Nightflight

Almost any band with a pretty long career will have at least one album that will be seen by fans as the black sheep of their discography. Nightfligh is one of those albums. And I feel the need to defend it, as some things that are said about this album don't seem right to me. Let me be clear: in a Budgie albums ranking, Nightflight will occupy a lower position (maybe the bottom one), but nevertheless that does not mean this album is such a bust.

The main "accusations" brought against Nightflight are the lack of heaviness and the commercial sound. First of all, Budgie needs to be seen as what it actually represents: a 70s band (their 80s excursion being pretty short). Budgie are seen as pioneers of heavy metal, but expecting their 80s stuff to be very heavy is rather unrealistic. They are not a part of NWOBHM movement and their 70s heritage is obviously strong. The welsh boys did not invented the wheel in the metal territory, they just inspired some of the next decade big names such as Metallica or Iron Maiden. Budgie's only two really heavy numbers (once again, in terms of 70s rock) are their first and third albums. The rest of their discography ranges in a more melodic hard rock area, and Nighflight makes no exception. As for the commercial sound part, please have in mind Budgie has never released any grim, serious, ugly and unappealing albums, like "Black Sabbath" or "Master of Reality". All of their albums are mostly in the radio-friendly area of rock music, so Nightflight can't be seen as a departure from something really different in their career.

Is Nightflight music less complex? Yes it is. Witty lyrics as on Budgie's classic material? Not really. Is just a simple, fun album that I see as a natural and unpretentious follower to Power Supply. The songs are rather short, the only longer track being the opener "I Turned to Stone", thanks to a "grand finale" two-minutes guitar solo added at the end of the main part of the song. Guitars are not extraordinary, but they're good enough, as the rest of the instruments. Some keyboard parts are being heard here and there. For those familiar only to Budgie's early stuff, a good description of Nightflight would be a mirrored 80s reflection of their second album, Squawk. So, if you listened to all Budgie's albums up to Power Supply and pretty much enjoyed them, there's no need to avoid Nightflight.