Budgie

OBAL VIZ FOTO
DESKA VELMI DOBRY AZ VYBORNY STAV

A1  Breaking All The House Rules 
A2  Slipaway 
A3  Who Do You Want For Your Love? 
B1  I Can't See My Feelings 
B2  I Ain't No Mountain 
B3a  Napolean Bona-Part One 
B3b  Napolean Bona-Part Two



    Engineer – Pat Maran, Ray Martinez (2), Richard Manwaring
    Illustration [Cover] – Patrick Woodroffe
    Lacquer Cut By – Porky (5) (tracks: A1 to A3), Peko* (tracks: B1 to B3)
    Mastered By – George Peckham
    Producer – Budgie


Recorded at Rockfield Studios, Monmouth, and Mayfair Sound, London.

Seemingly oblivious to the fact that almost nobody cared about them, Budgie just rolled on through the seventies forging ever-stronger alloys of indestructible metal, creating a legacy that would flummox and fulfill even the most jaded of rock ears. And Bandolier in a sense is the first really modern Budgie album, one that saw them shake off the fuzz ‘n sludge of their earlier work, and start down a cleaner and sharper path. That’s not to say that the old wackiness of yore is gone. No, here it’s just brighter and less hung-over, eyes wide to the future of metal that bands like the Scorpions, Judas Priest, UFO and Thin Lizzy were also becoming awakened to. But unlike most of their occasionally popular compatriots, Budgie would continue reveling in the margins right up through the eighties, receiving only a slight shot in the arm from the fortunes of the NWOBHM and the renown almost all Brit-related metal enjoyed during the period. But whatever the sales figures figure, Bandolier is a remarkable piece of work.
Opener “Breaking All The House Rules” rolls with the kind of infectious half-riff that only gents as sublime as this band could write, seeing simplicity as the path towards enlightenment as often as they did complexity and craft. Notice however how much brighter the band sound here, their new sheen giving vibrant life to their music which was previously (thought enjoyably) mud-caked. This newfound clarity is in full effect on he ethereal and translucent “Slipaway,” a mellow track that’s as optimistic as its spiritual cousins (“Wondering What Everyone Knows,” for example) were forlorn and doomed. Funk riffs and silky notions abound on “Who Do You Want For Your Love,” before the now standard but welcome Budgie bombast begins. The flip is just as gloriously confounding. “I Can’t See My Feelings” is rhythmically odd, a stop-start base peppered up with acoustic and electric sentiments that can’t help but keep one on his/her toes. I must beg you, though, hold on to your ear-holes for “Napoleon Bona-Part One & Two,” a titanic brute of a construct that creeps in with eerie calm and then erupts into one of the heaviest tracks the band ever penned, and also one of the seventies’ heaviest in general! For me, this is the apex of the band’s intellectual property, being a smart but thuggish number, full of bluster and flair, the kind of metal one just does not hear anymore, but should, damn it!
If you can only manage to absorb one Budgie opus overall, I’d make it this one, if I were you. But since I’m me and can’t be you, I’ll truck on down the Budgie highway where more disturbingly original discoveries await.
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In my opinion, this is Budgie's magnum opus, their heaviest and best recording, and a real tour de fource of 70s hard rock.  Starting with the somewhat MC5-ish "Breaking All The House Rules", it shows Budgie at an all new level of volume and speed, and is probably the most metallic of all their albums.  "I Can't See My Feelings" is a popular one, and balances heavy rock & prog roots nicely, though the highlight for me is the epic "Napoleon Bona, Pts. 1 & 2".  All of what Budgie was previously comes together nicely on this album, making it easily their best.  The whole album sounds and feels so much more accomplished, that I can't believe it doesn't get more mention when people talk of Budgie.  A classic album by a great band, not to be missed.
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The other contender for Budgie's best album. “Never Turn Your Back On A Friend” has the band's most extreme and very best songs, but overall this is probably their most consistent.

“Bandolier” isn’t super heavy, they just rock. The style could easily seem really simple, ponderous and blunt, but the three instruments fit together well and the songs tend to evolve a bit. The rockers chug along at a tasteful medium-fast pace, with rhythm and lead adding a bit of melody in places. Plus there’s a decent slice of soft rock on the album, such as the beautiful “Slipaway” and the intro to “Who do You Want for Your Love”, which is very simple but so effective. And as we all know, the gentle music of heavy rock bands is quite different from all other kinds of mellow music, it’s really good stuff.

“I Can’t See My Feelings” has always been my favourite track, that song rocks! “Honey”, the B side of the “I Ain’t No Mountain” single, is a really nice acoustic number and a fine PS to this humble historic album of first generation heavy metal.
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Słuchając tego albumu, a także poprzednich zastanawiam się jak to do cholery jest możliwe że Budgie nie osiągnęło wielkiego sukcesu komercyjnego, a było jedynie znane w wąskim gronie fanów. Szukałem ich płyt po sklepach w UK i nie znalazłem, doszło do tego że jedyną możliwością ich zakupu jest internet, lub... kupno w Polsce. Bandolier, album który przebił pozostałe, to na co narzekałem czyli brak równości na poprzednich płytach znikł na tej, jest szybko rytmicznie i zadziornie od początku do samego końca. Najlepszy album zespołu, który przypieczętował ich markę, szkoda jednak że nie poszła ona razem z popularnością.

Listening to this album, as well as the previous ones I wonder how the hell is it possible that the Budgie didn't achieve great commercial success, and was only known to a small group of fans. I searched their records in UK's stores and I haven't found, came to that the only option is to purchase it online, or... buy in Poland. Bandolier, an album that broke the other, lack of equality on which I complained in previous albums disappeared on this one, is rapidly and rhythmically brawler from the beginning to the end. Best album of the band, which sealed their brand, but a shame that it did not go along with popularity.
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The final album of Budgie’s classic period, Bandolier, has the band start drifting away from their hard rock roots though not to a level that doomed their subsequent releases. Even though this isn’t the most representative album of Budgie’s sound at its best, I put this behind Never Turn Your Back on a Friend in ranking the first five Budgie albums. The best tracks on the album are those that stick to their extended hard rock formula and I’ll concede that there are some duds to be had that are painfully smooth in both their songwriting and production but for me the highs outweigh the lows.

I can see many longtime fans of Budgie not enjoying the two tracks that break the Budgie formula most egregiously. “Slipaway (Parrot Fashion Ball)” and “Who Do You Want for Your Love” are out of character with the former sounding like a stab at mainstream pop/rock radio play and the latter making use of a funk laced guitar riff and bass line. I wouldn’t say these developments are entirely ill advised but given the struggles the band would later have after breaking from their roots, dislike towards these tracks is motivated by a “beginning of the end” mentality. These two tracks are the only missteps on the album which is buoyed up by such classic Budgie tracks as “Breaking All the House Rules” and “Napoleon Bona, Pts. 1&2”. Also of note is “I Can’t See My feelings” which is bound to please fans of the band’s first four LP’s. Overall, Bandolier brings the classic Budgie era to a close but does so without fading out, instead standing alongside the band’s best work. Unfortunately Budgie would struggle with stylistic changes over their next five albums before calling it quits, then releasing an ill advised comeback.

Favorites: “Breaking All the House Rules” “Napoleon Bona, Pts. 1&2” “I Can’t See My Feelings”
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By album number five these guys are still going very strong. There's less of the early 70's sound I prefer, but I don't mind since it's Budgie. The only track I'm not fully on board with is Slipaway since it's much slower than the others. Oh how the others rock though and more than compensate for it. I have to say some of their best songs are on this one. Especially the closing tracks on each side (Who Do You Want For Your Love? and the epic Napoleon Bona-Parts One & Two). They alone make the album worth your hard earned doll hairs
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They have this formula down pat by this release. Solid hard rock from this power trio.