Ass

Badfinger had seen genuine stardom slip out of its reach after Apple began to crumble, just as Straight Up and its singles "Baby Blue" and "Day After Day" scaled the charts. As a result, the band tried to recast themselves as blues-rockers on their final record for the label, perhaps in an attempt to compete with the burgeoning ranks of arena-rockers emerging on both sides of the Atlantic. By and large, the shift in direction was ill-advised, since they couldn't quite write riff-heavy songs or perform them with conviction. Ass, however, is not quite entirely a wash-out. When Badfinger abandons their hard-rocking pretensions, they still can write excellent, Beatlesque power-pop songs, as "When I Say," "I Can Love," "Icicles" and Pete Ham's lovely kiss-off to their label, "Apple of My Eye," indicate. Even with such highlights, though, Ass is a considerable disappointment after the flawless power-pop of No Dice and Straight Up. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine