The tragically brief career of ’70s British pop group Badfinger is a story of a chaotic band in need of structure. As a rockumentary, Badfinger is an evenly unfocused affair desperately in need of historical context and, worse, a narrator. For a few years in the early ’70s, Badfinger rose from the shadow of the Beatles and emerged as pioneers of infectious power pop. Bridging the gap among the British invasion and American indie pop bands like Big Star, Badfinger crafted beautifully melodic tunes like “Day After Day,” “No Matter What,” and “Come and Get It” (penned by Paul McCartney).
While conductor Gary Katz plainly has positive feeling of liking for the band’s contributions to rock history, he regrettably hasn’t a clue as to how to present them. Instead, we get a jumbled mix of consultations with the band’s two surviving members, Joey Molland and Mike Gibbins, not to mention Molland’s wife, cut together with far too a lot of lip-synched “live” performances. While the footage gives intimate looks at the band, Katz actually needs narration to explain just why we will have to even bother observing the film.
Badfinger is known as much for the disaster that hit the band–their crooked manager emptied their band account and disappeared, causing two members to commit suicide later on. However, by the time Katz gets there, the story is so underdeveloped that it feels like an afterthought. After looking at this, you can’t help but think that the band deserved better. –Dave McCoy
Badfinger Tom Evans Pic
Badfinger Tom Evans Photo
Badfinger Tom Evans Image
Badfinger Tom Evans Photo
Badfinger’s “Anthology”
The terms which this movie is billed as, “emotionally gripping” & “riveting,” may be overselling a little, as the story is rather pleasurable up until the unpleasentness discussed in the last 10 or 20 minutes. The original thing you may detect is that the story is unnarrated and told thru consultation footage in the style of the Beatles Anthology. However, seeing as how there is not an endless supply of photographs & video footage of Badfinger like there is for the Beatles, this gives rise to a problem of seeing the same pictures a few too a heap of times allround the video. (For instance, a black & white photograph of evil manager Stan Polley is shown at each mention of his name, which gets a little irritating.) The only other real problem is that, because of the lack of narration, you finelooking much have to already know the basic gist of Badfinger’s story to recognise what’s going on.
The consultation portions with Joey Molland & Mike Gibbins are pretty good. Entirely unprofessional, but at least they’re not phony. Mike may be a little long-winded, but it’s all right because you learn a few minor facts that you might not have already known.
What this collection is most priceless for, however, is the live performances. Before buying this, I was under the impression that the performances were all lip-synced (the album version plays as it shows the band performing “live”). That turned out to not be the case, save for two performances at the beginning. You get to listen Badfinger’s greatest hits played live in footage taken from TV shows: “Come & Get It,” “No Matter What,” and “Baby Blue,” as well as a rocked-up version of “Suitcase” where Pete Ham’s lead & slide guitar sound awesome. The performances are all finish and without any annoying voice-over interruptions.
If you already know all there is to know with regards to Badfinger, you won’t find too much of interest here, but for any person else who is a fan of their Apple days’ music and wants to recognise a little bit in regards to this band, I give this tape my full recommendation.
Badfinger is a sad, moving, frightening, stimulating film…
This documentary on my bestloved band doesn’t rather capture the right atmosphere that it needs, and that is the least of it is problems. There ought to be more live video performances, lip-synched or not, “Without You”, “Day After Day”, “Rock of All Ages”, “Midnight Caller”, “Name of the Game”, and in particular “Carry on ‘Til Tomorrow” (there are others I could list) must all have been included here-fans want that stuff! It is very sad and adverse in regards to Pete Ham and Tom Evans’ suicidal conclusions to hang themselves, but if you read Motavina’s ‘Without You’ book you’ll see there was a lot more to their troubles than having no money. Why does this band always get the shaft? No one may seem to get out a simple sentence when it comes to them without mentioning the Beatles (that’s the real tragedy). This band had a life of it is own, and even though the consultations are awkward and the film is just one more reel away from disappointing it is audience, it represents numerous rare footage of the group and a heartfelt discussion of their outcome. They deserved a better (and longer) movie tribute, but this movie is the only salvation for fans who can’t yet let it be.
Video offers rare chance to see Badfinger performances
As a video documentary of the band Badfinger, this video is priceless becuase it is the only one to date. It offers a rare probability to see Badfinger performing all of their hit songs, and tells the story of their rise to fame and tragic demise at the hands of the unscrupulous record industry. Interviews with surviving members Joey Molland and Mike Gibbons are interesting, even though a bit too plentiful. On the downside, Pete Ham and Tommy Evans were the main subscribers to the band, and it would have been nice to see a great deal of consultation footage of them. Joey Molland seems to want to rewrite the band’s history to increase his importance, and his wife’s remarks served no intention at all and will have to have been left on the editing room floor. It would have been nice to have had a little more on later Badfinger, peculiarly the death of Tom Evans. Defininely worth watching, but could have been better.
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