Good morning and welcome to the
greatest day in the sports world calendar – Super Bowl Sunday! Once again my beloved Dolphins will not be
playing in the Super Bowl, but it is still a great experience to gather ‘round
the big screen with fellow football enthusiasts and watch the big game.
But first, I need to get this
review up – the fourth of five albums I have by these guys to be reviewed.
Disc 483 is… Bandolier
Artist: Budgie
Year of Release: 1975
What’s up with the Cover? Those who’ve read my earlier Budgie reviews will
already know Budgie likes to take kick-ass art and make it better by replacing
heads (or even head-like objects in the case of “Squawk”) with the heads
of budgies. Of the many kick-ass covers,
“Bandolier” is the best, with bandito budgie horsemen hoofing it about on some
alien planet. Yeehaw – viva la songbird
revolucion!
How I Came To Know It: My buddy Spence introduced me to Budgie, and
“Bandolier” was just me drilling through their collection. It is the latest I have in their collection,
since I took pity on a fellow collector and let him snatch “If I Were Brittania
I’d Waive the Rules” out from under me at the local record shop. I hope he’s enjoying it.
How It Stacks Up: I have five Budgie albums and I like them all. I’ll put “Bandolier” fifth, but that doesn’t
make it bad.
Rating: 3 stars
Long,
riff-packed rock and roll is the Budgie way, and it is a good way to be. “Bandolier”
is a bit lighter than Budgie’s previous four studio albums, but what it lacks
in overall punch it makes up for with some interesting variety.
The
opening track, “Breaking All The House
Rules” is not an example of this variety, as it follows all of Budgie’s
house rules: heavy riffs that switch up
mid-song, ridiculously long song titles and extended playing time (in this case
7:28) are all here. This is a good
example of why it is OK to stick with what you know, and sets a great tone for
the record.
This is
followed up with “Slipaway” another
Budgie staple; sappy power-folk (if such a thing exists). Budgie was an early convert to doing heavy
music mixed with ballads. These can be
good, but “Slipaway” slipped away one
too many steps into drippy reverie, and lost me along the way.
Fortunately,
the record recovers itself with the band stretching its artistic limits with “Who Do You Want For Your Love?” a song
that mixes that sappy folksy rock, with a guitar riff that would be right at
home in a James Brown song it is so funky.
Later when the song begins to rock out, that same guitar riff gets thick
and fuzzy, but it is still recognizably and gloriously funky. In fact, “Who
Do You Want For Your Love?” is so refreshing it almost bumped “Bandolier”
into four star territory all on its own.
Unfortunately,
not every track has the same level of excellence. In addition to the aforementioned “Slipaway” there is also “Napoleon Bona-Part One and Part Two”
which is really just a single song. In
addition to being one of the stupidest song titles in my music collection, the
song is a bit all over the place in a bad way.
Usually Budgie will mix in two or three riffs and change-ups that
connect well with each other, but in “Napoleon,
etc.” they just try to cram too much into a single song. The band is so tight and talented that it is
still a passable track, but I think this one should have been developed into
two or three separate songs.
This is
another of the Budgie re-masters and commits the same sin as the other ones in including
bonus tracks of alternate version of songs that are already on the basic
album. “Bandolier” is not quite as bad
as the other records for this. There are
three annoying repeats, all of which are live performances that don’t measure
up to the studio original, but this time the band also includes a fourth track that
is new. This is “Honey,” a B-side from the 45 singles release of “I Ain’t No Mountain.” “Honey”
is not a very interesting song, but it is nice to get new content for a change.
Lyrics
were never Budgie’s strong suit, and “Bandolier” is also unremarkable on this
front. Most of the songs are just about rockin’
out or some form of romantic expression (either a love ballad or R&B
inspired cheatin’ songs). That suits me
well, though. Artists should be taken in
their own context. You don’t expect ACDC
to write poetry like Dylan or Cohen and you shouldn’t expect it from Budgie
either; these are bands that are about the music first.
Overall
I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed “Bandolier” this time
around. Tony Bourge’s guitar is as good
as it has ever been, and he expertly plays rock riffs, bluesy chord progressions
and whimsical folk plucking with equal excellence. Burke Shelley’s Geddy Lee-like vocal stylings
are an acquired taste, but as a Rush fan I acquired it a long time ago.
If
anything, at six songs the album is a bit too short, even for a seventies
offering limited by vinyl. When two of
the songs aren’t strong, you’ve only got four others to hang your hat on. I listened to this album for an extra day on
my walks because I was enjoying it so much, but maybe I was also hoping for a
bit more content.
If you
are new to Budgie this isn’t where to start, but if you like what you hear on
other albums, by all means get “Bandolier” as well before you end your journey.
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