BUDGIE: SQUAWK (1972)
1) Whiskey River; 2) Rockin'
Man; 3) Rolling Home Again; 4) Make Me Happy; 5) Hot As A Docker's Armpit; 6)
Drugstore Woman; 7) Bottled; 8) Young Is A World; 9) Stranded.
This was originally my introduction to
the Budgie sound, and so I am somewhat partial to their second album, even
though, when you put it in the proper context, it loses to the self-titled
debut in terms of freshness and to their third album in terms of polish and
ambition. Still, it seems clear enough that Squawk is not just a mechanical retread of Budgie: in the year 1972, broadening of the horizons was still
considered more noble than locking oneself into a tight, never-changing
formula, and next to Budgie, Squawk has a bit more of everything —
more acoustic numbers, a stronger folk and even Delta blues influence, and a
small, but solemn progressive streak that suggests Moody Blues and King Crimson
as humble, but insistent competitors to Black Sabbath as the band's primary
musical mentor.
Two tracks in particular stand out, each one
illustrating a different facet of the band. On the in-yer-face blood-and-guts
hard rock front, the neorealistically titled ʽHot As A Docker's Armpitʼ is an
early classic, with a super-catchy pop-metal riff whose notes are precisely
echoed by Shelley's vocals (even if it requires introducing a rather silly
stutter) and a speedy mid-section with one of Bourge's speediest solos ever
played (possibly influenced by ʽChild In Timeʼ), while the final section, with
its bolero structure, plays out like a Jeff Beck tribute. Derivative as heck,
yes, but its swagger cannot be beat — and while it is possible to be distracted
or irritated by Shelley's «goat» vocals, I think they work very well in the
context of this ironic, irreverent music that never asks you to take itself too
seriously. There's some sort of early proto-hipster snootiness about all this
that could be despised in a different context, but comes across as delightfully
hilarious when you remember all the «serious» hard rock bands playing around in
1972 — yes, even Deep Purple.
The second track is ʽYoung Is A Worldʼ,
showcasing Budgie's romantic / sentimental / artsy-folksy side — their
initiation, in fact, into this tricky world, and a fairly successful one. The
acoustic introduction, the Mellotron touch, Shelley's oddly seductive
declarations of "I can be big" and "I can be small",
Bourge's massive infusions of thick riffs and droning solos that come and go
while the main romantic theme keeps returning — all of this is not exactly King
Crimson quality, but a reasonable facsimile; at the very least, this helps them
break out of Sabbath's shadow, since Sabbath themselves would not begin their
own «artsy» phase until a year later. Even outside of any context, though,
ʽYoung Is A Worldʼ is just a nicely pulled off epic track, and Shelley in
particular plays the part of a naïve wild child very convincingly — he should
have actually sung more often in this high-and-deep register.
The rest of the material, though not as
immediately hooky or epic, is still quite consistent. ʽWhiskey Riverʼ cleverly
introduces a funky vibe into an otherwise generic blues-rocker (Ray Phillips'
drumming is particularly recommendable here); ʽStrandedʼ begins like it
wants to rip off Jimi's ʽIf 6 Was 9ʼ, but then moves into Zeppelin territory
instead and becomes their answer to ʽWhole Lotta Loveʼ; ʽBottledʼ is a short
and cool slide guitar instrumental (hence the title); and on ʽRolling Home
Againʼ, Budgie become the Monkees and play a friendly little country-pop ditty,
which sounds totally out of outer space in this context, but feels like a very
welcome companion. I am definitely not a fan of such relatively by-the-book
blues-rockers as ʽRockin' Manʼ and ʽDrugstore Womanʼ (the titles kind of speak
for themselves), but I don't have anything against them, either — there's enough
sectional changes and plenty of energy to keep them afloat without raising too
much interest.
Nevertheless, I do have to admit that if Squawk happened to be the last record
by this band, any memory of it would have washed out fairly quickly. Its thumbs up
are perfectly well guaranteed, but it is not here, no, that Budgie would
briefly turn into an unstoppable monster on the brink of dominating the hard
rockin' scene. To do that, they'd need to tighten and sharpen their act some
more — and one element of that was shedding their Sabbath skin completely, by
getting rid of Rodger Bain in the producer's chair.
The fun with Budgie is that they are derivative when I don't expect it. The riffs that found the verse and chorus of Hot as a Docker's Armpit are totally unique. I understand why you think Bourge's solo inspired by Blackmore - but Deep Purple never did a coda like this. The bolero is a bit silly, but silliness never harmed Budgie, so it's fine.
ReplyDeleteThe other songs I like are Whiskey River, Rockin' Man (excellent riffs) and indeed Young as a World. Btw Shelley in the midsection of Rockin' Man plays a riff that would later be used by Blackmore for Starstruck and Long live Rock'n'Roll.
I suppose you mean Stranded when writing the title track. The riffs are sub-par and Shelley's melody is poor, so I don't like it.
The beginning of Bourge's solo on Rockin' Man has him quoting Wring that Neck.
ReplyDeleteDerivative, yes. The humor factor does lighten the load a bit, but Bain seems to have pigeon-holed himself as the "heavy" producer, because a lot of this is Master of Reality 2. It even sounds like they downtuned the bass, if not all the guitars. I actually don't blame them for copying Sabbath, shows they were paying attention. But even Sab couldn't pull off a Young is the World, so definitely on the right track.
ReplyDeleteThe melody from Make Me Happy sounds like the blueprint for Naturträne from Nina Hagen and Ocean Size from Jane's Addiction.
ReplyDelete