Budgie – Bandolier

5 Stars

Budgie was a three-piece heavy metal band from Cardiff in Wales who went onto ruffle many a feather in their time.

They were far more influential than anybody dared think at the time of their self-titled debut album in 1971. The band had been playing the scene around Wales since 1967.

The new wave of British heavy metal did not arrive until the late 70’s and did not attract much attention until the early 80’s.

So, during their time on display in their cage, Budgie had seen the first wave of British Heavy Metal die a death to be replaced by the despicable Disco and such in the mid-seventies. Whilst Budgie thundered on, waiting for the world to catch up, by the time the eighties rolled around, Budgie were too long in the beak to join the new wave of heavy metal, but they were certainly championed by it. Both Iron Maiden and Metallica showered them with praise and recorded their songs, giving the band much-needed royalty revenue.

For more Heavy Metal insights click here

Budgie was also famous for their sense of humor shown in their album covers, titles and song names. Songs such as ‘In the Grip of Tyre Fitters Hand,’ ‘You’re the Best Thing Since Powdered Milk,’ ‘Crash Course In Brain Surgery’ and my favorite, ‘Nude Disintegrating Parachute Woman.’

With album titles like “If I Were Britannia I’d Waive The Rules” and “Squark,” these guys just had to be cool.

Click here for more of Mott’s Top Picks

After five years of relentless gigging and releasing an album a year, this brings us to “Bandolier.” This was the first time Steve Williams was in the band’s lineup on drums, joining Burke Shelley on lead vocals & bass guitar and Tony Bourge on lead guitar.

Many consider this the classic Budgie lineup, which produced some of the heaviest metal of its day.

The sound is immediate and in your face. As heavy as a six-tonne Budgie. This bird would never make escape velocity; it would simply pulverize things (anything) in its path.

Upon pressing play on Bandolier, the guitar riff from ‘Breaking All The House Rules’ hits you mid-chest, breaking ribs and bangin’ your head. If this opening battering does not put you to flight and have you shake your feathers, do not go any further and go back to your mid-seventies disco beats! This is the sort of stuff that needs to be played at 11. Turn it up and bang your head.

Surprisingly, the next along the perch is a beautifully crafted ballad called ‘Slipaway,’ giving you time to collect your wings. It’s Budgie showing their soft white underbelly and their abilities with a lovely passionate guitar solo from Tony Bourge.

‘Who Do You Want For Love’ slithers out of your speakers, looking for its prey before the boys lay down some more heavy metal thunder.

‘I Can’t See My Feelings’ has a good message and an almost commercial riff that soon drums in and becomes an earworm.

‘I Ain’t No Mountain’ is almost a singalong with your feathered friends heavy metal style. Perhaps not the strongest track on the album.

But this is quickly forgiven by the two-part epic over seven minutes of ‘Napoleon Bona Parts One and Two.’ You’ll hear why it’s in two parts when you listen to the whole thing, as Budgie crawls inside you and moshes you from inside out. Excellent musicianship, especially Tony Bourge’s extended solo.

This concludes the album as it was released in 1975, peaking at Number 36 in the UK charts.

But if you are lucky and buy the expanded edition, it has four bonus tracks added on. The first is a rather mundane B-side to a single, ‘Honey.’ But this is followed by three live tracks. ‘Breaking All The House Rules,’ ‘Napoleon Bona Parts One and Two,’ and ‘Who Do You Want For Your Love.’ Here Budgie are on patrol, taking your senses and smashing them on the side of the cage—heavy metal head bangin’ music at its best. The drums and bass smash a path for frantic guitar solos and Burke Shelley’s screamed vocals, causing an instant mosh pit.

Budgie never reached the commercial success they deserved, but they are well worth their place in Rock’n’Roll History.

For those of you of a certain age thinking Budgie=Adam Faith, think again.

Written by Mott the Dog from his gilded cage on the Darkside of Pattaya.

Remember to visit and subscribe to Mott’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1003417143122919/

For more Heavy Metal insights click here

Click here for more of Mott’s Top Picks