Customer Reviews

Budgie

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This is a dirty little gem of a debut. You can listen to all of Budgie's output, all the great variety. But this baby always wails. Yes right from the beginning riff to the screams and screeches of Burke Shelly you can not help your self from feeling that surge that rock is all about. This is heavy and does remind you of all your favorite hard rock heroes. Budgie were contemporaries with all our heroes. They were right there since 1970. This is the beginning and a great introduction to this band, The follow up SQUAWK is on the dirty side too, worth checking out !

Budgie were a Welsh trio consisting of bassist/vocalist Burke Shelly, guitarist Tony Bourge, and drummer Ray Phillips. And the music they make is easily some of the best heavy metal/hard rock ever put to tape. Produced by Black Sabbath producer Roger Bain, the band's first album released in 1971 is their best record, the first in a line of highly inspired and truely rocking classic records. Opening up with Guts, a molten heavy riff and steady pace might instantly reveal Sabbath influences and for that matter, most of Budgie's sound does that. It's without a doubt, Budgie are the missing 4th godfather of metal, alongside Sabbath, Zeppelin, and Deep Purple. Sabbath were the most stripped down of the three, but Budgie might actually be even more raw and basic. Bourge's thick and crunch guitars are all over the place and Burke Shelley's bass is quite good, covering a lot of midsection grooves. By todays standards, Guts might sound like a "stoner metal" track, slow and muddy much like Sabbath's Sweet Leaf but still its so heavy, it weighs tons. The "stoner metal" bands like Electric Wizard, St Vitus, Kyuss, the Melvins etc owe a huge debt to Budgie for this sound.

One of the bands trademarks was incorporating brief acoustic folk pieces in their albums, usually 2 per record. Everything In My Heart is only about a minute long and its a nice slight change of pace before the band eases you in with the slow building proggy opening of The Author, before blasting it into a full blown epic rocker. Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman is another classic. 8 and a half minutes of multiple rocking sections which might remind you of How Many More Times from Zep, and definetly inspired thrash of the 80s with all its changes. Rape Of The Locks is a bit dated lyrically but still packs a nice punch along with All Night Petrol. These songs cook and have a nice dirty unpolished sound, in other words, this is how heavy metal is supposed to sound. The band returns to a more melodic acoustic breath catcher with You And I before jetting into Homicidal Suicidal, the closing rocker and another key Budgie cut that wraps things up with a monsterous ending.

If you're looking for a good rare band you haven't heard yet, Budgie are one of the best, they easily deserved the fame and fortune Sabbath and Zeppelin have received. Their music is right on par with such. Whether youre after some great rock music, or heavy metal, or interested in the hard rock's early years, Budgie's early 70's albums offer an excellent lesson on how its done. They are purely essential.

This is the very first full-lenght Budgie album. Although they are not so famous, they have inspired many bands, including Soundarden and Metallica. This album sounds quite dirty, indeed. I mean that the sounds are not so good. Still, however, the songs are very good, and I enjoy the lyrics especially. "Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman" and "Rape of the Locks" are brilliant provements of great metal. I would say that their music is something between Black Sabbath and Rush with hosted of Led Zeppelin riffs and melodies of The Beatles. Mainly this is heavy metal but there's two peaceful but short songs "Everything in My Heart" and "You And I". With those two songs Budgie wanted to show their The Beatles influences. This was the second Budgie album I bought, the first was "Bandolier". They both are great albums. I recommend you to get at least the first five Budgie albums.
Stars: Homicidal Suicidal, Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman, Rape of the Locks

For a few years I've seen CDs of this band while browsing through the B section of local record stores (they can still be called "record stores" right?). I had no idea who they were or what they sounded like...in fact, with all the garage rock revival that has happened, I thought they might be a modern band. I looked them up here on Amazon and found out they were another early metal band from England at the time of Zeppelin, Purple, Sabbath, Heep, etc. I checked out the sample of "Homicidal Suicidal" and was knocked out (much like I was by Sir Lord Baltimore a month earlier...check out my review for them). Good crunchy Sabbath-like guitar riffs with a Geddy Lee like vocal on top...sounded good to me!

I ordered the 2004 remastered version on Noteworthy...not the inferior Repertoire release some years back. This band is really good...not awesome because it can't really compare to Zeppelin, Purple, or even Grand Funk Railroad for that matter. However this album does not sound like it came out in 1971, it's loud, heavy, and packs one hell of a wallop...just check out the opening guitar chords for first song "Guts." Tony Bourge was another good guitarist for this time...a little Tony Iommi and Ritchie Blackmore mixed together. Burke Shellys lead vocals were most definitely unique..like I said think Geddy Lee of Rush only with a bit more gusto and emotion poured into them. If you want to check out Budgie, start at the beginning with this album. Oh by the way did I mention Metallica covered two of their songs...."Crash Course In Brain Surgery" and "Breadfan." Obviously James Hetfield and co. were listening!

Definitely, Budgie was the one of my favorite and the most important British rock band. Compared with their 1st, 3rd, and 4th, this album is slightly weak in speed and power, however, still is shining through the whole vinyl and marks as a minimalistic masterpiece in hard rock history. I have already owned two versions of this album, original first pressing vinyl and Roadrunner version. Recently, I have found this new remastered version came out and eventually got this several days ago in a full expectation for a new dimensional sound. However, after listening to this new version, I'm deeply disappointed at the remastering condition. Even compared with the early 90's version of Roadrunner version, needless to say original vinyl, this version sounds suffocating with the lack of clarity as well as weak with the lack of powerful low-pitched base. Moreover, lack of distinction among instruments and channels. Most recording companies should remember that Alternative mix or later re-jamming version may be a good present for us; however, most of old-rock lovers are more enthusiastic for the new dimensional excellent quality of familiar old stuffs.

I can't say enough about this album. I came to Budgie through Metallica (like most American kids) in 1990. I first bought this tape (yeah, cassette!) through Camelot Music (do they even still exist?) and was an instant fan. Although the tape is long gone, I can still sing right along with it. In my opinion, this is their best album, although there was some good stuff afterwards. I think Burke Shelley is a mixture of Geddy Lee, Geezer Butler and Satan! Good Stuff!

I bought this on vinyl when it was first relesed in 1971 and if you want a slab of good old classic rock this is it. It was produced by Roger Bain who produced the early Black Sabbath albums and was recorded at Rockfield Studios just outside a small town called Monmouth,UK, (the original Monmouth)Rockfield studios gets its name from the local village near bye called Rockfield village which was thought of by local guitarist and producer Dave Edmunds who produced Foghat's first album at Rockfield.Rockfield Studios is still going and as recently as 2009 Heaven & Hell recorded their last album there with the late James Dio.There's a book out on Rockfield Studios call Rock Legends At Rockfield by Jeff Collins. Other Budgie albums to consider are Never Turn Your Back On A Friend their 3rd album and their 5th album Bandolier. What makes the first album so good is the strong songs and good song titles. (As a footnote Monmouth name came about because it's where the mouth of the River Monnow flows in the River Wye.)