2004 remastered reissue of 1971 album includes four bonus tracks, 'Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman', 'Guts', 'Rape Of The Locks', & 'Crash Course In Brain Surgery'. Noteworthy.
2004 remastered reissue of 1971 album includes four bonus tracks, 'Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman', 'Guts', 'Rape Of The Locks', & 'Crash Course In Brain Surgery'. Noteworthy.
CD Reviews
The dirtiest
znodog | nyc, usa | 04/18/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is a dirty little gem of a debut. You can listen to all of Budgie's output, all the great variety. But this baby always wails. Yes right from the beginning riff to the screams and screeches of Burke Shelly you can not help your self from feeling that surge that rock is all about. This is heavy and does remind you of all your favorite hard rock heroes. Budgie were contemporaries with all our heroes. They were right there since 1970. This is the beginning and a great introduction to this band, The follow up SQUAWK is on the dirty side too, worth checking out !"
Budgie: Open The Cage!
M. McKay | Downey, CA United States | 01/09/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)
"For a few years I've seen CDs of this band while browsing through the B section of local record stores (they can still be called "record stores" right?). I had no idea who they were or what they sounded like...in fact, with all the garage rock revival that has happened, I thought they might be a modern band. I looked them up here on Amazon and found out they were another early metal band from England at the time of Zeppelin, Purple, Sabbath, Heep, etc. I checked out the sample of "Homicidal Suicidal" and was knocked out (much like I was by Sir Lord Baltimore a month earlier...check out my review for them). Good crunchy Sabbath-like guitar riffs with a Geddy Lee like vocal on top...sounded good to me!
I ordered the 2004 remastered version on Noteworthy...not the inferior Repertoire release some years back. This band is really good...not awesome because it can't really compare to Zeppelin, Purple, or even Grand Funk Railroad for that matter. However this album does not sound like it came out in 1971, it's loud, heavy, and packs one hell of a wallop...just check out the opening guitar chords for first song "Guts." Tony Bourge was another good guitarist for this time...a little Tony Iommi and Ritchie Blackmore mixed together. Burke Shellys lead vocals were most definitely unique..like I said think Geddy Lee of Rush only with a bit more gusto and emotion poured into them. If you want to check out Budgie, start at the beginning with this album. Oh by the way did I mention Metallica covered two of their songs...."Crash Course In Brain Surgery" and "Breadfan." Obviously James Hetfield and co. were listening!"
5 star for music, 1 star for remastering
Hyn-wook Kim | Seoul, South Korea | 03/18/2010
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Definitely, Budgie was the one of my favorite and the most important British rock band. Compared with their 1st, 3rd, and 4th, this album is slightly weak in speed and power, however, still is shining through the whole vinyl and marks as a minimalistic masterpiece in hard rock history. I have already owned two versions of this album, original first pressing vinyl and Roadrunner version. Recently, I have found this new remastered version came out and eventually got this several days ago in a full expectation for a new dimensional sound. However, after listening to this new version, I'm deeply disappointed at the remastering condition. Even compared with the early 90's version of Roadrunner version, needless to say original vinyl, this version sounds suffocating with the lack of clarity as well as weak with the lack of powerful low-pitched base. Moreover, lack of distinction among instruments and channels. Most recording companies should remember that Alternative mix or later re-jamming version may be a good present for us; however, most of old-rock lovers are more enthusiastic for the new dimensional excellent quality of familiar old stuffs."
Birth of Metal
Bloodbath_and_Beyond | usa | 01/31/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"In 1971, Welsh trio Budgie (Burke Shelly bass/vocals, Tony Bourge guitars, Ray Phillips drums) released this debut album. And of course they became one of the best under the radar bands of all time. Although some have some negative opinions of Budgie (Sabbath rip off's, lack of production etc) none of that really holds up. If you're into the same old same old (Zeppelin, Sab, Purple, Heep, or even Grandfunk and Bloodrock), you should love these guys, although they will never earn their place on the mantal because they never 'made it big'. It really means nothing as this album is quite mindblowing for retro proto heavy metal. The opener Guts is right off the bat bludgeoning you with it's riffs. Budgie are not fast metal, although they do speed up on occasion. Fans of Sab's doom sound should adore it, although Budgie isn't dark. Long, structuered Zeppelin-ish rockers like The Author, Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman, and the vile Homicidal Suicidal are some of the best early day metal produced. Sprinkled upon the album (as with all of Budgie's albums) are short, to the point acoustic folk songs, as Budgie was always into dynamics. Though it may seem bleak to pure metalheads, at this time, not everything was about speed and heavyness. These slight breathcatchers make the metal these guys produce even better. The sound is quite raw which fits it perfect. The cool thing about Budgie, that I believe Zep and Sab lacked is a groove. While Zep certainly had such a thing at certain rare moments, Budgie must have had an appreciation for funk of some kind because, despite being a heavy metal band they underly a lot of unique elements into their sound although this concept wouldn't fully take shape until future efforts. It really adds to how fun it is to listen to Budgie, as mentioned before, Budgie were never into the dark witchcraft/Satanic side of metal songwriting. Either way metal doesnt need to be dark to be heavy, and although most current metalheads are too macho to check out anything like this, Metallica has seemigly given these guys a bit of cred with the generation with their covers, even if they do suck. This is great stuff, metal fan or just pure rock and roll, check them out."
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1