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Summary: BAM Magazine says:
Review: ... I came to the conclusion that this book should he required reading for all musicians, or anyone for that matter, who are interested in making a career in music. Without You covers virtually every aspect of the music business. The stories here are gritty and colorful, yet still kept in an entertaining light that will keep you engulfed...
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Summary: Rolling Stone's David Wild Review of ¿Without You¿
Review: ... pick up "Without You," an exhaustively researched and thoroughly heartbreaking piece of work that documents the unbelievably depressing lives and times of Badfinger... the story of a great band that took a great fall... a Behind The Music from Hell.
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Summary: Unexpurgated, Well-researched, well-illustrated
Review: ... This amazingly detailed tome finally presents the unexpurgated Badfinger saga... true to the book's title, one of the most tragic tales ever to emerge from the rock 'n' roll biz. Matovina's biography is well-researched, well-illustrated and utterly absorbing reading.... should be required reading for any young wanna-be rockers... a cautionary tale to be told just before midnight on a spooky Halloween evening at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.
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Summary: Fantastic Book
Review: An absolutely brilliant biography - moving, compelling, well-researched, and especially unbiased and clear-minded. An enthralling read!
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Summary: Your heart will go out to Badfinger
Review: Author Dan Matovina cuts no corners in WITHOUT YOU: THE TRAGIC STORY OF BADFINGER, which details the rise and fall of Badfinger, the pop band whose career spanned from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. You may find yourself staying up late as you turn every compelling page.And your heart will break as you learn about the trust Badfinger musicians Pete Ham, Mike Gibbins, Tom Evans and Joey Molland put in several con artists who stole almost all the band's earnings. After Ham's resulting 1975 suicide, at times surviving band members end up working against each other for what's left of the money and glory. Instead of standing together, they let the show business parasites continue to divide and conquer. Even the 1983 suicide of Tom Evans does not inspire enough people to do the right thing. WITHOUT YOU ends on the sad note of certain individuals standing on a bizarre technicality to take songwriting credit for the Pete Ham/Tom Evans standard, "Without You." At least nothing will change the superb quality of Badfinger's music. Was there any other band where every member composed and sang on every album? Not even the Beatles can say that. In recent years Badfinger's records have been reissued. Get them while you can. In the way the Securities and Exchange Commission protects investors from swindlers, there ought to be a "Badfinger Commission" to protect young artists from sleazy management. For now, read WITHOUT YOU: THE TRAGIC STORY OF BADFINGER.
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Summary: Goldmine Magazine's Review
Review: Badfinger was the classic example of how the music business eats its young ... a truly great band, with great singers and players and at least one great writer. A band that made a handful of outstanding records, classic records that still sound fresh and alive today. These were four people who deserved so much better than they got...
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Summary: Added immeasurably to our understanding of Badfinger...
Review: Beatlefan - Mike Hockinson Matovina judiciously balances his story between the lives of these musicians and the music they created... filled with fresh assessments of each album which had me playing each disc as I read of its recording... Matovina has added immeasurably to our understanding of Badfinger, their relationship with The Beatles and the recording industry of the late 60s and post-Beatles 70s.
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Summary: Author Matovina sells legacy short
Review: British Pop group Badfinger could very well be the missing link in the chain of Rock icons that appeared in the wake of The Beatles demise. Having worked closely with the fab four, Badfinger have often been unfairly compared to, and overshadowed by, them. Their songwriting skills have long been praised, nevertheless, Badfinger continue to mystify Pop historians. In Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger author Dan Matovina attempts to examine why one of Pop music's greatest underdogs have been left for dead. While exhaustively researched, Without You is ill conceived and poorly executed. Within pages the author reveals that he has a personal ax to grind with past members of the band, and certain persons in their circle of friends. Having taken this stand on his subject, the author fails to tell an articulate and unbiased story. Furthermore, by elevating guitarist Pete Ham, who tragically committed suicide in 1974, to near-saintly status, the importance of the band's collective clout is dismissed, leaving a narrow viewpoint of the fascinating events that surrounded a talented group of musicians unlucky enough to fall prey to The Beatles failing utopian empire. The real heart of Badfinger's story is perseverance, survival, and validation. By simply retracing their historic rise and fall with nostalgic mourning, Mr. Matovina sells their legacy short.
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Summary: The Definitive Biography
Review: Dan Matovina's "Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger" is one of the finest books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Not only did its contents answer my every conceivable question but also filled in the notable gaps in and often total lack of historical information regarding the band from which I and many other Badfinger fans suffered for so many years. I found the author's research to be meticulous and the collected quotes from the band members, their families, their friends, and associates--which form not only the framework but the very foundation of the book--to be nothing short of voluminous. Over 400-plus pages Matovina's highly professional style of writing is detailed but concise, journalistic without subverting emotion. This makes for a very compelling and thoroughly enjoyable read. As a Badfinger fan of twelve years, Mr. Matovina's book confirmed what I had personally felt all along: Peter William Ham, composer of all of the band's hits save the McCartney-penned "Come And Get It", was the heart & soul and driving force behind what was arguably the most talented and star-crossed band in the annals of Rock & Roll. For so many years Pete was just a lovely voice on the scratchy vinyl, a name on the credits, a face on the faded dust jacket. "Without You" changed all that for me as, with every turn of the page, Pete Ham came more and more to life. By the time his suicide is recounted roughly two-thirds through the book, I felt I knew Pete as well as anyone possibly could who did not have the privlege of knowing the flesh-and-blood man. While it does not question their right to do so, the last third of the book conveys the sadness and utter futility of the surviving members carrying on the band's name without such a vital, and most would say central element. Can one imagine The Beatles without John? The Grateful Dead without Jerry? In closing I believe that Badfinger fans have a lot for which to thank author Dan Matovina: His saving from obscurity the Pete Ham demos which became "7 Park Avenue" and will become "Golders Green", the much-anticipated upcoming release of "Head First", and, most of all, "Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger", the definitive history of one of Rock's greatest groups.
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Summary: Joey Molland=Trouble
Review: Did Joey Molland pay someone for the last review? Great book and TRUE accounts on the Badfinger saga.Pete Ham was a great talent driven to a terrible suicide.Badfinger became "Spinal Tap Mk.II" by the time they were done.The photo of Molland accepting the ASCAP award as the co-writer of "Without You" is so sad it hurts.Maybe he was in the same room with Pete and Tom when they wrote it? Joey,how do you sleep at night? Buy the book as a pre-requisite of starting a band and getting proper management.Don't let this happen to you.
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