Ass (album)
Ass | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 26 November 1973 | |||
Recorded | 1972–1973 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | ||||
Length | 39:38 | |||
Label | Apple | |||
Producer | Chris Thomas, Badfinger; Todd Rundgren (tracks 4 and 9 only) | |||
Badfinger chronology | ||||
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Singles from Ass | ||||
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Ass is the fifth studio album by British
The cover artwork, showing a donkey chasing a distant carrot, alludes to Badfinger's feelings that they had been misled by Apple. The cover was painted by
Recording and release delays
Although recordings for the album began as early as 1972, shortly after the release of Straight Up, Ass was not released until 26 November 1973 in the US and 8 March 1974 in the UK. The album was originally delayed because of production quality, as the band attempted to produce the album themselves after producer Todd Rundgren departed the project with just two songs recorded. After a first version of the album was rejected by the label, Apple engineer Chris Thomas was hired as a first-time producer to improve the overall recordings and make new track selections.
The album was further delayed when a disagreement surfaced between Apple and Badfinger's management on publishing copyrights. Half of the tracks on Ass were written by Joey Molland. Molland never signed a publishing agreement with Apple Music, unlike his three bandmates, who had signed such a publishing agreement when still in The Iveys. Instead, Molland assigned the individual copyrights of his songs that were selected for Badfinger albums to Apple Music after production. Badfinger's then-manager, Stan Polley, attempted to use Apple's lack of a publishing agreement with Molland to block release of the album; he told Molland not to agree to any individual assignments, and Molland obliged. Eventually, to circumvent Polley's strategy, writing credits for all songs on the US and UK album releases of Ass were credited by Apple to "Badfinger", not to the actual author of the song.
Release
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [3] |
Mojo | [4] |
Rolling Stone | (favourable)[5] |
Tom Hull | C+[6] |
Uncut | [7] |
Ass peaked at number 122 on the
A few weeks prior to the 1990s CD release a few Abbey Road Studios mastered C90 cassettes of Ass were distributed to a handful of music industry people. It appears from the track listing on these cassettes that Ass was originally planned to have five bonus tracks: "Dreaming" (Molland), "Piano Red" (Ham), "Rock & Roll" (Evans), "Regular" (Molland) and "Do You Mind" (Molland). This idea was clearly scrapped, as "Do You Mind" was the only one included on that version of the album. (A different version of that song appeared on the 2010 remaster.)
Ass was the Apple Records label's last original album release that was not by an ex-Beatle. From then on, only the Beatles as solo artists were left to release records on the Apple label.
Track listing
Original release
Side one
- "Apple of My Eye" (Pete Ham) – 3:06
- "Get Away" (Joey Molland) – 3:59
- "Icicles" (Molland) – 2:32
- "The Winner" (Molland) – 3:18
- "Blind Owl" (Tom Evans) – 3:00
Side two
- "Constitution" (Molland) – 2:58
- "When I Say" (Evans) – 3:05
- "Cowboy" (Mike Gibbins) – 2:37
- "I Can Love You" (Molland) – 3:33
- "Timeless" (Ham) – 7:39
1992 CD reissue
Bonus track
- "Do You Mind" (Molland) – 3:36
2010 remastered album
Bonus tracks
- "Do You Mind" [alternate version] (Molland) – 3:15
- "Apple of My Eye" [early mix] (Ham) – 3:02
- "Blind Owl" [alternate version] (Evans) – 2:52
- "Regular" (Molland) – 2:39
- "Timeless" [alternate version] (Ham) – 5:27
Supplementary bonus tracks with digital download
- "Get Away" [alternate version] (Molland) – 3:32
- "When I Say" [alternate version] (Evans) – 3:14
- "The Winner" [alternate version] (Molland) – 3:15
- "I Can Love You" [alternate version] (Molland) – 3:37
- "Piano Red" [previously unreleased] (Ham) – 3:31
Personnel
- Pete Ham – guitars, keyboards, vocals
- Tom Evans – bass guitar, vocals
- Joey Molland – guitars, keyboards, vocals
- Mike Gibbins – drums, vocals
Charts
Chart (1973) | Peak position |
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US Billboard 200[9] | 122 |
References
- ^ a b AllMusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
- ^ https://www.allmusic.com/album/r1167
- ISBN 0-19-531373-9.
- ^ Harris, John (November 2010). "Strange Fruit: Various, Original Apple albums, 1969–73". Mojo. p. 116.
- ISBN 9780965712224.
- ^ Hull, Tom (December 2010). "Recycled Goods". Static Multimedia. Retrieved 8 July 2020 – via tomhull.com.
- ^ Cavanagh, David (November 2010). "The Apple Remasters". Uncut. p. 112.
- ^ ISBN 9780965712224.
- ^ "Badfinger Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 10 September 2020.