Pete Ham vs Nick Drake: FITE

This is gonna be sooooo one-sided, but nevertheless I say: HAM.

Nick Drake.

both great and very different outlook. oversimplification but Ham was ultimately destroyed by external forces, Drake internal. both are equally enjoyable though Drake was more consistent songwriter, yet he rarely if ever came close to the passion and fire Pete Ham showed on Badfinger's Wish You Were Here album.

nevertheless I say: HAM

I suspect this is exactly what Mark S will say about both.

I've gotta say HAM. The first 4 Badfinger singles and the first two albums rival the equivalent releases from The Smiths and Madness for pop brilliance.

Lovely guitar playing but Drake has always seemed to me a bit, well, wet.

i don't think i've ever heard anything by pete ham actually: i've heard everything by nick drake but none of it set my skin alight

skin isn't known for its flammable properties though. you should test its reaction on your clothes, esp polyester

Skin means "win". "Check vocabulary X for words" is a fucking ace track. Better than all that 'early days' fumbling around.

Mark S I'll bet you 50p you have heard Pete Ham. And I don't throw good money away lightly.

There is a simply beautiful essay on the Pete Ham and Badfinger at allmusic http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=B8e881v0jzzca~C

And my preference, at the moment, Pete Ham. The internal / external thing about their own deaths works nicely as a difference to their mood. Drake is a great soundtrack to a good self pitying wallow (and we all do that), Ham works better for coping with external worries. I just took my wee boy for his MMR last week, I know the problems associated with it are hotly debated and he seems fine, but I felt panicky and upset about it anyway. Thats Pete Ham soundtrack territory, Nick D isn't gonna help there.

No Matter What is just a great pop record - about 30 years ahead of its time somehow. Has anyone heard Pete Ham's7 Park Avenue album? There's a similar song: It Doesn't Really Matter with this almost falsetto chorus - bloody great.