The tragic story of Pete Ham and Badfinger is certainly one for the musical history books. The subject of today’s post will be the magnificent job that the late Dan Matovina did and the person he handed the mantle to prior to passing away, Badfinger super-fan Tom Brennan, in order to help preserve the wonderful legacy of a great songwriter, Pete Ham!
Both Matovina and Brennan in ensuring that the voluminous songwriting output of Peter Ham is shared and enjoyed with the public at large, deserve our accolades! It is truly amazing at the amount of unreleased material that Ham left his family in his personal archive. Both Matovina and Brennan have performed an extraordinary job in assisting the families in both cataloging and preserving the magnificent legacy of the Iveys and Badfinger. Today we will highlight some of the Pete Ham releases that have been issued since Matovina began his project to share the precious unreleased material with the rest of the world…
The photos of the material presented in this post are items from my collection that I have purchased from eBay, Discogs, or directly from the links provided by Dan Matovina or Tom Brennan
The Badfinger Library
First of all, here is an excellent site where you can locate some of the disks you will see mentioned here. Tom Brennan is an excellent authority on all Badfinger/ Iveys releases over the years!!!
Pete Ham and Ivey Demos
I want to show you some of the releases concerning Pete Ham or Ivey demos in recent years that I have purchased for my collection. This list does not claim to be all-encompassing or totally comprehensive of everything that is out there on the marketplace but these are some of the ones that I individually have purchased. The links to acquire many of these releases can be found by clicking the above link to Tom Brennan’s website! (badfingerlibrary.com)
My latest acquisition was a very limited edition vinyl 45 of Pete Ham put together by Dan Matovina in an issue of 500 copies. The limited edition 45 is very difficult to find and can be very expensive to obtain! Please note that these entries are not being presented in the chronologic order of original release. Some of you will love these tunes but may object to the overdubs being added to some of them to enhance the sound of the recording. That is a matter of personal opinion and individual subjective assessment. I personally enjoy all of the recordings because now we have them all to listen to and to enjoy and to remember!!!
The 500 limited edition vinyl of “No, Don’t Let It Go” and “You’re Such a Good Woman”
The back cover of this rare 45:
The A and B sides of the 45:
Another recent acquisition: Pete Ham Demos Variety Pack
The track listing for the cd above:
The brand new release of GWENT GARDENS: I personally love this new release
The track listing for Gwent Gardens:
Pete Ham -7 Park Avenue release
The back cover with the track listing:
Keyhole Street-the 2 cd Ivey’s era demo set:
TRACK LISTING:
- Testing
- I Want You
- Come A Bit Closer
- Horse With A Green Tail
- Come and Join Us
- You Don’t Know Each Other Very Well
- Never Felt Like This
- 1988- Bass Ron Griffiths
- I’ll See You Tonight
- Think Twice
- Happened Again
- I’ve Cried Bass – Ron Griffiths
- Blackjacks (Instrumental)
- I’m Only Crying
- Dressed Myself in Black
- Heartburn
- Girl Next Door In A Miniskirt – Ron Griffiths
- Grand Prix
- Can’t Stop Bass – Ron Griffiths
- Graham Hill
- Cavalier Club Rock (Instrumental)
- Memories Bass – Ron Griffiths
- Free Sample
- Loved By You
- Punch With Judy
- I’m In Love
- For My Sympathy
- Black And White Rainbows
- Keyhole Street
- I’ll Kiss You Tonight
- Mrs. jones Bass Ron Griffiths
- Little Sue
- Knocking Down Our Home
DISK 2
- Testing (Grampian)
- Church
- How Much Is The Sky
- Do What You Like
- Open Your Mind
- Down Down Down
- Never Been Alone
- Tender Embrace Bass – Ron Griffiths
- I’ve Been There Once Before
- Genie
- Stink
- Beautiful Dream
- Another Day
- When I’m Asleep
- Hurt Too Many Times
- Has Someone Really Got Into My Heart
- Get Up
- Joker
- Hempstead Heath (Instrumental)
- I Need You
- I’m Alone
- Weep Baby
THE RAVEN (Horror Soundtrack)
- He’s A Raven
- Meeek
- Frank Gravity
- Nightwing
- Drifting
- Taking Flight
- Raven Reprise
Companies, etc.
- Phonographic Copyright ℗ – The Heirs & Estate of William Peter Ham
- Copyright © – The Heirs & Estate of William Peter Ham
Credits
- Acoustic Guitar, Bass, Electric Guitar, Vocals – Pete Ham
- Composed By – Pete Ham
- Executive-Producer – Allan Wodtke, Bill Koumarelos, Darren English, John Schwartz, Stefano Zuppet
- Liner Notes –Dan Matovina
- Producer [Project] – Dan Matovina
Notes
Funded for release on disc via pledges.
These are Pete’s earliest demos, recorded with a sound-on-sound tape machine in a small soundproofed room in a house located at 7 Park Avenue, Golder’s Green, London, when Pete was in The Iveys.
Rear cover has the artist as ‘Pete Ham of The Iveys’
Pete’s “Golders Green” cd:
The back cover with the track listing:
A wonderful 1968 recording of the Iveys that has survived:
A 1968 live recording of the Iveys:
It is amazing that these early Ivey recordings still exist: Here is the cover of the Iveys South Wales live recording:
The contents of this wonderful early live recording of the Iveys:
On Amazon and another link provided at Tom Brennan’s site link above there is a “digital only” streaming release of Pete Ham recordings entitled “Misunderstood” I just purchased this streaming only recording and I am thoroughly enjoying it!
Without You Music
Released: 2023 May 19
Track listing:
01. Ringside [original demo] (Pete Ham) (1:11)
Previously issued on Without You-The Tragic Story of Badfinger 2nd edition book CD (2000).
02. No, Don’t Let It Go [dubbed version remixed 2023] (Pete Ham) (3:51)
Previously issued on Demos Variety Pack (2022).
03. Keep Your Country Tidy [Remastered 2023] (Pete Ham) (2:20)
Acoustic guitar demo previously released in 2000 on Head First CD2.
04. It Doesn’t rally Matter [dubbed version remixed 2023] (Pete Ham) (2:46)
Previously issued on Demos Variety Pack (2022) and 7 Park Avenue (1997).
05. Helping Hand [dubbed version remixed 2023] (Pete Ham) (3:46)
Previously issued on Golders Green (1999).
06. Are You Satisfied (Pete Ham) (1:53)
Previously unissued acoustic guitar demo.
07. Nothing To Show [remastered 2023] (Pete Ham) (0:59)
Acoustic guitar demo previously released in 2000 on Head First CD2.
08. Smokin’ Gun [remastered 2023] (Pete Ham) (1:20)
Acoustic guitar demo previously released in 2000 on Head First CD2.
09. Time Is Mine (instrumental) [remastered 2023] (Pete Ham) (1:40)
Acoustic guitar demo previously released in 2000 on Head First CD2.
10. It Doesn’t Really Matter (acoustic demo) [remastered 2023] (Pete Ham) (2:52)
Previously issued on Without You-The Tragic Story of Badfinger 1st edition book CD (1997).
11. Pete’s Escape (instrumental) (2;03)
Previously unissued acoustic guitar instrumental.
12. Just How Lucky We Are [dubbed version remixed 2023] (Pete Ham) (3:38)
Previously issued on 7 Park Avenue (1997).
13. I Can’t Believe In [remastered 2023] (Pete Ham) (2:05)
Acoustic guitar demo previously released in 2000 on Head First CD2.
14. No More [remixed 2023] (Pete Ham) (3:56)
Previously unissued unedited version.
15. Ringside (acoustic demo) [remastered 2023] (Pete Ham) (4:06)
Previously issued on Without You-The Tragic Story of Badfinger 1st edition book CD (1997).
Pete Ham – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards, drums, percussion, harmonica
Additional post overdubbing by other musicians / technical people (listed alphabetically):
Derrick Anderson, Richard Anton, Scott Bledsoe, Donnie Bott, Bennett Bowman, Nelson Bragg, Tom Brennan, Rick Cammon, Tom Evans, Damon Fox, Pete Fox, Anthony Gliozzo, Kent Gray, Probyn Gregory, Ron Griffiths, Bob Jackson, Andy Jones, Bruce Kaphan, Jonathan Lea, Adam Marsland, Dan Matovina, Kevin McElligott, Terry Messal, Jim Mills, Eric Nielsen, Fernando Perdomo, Tony Perkins, Steve Refling, Derek Ritchie, Michael Romanowski, Guy Slater, Tom Sullivan, and Chris Von Sneidern.
Production, engineering, editing and mastering – Dan Matovina
Special thanks to Tom Brennan, Anne Herriot, Tony Herriot, Petera Ham.
℗ All songs admin by Kobalt Music Pub America Inc. o/b/o Estate of Peter William Ham
Product © Estate of Peter William Ham
Photo © Estate of Tony Beresford-Cooke (cover)
In conclusion I have also seen on the internet, on eBay specifically, BBC recordings of the Iveys and Badfinger. However I am not sure that those recordings have been authorized or licensed by the estates of the band members or if they even own those recordings in order to officially release them one day or if they are soley controlled by the BBC. One can only hope that one day we shall be able to purchase it all. Hope you have enjoyed the exposure to many of these rare recordings obtained thanks to the great efforts and hard work of the late Dan Matovina and the Badfinger/Iveys specialist and very knowledgeable, Tom Brennan! Don’t forget to check out Tom Brennan’s wonderful site!
Buzz
Great Book on Badfinger
Heavenly Encounters: Wish You Were Here Part 2 (Paperback)
Inspired by the group Badfinger.
Rock star Tomas Alvers finds that searching for his friend Paul isn’t as simple as he’d hoped. Still in Heaven, Tomas meets past souls from times gone by, such as Marc Bolan and Marylin Monroe. Along the way, Tomas discovers a strange and mysterious stone and stumbles upon an exact replica of a club where his Earthly band debuted.
Nice details on all Pete Ham era demos, exciting to hear of 1 release tomorrow of Tom Evans demo songs from The Iveys era available on physical media CD.
Yes Paul, both Tom Brennan and the late Dan Matovina deserve a lot of credit in helping to preserve the legacy of a band that deserved a lot better hand of cards than what they were dealt! I have pre-ordered the Tom Evans disk that you mentioned! Thanks for your comment!