Badfinger - No Dice

From their infancy when they were known as the Iveys to Pete Ham's untimely suicide in the mid-seventies, Badfinger was a damn fine (and severely underrated) classic rock group. Because they were on Apple Records, they were often forced to live in the shadow of the Beatles - and some people unfairly coin them a Beatles rip-off. This really is a shame. Badfinger's music is nothing short of excellent, and there's no place this shows like on the band's sophomore LP, No Dice. Read on for my review.

It is on this album that Badfinger truly discovered their sound. Their Iveys LP and first Badfinger LP were excellent, too, but it was obvious that the band was still strugging to find their sound. Well, they found it here. Pete Ham and the boys serve up a damn fine classic rock and roll album here, that doesn't have a single weak track. One of the band's biggest hits of all, the classic No Matter What, comes from this album. The track still get classic rock radio play to this day, and with good reason. But, the other non-hit tracks are also excellent. Many are what you'd expect from a classic rock band, and many even take on somewhat of a country-rock sound, reminiscent of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. All in all, this is probably Badfinger's strongest LP overall.

The new reissue of this album doesn't just remaster the album and expand the liner notes - it also adds some rare bonus tracks! The original album, as it was, was already a five-star masterpiece, but these bonus tracks are the icing on the cake - they take an already-great album and make it even better.

In the end you were left with a damn good classic rock album, arguably Badfinger's finest. It's a shame these guys tend to be so underrated in this day and age, because their music was some of the finest classic rock out there. If you like classic rock, this album is not to be missed.