Pete Ham, who died by suicide in 1975 at age 27, achieved considerable success during his lifetime as the lead singer and a principal composer for England’s Badfinger. The extent of the Welsh power pop musician’s talent has become even more evident in recent years, however, thanks largely to a series of albums from Miami’s Y&T label.

In 2023, for example, the company issued Shine On—A Tribute to Pete Ham, a multi-artist two-disc set that features 35 of his tunes, including several of Badfinger’s biggest hits. The following year witnessed the release of Gwent Gardens, which offers Ham’s own demos of 18 of his songs for Badfinger and its predecessor group, the Iveys.

Like Shine On, the new Just Look Inside the Cover—The Songs of Pete Ham is a multi-artist tribute, but unlike that album, it focuses on little-known numbers that previously existed only in Ham’s home demo versions. Their excellence underscores how much untapped potential he possessed.

The artists featured in this 22-track package aren’t household names, but they all evidence an affection for Ham’s material, and several have personal connections to him or his bands. The catchy title cut, for example, is by Bob Jackson, a founding member of the Iveys who later joined Badfinger, and a bluesy song called “Take Good Care of My Baby” is delivered by Ron Griffiths, who played with Badfinger from 1961 to 1969 and sounds a bit like Ringo. A gentle ballad called “It Doesn’t Really Matter” and the upbeat “The Day Begins,” meanwhile, are performed, respectively, by Mark Healey and Jeff Alan Ross, both of whom played in Joey Molland’s version of Badfinger. Other contributors include Arlan Feiles (“You’re Such a Good Woman”), Guided by Voices’ Tobin Sprout (“Keep Your Country Tidy”), and Richard Barone with the Midnight Callers (“I’m Only Human”).  

Like Badfinger’s work, many of the songs and performances on this anthology will remind you of mid-period Beatles and, especially, Paul McCartney. There are a few relatively weak spots—which is rather inevitable in an anthology that features nearly two dozen artists—but the quality of most of the material and performances here ranges only from very good to excellent.

The album is available here.

Also Noteworthy

Graham Parker & the Goldtops, Quality Footwear: Live at the Brook. British roots rocker Graham Parker’s many earlier live albums have been among the best things in his catalog, and this passionate set delivers yet another example of his potent stage presence. Backed by his band, the Goldtops, Parker serves up 11 performances that show he still knows how to squeeze out the sparks.

Recorded in 2023 at the Brook, a music venue in Southampton, England, the set mixes early triumphs with recent compositions. It includes “Back to Schooldays” and “Don’t Ask Me Questions” from Howlin’ Wind, Parker’s 1976 debut, as well as “Hotel Chambermaid” from Heat Treatment, his sophomore release. Also here are “It Mattered to Me,” “Lost Track of Time,” “Since You Left Me Baby,” and “Sun Valley,” four of the best tracks from 2023’s Last Chance to Learn the Twist, which Parker was promoting at the time of this concert.

The album’s quirky title reflects the inclusion of two songs with titles that reference footwear: KC and the Sunshine Band’s “Boogie Shoes” and Parker’s own “Soul Shoes,” which features Brinsley Schwartz, the original lead guitarist in his 1970s band, the Rumour. Rounding out the set are “Black Lincoln Continental,” from 1985’s Steady Nerves, and “Get Started. Start a Fire,” from 1988’s The Mona Lisa’s Sister.

For now, this album is available only digitally and on vinyl, but Parker has indicated there’s a “possibility” of an expanded CD from the show. Fingers crossed for that.

The album is available here.

The Tasty Kings, The Kindness of Numbers. This sophomore record from the Tasty Kings—which came out digitally last fall and has just been released on CD—is at least as good as Native Tongue, their terrific debut album. Though Beach Boys alumnus Blondie Chapin is gone, the rest of the lineup is pretty much intact. It includes such players as guitarists Charlie and Will Sexton, who take turns as lead vocalist, guitarist Andrew Morse, and bassist Darryl Jones, a longtime Rolling Stones accompanist.

As on Native Tongue, Morse wrote all the songs, which combine melodic, engaging folk/rock/Americana music with evocative and poetic verse. Virtually all the lyrics were reportedly inspired by personal experience and—though the album was recorded in Austin, Texas—many evoke New York City, where Morse lives. He says “New York Times” reflects his memories of staying in the city’s famed Chelsea Hotel in the 1970s, while “a woman he once lived with inspired “Tess of Soho.” “New York Girl” limns a beautiful woman who succumbed to drugs and “Something in the Subway” is about the “undercurrent of fear…of crime and disaster” that Morse says the railroad system conjures up for him.

The album is available here.

The Claudettes, Garage Glamour. The Claudettes’ latest album is the first to feature fired-up vocalist Rachel Williams, who has been singing with the Chicago-based band since 2023 and whose work has understandably been compared with that of Annie Lennox. She is joined on this release by Johnny Iguana (aka Brian Berkowitz), who plays keyboards, bassist and guitarist Zach Verdoorn, and drummer Michael Caskey. Iguana and his Grammy-winning cousin, Steve Berkowitz, co-produced.

Iguana wrote nine of the 10 songs on the aptly titled Garage Glamour, and they reflect his penchant for combining disparate influences, including blues, cabaret, punk, pop, and more. Williams and the band display extraordinary versatility and seem at home with every concoction Berkowitz cooks up.

The moody “Winter Came While You Were Gone” recalls Eurythmics, while “(You Are My) Whole World,” which features contributions from blues singer and guitarist John Primer, nods to Windy City pop and soul. The album-closing “There Is No Other Side” features a sweet vocal that conjures up Julee Cruise and 1960s “girl groups” like the Paris Sisters. Other standouts include the erotic, jazzy “That Could Be Arranged,” the menacing “Mr. Pecker’s Apoplexy,” and the funky “Touch You Back,” which features guest guitarist Ella Feingold.

Somehow, all this material sounds like the work of the same group.

The album is available here.