Consumer Guide Album

Badfinger: Straight Up [Apple, 1971]
Once again I'm forced to wonder whether I wouldn't like this record if it were by the Beatles. But without mentioning what the question says about the group, which is called Badfinger, the answer is that the Beatles couldn't have made this record. Except for "Day After Day" and "Perfection," not one of these unabashedly tuneful tunes has any magic to it, which isn't simply a matter of cautious tempos and harmonies--it's a matter of magic. Nor will any of them add any phrases verbal or musical to our common language, although they might keep a few in circulation. Also, the Beatles put nicer pictures on the cover--pictures of themselves. B-