Badfinger - Straight Up

Count me in as another one who got his first exposure to Todd through Badfinger. I was 13 and bought my copies of Day After Day and Baby Blue (which I also still have) from Miss Gussie, a little old lady who ran a local record store/junk shop. I used to hang out there regularly and check out the new 45s she'd get in. I was so taken by these 2 songs that I had her order the LP for me. It was the first album I ever felt was important enough to buy and it's still in my top 5 all time. Pete Ham was my first rock idol. I often wondered who Todd Rundgren was.

That summer, 1972, I was headed down to Miss Gussie's one day when my sister who was home from college asked me to pick her up a copy of I Saw The Light by Todd. I returned later with 2 copies, one for her and one for me. The rest, as they say, is history.

One thing I didn't know until recently is that TR flew back to London in Jan. 72 to produce the follow up to Straight Up. The sessions started on Jan. 17 and there were 4 confirmed studio dates. In less than a week TR departed, unable to resolve his business differences with Apple. Two of the songs they worked on appeared on the album Ass. A must for any Badfinger fan is the book Without You: The Tragic Story Of Badfinger by Dan Matovina. Lot's of quotes from TR and the band about their experiences.

The Ikon