''Airwaves'' is the eighth studio album released by British

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Badfinger Badfinger were a Welsh rock band formed in Swansea, who were active from the 1960s to the 1980s. Their best-known lineup consisted of Pete Ham (vocals, guitar), Mike Gibbins (drums), Tom Evans (bass), and Joey Molland (guitar). They are rec ...

in 1979 on the Elektra label (a sister label to

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

, their previous label), the seventh album released that was credited to Badfinger. Anticipated as a comeback album for the group at the time, expectations were not quite realised, as the "group" now consisted of just the duo of Tom Evans and

Joey Molland Joseph Charles Molland (born 21 June 1947, Edge Hill, Liverpool) is an English songwriter and rock guitarist whose recording career spans five decades. He is best known as a member of Badfinger, the most successful of the acts he performed wi ...

, accompanied by guitarist Joe Tansin and various session musicians.

History

Following the "hold" placed on the last Badfinger album, ''

Head First Head First or Headfirst may refer to: Music * ''Head First'' (The Babys album) (1979) * ''Head First'' (Badfinger album) (recorded 1974, released 2000) * ''Head First'' (Goldfrapp album) (2010), or its title track * ''Head First'' (Uriah Hee ...

'', and the suicide of group co-founder

Pete Ham Peter William Ham (27 April 1947 – 24 April 1975) was a Welsh singer, songwriter and guitarist best known as a lead vocalist of and composer for the 1970s rock band Badfinger, whose hit songs include " No Matter What", " Day After Day" and " ...

in 1975, Badfinger disbanded, and the remaining members joined various other groups or dropped out of music for the next two years. At the behest of Chicago musicians Joe Tansin (guitar/vocals) and Kenny Harck (drums), the then-unemployed

formed a new group with the duo in Los Angeles. Molland later enticed his fellow former Badfinger member Tom Evans to also join the unnamed band. After the band shopped demonstration records around the L.A. area, they discovered they would have more marketing power if they revived the Badfinger moniker. Although the name helped the group open doors to potential record labels, it also caused an inequality and friction between old and new Badfinger members within the band. As recordings commenced for the album, Harck was released by the band. Former Badfinger drummer Mike Gibbins auditioned for the group but was not hired, and session musician Andy Newmark was finally brought in for the drum tracks. Tansin, whose songs were largely bypassed during production in favour of Evans and Molland tunes, quit the group immediately upon the album's completion. With a short running time and basically only eight songs, ''Airwaves'' did not leave a strong impression on music reviewers upon its release. Critics also complained about the album's "West coast" production and the loss of the famous Badfinger sound. Molland, however, has often defended the album and its production. The band toured frequently in support of the album, but sales figures failed to garner optimism with Elektra and the label passed on issuing a follow-up LP. Two singles were released from the album. "Lost Inside Your Love" did not enter the US charts, "Love Is Gonna Come at Last" managed a peak position at number 69 on '' Billboard''. The actual album peaked at number 125 on the US charts.

Track listing

Side one

# "Airwaves" (Evans/Molland) – 0:29 # "Look Out California" (Evans) – 3:27 # " Lost Inside Your Love" (Evans) – 2:42 # " Love Is Gonna Come at Last" (Molland) – 3:37 # "Sympathy" (Tansin) – 4:28

Side two

# "The Winner" (Tansin) – 3:26 # "The Dreamer" (Molland) – 5:20 # "Come Down Hard" (Molland) – 3:48 # "Sail Away" (Evans) – 3:31

1997 CD bonus tracks

* + Produced by Joe Tansin * ++ Produced by Joey Molland

Personnel

As listed in liner notes of 1999 re-issue. Badfinger * Tom Evans – lead vocals (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9),

backing vocal A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

s (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10), bass (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8) *

– lead vocals (4, 6, 7, 8, 13), backing vocals (3, 4, 5, 6, 7), electric and acoustic guitars (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 13), electric piano (5) Additional musicians * Joe Tansin – lead vocals (10, 11, 12, 14), co-lead vocal (6), backing vocals (3, 4, 6, 10, 14), electric and acoustic guitars (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14), mandolin (14), keyboards (11, 12) * Peter Clark – "leg, hands and feet" (1) *

Nicky Hopkins Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. Hopkins performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, most notably ...

–

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

(3, 7, 9), Hammond organ (7) * Duane Hitchings – synthesizer (2, 6), piano (6) * Harry Pulver, Jr. – piano (13) * Scott Greer – piano (14) * Rick Salon – slide guitar (14) * Tom Lecher – bass (13) * Ken Harck – drums (2, 5),

cardboard box Cardboard boxes are industrially prefabricated boxes, primarily used for packaging goods and materials. Specialists in industry seldom use the term cardboard because it does not denote a specific material. The term ''cardboard'' may refer to a v ...

(10),

tom-tom A tom drum is a cylindrical drum with no snares, named from the Anglo-Indian and Sinhala language. It was added to the drum kit in the early part of the 20th century. Most toms range in size between in diameter, though floor toms can go as l ...

s (12) * Andy Newmark – drums (3, 8) * Steve Foreman – drums (6),

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

(4, 5, 7) * Bob Millea – drums (13) * Barry Sperti –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

(12) *

David Malloy David Ernest Malloy is an American country music and pop songwriter, record producer and A&R executive with 41 number one hits. He had received multiple Grammy nominations, as writer and/or producer, and has worked with many artists and pro ...

– backing vocals (2) *

Dean Ford Dean Ford , born Thomas McAleese on 5 September 1945 – 31 December 2018 was a Scottish singer and songwriter best known for his tenure as lead vocalist and frontman of the beat pop group Marmalade from 1966 to 1974. Ford (credited as McAleese) ...

– backing vocals (14) * David Campbell – string arrangement (9)

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Airwaves (Album) Badfinger albums 1979 albums Elektra Records albums Albums produced by David Malloy