Budgie - Rarities And Radio Sessions (1972-1981)

(U.K 1967-1988, 1995-1996, 1999-2010)

Budgie were a hard rock band from Cardiff, Wales formed in 1967. Originally called 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.

After performing several gigs in 1968, the band changed their name to Budgie the following year and recorded their first demo. The band had initially considered going under the name "Six Ton Budgie", but decided the shorter single word variant was preferable. 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".

In the final years of his life, Shelley suffered from Stickler syndrome, and on two occasions had an aortic aneurysm. Shelley died in his sleep at the Heath Hospital on 10th January 2022, at the age of 71. RIP Burke Shelley.

Rarities And Radio Sessions Tracks

Whiskey River (Single Edit)

Budgie Mk I

Burke Shelley -- bass guitar, vocals

Tony Bourge -- guitar, vocals
Ray Phillips -- drums

A fantastic starter to Budgie's second album ' Squawk' released in 1972. Whiskey River was played live at most Budgie gigs, and the song keeps sounding better and better.

Burke Shelley: "Whiskey River, a rocking song! This was a great song to play live. We were constantly riffing in our song writing and this one has a constant rhythm that allows for a good stomp."

Ray Phillips: "There weren't that many bands out there using double bass drums. I think it's fair to say that Budgie were one of the first bands to actually write a number that was released as a single, involving double bass drums. Well, when we went to do the second album, we went in, and the next thing I know is they'd messed around with my drum sound, and it just wasn't as good."

Whiskey River is a worthy opener for the Squawk album, it has a totally bluesy riff that is augmented by an excellent vocal line. Tony Bourge plays some great and fast guitar licks on this track, but one can hear the enthusiasm fading quickly. Shelley's voice is excellent here, as he is definately not as shrieky as he usually is. The rhythm section is excellent, with distorted bass guitar and trippy drumming make the track nothing short of a defining moment.

Release Date: March 3rd, 1972
"Whiskey River" / "Guts" (1972, MCA MK-5085) - UK
"Whiskey River" / "Stranded" (1972, KAPP K-2185) – US

Sadly UK-Charts show no entry in the 1972 UK charts for Whiskey River or their LP Squawk


Zoom Club (Single Edit)

Budgie MkII

Burke Shelley -- bass guitar, vocals
Tony Bourge -- guitar, vocals
Pete Boot -- drums

"Zoom Club" is a track taken from Budgie's fourth studio album, titled 'In For The Kill', released in 1974.

Zoom Club also quickly became a favourite live number with the fans. A club in Frankfurt, Germany was the initial inspiration for the number.

Burke recalls "Playing in Frankfurt at the Zoom Club, Americans used to turn up at this club which was when the Vietnam War was on. They were all off to Vietnam eventually, or most of them. It was just one of those places, it was like the last place before they all went to war. The Zoom Club was the place they all went to".

Tony Bourge recalls: "That was again one of Burke's ideas. It was basically about a club that we played in Germany where all the G.I's used to go. Hence the first couple of lines...."Come all you G.I's".

“Zoom Club” is superb, heavy as hell hard rock, mid to up tempo played by an insistent guitar riff which never lets up, powerful bass line and pounding drums all over the performance, featuring an excellent extended guitar break and topped off by Burke Shelley’s forceful, wild at times vocal.
Appearing on their "In For The Kill" album, the band's signature bluesy sound is made all the spicier by nuanced jazz and funk influences that started creeping into their music around this time, while the top-notch production wraps the whole thing up in a seamless package.

This single release of Zoom Club is a much shortened version of the @10min album version, edited down to 3:20 min to attract radio play.

Release Date: 26th April, 1974
"Zoom Club" / "Wondering What Everyone Knows" (1974, MCA MCA-133) - UK

Sadly "Zoom Club" did not chart in the UK in 1974, however their album 'In For The Kill' made #29 on the album charts (see UK-Charts)


Honey (B-Side Single)

Budgie Mk III

Burke Shelley -- bass guitar, vocals
Tony Bourge -- guitar, vocals
Steve Williams -- drums


This B-Side Single (of "I Ain't No Mountain") was released in 1975 and never appeared on any of Budgie's studio albums.

Honey is a beautiful acoustic track that show cases Shelley's falsetto voice while Bourge demonstrates a more classical approach to his guitar playing.

 The sound quality on my Australian vinyl copy was very poor and distorted, and therefore I rarely played this acoustic track. The remastered CD release of Bandolier has a much better sounding version, as is the recording here.


Release Date: 14th February, 1975
"I Ain't No Mountain" / "Honey" (1975, MCA MCA-1439) - AUS/UK


Who Do You Want for Your Love: (Live on The Old Grey Whistle Test, BBC TV Show, June 1975)

The Old Grey Whistle Test Running Sheet

Burke Shelley -- bass guitar, vocals
Tony Bourge -- guitar, vocals
Steve Williams -- drums

"Who Do You Want for Your Love" is a track from Budgie's fifth studio album, titled  'Bandolier', which was released in 1975. It has a cool funky opening, but evolves into a well-composed heavy metal song with some of my favorite riffs.

This live recording of the track was made on The Old Grey Whistle Test, BBC TV Show, 28th June 1975, as documented by Bob Harris (see archive.bobharris.org)

Note that the 'Official Budgie Fan Club' have incorrectly listed it as 27th June, 1975 (see  Budgie Fan Club). This cannot be the case as 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' was always broadcast on Saturdays, which was the 28th June. 

The Old Grey Whistle Test was a British television music show devised by BBC producer Rowan Ayers, commissioned by David Attenborough and aired on BBC2 from 1971 to 1988. According to presenter Bob Harris, the programme derived its name from a Tin Pan Alley phrase from years before. When they got the first pressing of a record they would play it to people they called the old greys – doormen in grey suits. Any song the doormen could remember and whistle, having heard it just once or twice, had passed the old grey whistle test.

The Old Grey Whistle Test: Who Do You Want for Your Love

Interesting fact: The song lyrics make reference to the phrase "Never Turn Your Back On A Friend" which was used for the title of their third album, released in 1973.

Budgie with Myf Issac (2nd left)

Zoom Club: (Live in St. Louis, USA, Dec 1976)

Burke Shelley -- bass guitar, vocals

Tony Bourge -- guitar, vocals

Steve Williams -- drums

Myf Issac - Guitar

This live recording was made in Rusty Springs, St Louis, Missouri USA on 4th December, 1976. Zoom Club was not included on the LP release of this concert (see VERNE 109) however it was included on the CD release (see On The Air AIR 25).

Sourced from a very nice radio broadcast of Budgie's 'If I Were Britannia I'd Waive The Rules' tour in the US, it was most likely sourced from a very low gen tape. The sound is flawless on this live recording of Zoom Club. 

With additional Welsh guitarist Myf Issacs (a former member of Quest) touring with the band, Budgie's stage sound was a lot fuller than earlier gigs and Bourge was given a lot more freedom to reproduce those magical lead breaks that he is renowned for on record. Budgie only used Myf Issac, as the second guitar player for live performances between Mid 1976 - Mid 1978 and never recorded with any of their studio work.


Sky High Percentage  /  In The Grip Of  A Tyrefitter's Hand:

(BBC - Live at Maida Vale Studio 4, John Peel Show, London July 1976)
Burke Shelley -- bass guitar, vocals
Tony Bourge -- guitar, vocals
Steve Williams -- drums
Myf Issac - Guitar

John Peel

John Peel was one of the first broadcasters to play psychedelic rock and progressive rock records on British radio. He is widely acknowledged for promoting artists of many genres, including pop, dub reggae, punk rock and post-punk, electronic music and dance music, indie rock, extreme metal and British hip hop.

Peel's Radio 1 shows were notable for the regular "Peel Sessions", which usually consisted of four songs recorded by an artist in the BBC's studios, often providing the first major national coverage to bands that later achieved fame.

Myf Issacs & Steve Williams

Budgie had significant airplay on Peel's show in the early 70's and they would do two sessions for his programmes, one of them in 1976, where they only performed two songs. In later years, Peel revisited one of Budgie's songs, when Federation X covered their song, Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman, which was played by the DJ, who then played one of Budgie's songs on his BBC Radio One and FSK shows.

The John Peel session from 1976 is excellent with some complimentary comments from "dear John" himself. There is also the added interest that Myf Issac is playing second guitar on these two tracks.


I Turned To Stone  /  Superstar  /  She Used Me Up:

(BBC - Live at Maida Vale Studio 4, 'Friday Rock Show, London Dec, 1981)

Budgie Mk IV

Burke Shelley -- bass guitar, vocals
John Thomas -- guitar, vocals
Steve Williams -- drums

The Friday Rock Show from 1981 is another strong production and Budgie sound very tight and well rehearsed having just finished a UK tour to promote the newly released Nightflight album that these three tracks come from. John Thomas' guitar work is particularly exciting.

Tommy Valance (Left)

The Friday Rock Show (FRS) was a radio show in the United Kingdom that was broadcast on BBC Radio 1 from 10pm to midnight on Friday nights, from 17 November 1978 until 2 April 1993. For most of its existence, it was hosted by Tommy Vance.

The show replaced John Peel on Friday nights, but Peel's show had previously featured more mainstream styles of rock music than he personally favoured as "part of a review function"; after the Friday Rock Show began, Peel was able to concentrate on the post-punk styles he was most enthused by at this point.

Interesting Note: These 3 Budgie FRS recordings were made 2 weeks before they were broadcast on the 18th Dec, as documented on the Friday Rock Show's Wiki

This post consists of FLACs ripped from my recently purchased vinyl from a record store in Athens, while holidaying in Europe.   Full album artwork and label scans are also included, along with all post photos. 

Although I have all of these tracks on CD, the attraction of having them on vinyl was too great, and yes, it's another gem in my Budgie Record collection. Released by VERNE records, this album is serves also a great compilation of Budgie classics. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Track List:

A1 Whisky River (edit) 2:31

A2 Zoom Club (edit) 3:17

A3 Honey 3:21

A4 Who Do You Want For Your Love (Live) 6:30

A5 Zoom Club (Live) 9:27

B1 Sky High Percentage (Live) 5:36

B2 In The Grip Of A Tyrefitters Hand (Live) 5:42

B3 I Turned To Stone  (Live) 3:44

B4 Superstar (Live) 5:51

B5 She Used Me Up (Live) 3:15

Track Sources:

Side One:

Whiskey River (alternative single version. UK A-side, March 1972)

Zoom Club (alternative single version. UK A-side, April 1974)

Honey (B-side of "Ain't No Mountain" UK Single, February 1975)

Who Do You Want For Love (Old Grey Whistle BBC June 1975)

Zoom Club (Live St. Louis December 1976, not on that LP)

Side Two

Sky High Percentage (London BBC John Peel 1st July 1976)

In The Grip of A Tyrefitter's Hand (London BBC John Peel 1st July 1976)

I Turned To Stone (London BBC Friday Rock Show 18th December 1981)

Superstar (London BBC Friday Rock Show 18th December 1981)

She Used Me Up (London BBC Friday Rock Show 18th December 1981)

Budgie Link (250Mb)