Magic Christian Music by Badfinger

Magic Christian Music, out on Apple on 9 January 1970, is where the Iveys became Badfinger, a new name borrowed from "Bad Finger Boogie", the working title of the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends". It's their second album but only half a new one: seven of the 14 tracks were freshly cut, and the rest came over from Maybe Tomorrow, the 1969 Iveys record that barely escaped into a few overseas markets.

The prize is "Come and Get It", which Paul McCartney wrote and produced for them and which became their first international hit, a bright, bouncing piece of pop with a Beatle-sized hook. Three of the new songs turned up in the film The Magic Christian, which lent the album its title, though this isn't the movie's official soundtrack. Around it, Pete Ham, Tom Evans and Mike Gibbins serve up gentle, baroque-tinged psychedelic pop that is still working out the power-pop blueprint they'd later be known for.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.