It has been over eight years since I last reviewed an album by this next band. Welcome back, Budgie!
Disc 1460 is…. Self-Titled
Artist: Budgie
Year of Release: 1971
What’s up with the Cover? Yet another depiction of a budgie-headed man riding a flying horse through the clouds. How predictable.
How I Came To Know It: My friend Spence put me onto this album – and the band generally. I can even remember where it happened. He played the song “Homicidal Suicidal” in his car. I even remember where we were, driving down Yates Street. I don’t remember the year, because years have all begun to bleed into one another as “Pre-Covid Times” but a long time ago – over ten years at least. I do remember he played it loud, which is how this record is best enjoyed.
How It Stacks Up: It has been so long since I reviewed my last Budgie album that I have added two more to my collection and now own seven. I had been saving first place for this record, but in the end it landed in third, just behind “In for the Kill” and “Never Turn Your Back on a Friend.”
Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4
If you are one of those people who praise an album with expressions like, “dude, it is so heavy” then this record is for you. While later Budgie could be thought of as a cross between Black Sabbath and Rush, their debut replaces the Rush in that equation with Cream. Gone are the proggy musings, replaced with even more sludgy riffs and a healthy dollop of acid-rock.
The record is blast after blast of six to eight minute hard rock awesomeness, with short little hippy guitar noodles that serve as a palate cleanser before the next song shoves your head back under again. The heaviness of the record should not be compared to the metallic crunch of later metal. Their sound is rounded at the edges, and very bluesy, while holding to that aggressive metal style.
Ray Phillips drumming lands with dull but powerful thuds, reminding me favourably of Black Sabbath’s Bill Ward. On “Nude Disintegrating Parachute Woman” Phillips delivers some of his best hits, the strikes coming slow and off-kilter, stumbling toward you like an artful drunk. The song also features some of guitarist’s Tony Bourge best work. Bourge is playing around with blues solos here, but he takes them into the land of psychedelia. “Nude Disintegrating Parachute Woman” is eight and a half minutes of your life you won’t get back, but you won’t want to either.
Oh, and if that song title inspired you and are wondering what it is about, the answer is…not much more than that image, possibly viewed through a drugged or alcoholic haze. Budgie sings about weird shit, but the lyrics are often less important than a general mood they’re trying to invoke. That’s the case here.
The album’s true masterpiece (and the song my buddy first hooked me with) is the album’s final track, “Homicidal Suicidal.” This song has the same brilliant riff/drum combo of Phillips/Bourge but the riff is even better. It is a riff that would be one of rock and roll’s most instantly recognizable if only Budgie had been just a little more famous. It is also the best work from vocalist (and Geddy Lee lookalike) Burke Shelley. This song is built for standing on the hood of a Camaro, arms outstretched and beer in hand, ideally with your shirt off. Make sure the Camaro owner is cool first, though. Camaros are a thing of beauty and not to be abused. But I digress…
Back to the album, which does have one significant drawback, that being the production. Budgie turned the sludge up to 11 and while this is deliberate, it can take away from some of the fabulous musicianship on display. The drums benefit a lot from the treatment, but the separation of sound suffers. If you really love sludgy production, this will hands-down be your favourite Budgie record, but I wanted a bit more definition.
Finally, like all these Budgie remasters in my collection, it has a whole bunch of superfluous bonus tracks that annoyed the hell out of me. While Billy Bragg has the good manners to put bonus material on a separate disc, Budgie loads it all in together, leaving me with three versions of “Nude Disintegrating Parachute Woman.” Eight and a half minutes of that song is a good time, but when it gets north of 20 minutes it’s too much.
Overall, I love this record and more than a decade after the first time I heard it, “Homicidal Suicidal” remains one of my all-time favourite rock songs.
Best tracks: Guts, Nude Disintegrating Parachute Woman, Homicidal Suicidal
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