Budgie-If I Were Brittania I´d Waive The Rules (1976)

During their early period, the Welsh band Budgie recorded their most classic albums, a time when they showcased their heavy rock and blues rock side infused with progressive elements. In this vein, they released magnificent works such as "Budgie" (1971), "Squawk" (1972), "Never Turn Your Back on a Friend" (1973), and "In For The Kill" (1974). A year later, with "Bandolier", the Cardiff-based group began their transition towards a more predictable, solid hard rock sound, while still maintaining progressive structures but lacking the creativity of their earlier work. With their next album, "If I Were Britannia I'd Waive The Rules", the band definitively abandoned those complex compositions in favor of a more eclectic style that evolved into the generic hard rock they had begun exploring with its predecessor. Even so, there are some very enjoyable tracks here, such as the heavy blues "Anne Neggen", the rocking "If I Were Britannia,'d Waive the Rules", the blues-rock "Quacktor and Bureaucats", the melodic "Heaven Knows Our Name", and the vintage "Black Velvet Stallion", the latter being the best vestige of their glorious past. However, the album also reveals a certain lack of ideas, as seen in the uninspired "Sky High Percentage", a failed blues-rock track with mediocre instrumentation, and the mid-tempo, mainstream-influenced "You're Opening Doors". Despite the positive aspects of the vast majority of the tracks included here, the final result of the album shows a certain disconnect from their classic albums.