05. Budgie Bandolier 1975 (MCA)
Hard Rock
A last great splash, before the well dried up!
Overview
I’ve always been a believer that most bands have a creative lifeline before they start to go stale or try and do things they just aren’t capable of really doing, and this lifeline seems to usually last around half a decade for most, which usually equates to four to six albums. So following this logic and with those bands starting around the late 1960s and early 1970s period, 1975 would therefore be the turning point for a number of featured artists so far in my lists. Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Nazareth and Budgie would all be bands that fell into this category. Budgie the band in question here, had always had the misfortune of never reaching the commercial heights of the other bands mentioned, but their place in the future of ‘metaldom’ was certainly assured after a classic run of five albums of which
Bandolier was the fifth album in that grouping. Peter Boot who had been the drummer for their last album
In for the Kill! had been given the boot (excuse the pun) and was replaced by Steve Williams on the drumstool, and he would become the band’s mainstay drummer for the rest of their time as a group. On the band’s previous two albums
Never Turn Your Back on a Friend and
In For the Kill! The band had mastered their own brand of very heavy bluesy hard rock, that matched the likes of Black Sabbath for heaviness and they usually had the odd quieter track for diversity, along with some progressive rock flourishes, which were all combined with the band’s own brand of humour for good measure. For
Bandolier the album which would be the last great album in the band’s discography, the band streamlined their sound to focus on a more funk based sound, which was toned up with metallic riffs and their customary very heavy rhythm section. The album cover probably ranks as one of the band’s most bizarre album covers in their whole discography, with three armed men on horses sporting green birdlike heads! Around this time and due to the heaviness of the band’s live shows, they were augmented on stage by fellow Welsh guitarist Myf Isaac who stayed with the band until 1978 when he departed along with Tony Bourge.
Burke Shelley- Bass/Vocals
Tony Bouge- Guitar
Steve Williams- Drums
Production- Budgie
Album
Breaking All the House Rules- Budgie are straight in with their trademark crunchy guitar and accompanying drums, and Burke Shelly sounds gruffer than normal here. The song is highlighted by a great riff and the song carries an infectious energy throughout.
Slipaway- With a gentle acoustic intro, the song gently rolls along with its almost tropical party beat and then into a tranquil feel.
Who Do You Want for Your Love- After a soft intro, the song moves into a superb funky piece, before then beefing itself up as expected and the song makes lyrical references to the
Never Turn Your Back on a Friend album.
I Can’t See My Feelings- One of the heaviest songs on the album and also one of the most solid with its jumpy beat. The song was later covered by Iron Maiden on one of their b-sides.
I Ain’t No Mountain- A cover of the Andy Fairweather Low penned song and certainly not one of the band’s best cover songs and easily the poorest song on the whole album.
Napoleon Bona-Part One/Napoleon Bona-Part Two- The album closer has a slow start before moving into a galloping main section. The song is the second longest track on the album after the album opener.
Verdict
One of the band’s heaviest and most funky releases,
Bandolier also serves as possibly the bands most focused album in their whole discography, as the band by
Bandolier have departed with the proggy and experimental flourishes that featured on their earlier albums.
Bandolier is an album that starts how it means to go on and from the moment you hear “Breaking All the House Rules” you know that this is going to set the tone for the rest of the album. There are some exceptions to this though, as on a song like “Slipaway” which is about as soft as the band ever get on the album and is in contrast to nearly everything else on the album. Some of the best highlights of
Bandolier are the funky pieces such as “Who Do You Want for Your Love” where the band beef up the Glenn Hughes (Trapeze and Deep Purple) type of funk and continue this into one of the album’s strongest tracks “I Can’t See My Feelings”. The funk though finally gives way to more harder fare for the album closer “Napoleon Bona-Part One/Napoleon Bona-Part Two” which is basically a hard galloping rocker to finish the album and a ‘bona-fide’ heavy track in every aspect. The album also has some of Tony Bourge’s most metallic riffs to date, especially on songs like “Breaking All the House Rules” “Who Do You Want for Your Love” “I Can’t See My Feelings” and “Napoleon Bona-Part One/Napoleon Bona-Part Two” and these songs are great examples of what a heavy rhythm section should be all about. The songs on
Bandolier tend to be lengthy compositions, with the shortest song being the Andy Fairweather Low cover “I Ain’t No Mountain” which also happens to be the weakest track on the album.
Bandolier is a stellar album from a band still at the top of their game, but international success always just seemed out of their grasp. In 1976 the band moved label to A&M and possibly due to label pressures, the band tried to record a more accessible mainstream sound, whilst keeping with a funky direction. The whole move just seemed to suck the creative spark out of the band and their creative juices also just seemed to dry up! Therefore
Bandolier was the album, that brought to a close the golden age of one of the ‘heavy genres’ best and most pivotal bands of its early years.