and doesn't fit in well with the bulk of these tracks. Crimson Ship (a song written as a tribute to McCartney who came in and helped the band out)is one of the stand out tracks here.

The inclusion of the rare Arthur and Storm In A Teacup are welcome additions to this disc (as well as the two tracks cut from the original US release). The band would truly hit their prime with No Dice, Straight Up and Wish You Were Here.

Though technically their 2nd album, this was the first after they changed their name from The Iveys. What a great disc! 3 songs from the Peter Seller/Ringo Starr film THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN (hence the title) include Paul McCartney's classic "Come And Get It" (see BEATLES ANTHOLOGY 1 to hear HIM singing it first) as well as the wildly frenetic "Rock Of All Ages" and the sentimental "Carry On To Tomorrow". And that's only the start! Other highlights for me are "Crimson Ship", "Beautiful And Blue" and the emotional "Maybe Tomorrow" (the latter 2 originally from their 1st album). This CD contains all 14 tracks from the British LP ("Angelique" and "Give It A Try" had been snipped off the US LP) as well as "Storm In A Teacup" (taken from a rare Ice Cream promo EP) and the previously-unreleased, humorous look at marital infidelity, "Arthur".

If I have any beef, it's that they didn't go far enough! MAGIC CHRISTIAN MUSIC was really a patched-together album, 6 tracks having appeared earlier on MAYBE TOMORROW. If they were going to do a CD with bonus tracks, I'd like to see the other 6 songs, plus the leftover "A"&"B" sides (not to mention the demo for "Come And Get It") --all of which appeared earlier on the RARE TRACKS lp-- in one place. Among the missing was the ominous epic, "I've Been Waiting", which closed their 1st LP. Don't get me wrong, this is a FANTASTIC CD as it is! You'd think after all these years, though, that somebody would take the extra effort to REALLY do things "right".