Wish You Were Here (Badfinger album)

Wish You Were Here
Studio album by Badfinger
Released	November 1974
Recorded	9 April–7 May 1974 Caribou Ranch, Nederland, Colorado; AIR Studios, London
Genre	Rock[1] power pop[2]
Length	36:00
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Chris Thomas
Badfinger chronology
Badfinger (1974) Wish You Were Here (1974) Airwaves (1979)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[4]

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.

History

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received a favourable review in Rolling Stone magazine and is sometimes considered to be the band's best work, it was withdrawn from record stores in early 1975,^[5] seven weeks after release, because of a lawsuit between Warner music publishing and Badfinger's management.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.

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 before Pete Ham hanged himself in April 1975. 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.

Track listing

Side one

1. "Just a Chance" (Ham) – 2:58
2. "Your So Fine" (Gibbins) – 3:03
3. "Got to Get Out of Here" (Molland) – 3:31
4. "Know One Knows" (Ham) – 3:17
5. "Dennis" (Ham) – 5:15

Side two

1. "In the Meantime/Some Other Time" (Gibbins/Molland) – 6:46
2. "Love Time" (Molland) – 2:20
3. "King of the Load (T)" (Evans) – 3:32
4. "Meanwhile Back at the Ranch/Should I Smoke" (Ham/Molland) – 5:18

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)

References

Dan Matovina, Without You: The Tragic Story Of Badfinger.