Budgie-Budgie Review

  In the annals of hard rock and heavy metal, there are bands that are underrated. Bands like UFO and Diamond Head have never gotten the respect from the mainstream that they most certainly deserve. But even more than these bands, the saga of Budgie represents one of the most severe cases of a complete lack of acknowledgement from the musical mainstream. However, the band is beloved by a small cadre of metal maniacs, and is known for its huge influence on the NWOBHM movement as well as 1980s thrash bands such as Metallica. Let's take a look at their 1971 debut and see if this cult band deserves any special attention.

   The album opens with the superb "Guts". Pretty chunky and heavy, it's hard to fathom that this song was recorded so long ago. A perfect slab of molten metal, some have called the song a precursor to the "doom metal" genre that would emerge in the wake of Sabbath's break-up in the early 1980s. Very simple musically speaking, but an immensely heavy sound from the power trio. Singer/Bassist Burke Shelley sounds equally comfortable singing soulful blues or high-pitched screams, all the while playing some killer bass-lines. A great start to an incredibly heavy album. Next up is "Everything In My Heart". A very short and mellow acoustic trip, the song really is somewhat reminiscent of T-Rex song, very hippie-like and totally spaced-out. Not a bad song, but it screams filler.

  "The Author" comes next.The verses are gentle and jazzy, while the choruses produce some of the heaviest guitars sounds recorded up until that point of musical history. A very interesting contrast, not totally different from the godfathers of metal (do I need to tell you who that is? I hope not). The song picks up the tempo, playing a jazzy racket of jarring guitars and swing/jazz drums. The song also shows why Shelley has garnered comparisons to Rush singer bassist Geddy Lee. Both men share high-pitched vocals, killer bass skills, and a somewhat similar look. In any case, a great track. Moving on, Budgie unleashes the oddly titled "Nude Disintegrating Parachute Woman". The song is fantastically raw, sounding almost like a demo. I particularly like Shelley's bass, he was never content to play simple lines, very complex and busy. A pretty long song, it evolves at the midway point into rapid-firing cauldron of metal magic. A good song, one of the more "jam-like" songs on the very raw album.

    "Rape Of The Locks" is another curiously titled song. It seems to concern dealing with criticism for having long hair, at least that is what I get from it. Anyways, a decent track. Shelley sounds great here, like a cross between the high-pitched squawk of Geddy Lee and the soulful voice of  former Trapeze/BCC front-man Glenn Hughes. I love the ending of the song, pounding drums are accompanied by some great, heavy riffage.A decent song about living how you want to, a great addition to a pretty solid album so far. "All Night Petrol" could certainly be seen as an influential song of many 1990s grunge bands (although few would like admit it). The bass dominates the song, as with most of the album. Like the love-child of Sabbath and Rush, the song will certainly please fans of early metal. About finding loving in the middle of the night, the song reeks of desperation and it has a pretty seedy character. I really dug the song, certainly not as musically progressive as Rush, but certainly heavier in many respects than Toronto's darlings.

   "You And I" brings us back to acoustic rock territory. A very psychedelic-sounding tune, it sounds like a refugee from the band's late 1960's formation. Not bad at all, but Budgie is definitely better at higher volumes and with heavier tones.  Lastly, we have the coolest sounding song title on the album, "Homicidal Suicidal". Certainly a landmark in metal, the song's main riff is insanely heavy for the times. The song's lyrics are dark and introspective, garnering obvious comparisons at the time to the "downer rock" genre that was applied to Black Sabbath. A great track, and an essential listen for historians of metal and hard rock.

  "Budgie" is a fairly good album. The famous Brian Eno quotation about the Velvet Underground could certainly be applied to Budgie. Certainly a high percentage of those who bought Budgie records in the 1970s started bands themselves. From Van Halen, Metallica, to later bands such as Soundgarden, countless hard rock and metal bands have expressed their love for the band through covers and interviews. A band's band, Budgie will never be mainstream, but they are an important act in the long history of heavy metal. "Budgie" is them at their most untamed and raw, and is easily one of their best albums. Give Budgie a spin, you'll be pleasantly supplied.

Rating-8/10