Never Turn Your Back On Budgie

About ten years ago, I was really obsessed with Budgie and wanted to collect UK pressings for all of their albums. It was a nice dream, but I only managed to pick up two of them, Bandolier and In For The Kill, before I got distracted and moved on to chase other things. When I was picking up the Zero Boys record on Discogs and saw that the seller also had a UK pressing of Budgie's third album available, I figured that the time was right to finally add one more to the collection.

Never Turn Your Back On A Friend was released in 1973, and has one of my favorite Budgie songs, Breadfan, on it. Of course the first time I heard the song was when Metallica was covering it on the b-side for the Eye Of The Beholder single, but this Budgie version hits hard too. Throw in other Budgie classics like You're The Biggest Thing Since Powdered Milk and In The Grip Of A Tyrefitter's Hand, and this record is so good.

Man, it was really nice picking up this record and a great reminder of how much I enjoy listening to this kind of stuff. It's got me thinking of those other 70's bands that I was hot to collect at one point... more Budgie, Thin Lizzy, Kiss, Deep Purple... and wondering what other holes I still need to fill.

In For The Kill

Organizing my record shelves a couple of months ago brought my focus around to the early 70's. I spent a bunch of time obsessing over some holes in my collection from that time period, and while I still had a long way to go, my attention eventually got pulled in other directions after picking up a record or three.

When I was picking up the first record from The Clash recently, since the seller was from the UK, I decided to see what else was available. Hey, when I'm paying overseas shipping, I might as well make it worth my while, right?

Seeing that the seller had a Budgie record available, it pulled me back to that early 70's frame of mind. Last year I started my Budgie vinyl collection with Bandolier, and it seemed like a great time to finally cross another one off my list.

Man, whenever I listen to a Budgie record, it immediately puts me in the mood to queue up another. This band is so damn good...and underrated classic.

While it certainly didn't break the bank, this piece of vinyl is my most expensive record from '74...and was worth every British pound that I paid.

Breaking All The House Rules

In my head, I have a list of record collections that I want to tackle. Some of them, like the Megaforce silver labels or Black Sabbath UK Vertigo pressings, are works in progress...others have started to take root with a few pieces of vinyl, like UK Vertigo pressings for Thin Lizzy, or UK Neat pressings...while others, like the green Combat labels, are just waiting to get started.

Also on the list of things that I want to focus on are the Bronze pressings for Motorhead, and UK pressings for the Budgie albums. When my friend Jeff quickly grabbed a few of the Motorhead records for himself, I felt like I needed to compete and go in a different direction, and immediately jumped to see what I could find for Budgie vinyl.

Since the first Budgie album that I ever listened to was the Bandolier LP, when I first discovered them back in 2007, it made sense to me that it be the first one that I picked up on vinyl.

I was initially hesitant to buy records through the discogs marketplace, but more and more I'm finding that is the place I check for used vinyl, and overall, the experience has been great.

This album rules so much, and I've been listening to it every other day for the past three or four months. Such an underrated classic, and Budgie is slowly climbing my list of all-time favorite bands.