ROCKING at my house today! A gorgeous 180gr repress of the fifth album by Budgie. “Bandolier”, arrived in the mail courtesy of Amazon.co.uk. Still waiting for their first album to show up! 🙂
I know, I know… who the hell are these people? Well, in a nutshell: Budgie were a heavy metal band from Cardiff, Wales, active from the very early 70s, and among the earliest heavy metal bands ever. They played fast, heavy rock that was later cited as influential by bands like Metallica, yet Budgie were doing it as early as 1971. Personally I don’t hear the Metallica influence, but I do hear a poor man’s Led Zeppelin, and I mean that as a compliment! Their earlier albums remind me of late 70s, early 80s hard rock before it devolved into hair metal. There’s definitely some Nazareth in there, as well as Led Zeppelin, Dio, Heart, Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne, and maybe even some Mötley Crüe before they became completely ridiculous.
The band has been noted as “among the heaviest metal of its day” and I concur. I remember having my mind blown when I first heard them in high school. At the time I counted Black Sabbath among my favourite artists (still do!), and some of what Budgie were releasing just blew them out of the water. Sabbath had a deeper, more sinister sound due to the way they tuned their guitars, but Budgie were every bit as heavy. Of course, time marches on and their earlier output seems pretty tame by today’s standards, but it still rocks.
It’s worth checking them out if you like your rock on the heavier side. Listening back, I can hear a lot of sounds and styles that we now take for granted, they were all new at the time. And check out the album covers, definitely of their era, and I sense more than a little of what inspired Spinal Tap in them. Had Budgie started recording a few years later, instead of being avant-garde and obscure, they would likely have been very mainstream.
Their fifth album “Bandolier” doesn’t appear to be on Spotify, but their first album, which I’ve also ordered on 180gr vinyl, though it hasn’t arrived yet) is available for streaming. Here are a few highlights! 🤟
#MusicBoxTW
