The most successful recording act signed to The Beatles' label - APPLE RECORDS - and what is considered their 'original' lineup of PETE HAM, TOMMY EVANS, MIKE GIBBINS and JOEY MOLLAND who joined in late 1969 when 'The Iveys' transformed into Badfinger. They interacted in various ways with each member of The Beatles, including their solo careers.
Paul McCartney wrote & produced the band's first single - "Come & Get It". Joey & Tommy played acoustic guitars on John Lennon's "Jealous Guy" & "I Don't Want To Be A Soldier, Momma" on his Imagine LP. Pete & Tommy lended backup vocals on Ringo Starr's "It Don't Come Easy". And the entire original Badfinger lineup contributed to George Harrison's landmark triple-LP set, "All Things Must Pass" and the equally groundbreaking fundraising event, The Concert For Bangla Desh.
Top 10 hits worldwide include: "Come & Get It", "No Matter What", "Day After Day", "Baby Blue" and "Without You" - which was covered by both Nilsson (1972) and Mariah Carey (1994) which both went to #1.
Joey Molland’s Badfinger has been experiencing quite the career revival recently with artists ranging from indie rock icon Matthew Sweet to Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson participating in exciting new versions of Badfinger’s extensive catalog of hits. And now comes one of the biggest hits Molland & company ever recorded - the Paul McCartney-penned pop classic “Come & Get It” reinvented here with a superb contribution from famed piano/keyboard player Rick Wakeman! With Wakeman’s special touch, this tune takes on a whole new life with added melody and bounce, and although Badfinger guitarist/bassist Tom Evans originally sang lead on the 1969 version, Molland ably takes over vocal duties.
Wear A New Face by Tim Schools (2008 album; produced by Molland)
Love Her by Tim Schools(2015 album; produced by Molland)
Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull and Terry Reid
join forces on cover of Badfinger's
“Day After Day”
My new book is finally out!
THE
ROCK STAR
CHRONICLES
SERIES ONE
CHRONICLES, TRUTHS, CONFESSIONS AND WISDOM FROM THE MUSIC LEGENDS THAT SET US FREE
…Order yours today on Hardcover or E-book
at bookbaby.com
Featuring over 45 intimate conversations with some of the greatest rock legends
the world will ever know.
CHRIS SQUIRE... DR. JOHN... GREG LAKE... HENRY MCCULLOUGH... JACK BRUCE … JOE LALA… JOHNNY WINTER... KEITH EMERSON... PAUL KANTNER... RAY THOMAS... RONNIE MONTROSE... TONY JOE WHITE... DAVID CLAYTON-THOMAS… MIKE LOVE... TOMMY ROE... BARRY HAY... CHRIS THOMPSON... JESSE COLIN YOUNG... JOHN KAY... JULIAN LENNON... MARK LINDSAY... MICKY DOLENZ… PETER RIVERA ...TOMMY JAMES… TODD RUNDGREN... DAVE MASON... EDGAR WINTER... FRANK MARINO... GREGG ROLIE... IAN ANDERSON... JIM “DANDY” MANGRUM... JON ANDERSON... LOU GRAMM... MICK BOX... RANDY BACHMAN… ROBIN TROWER... ROGER FISHER... STEVE HACKETT... ANNIE HASLAM… ‘MELANIE’ SAFKA... PETULA CLARK... SUZI QUATRO... COLIN BLUNSTONE… DAVE DAVIES... JIM McCARTY... PETE BEST
THE ROCK STAR CHRONICLES
BOOK TRAILER
BOOK REVIEW
-By Literary Titan (5) STARS
The Rock Star Chronicles, by Ray Shasho, is a splendid book written by a music enthusiast who has poured their heart and soul into it. It’s a story of a boy who loved rock music, and his obsessive passion of it earned himself the name Rock Raymond. He went to school but instead was schooled in all matters of music while his peers were buried chin-deep in coursework. He then became a radio DJ and has now compiled a book on all interviews he held with Rock gods who raided the airwaves back in the 70s and 80s. It’s a compilation of interviews with outstanding vocalists, legendary guitarists and crazy drummers in the rock music scene. Each interview gives a reader an in-depth view into their personal lives and the philosophies that guide their lives which all serve to humanize these great icons. For readers who are old enough to call themselves baby boomers this book will bring old memories back to life. Millennials, on the other hand, may think of this book as a literal work of the Carpool Karaoke show.
The Rock Star Chronicles is a book I didn’t know I was waiting for. To come across a book that will talk me into trying something new. One brave enough to incite me to venture into new frontiers. This book made me a believer- I am now a bona fide Rock and Roll music fan.
Ray Shasho masterfully gets the interviewees talking. He smartly coaxes answers from them with crafty questions designed to get a story rolling out of them. The artists talk about diverse issues ranging from music, politics, and their social engagements. Having been on the music seen all his life, Ray Shasho knows the buttons to press, how to get them comfortable about talking about their lives.
The book’s cover is befitting of its subject matter with the leather look offering a royal background to the golden letter print. It speaks to how high a level rock music holds in the pecking order- arguably, modern music as we know it has originated from blues and rock music. The second noteworthy thing is the use of high definition pictures to reference the musician being interviewed in every sub-chapter. This ensures that the book is for both original rock and roll lovers and aspiring new ones. Together is makes for a refreshing and consistently enjoyable read.
I recommend this book to rock music enthusiasts, aspiring musicians wondering what it takes and all readers curious to learn new things by going back in time.
In 1969, British rock band Badfinger and Apple Records launched what should have become … one of the most successful unions in rock history.
THE IVEYS (Pete Ham, Tom Evans, Ron Griffiths and Mike Gibbins) signed onto The Beatles label (Apple Records) in 1968. The following year, longtime Beatles road manager and compatriot Neil Aspinall, suggested the band change their name to Badfinger.
Paul McCartney generously presented one of his unreleased compositions to the band under his strict supervision. The song entitled, “Come and Get It” would be spotlighted in a motion picture called The Magic Christian starring
Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr. In 1970, “Come and Get It” became a hit
single for Badfinger peaking at #7 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart and
selling over a million copies.
After the release of “Come and Get It,” bassist Ron Griffiths left the band. Badfinger replaced Griffiths with guitarist Joey Molland while moving singer/songwriter Tom Evans to bass guitar.
BADFINGER became an incredible force of virtuoso
musicians churning out hit after hit while being supported by the
biggest band in the world. The band’s first album was the soundtrack to
the movie The Magic Christian (Magic Christian Music). Their follow-up album, No Dice spawned the Pete Ham penned classic “No Matter What” (#8 U.S. Hot 100 Hit -1970) and an Evans/Ham composition “Without You” which became a #1 Hit in 1971 for Harry Nilsson and a #3 Hit for Mariah Carey in 1994. No Dice reached #28 on Billboard’s Hot 200 albums chart.
The bands third album Straight Up was regarded by many to be their best. George Harrison had considerable input on the album including playing slide guitar on “Day After Day” (#4 on Billboard Hot 100 Chart in 1971). Leon Russell played piano on the track. The album also generated the hit single "Baby Blue" (#14 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart in 1972). George Harrison left before the album was completed to work on The Concert for Bangladesh and Todd Rundgren was brought in to finish the album. Production credits were shared between Harrison and Rundgren.
Badfinger members played at Harrison’s benefit concert for Bangladesh
at Madison Square Garden in New York City and on George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass album. Ham and Evans performed on Ringo’s single “It Don’t Come Easy.” Joey Molland and Tom Evans performed on John Lennon’s Imagine album. The band also became a successful touring act selling out concert venues worldwide.
Their last studio album under the Apple Records label was entitled Ass.
The album was recorded in 1972 but wasn’t released until late 1973.
Todd Rundgren was supposed to produce the album but abandoned the
project after a financial squabble. Badfinger tried to produce the
album themselves which caused the delay. Chris Thomas was brought in to co-produce the album. The single “Apple of My Eye”
reflected the bands mental state for leaving Apple and signing with
Warner Brothers Records. It was the last single to chart in the U.S.
with the bands core lineup.
Six weeks after the Ass album was completed, they began work on their first studio album with Warner Brothers entitled Badfinger. After the completion of an American tour, the band recorded Wish You Were Here which
was released in 1974. The band’s popularity maintained but internal
problems within the group and their management (Stan Polley) worsened.
In 1974, Joey Molland quit Badfinger. Litigation began over Stan
Polley’s unscrupulous business dealings which lead to Warner Brother’s
rejection of their latest album entitled Head First and a halt to the worldwide distribution of the Wish You Were Here album.
By 1975 … there were no monies arriving, impending legal actions, and
discoveries of management embezzlement. Singer, songwriter and
guitarist Peter Ham
hung himself in April that year over his inability to cope with his
disappointments in life. A suicide note blamed Stan Polley for most of
his anguish. Peter Ham was 27 years old.
After the untimely death of Peter Ham … Badfinger dissolved.
JOEY MOLLAND started a band in 1975 called Natural Gas with
Jerry Shirley (Humble Pie), Mark Clarke (Colosseum, Uriah Heep) and
Peter Wood (Al Stewart). Natural Gas released one album and was produced
by Felix Pappalardi (Mountain). The band toured successfully with Peter
Frampton but disbanded in 1977.
Molland and ex bandmate Tom Evans reunited briefly to record two comeback albums under the Badfinger heading. The band released Airwaves under Elektra Records (sister label to Warner Bros. Records) in 1978 and Say No More in 1981.
The bands line-up for the Say No More release consisted of Joey Molland on guitar, piano and vocals, Tom Evans on bass, guitars and vocals, Tony Kaye
(YES) on keyboards, Glenn Sherba on guitar and Richard Bryans on drums.
The album spawned the hit “Hold On” (#56 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart
in 1981).
After the second album was released … Molland and Evans split but
continued touring under rival Badfinger band names. In November of 1983
… singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Tom Evans hung himself. He was 36 years old.
Former Badfinger drummer Mike Gibbins performed in both versions of Badfinger. Mike Gibbins died at his Florida home in 2005, he was 56.
In 1983, Joey Molland released his debut solo album entitled, After The Pearl. The album showcased Joey’s amazing songwriting talents. Molland’s subsequent releases were … The Pilgrim (1992), Basil (1997) and the critically acclaimed This Way Up (2001).
TODAY the Liverpudlian lives in Minnesota and is incredibly busy. He’s got a new documentary called ‘Liverpoool to Memphis’ premiering on April 21st at CIMMfest in Chicago and a new CD out shortly entitled ‘Return to Memphis’on
Gonzo Records. Molland will also be embarking on a world tour including
a stop in his hometown of Liverpool to headline International
Beatleweek August 21st thru 27th.
Kathie Molland, Joey’s wife, passed away in 2009.
Joey has two sons … Shaun Michael who is 30 and Joey 32.
I had a wonderful opportunity to chat with Joey Molland recently
about his incredible music career with Badfinger, the new album, his
recent tour …and much-much more. Here’s my interview with
guitarist-singer-songwriter- Badfinger legendary rocker …JOEY MOLLAND.
Ray Shasho:Hi Joey, thank you for being on
the call today. I chatted with Billy J. Kramer before the 4th annual
‘Cruise for Beatles Fans’ and now I’m talking with you after the cruise …
how was it! Joey Molland: “It was fabulous. We had a lovely time
… Billy J. Kramer and Mark Hudson were there and of course Billy’s wife
Ronnie was with him, Mark’s girl Melissa was there and me and my
girlfriend Mary. We had a wonderful time on the cruise and then we had a
great time performing and being entertainers, that sort of thing … and
it was great.” Ray Shasho: Joey you’ve got a lot going on these days. Joey Molland: “That right … I just signed the
contracts with Gonzo Media and the record will be coming out soon, I
haven’t got a release date yet but it may be in the next month or so.
Although I don’t know much about record releases nowadays through the
internet world, it seems like a pretty cut and dry situation getting a
record out. So they’re doing it for me now. I did the record in Memphis
and so it’s called Return to Memphis. I started out loving
Memphis music …Elvis and all that. A lot of great rockers came from
there. So I opted to go down there and make a record and it was a great
experience.”
“Now I’m getting plenty of dates … looks like I’m going to Australia,
Japan and England besides shows coming up in the states. I’m doing band
shows with four kinds of Badfinger concept bands … Joey Molland’s
Badfinger, then I do Joey Molland kind of storyteller shows, and I do
shows with a friend of mine, Phil Solem with The Rembrandts. We have a
show called The Drift Benders where we play acoustic electric versions
of stuff that we’ve done before and we play some new songs, have a bit
of a jam and a bit of a laugh.” Ray Shasho: What kind of songs can we expect on the new album? Joey Molland: “I wrote all the songs myself and
they’re quite meaningful, I’d have to say, for me anyway, you know
everybody gets what they get out of songs themselves. But I think the
songs talk about things that are relevant and I look forward to people’s
reactions to it. The sound is very different … there’s no real
Badfinger power chords or anything like that. No real jamming guitars … I
do play some slide on it. I had four girls come in to sing ‘oohs and
aahs’ and harmonies which was nice, and I played with a lot of three
piece rhythm section down in Memphis. So it’s a really simple sounding
record and I’m just hoping that people will like it.” Ray Shasho: I’ve always heard different musical styles in all
the Badfinger albums as well as your solo releases. Beside those top 40
hits we all adored, I heard hints of progressive rock in many of the
other tracks. Joey Molland: “I’m glad to hear you say that because
we never closed our doors on any kind of music. The style of the album
was based on who was really producing it. Like the album we did with
George (Harrison) was completely different than what we did with Chris
Thomas. The songs were the same kinds of songs … but that’s how it works
…its good.” Ray Shasho: Many of those Badfinger Top 40 classics were
reminiscent to The Beatles sound … I heard some of the music critics
actually thought it was The Beatles and not Badfinger recording the
music in the studio. (All Laughing) Joey Molland: “People imagined a lot of that stuff,
but like you say we played everything ourselves. But people forget that
we had the same upbringing as The Beatles, we had the same influences,
the same radio, same clubs where we started to play, the same area of
the country that we were knocking around in, and then we had the
influence of The Beatles on top of all that. We’ve always been grateful
and always looking up to the people who have done it before us. You do
want to be great but when you look at how great Elvis was or Chuck Berry
or The Beatles you’d have to have a hell of an ego to put yourself
anywhere near that. So all you can is do your very-very best, because
those are the people you look up to and the standards you want to reach.
And they’re high standards aren’t they?” Ray Shasho: Joey, what are your thoughts on working with The Beatles. Joey Molland: “They were very nice to us … regular
guys really. They’ll talk to you about anything other than The Beatles.
Nobody wanted to talk about The Beatles; they were so fed up with it I
suppose. They weren’t stingy with their experience. When George was
working on a project with us, he put himself into the band. He’d
actually brought his guitar in, plugged in and played with us. He played
acoustic on some of the songs with us and enjoyed finishing the tunes
up with us and help with the arrangements … it was great, it was like he
was in the band. He wasn’t afraid to explain what he was doing. You
could talk with him about anything.” Ray Shasho: I want to bring up the Straight Up album. George Harrison began producing it but Todd Rundgren had to finish it up? Joey Molland: “Yea, Todd was a good friend of
George’s. When George got involved with the Bangladesh concert he
couldn’t really put the time into the album. He apologized to
us and suggested that we use Todd Rundgren. He called Todd himself and
asked him to do it. So Todd came in and did a great job for us. He
wasn’t the nicest guy in the world to work with …but that being said,
the record did turn out great, and to this day sounds like a great
record. George was correct; Todd was indeed very talented and did do a
great job.” Ray Shasho: Did Harry Nilsson tell the band that he was going to record “Without You?” Joey Molland: “We recorded it and put it on the No Dice
album, Nilsson heard it, and the story goes he thought it was a Beatles
song and asked John Lennon about it. I always get a kick about this bit
of the story, but I guess John Lennon said that’s a Badfinger song,
which means to me that he knew it, which is really funny you know.
(Laughing) To think of John Lennon being aware of a Badfinger song …
that was something else. But Nilsson heard the song, liked it, and had
some ideas for the arrangement. I think I heard a piano demo that he
did, which was beautiful. He certainly did a great job and made us all
aware of how powerful of a song it is.” Ray Shasho: Anytime I read a story about Badfinger … I see the word lawsuit. What happened? Joey Molland: “It seems to me much to do about a lot of nothing. There
were maybe three lawsuits in total … One was by Warner Brothers in the
very early days, and there was one where we had to go to court with each
other to get the Apple royalties sorted out. Then there was a lawsuit
over the Ryco release and that was all squared away too. So those are
the lawsuits … but there have been people who have made money talking
about that and writing stories cultivating that side of the band. Really
this band has got a forty five year old history now and we’re talking
about three lawsuits. It’s kind of weird that people do talk about that a
lot.”
“But it’s like saying the fact that Peter Ham and Tommy committed
suicide, which is a terrible thing to happen … to them and everyone who
knew them, but it doesn’t take away from “Day After Day” coming out in a
beautiful record, and at #1, and us going all over the world on tour
having the times of our lives. And I prefer to talk about that side of
it.”
“I still don’t know why Pete and Tommy did it. They were two
completely different circumstances but they both did the same thing. I
didn’t understand it then and I really don’t understand it now. I feel
sorry for them and their families and there’s no explaining it.” Ray Shasho: Joey, are you a religious man? Joey Molland: “To a certain extent … I do go to
church and have faith in the good lord. I don’t depend on him for
everything but I depend on him in a pinch.” Ray Shasho: Do you have any good road stories from back in the Badfinger days? Joey Molland: “We toured with the Faces and those guys liked to play soccer in the hotel hallway. We all went a little bit crazy on the road.”
“We went into a café in New Mexico near the Painted Desert and stood
there and the waiters and waitresses ignored us. We couldn’t get a
table, couldn’t get served, so we drove off. It was like being on
another planet or something. “
“We went to dinner with a family in Akron, Ohio but then got
interrupted by a snake coming out from a lampshade and hanging out over
the table … which was an odd thing.”
“We used to go to Pawnbrokers in the ghetto areas and search for
guitars, and at that time racism was prevalent. We hadn’t experienced
racism of that sort in England. There was racism but it was a different
kind. We’d go into these predominately black areas and go into these
shops because there were a lot of great musicians down there, so there
were a lot of great instruments in the pawn shops and I bought Les
Pauls’ and Stratocasters for just a few hundred dollars. They’re worth
thousands and thousands of dollars now … those kinds of things were
really exciting.”
“We’d go to see bands like Redbone which just knocked us out. They
were so great! The American musicians were stunning in terms of their
techniques and musical theory because American musical education is much
better in your normal school, they’re teaching kids to read and play
instruments in band together. And they were doing this back then. In
England your music lesson consisted of singing hymns, nobody ever
explained the actual theory of music. So that was a great joy to us to
see these guys play. We also saw The Everly Brothers at a little
basement bar and sat at the front tables. Those guys were awesome.” Ray Shasho: You and Tom Evans reformed Badfinger with several
different lineups that included Tony Kaye of YES on keyboards. Than
after the album Say No More … you and Tom ironically split-up and formed two separate Badfinger bands. Joey Molland: I went out on the road for awhile with Joe Tansin from the Airwaves
album. Then it all got sort of wishy-washy and Kathie and I went back
to England with our two kids and stayed there for about six months a
year. After I came back from England I went to Philadelphia and actually
saw Tommy (Evans) and Mike (Gibbins) playing at a club there. They had
the guy from ‘Chicago,’ Donnie Dacus in the band with them. Anyway I
never did play with Tommy again after that.”
“I got a record deal in 1982-83 up in Ohio making my first solo album After The Pearl. I
called Tommy and the record label was interested in signing him to do a
solo album of his own, but it wasn’t enough money for him and he turned
it down. That was around July-August of 1983, and of course in November
of ’83 Tommy committed suicide. And we were talking about that before …
nobody knows why. But he did and of course I know his wife, they came
to visit shortly after that. I’ve seen Marianne a couple of times after
that and are kind of in touch. She travels and lives her life. Tommy’s
son is married and has got a child now.” Ray Shasho: You’re going back to Liverpool soon? Joey Molland: “They’ve asked me to do a George
concert … “My Sweet George” at Philharmonic Hall during The Beatleweek
there. I’m going to do a show and be on one of the Beatleweek stages … I
think the Cavern. I’ll be going to Australia after that and right after
that I’m going to Japan. Ray Shasho: Do you ever speak with Paul McCartney? Joey Molland: “You know I’ve never talked with Paul
McCartney. I don’t know him; he was all done with the band by the time I
joined. I’ve been in a situation where I could have met him but he
makes me really nervous man. He’s just so great and so talented.” Ray Shasho: Joey,I ask everyone that I
interview this same question. If you had a ‘Field of Dreams’ wish, like
the movie, to play, sing or collaborate with anyone from the past or
present …who would you choose? Joey Molland: “Wow …that’s a Hecht of a thing. It
will have to be a songwriter like Jimmy Webb or Ray Davies. Those two
guys would be fun to sit down and beat some songs around with. But I
also thought about Holland-Dozier-Holland from Motown… those three guys
were absolutely brilliant. What about Tim Hardin …and imagine trying to
write with Bob Dylan.” Ray Shasho: Joey, thank you for being on the call today, but
more importantly for all the incredible music Badfinger has given to the
world. Hope to see you performing in Florida soon. Joey Molland: “Ray thanks for telling the story about us. Take care boss … bye-bye!”
Purchase Ray’s very special memoir called ‘Check the Gs’ -The True Story of an Eclectic American Family and Their Wacky Family Business … You’ll LIVE IT! Also available for download on NOOK or KINDLE edition for JUST .99 CENTS at amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com- Please support Ray so he can continue to bring you quality classic rock music reporting. ~~Pacific Book Review says Ray Shasho is a product
of the second half of the 20th century, made in the USA from parts
around the world, and within him is every trend in music, television,
politics and culture contributing to his philosophical and comically
analytical reflections collected in his fine book of memories. I found Check the Gs to
be pure entertainment, fantastic fun and a catalyst to igniting so many
memories of my own life, as I too am within a few years of Ray. So to
all, I say if you have a bit of grey hair (or no hair), buy this book!
It’s a great gift for your “over-the-hill” friends, or for their kids,
if they are the history buffs of younger generations trying to figure
out why we are the way we are.
