BUDGIE

The debut album of Welsh heavy trio smashed the ears of the early 1970's listeners pretty hard, I understood they had the most strongest sound of that time along with Black Sabbath. I have understood that these groups were considered as pioneers of the stoner rock sound: heavy repetitive metal riffs with pulsing groovy rhythm and long tracks with simple structure. Budgie's personal sound is built from Tony Bourge's acoustic electric guitar, which has very unclear and fuzzy sound. He plays very hard riffs and also great blues rock solos. Burke Shelley's bass guitar and wild and heavy drumming of Ray Phillips dominate the sound with volume, and though I like the sound texture I would wish the guitar being slightly more in front. When I learned myself to play bass guitar, I listened and learned over to these early Budige vinyls, as their melodic lines are pleasant but simple, and very audible on the instruments I tried to meditate. The vocals of the bass player are really funny, sounding like a woman or a young child. I think there is a similar contrast like in the band's name, Budgie representing a group which was very heavy rock in its time.

The song titles "Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman" represent the lyrical line: Jokes and quite poor though possibly sincere everyman's poetry. From the songs, the most best of them is in my opinion "The Author", combining a moody quiet acoustic beginning, which evolves in a pretty way to very aggressive stoner jamming. The starter "Guts" is also ok, building up from a simple chromatic riff. "Rape of The Locks" and "All Night Petrol" have some slightly irritating parts in them, but there are some interesting musical parts in them. The parachutists song is bit too long so it starts to sound boring after several plays, and the few ca. minute lasting folk tunes sound more like unfinished song ideas. The final song "Homicidal Suicidal" is then one of the best songs here, having very aggressive parts, double bass drums and fuzzy sound.

If you like other 1970's vintage heavy rock bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, but have not heard yet Budgie, I would recommend their four or five first albums warmly. A taste for personal sounds and tolerance for extreme vocals are required.