Year :1981 (Remastered Edition 2013)
Style : Hard Rock , Classic Rock , Progressive Rock
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 152 mb
Bio:
Budgie is a Welsh hard rock/heavy metal band from Cardiff. They are described by author Gary Sharpe-Young as one of the earliest heavy metal bands and a seminal influence to many acts of that scene, with fast, heavy rock (an influence on the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) and acts such as Metallica)being played as early as 1971. The band has been noted as "among the heaviest metal of its day".[5] Notable Budgie songs include "Breadfan", "I Can't See My Feelings", "Crash Course In Brain Surgery", "Parents", "I Turned To Stone" and "Napoleon Bona - Parts 1 & 2".Budgie formed in 1967 in Cardiff, Wales under the name Hills Contemporary Grass. Their original line-up consisted of Burke Shelley on vocals and bass, Tony Bourge on guitar and vocals, and Ray Phillips on drums.[6] After performing several gigs in 1968, the band changed their name to Budgie the following year and recorded their first demo.The band originally formed under such names as Hills Contemporary Grass and Six Ton Budgie.[7] Burke Shelley has said that the band's name came from the fact that he, "loved the idea of playing noisy, heavy rock, but calling ourselves after something diametrically opposed to that".Their debut album in strong blues oriented hard rock lines was recorded at Rockfield Studios with Black Sabbath producer Rodger Bain[9] and released in 1971, followed by Squawk in 1972. The third album, Never Turn Your Back On a Friend (1973), contained "Breadfan", which was covered by Metallica in 1988, the band having covered another Budgie song, "Crash Course In Brain Surgery" earlier in their career. Ray Philips left the band before the fourth album In for the Kill! was recorded and was replaced by Pete Boot (b. Peter Charles Boot, 30 September 1950, West Bromwich, Staffordshire).In late 1974, the band were joined by drummer Steve Williams for the album Bandolier, for live shows promoting this album and the follow-up, If I Were Brittania I'd Waive the Rules, the band were augmented by Welsh guitarist Myf Isaac, but both Bourge and Isaac left mid 1978 and were replaced by ex Trapeze guitarist Robert Kendrick. Music from the 1978 LP Impeckable was featured in the 1979 film J-Men Forever (shown frequently on the USA Network's "Night Flight" television series in the 1980s) which is now a cult classic. In late 1978, having been dropped by A&M and with no new recording contract, this line up floundered, and after 12 months Kendrick was replaced by "Big" John Thomas (b. 21 February 1952) in late 1979. This line up recorded two albums for Kingsley Wards 'Active' label: Power Supply (1980) and Nightflight (1981). 1982 saw them signed to RCA for Deliver Us From Evil their final recording for a "major label".Burke Shelley and Steve Williams performing in 1981 The band continued to have success during the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene, playing the Reading Festival in 1980 and then headlining the festival in 1982. They built a particular following in Poland,[citation needed] where they played as the first heavy metal band behind the Iron Curtain, in 1982. Also notable was their tour support of Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard of Ozz Tour.The band stopped gigging in 1988, members went into studio production, occasionally guesting on other projects; Thomas most notably worked on the Phenomena CD with Glenn Hughes[13][14] out of the Black Sabbath studios.Although the group has had very little commercial success in America, they have enjoyed a strong fan following in Texas and they have been known to receive radio airplay from Joe Anthony and Lou Roney on KMAC/KISS radio in San Antonio in the 1970s,[16] the band reformed using various drummers for one-off gigs in 1995, 1996 for outdoor festivals 'La Semana Alegre' in San Antonio, Texas. They toured in 2002-6, mostly in the United Kingdom, the NYC/NJ area, Dallas, and with a few shows in Europe including the Sweden Rock Festival and a return to post-Communist Poland. In 1999 the band reunited in Letchworth and officially reformed.In 2006 Budgie undertook a thirty five date United Kingdom tour and a new album, titled You're All Living In Cuckooland, was released in the UK on 7 November that year. In 2007 they played dates in Sweden and Poland.On 4 July 2007 Lees announced his departure from the band to concentrate on his teaching and solo career.Following the departure of Lees, Dio lead guitarist and songwriter Craig Goldy offered his services while Ronnie James Dio was completing commitments with Heaven & Hell on their World Tour.In February 2008 Craig Goldy accompanied Budgie on their first tour of Australia and has continued playing with Budgie as 'guest guitarist' for all of their shows.Budgie's November 2010 tour of Eastern Europe had to be cancelled as Shelley was hospitalised on 9 November in Wejherowo, Poland with a 6 cm aortic aneurism. After surgery, he returned to Britain for recovery.[17] Since then the band halted any activities, as Shelley can`t sing and play at the same time.
Album:
Nightflight is Budgie's ninth album, released in October 1981 on RCA Records. A remastered version, with two live tracks from 1981, was released in 2013. The illustration on the cover is by Derek Riggs.Budgie followed up Power Supply with 1981's Night Flight. By this time the rock trends since their early hay day has vastly changed and it was clearly evident they would never experience the kind of success the bands they influenced were having at the time and even in the future. But their cult fan base is well intact and opinion on their last 3 albums that were so different than their first 7 with Tony Bourge on guitar is quite split. Power Supply aimed for a more simple AC/DC style 'basic rock' album, obviously inspired by the wave of heavier rocking British bands like Priest, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Diamond Head, and Tank etc that dominated the underground scene at the time. Budgie opted to take the opposite approach with Night Flight. It's a different album and it might be slightly better because the band doesn't keep it so simple this time as on Power Supply. I Turned To Stone is a unique opener, starting off slow and lighting the flame to a decent but more commercial type power ballad style rocker that has a more epic feel than anything the band did on Power Supply. It's sort of become a Budgie classic. Keeping A Rendezvous has a nice drive to it, Reaper Of The Glory also has some good melodic moments and a fun feel, in fact it might be the most inspired the bands sounded since Impeckable.. The songs here really benefit from more commercial rock sound. She Used Me Up catches your attention. It has a good hard rock riff, there's echo on the drums and it has that sort of radio ready rock sound that does work for them and while early Budgie's charm was always the raw and dirty sound, the cleaner production works well, they find a nice balance here.Don't Lay Down And Die, is a bit pedestrian, has that groove bass line and gets good during the solo/bridge bit. Apparatus has that power ballad feel to the intro but it evolves into a fun slow one. Superstar is a by the books rocker that sounds like a left off track from Power Supply, it's uninspired. Change Your Ways has another slow opening riff and the drums bring it into a mid tempo light groover. It has a very polished feel but at the end has some nice anthemic moments. The album wraps up with Untitled Lullaby, a mellow acoustic instrumental with a continuous drum beat behind it. All in all, Night Flight beats out Power Supply because it has more variety and finds the band trying new things, kind of like their 1976 album If I Were A Brittania I'd Waive The Rules. There's a nice mix of more "pop/rock" style songs as well as fun driving rockers akin to AC/DC at work here but that doesn't matter because the majority of the songs are pretty good and the band sounds energized here. It's a big step above Power Supply, making this the best of 80s era Budgie and a minor gem in their catalog.
Line Up:
Burke Shelley - bass guitar & vocals
John Thomas - guitar, slide & vocals
Steve Williams - drums
Tracklist:
01. I Turned To Stone (6:11)
02. Keeping A Rendezvous (3:45)
03. Reaper Of The Glory (3:50)
04. She Used Me Up (3:17)
05. Don't Lay Down And Die (3:35)
06. Apparatus (2:52)
07. Superstar (3:28)
08. Change Your Ways (4:22)
09. Untitled Lullaby (1:21)
10. She Used Me Up (Live 1981) (3:03) (Bonus Track)
11. Superstar (Live 1981) (3:55) (Bonus Track)
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