Ass

Additional comments to the 2010 remastered release:"Ass" is undoubtedly the Badfinger album that has benefitted most from the new remastering. On the first CD release from 1996 the sound was very muddy and certainly not on par with the other Apple reissues. This is now thankfully corrected with this new 2010 release.Also disappointing was it that the 1996 version contained only one single bonus track. This has also improved with this release, which now includes five bonus tracks, several of which are really exciting additions."Do You Mind" was the lone bonus number on the first release. On the new edition is the number again to find, but in a different version, which unfortunately is not better. I am missing Tom Evans fine harmony vocals on the chorus, a little frustrating since Molland himself is no great singer.Pete Ham's "Apple of My Eye" is found in an earlier edition produced by the group themselves, good, but not as good as the final version which Chris Thomas helped to produce.Tom Evans's "Blind Owl" is also found in an earlier version which "Apple of My Eye" is interesting, but not quite as good as the final version."Regular" is an unpretentious Joey Molland song that has never before been released. The song appear finished, but has probably originally not been found good enough to get on the album. Another outtake from "Ass" is Pete Ham's "Piano Red", which unfortunately is only available as a digital download, unless you want to invest in then Apple Box set. A shame, as the album generally lacks Pete Ham songs - it must be said that "Piano Red" is a somewhat atypical Ham song which may also have been deselected by being too different.The last number is a different mix of Pete Ham's magnificent "Timeless". The mix is not as clear as the album version, but sounds like it's the same basic track, but with a different and shorter end. Since the album version is over seven minutes, some might feel that this slightly shorter version is to be preferred.Original review:The story behind the release of Ass is in several ways similar to that behind "Straight Up". The first recordings for this album, that turned out to be their last for Apple Records, began in January 1972; and the final recording took place in April 1973. The album was not released until late 73 in the USA and in March 74 in Europe. Their change of record company from Apple to Warner Brothers was one among other reason for the delay. Actually a first version of the album had been completed by the end of 72, but it was rejected by Apple. The original version of Ass had been produced by the band themselves, and they were going for a more basic rock album.In early 73 Apple called in Chris Thomas to produce new recordings and to look through, what had already been finished. A similar situation had occurred when Todd Rundgren had been recruited for finishing "Straight Up". The two earliest recordings on this album were in fact ("The Winner" and "I Can Love You") produced by Rundgren. Pete's "Apple Of My Eye" and "Timeless" were re-recorded and two new Molland songs ( "Icicles" and "Constitution") with Chris Thomas were added. The rest of the album are leftovers from the scrapped version.The album turned out to be a commercial failure; not because of the music but because of other things like little promotion, bad timing, the change of record company, lack of recent hit-single etc. The album was different from their earlier albums - they had wanted to do basic rock album representing the music they performed live, and that is mainly what "Ass" became. People who'd expected and hoped for another album similar to "No Dice" and "Straight Up" were obviously disappointed. Pete Ham only contributed 2 songs, of which only "Apple Of My Eye" was a typical Ham composition. Tom Evans wrote two very strong tracks, "When I Say" and "Blind Owl" - the first a lovely ballad and the second a wonderful rocker, which became a live favourite. Mike Gibbins wrote "Cowboy", a country styled song, which sound somewhat unfinished and which does not fit very well into the concept of the album. The rest of the album was written by Joey Molland. 3 straight ahead blues/rockers and two ballads. The album is the first where Pete Ham really gets a chance to demonstrate what a great lead guitarist he was, f. ex. on tracks like "Blind Owl", "Constitution" and "Timeless". The only bonustrack "Do You Mind" is an outtake from the first version of the album - it's written by Molland and it's one of his best early Badfinger songs.My favourites: "Apple Of My Eye", "Blind Owl", "When I Say", "Timeless" and "Do You Mind"

They owed Apple records one more album

The final non-Beatle release on Apple Records, Badfinger's "Ass" signaled the end of the Fab Four's label. While not one of my favorite Badfinger releases, the history behind the recording is interesting. Badfinger began recording the album in January 1972 with Todd Rundgren. The sessions lasted one week before a falling out between the band and Rundgren occurred. Badfinger then convinced the executives at Apple to allow them to produce themselves. They delivered a complete album to the label in late 1972 and Apple Records promptly rejected it (as they had done with the first version of Badfinger's classic "Straight Up" album in 1971). In order to complete the album, producer Chris Thomas was brought in. Most of the songs on the album were written by guitarist Joey Molland. Guitarist Pete Ham, who wrote Badfinger's most well-known songs ("No Matter What,""Day After Day," and "Baby Blue") contributed only two songs on this outing, "Apple of My Eye" which was released as the single, and "Timeless," a song that showed off Ham's incredible lead guitar skills. Bassist Tom Evans contributed one of my favorite Badfinger songs, "When I Say." While the album was completed in early 1973, it was not released until November 1973 in the US and March 1974 in the UK, long after the band had left Apple Records. The band had moved to Warner Brothers Records and released a new album on that label in February 1974. With two albums out on two different labels, the listening public was over-saturated with Badfinger and neither album sold well. The remastering of "Ass" was completed by the same team that remastered the entire Beatles catalog (released last year) and thir skills are evident even during my first listening. If you are new to Badfinger, start with either "Straight Up," their third album or "Wish You Were Here," their final Warner Brother album, both masterpieces before purchasing this album.As an aside, if you are a Badfinger completest, purchase the digital-only downloads in addition to the CD. With the digital downloads and the bonus tracks on the CD, one can now created the first, rejected and unreleased version of "Ass." The track listing is as follows:Get Away (Previously Unreleased)When I Say (Previously Unreleased)Apple of My Eye (Previously Unreleased)The Winner (Previously Unreleased)Blind Owl (Previously Unreleased)Do You Mind (Previously Unreleased)Piano Red (Previously Unreleased)CowboyRegular (Previously Unreleased)I Can Love You (Previously Unreleased)Timeless (Previously Unreleased)Both "I Can Love You" and "The Winner" were produced by Todd Rundgren. As with the first unreleased version of "Straight Up," it is an interesting piece of Badfinger history that is now available officially instead of as a low quality bootleg.

Badfinger's history is characterised by tragedy, bad luck, mismanagement, financial controversy and... oh yes, some lovely music that hasn't been widely enough heard. Indeed, this is one of their least heard albums, made when they were in commercial decline. Its main strength is a gorgeous production, dominated by the kind of chunky guitar sound captured on their earlier hit, "No Matter What".Once again, their democratic songwriting policy restricts the talented Pete Ham to a couple of credits and, as usual, they are the best songs on show. His "Apple Of My Eye", with its descending guitar part and Ham's regretful parting lyric, is unforgettable. "Timeless", which closes the album, is a haunting, seven-minute, guitar-drenched piece.Between these tracks are several three-minute songs penned mostly by Joey Molland, now the only surviving member of this quartet, with the odd Tom Evans contribution. These songs are generally above average but are boosted by the production and, as usual, it's tempting to make comparisons with certain late-60s Beatles songs. "Constitution", for instance, seems to have borrowed from "Helter Skelter".Nevertheless, Badfinger show here that they weren't finished... artistically, anyway.

Additional comments to the 2010 remastered release:"Ass" is undoubtedly the Badfinger album that has benefitted most from the new remastering. On the first CD release from 1996 the sound was very muddy and certainly not on par with the other Apple reissues. This is now thankfully corrected with this new 2010 release.Also disappointing was it that the 1996 version contained only one single bonus track. This has also improved with this release, which now includes five bonus tracks, several of which are really exciting additions."Do You Mind" was the lone bonus number on the first release. On the new edition is the number again to find, but in a different version, which unfortunately is not better. I am missing Tom Evans fine harmony vocals on the chorus, a little frustrating since Molland himself is no great singer.Pete Ham's "Apple of My Eye" is found in an earlier edition produced by the group themselves, good, but not as good as the final version which Chris Thomas helped to produce.Tom Evans's "Blind Owl" is also found in an earlier version which "Apple of My Eye" is interesting, but not quite as good as the final version."Regular" is an unpretentious Joey Molland song that has never before been released. The song appear finished, but has probably originally not been found good enough to get on the album. Another outtake from "Ass" is Pete Ham's "Piano Red", which unfortunately is only available as a digital download, unless you want to invest in then Apple Box set. A shame, as the album generally lacks Pete Ham songs - it must be said that "Piano Red" is a somewhat atypical Ham song which may also have been deselected by being too different.The last number is a different mix of Pete Ham's magnificent "Timeless". The mix is not as clear as the album version, but sounds like it's the same basic track, but with a different and shorter end. Since the album version is over seven minutes, some might feel that this slightly shorter version is to be preferred.Original review:The story behind the release of Ass is in several ways similar to that behind "Straight Up". The first recordings for this album, that turned out to be their last for Apple Records, began in January 1972; and the final recording took place in April 1973. The album was not released until late 73 in the USA and in March 74 in Europe. Their change of record company from Apple to Warner Brothers was one among other reason for the delay. Actually a first version of the album had been completed by the end of 72, but it was rejected by Apple. The original version of Ass had been produced by the band themselves, and they were going for a more basic rock album.In early 73 Apple called in Chris Thomas to produce new recordings and to look through, what had already been finished. A similar situation had occurred when Todd Rundgren had been recruited for finishing "Straight Up". The two earliest recordings on this album were in fact ("The Winner" and "I Can Love You") produced by Rundgren. Pete's "Apple Of My Eye" and "Timeless" were re-recorded and two new Molland songs ( "Icicles" and "Constitution") with Chris Thomas were added. The rest of the album are leftovers from the scrapped version.The album turned out to be a commercial failure; not because of the music but because of other things like little promotion, bad timing, the change of record company, lack of recent hit-single etc. The album was different from their earlier albums - they had wanted to do basic rock album representing the music they performed live, and that is mainly what "Ass" became. People who'd expected and hoped for another album similar to "No Dice" and "Straight Up" were obviously disappointed. Pete Ham only contributed 2 songs, of which only "Apple Of My Eye" was a typical Ham composition. Tom Evans wrote two very strong tracks, "When I Say" and "Blind Owl" - the first a lovely ballad and the second a wonderful rocker, which became a live favourite. Mike Gibbins wrote "Cowboy", a country styled song, which sound somewhat unfinished and which does not fit very well into the concept of the album. The rest of the album was written by Joey Molland. 3 straight ahead blues/rockers and two ballads. The album is the first where Pete Ham really gets a chance to demonstrate what a great lead guitarist he was, f. ex. on tracks like "Blind Owl", "Constitution" and "Timeless". The only bonustrack "Do You Mind" is an outtake from the first version of the album - it's written by Molland and it's one of his best early Badfinger songs.My favourites: "Apple Of My Eye", "Blind Owl", "When I Say", "Timeless" and "Do You Mind"

More great pop rock, performed by a forgotten British band.

Impeccable

This is the version of 'Ass' to get but it remains a frustrating experience. The production,although improved upon, is still murky. The balance is skewed, five songs from Joey, versus two each from Pete and Tom and once from Mike. Let's review the contribution of each:Pete: 'Apple Of My Eye' is a decent ballad marred by bad production (the drums are buried basically), and a somewhat melodramatic lyric. Interesting to note that the early version,here as a bonus track, is far superior. 'Timeless' tries hard to be epic and it has its moments (again the bonus version is superior). But let down by twee lyrics which are quite annoying if the truth be told. And that's it from Pete Ham on this album. The opener and the closer, and neither up to his usual high standards. Not what we'd come to expect (not that i was around to hear it at the time! :- )Tom 'Blind Owl' is a good rocker but the production lacks punch (I can imagine what Todd R would have done with this one!) 'When I Say' has a nice melody but a weak overly sentimental lyric. Nice guitar solo.Joey: Two 'Straight Up' rejects which are both decent but rejects none the less. Then we have 'Icicles' which is OK but again a bit weak lyrically. 'Constitution' is a heavy Cream-like rocker with some accomplished guitar work. But it's pretty generic and not much of a song really. 'Get Away' is probably the most listenable as it's fun and heartfelt. Production is lacking again, even on the remastered version. It's a bit controversial to say this but I think the bonus track 'Regular' is my favourite Joey track of this collection. Because it offers some much needed humour alongside most of its heavy cousins. 'Ass' is a heavy album and the band obviously dismissed this one as it wasn't heavy enough. Shame. 'Do You Mind' is another creditable Joey bonus track, no doubt rejected for the same reason.Mike: Cowboy. This is the album's absolute highlight in my opinion. Which is a bit like choosing the Ringo track as your favourite on a Beatles record. Perverse maybe, but I'll stick by this song. It never fails to raise a smile with its hilarious carefree lyric and the guitar solo is sublime. The production for once is perfect.So this is a curious album, full of promise and the odd bit of inspiration but overall the band seems bogged down in trying to create a heavy sound. Which may have worked live I don't know (not sure) but here the songwriting for the most part gives way to a manufactured sound which doesn't convince me. Thankfully they were to return to form two years later with the sublime 'Wish You Were Here'. This album sees the band trading water in the midst of a label change and all the trepidation that no doubt entailed. 3 stars not 4 because of the sloppy production and the lack of chestnuts. But it has its moments folks.