No Matter What - Revisiting The Hits

Badfinger

Cleopatra Records, 2021

http://www.badfingersite.com

REVIEW BY: Mark Kadzielawa

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 05/05/2021

Badfinger is probably the unluckiest band in the rock scene.  Despite the awesome songs they have written, there is a lot of trauma tragedy that followed this band.  But at the end of the day, it’s the music that does the talking, and Badfinger wrote some beautiful songs. Most of them are featured on this release.

At first, I thought this was another pointless compilation, but there is more to this album than that. The band—now led by sole surviving original member Joey Molland—brings out the heavy artillery, revisits their biggest hits, and brings in plenty of big names as collaborating artists. The results are actually quite spectacular. The album is a great listen. It’s not too long, every song is great, and you simply want to play it over and over. Which is exactly what this writer had been doing for the last few days, and I simply can’t get enough.my_heart_sings_the_harmony_web_ad_alt_250

The special guests include Mark Stein of Vanilla Fudge (who sings “No Matter What”), Rick Wakeman, Ian Anderson, Terry Reid, Matthew Sweet, Todd Rundgren, Rick Springfield, Albert Lee, and others. The collaborations come across very naturally. There is definitely a lot of love given to these songs. The songs still sound timeless and as powerful as ever.

The album features 10 big hits from Badfinger, and you simply can’t go wrong with material of this quality. Tracks like “No Matter What,” “Baby Blue,” “Without You,” “Midnight Caller,” “Come And Get It,” or “Day After Day” are some of the catchiest tracks ever written. The sense of melody here is simply mind-blowing. One can only wonder how one band could come up with so many great songs, but they did. Despite the advanced age of these songs, they still sound fresh and exciting.

Badfinger leaves an incredible legacy behind, and this album is just more proof of that. No Matter What turns out to be a nice surprise, and it continues to keep these songs in the spotlight. I truly hope many of the guest artists will include these tracks in their own concert set lists in time to come. The album could also serve as an introduction to the new fans. This release is surprisingly excellent and will certainly please just about everyone.

Rating: B

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