History
Although the album received positive reviews in music magazine Rolling Stone upon its release and is sometimes considered to be the band's best work, it was pulled out of record stores in 1975, seven weeks after release because of a lawsuit between WB music publishing and Badfinger's management. The album's abbreviated manufacturing run and short tenure on the market has made the original LP relatively rare.
Before being recalled, the album had time enough to chart, peaking at #148 in the US. In the 1990s it was re-released in CD format in Japan and Germany only. The album was eventually released on CD in the US in 2007. Many of the tracks have been released on other Badfinger compilations.
After completing Wish You Were Here, Pete Ham decided to quit Badfinger; he was replaced by keyboardist/guitarist Bob Jackson. However, after Warners indicated that it would drop the band if Ham quit, he decided to return, and the band completed a tour as a five-member group. After the tour, Joey Molland resigned from the band.
Although the next Badfinger album to be released was the Molland/Evans reunion album Airwaves in 1979, Ham, Evans, Gibbins and Jackson recorded an album titled Head First in December 1974, the band's seventh and last album with the original Ham-Evans-Gibbins nucleus that dated back to The Iveys. This album, however, was not released until 2000 due to more lawsuits between WB and Badfinger's management.
Read more about this topic: Wish You Were Here (Badfinger Album)
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