Badfinger have announced details of their upcoming No Matter What - Revisiting The Hits collection, which features new recordings of some of the band's most famous songs.
Joining guitarist Joey Molland – the sole survivor from the band's best-known lineup – on the album are stars including Rick Springfield, Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, Rick Wakeman, Matthew Sweet, Todd Rundgren, Sonny Landreth, The Legendary Pink Dots, Vanilla Fudge frontman Mark Stein, Terry Reid and Albert Lee.
Wakeman contributes piano to an updated recording of Badfinger's 1969 hit Come And Get It, which was written by Paul McCartney, who also played tambourine on the original. Matthew Sweet covers Baby Blue – a song he also recorded with Bangles single Susanna Hoffs on their mammoth duets collection Completly Under The Covers – and Rick Springfield lends his voice and guitar to a version of 1979's Love Is Gonna Come At Last.
"Badfinger have always been one of my all-time favourite bands," says Springfield. "In fact, I am often asked by journalists ‘What is the one song you had wished you had written?’ and my answer is Baby Blue. What a perfect song! Their music was and is immortal."
The original, Todd Rundgren-produced version of Baby Blue was also used in the last episode of the TV drama Breaking Bad, soundtracking the final moments of the series' protagonist, Walter White.
No Matter What - Revisiting The Hits will be released on Cleopatra Records on CD and on red, white and blue vinyl on March 26, but is available to pre-order now.
No Matter What - Revisiting The Hits tracklist
1. No Matter What feat. Mark Stein (Vanilla Fudge)
2. Come And Get It feat. Rick Wakeman
3. I Don’t Mind feat. Carl Giammarese (The Buckinghams)
4. Day After Day feat. Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull), Terry Reid & Manchester String Quartet
5. Love Is Gonna Come At Last feat. Rick Springfield
6. Baby Blue feat. Matthew Sweet
7. Midnight Caller feat. The Legendary Pink Dots
8. Suitcase feat. Sonny Landreth
9. Sweet Tuesday Morning feat. Albert Lee
10. Without You feat. Todd Rundgren
