Budgie
You're All Living In Cuckooland

The silent pioneers of Hard 'n' Heavy return with a new studio album twenty-four years after releasing the unrecognizable "Deliver Us From Evil". The latter, a bland platter filled with typically eighties melodies, showed fans and others that the Welsh, after eleven LPs in eleven years, had nothing more to convey and, thus lacking ideas and motivation, they disbanded in a few years. The Reunion happened in '99.

"You’re All Living In Cuckooland" reestablishes the classic canons of the Power Trio, the British Metal of the '70s, Heavy Metal, the numerous Progressive, Funk undertones, nonsensical titles, and the inevitable acoustic ballads which have always been an important distinguishing element of the combo. All this wouldn't have been possible without the unique and unmistakable vocal timbre of sixty-year-old Burke Shelley and the prodigious guitarist Simon Lees (the best in 1998).

The first two tracks "Justice" and "Dead Man Don’t Talk" turn out to be among the best of the work, with a deep and profound voice, an engaging sound essentially built on rapid and sharp riffs, fully supported by Shelley’s effective bass work, and interspersed with stunning solos in their respective central sections. Hard Rock/Metal as powerful and massive as it is rarely heard. "We’re All Living In Cuckooland" the third song of the album, presents listeners with a delightful ballad, cradled by the now reassuring timbre of the singer and perfected in its magic with lysergic choirs and a very warm solo that gives further pathos to the composition. A gem. Further demonstration of the parakeets' compositional wisdom materializes with the following "Falling", an eclectic, lively track, excellently executed straddling classic Hard Rock but especially Funk, which hysterically pervades the entire track before exploding in all its irreverence in the final part. Probably the best track on the album. After the melancholic two and a half minutes of "Love Is Enough" lived between a sad voice and the acoustic guitar strings, it reaches the undulating "Tell Me Tell Me" which ideally closes the first part of "You're All Living In Cuckooland". Calm sections pervaded by tranquility continuously follow sudden explosions of energy, in which, a peremptory Tell Me, Tell Me is shouted sometimes accompanied by brief incursions of Lees’ electric guitar.

Up to this point, the wise arrangement of the pieces and the alternation of different musical genres within them captures an almost perfect platter, played with passion and extreme executive clarity. The segment of the album between the seventh and eighth tracks seems to dull the work with the mediocre Arena Rock of "(Don’t Want To) Find That Girl" and the albeit valuable but sincerely unnecessary acoustic ballad (the third) "Captain", however, it partially regains altitude with the suggestive Hard Rock with a vaguely Progressive flavor of "I Don’t Want to Throw You".

The masterpiece that significantly raises the level of the work, however, is hidden in the last astonishing track: "I’m Compressing The Comb On A Cockerel’s Head". Eight minutes and twenty seconds in which Shelley's voice is rougher than ever, aggressive, intimidating, the rhythm dealt by Williams’ drums is constantly hammering almost emulating a military march, which is actually present in the initial part but especially in the concluding one where, in addition to hearing the sound of boots hitting the ground, these threatening words resonate: My Heart Ain’t Broken, My Bones Are Broken... Completing the piece splendidly are the inevitable Lees’ solos. Heavy Metal with Progressive streaks here and there.

The first five historic albums are unmatched, but "You’re All Living In Cuckooland" still stands as one of the best works of the combo. Recommended for lovers of vintage Hard Rock/Metal masterfully executed and with few frills, and these days that's saying something...