Maybe Tomorrow Review by Stewart Mason.
The story is well-known: south Wales pop group, the Iveys,
are discovered by the Beatles' aide-de-camp Mal Evans, who not only signs them
to Apple Records but produces their first sessions. Their first single, the
glorious Bee Gees-like ballad "Maybe Tomorrow," is released in
November 1968, yet it unaccountably stiffs. Disheartened, Apple shelves the
planned U.S./U.K. release of the Iveys' debut album, though it does eventually
sneak out in Japan and Germany. The group replaces bassist Ron Griffiths with
Liverpudlian Joey Molland and, at label exec Neil Aspinall's suggestion,
changes their name to Badfinger, swiped from Paul McCartney's working title for
"With a Little Help From My Friends." (John Lennon wanted to call
them "Prix," preferably with the final letter pronounced.) Despite
their early success, Badfinger goes on to become probably the unluckiest and
one of the most tragic bands in pop music history. However, very few people
have ever heard the Iveys' Maybe Tomorrow album; copies of the original Japanese
and European pressings were hens-teeth rare, and even the 1992 CD reissue with
bonus tracks was seemingly in print for about 35 seconds. This is a shame,
because Maybe Tomorrow ranks with Badfinger's best; in some ways, it's actually
preferable to Badfinger's albums, because the production (four tracks by Mal
Evans, the rest by a then-unknown Tony Visconti) is much fresher and less
precise than it would be on Badfinger's slicker later albums. (Even the six
tracks that eventually ended up in remixed form on Badfinger's debut, Magic
Christian Music, sound better here.) Though the party line has always been that
the Iveys sounded like the Beatles, in reality, these 12 tracks have much more
in common with the minor-key mopery of the early Bee Gees, from the
heartbreaking "Dear Angie" (Griffiths' only writing contribution,
which ironically would show up again on the first Badfinger album after he was
kicked out of the group) to the frankly rather silly music hall-style
"They're Knocking Down Our Home," a Pete Ham exercise in maudlin
sentimentality that makes "She's Leaving Home" look subtle, though it
does feature a nice clarinet part. Mike Gibbins' Kinks-like "Think About
the Good Times" is the album's undiscovered gem, though the Ham and Tom
Evans co-write "Yesterday Ain't Coming Back," with its weird staccato
reeds section and unexpectedly aggressive middle eight, complete with burping,
frog-like bass vocals, is probably the best track. Of the four bonus tracks,
the extremely silly "Looking for My Baby," from the Iveys' 1967 Apple
demo, and the Creation-like rocking flip of the "Maybe Tomorrow"
single, "And Her Daddy's a Millionaire," are the best, with "No
Escaping Your Love" and the previously unreleased "Mrs. Jones"
there for completists' sake.
Tracklist:
1. See-Saw Granpa (Pete Ham) – 3:33
2. Beautiful And Blue (Tom Evans) – 2:38
3. Dear Angie (Ron
Griffiths) – 2:39
4. Think About The Good Times (Mike Gibbins) – 2:21
5. Yesterday Ain't Coming Back (Ham, Evans) 2:57
6. Fisherman (Evans)
– 3:09
7. Maybe Tomorrow (Evans) – 2:52
8. Sali Bloo (Ham) – 2:35
9. Angelique (Evans) – 2:26
10.I'm In Love (Ham) – 2:25
11.They're Knocking Down Our Home (Ham) – 3:41
12.I've Been Waiting (Ham) – 5:15
13.No Escaping Your Love (Evans) - 2:12
14.Mrs. Jones (Ham) - 2:15
15.And Her Daddy's A Millionaire (Ham, Evans) - 2:08
16.Looking For My Baby (Ham) - 2:08
THANKS!
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