Badfinger – Head First 50th anniversary release.
By Pete Clemons
December 1 1974 Badfinger went into the recording studio under pressure. They didn't particularly want to but 2 weeks later they had completed the demos for what became the Head First album.
As well documented Warner Brothers went into litigation with Badfinger. Money was pulled from an escrow account and the album was pulled.
The year 2000 saw a release of the album. But these were the demo tapes but it was a rough copy.
The ambition was, still, to get hold of the master tapes and get an mastered version released.
At that time Warner Brothers were still insisting that they owned the album and were again threatening court action.
Fast forward to 2023 and, at long last, the tapes were discovered in America and someone had moved the contents onto digital stems. It is not even known for sure if the 2 inch tapes still exists. The important thing was, at last, there was something concrete to work from.
By all accounts the stems were in an old format but after almost 50 years Bob, at last, effectively had the long lost tapes. Or at least their contents. And they were in a relatively modern configuration.
In steps Andy Nixon and a small team of people in America.
Andy mixed the album from scratch with the original multitracks. With today’s technology he was able to achieve a really detailed mix by separating certain elements that wouldn’t have been possible 50 years ago so. The result is a much wider and deeper audio spectrum that sounds contemporary.
Andy mentioned 'Bob came round for the final few days to agree on the more subjective mix choices. It’s been an amazing experience hearing the band in the studio between takes, hearing the vocals, guitars and everything else in solo, isolated from the mix. We had some great moments deciding on how best to finalise everything including the running order. True honour for me to have mixed and mastered it'.
Andy continues 'The track Savile Row was a kind of throw away 36 second demo track on the 2000 release. When I first heard the multitracks I found that there was over 2 minutes of the rest of the existing audio. I started experimenting with adding segments of vocal from other tracks on the album and building the arrangement. Bob loved the idea so we developed it further and it’s now a really strong final track on the album which kind of serves as a tribute to the whole Head First story, quite emotional to hear actually'.
In the background to all of this the spectre of Warner Brothers still loomed large. 7 months of arguing has resulted in the following compromise: Warner Brothers still own the album but, in this instance, they will overlook the release of the album.
As such on December 13 2024, after exactly 50 years, Bob Jackson's labour of love see's the light of day.
Head First, the oldest newest album ever recorded, is to be released.
Lay Me Down
Hey Mr Manager
Turn Around
Back Again
Rock 'N' Roll Contract
Keep Believing
Moonshine
Rockin' Machine
Passed Fast
Savile Row (2024)
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