BANDOLIER

An under-rated influential band. How can you not like Budgie headed humanoids riding on horses in space suits on the cover!

For those not familiar with Budgie, the main guys are Burke Shelley on bass and Tony Bourge on guitars with various drummers. They are sometimes credited (along with Sabbath and others) as being at the beginnings or influenced the Metal genre. To me I always thought of them as hard rock (out dated term I guess) and blues with elements of prog along with bits of funk thrown in. They are also compared to Rush quite a bit as they are a heavy power trio with the bass player doing the vocals with a higher pitched range. However, Budgie came along before Rush did.

Now for their fifth studio album, Bandolier.

The first track, Breaking All the House Rules, is a straight forward hard, semi-blues type rocker with a few twists and turns along the way. It sounds like they were having fun with this one.

Next up Slipaway, a ballad that has become somewhat of a staple in Budgie albums and they are always well done with intriguing melodies. Burke's vocals have a nice way of weaving in and out of the song.

Who Do Want for Your Love is next. This song has a rather catchy, slow funky start which transitions into a heavier beat. There is some good guitar work in this along the way. I like this one.

I Can't See My Feelings is another hard rock song with some blues/funk tendencies. Burke and Bourge have a good chemistry of writing where the songs at times can sound or morph into two songs in one. This is evident in most of their albums.

I Ain't No Mountain is song that sounds like something T-Rex could have done, another hard rock blues/funk blend. Still fun to listen to.

Now the prize of the album, Napoleon Bona Part 1 and 2. Budgie also shows humor in most of their albums with some of the song titles and lyrics. This starts off slow and dreamy then turns heavy with some killer riffs. It is not hard to see where Budgie influenced some later bands like Metallica and Judas Priest. The song takes some nice twists along the way. The favorite of the album! Worth the price of admission.

I picked this album to review as it was my only exposure to Budgie back in the 70's (in 8-track no less). I have recently rediscovered them through a co-worker/friend who has a massive album and CD collection. He has them all and with the exception of one or two albums, I like every one of them including their 2006 album, You're All Living in Cuckoo Land (only Shelley from the original line up).

I give this one 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 (half star for fond memories). For anyone who has not heard Budgie, any of the 70s albums are worth listening to (Bourge would leave on the 80s albums). Never Turn Your Back on a Friend is their most 'proggy' and highest rating here in PA, but most of their albums have some prog tendencies mixed in. Squawk and In For the Kill are also excellent.

Man, I have forgotten how much I like this band! Thanks Wes!