Guilty Pleasures: Badfinger

You may remember here where I claimed that everything Harry Nilsson recorded was utter genius EXCEPT for his version of 'Without You'. There are a number of reasons for this belief:

Richard Perry's production is so over the top it has everything including the kitchen sink!
Mariah Carey
Pop/American Idol & other 'talent' shows massacring this etc.

However, the major reason is that nearly everone thinks that this was a Nisson original, denying Badfinger, a band who had more than their fair share of misfortune, any platitudes whatsoever.

Badfinger, originally called The Iveys and from Swansea, were the first non-Beatles group signed to Apple Records and had a number of hits including 'Come & Get It' & 'No Matter What'. 'Without You' was a track on their 1970 album 'No Dice'. Apparently, Harry Nilsson heard it on the radio one day and thought it was a Beatles song. When he realised it was not, he decided to record it anyway for his album Nilsson Schmilsson. Badfinger could not recapture their earlier success and, unfortunately, management and record company struggles resulted in the suicides of both Pete Ham and Tom Evans.