SilentScream213 It's understandable why this album has a low rating. Budgie is a pretty cult metal band and one of the founders of the genre. For that reason, most people who listen to Budgie are big into that 70's metal scene and reject the softer pop aspects the band finally added in this, their (kind of) swansong.

For me, this is Budgie's best album. The synthesizers and catchy choruses make every song stand out, and to be honest, this is the only Budgie album I can actually recall more than two songs from after many listens. Fans of Budgie are no doubt thrilled they stayed very consistent in the 70's, but that consistency of playing - in my opinion - generic 70's metal, meant there was nothing making Budgie special, apart from their weird bird theme. This album is eclectic, dense, and very catchy. Despite that, it has some really good riffs! Not as heavy as before, but much more fun.

Budgie has never had a very serious mood to their music, which is fine, but it left no impression on me. This album is the first one I could call passionate. The feeling of each song seemed to be important, rather than simply throwing together some riffs and solos.

This is the only full album from the band I'd ever revisit, as almost all of the songs are great. Shame it gets pegged as a sellout failure - which it may have been. But it sounds good, and that's all that matters to me.

siLLy puPPy If you’re serious about diving into the origins of heavy metal you will no doubt tackle the usual suspects such as Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, but in the early gestation years of the late 60s and the fully formed heavy rock bands that provided the antecedents of the greater metal universe, there were quite a few contenders that didn’t quite attract the same level of success as the big three. The Cardiff, Wales based BUDGIE was one of the earliest such bands that was a seminal influence on the NWOBM scene that would emerge at the tail end if the 70s. While formed in 1967 under the less-than-metal moniker Hills Contemporary Grass, they changed their name to Six Ton Budgie before finally truncating it to the more known BUDGIE which is an informal term for “budgerigar,” an Australian parakeet which would become their mascot. This power trio of Tony Bourge (guitar), Tony Shelley (bass, vocals, mellotron) and Ray Phillips (drums, percussion) chose this name as a diametrically opposing term in relation to their bombastic bluesy rock bravado.

While Black Sabbath was in 1971 the heaviest band in existence, BUDGIE wasn’t too far behind. Their eponymous debut released the same year as “Master Of Reality,” followed the trends of the more successful bands and could be generalized as heavy rock straddling in between the heavy Sabbath riffing with Led Zeppelin inspired compositional constructs as well as Shelley’s Robert Plant inspired vocal style. The Sabbath inspired parts come to the forefront with the opener “Guts” which is a little too close to Sabbath’s own “Hand Of Doom” which sounds like a good case for plagiarism to my ears but the album quickly drifts off into their own unique middle ground between the great Sabbath and Led Zep. Many have cited as BUDGIE being the first version of the Canadian band Rush since they are a power trio and deliver a tight and compelling band sound out of only three musicians. On this debut they do indeed have that heavy rock gusto that Rush would unleash on their first two pre-progressive albums. Likewise BUDGIE, while rooted in ballsy blues rock with a more bombastic approach, did engage in progressively tinged compositional constructs.

While BUDGIE may have borrowed a lot from Sabbath and Led Zep, they have also been the influencers as well with tracks like the whimsically titled “Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman” a clear antecedent into Golden Earring’s hit “Radar Love” which also displays Shelley’s unique bass slapping style with a little funk technique and heavy rock groove with Phillips pounding out the supporting percussive drive accompanied by Bourge’s guitar antics. Very heavy stuff for 1971 indeed and progressive as it clocked in at 8:41 and meandered through a series of clever musical moves not common in the bluesy rock world of the day. “Rape Of The Locks” allows Bourge to show off some of his guitar tricks with a series of flashy solos before erupting into a boogie rock style that would become the staple of bands such as ZZ Top in the coming years. Tracks like “All Night Petrol” find Shelley doing his best Robert Plant vocal exercises but alongside a Sabbath inspired doom laden riff in a mid-tempo groove. “You And I” shows a mellower side with a short acoustic ballad.

BUDGIE created a very interesting sound for sure and although they didn’t quite have the over-the-top performance charisma that Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin delivered to the world, they provided a unique glimpse in between the musical sounds where those two bands existed. While parts of BUDGIE’s debut are clearly inspired by certain tracks from their influences, somehow they polish it out with their own unique stamp. The blues oriented hard rock riffing is more akin to 60s bands like Cream with Sabbath overtones (due partly to Sabbath’s producer Rodger Bain in the picture), but they crafted their compositions completely differently with more complex constructs that meandered into more unexpected territory. In other words less calculated and more free. While destined to be more of a footnote of history for providing the blueprints of heavy metal riffing that would be fully realized by bands like Metallica in the next decade, BUDGIE are well worth checking out in their own right. The synthesis of heavy rock with progressive touches makes this more than a historical artifact.

voila_la_scorie Budgie's fourth album "In for the Kill!" carries on with the sound the band established from the beginning: hard and heavy driving riff-based rock with some strong heavy blues. Drummer Ray Phillips left band after the third album and for this offering of powerhouse rock, Pete Boot took the stool.

From the first track, Budgie introduce another classic riff rocker in the title track. It's a longer song that switches to a heavy blues number in the middle before returning to the first part's music. Also here is "Crash Course in Brain Surgery" which was originally recorded as a single earlier in their career and was later covered by Metallica. Some will recall Metallica covering another Budgie song "Breadfan".

Budgie albums ( the ones I know ) include a Burke Shelley acoustic number or two and "Wondering What Everyone Knows" fills that necessity here. I personally find this one more enjoyable than the acoustic songs from my two other Budgie albums, "Budgie" and "Never Turn Your Back on a Friend". The acoustic tracks are usually short anyway.

"Zoom Club" is a hard rocking tribute to a club in Germany and includes a lengthy jam session and a cool hard rock riff. And let's not forget Shelley's high pitched notes after the long solo section!

"Hammer and Tongs" opens side two with a slow beginning of guitar volume dial notes before exploding with a very heavy blues-based eruption of a song. At times it's like the band are trying to make blues rock heavy enough to drop into a crusher in a scrapyard and kick it into a heap of wrecked automobiles. It eases up in the middle and Shelley howls in falsetto. Then it changes to what I always think of as heavy strip tease blues. No doubt guitarist Tony Bourge was pleased with all the soloing he got to do.

"Running from My Soul" takes on another boogieing bluesy heavy number with more of Bourge's six-string explorations. It's the shortest song on the album and doesn't have many lyrics. Just blazing guitar rock & roll.

The final track, "Living on Your Own" is the most progressive song on the album, going through different parts, one part heavy and melodic, another gentle and easy but with a bit of rust, yet another more traditional heavy but still holding on to the melodic side. For Budgie's repertoire up to 1974 this is likely one of their most progressive songs with different musical themes integrated into a single track. Certainly it stands out from the rest of the album which is comprised of mostly heavy rock and heavy blues boogie.

AtomicCrimsonRush Budgie first came to my ears with their big Box set, the definitive anthology, 'An Ecstasy Of Fumbling', featuring a massive 29 tracks taken from albums during 1971-1982. This lead me to chack out some other Budgie albums and the first on my list was one that was recommended to me by Budgie fans, 'Bandolier'. This is perhaps their most popular album, certainly featuring some of their best songs and coolest guitar riffs, though it is inconsistent in terms of quality songs. The band revel in riffs that lock in with outstanding rhythmic 70s classic rock. 1975 was one of the great years for Prog and 'Bandolier' features the classic incarnation of the band; bassist/singer Burke Shelley and guitarist Tony Bourge, along with drummer Steve "Syco Steve" Williams, arguably their proggiest lineup before they turned to hard rock and AOR.

The album opens with the dynamic 'Breaking all the House Rules', a terrific sledge hammer attack of crashing riffs and very well executed vocals. The structure of the song detours into many directions and even changes feel in the middle sounding like a different song until it returns to the main riff.

'Slipaway' is next with gentle acoustics, followed by Bad Company sounds on 'Who Do You Want For Your Love' with a bluesy shuffle. There is more blues with 'I Can't See My Feelings' that has nice guitar licks but is nothing special really. After these rather lacklustre numbers it hots up with the wonderful cover by Andy Fairweather-Lowe from Amen Corner, 'I Ain't No Mountain'.

They save the best for last with the outstanding 'Napoleon Bona, Pts 1 & 2' that begins very slowly with gentle guitar and ambient swirls. Shelley's vocals are quiet, sounding like a bluesy version of Geddy Lee. When the distorted guitars crunch in with the chugging riff the song really picks up, especially the way the riff descends strangely giving it a dark feel. The lead break is always amazing, and Bourge blasts away with speed trills up and down the scales and high end string breaking bends. At 6 mins in there is a weird effect that muffles the sound and then it releases for more lead work.

Not many would disagree that the best Budgie stems from the early 70s years with "Squawk," "In for the Kill", "If I Were Britannia" and of course 'Bandolier'. These are the proggy innovative Budgie years, and 'Bandolier' is certainly one to hunt down for sheer hard rock riffing excellence with prog elements sprinkled thereabout.

Warthur Opening with the barnstorming Breaking All the House Rules, Bandolier kicks off well, but unfortunately Budgie were never the most consistent of bands and this is only underlined by Slipaway (A Parrot Fashion Ball), a horrible experiment in mixing acoustic soft rock with a little bit of blue-eyed soul. This is followed up with a similarly limp track in the form of What Do You Want For Your Love, which captures Burke Shelley doing an unconvincing Robert Plant impersonation in a horrible funk-tinged soft rock piece, reminiscent of a bad cover of The Crunge from Led Zep's Houses of the Holy with only a rather generic guitar solo or two to remind us that we're still at the edge of metal territory.

The album perks up on the second side with I Can't See My Feelings (featuring some honest to goodness cowbell), but slumps again with the simplistic singalong I Ain't No Mountain. The closing Napoleon Bona Parts 1 and 2 is padded out with uninteresting acoustic filler (such as the overlong intro) and doesn't stand up to Budgie epics from previous albums.

The bottom line is that on this album Budgie watered down their distinctive proto-speed metal sound with all the other influences third-string hard rock groups from the mid-1970s were dabbling in, with the result that the album ends up sounding anonymous, cliched, and at points downright dull. By the end of the decade Budgie would be regularly blown out of the water by far heavier and far more distinctive groups like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden; they should be remembered for more influential and important albums than this one.