Frank Budgen reviewed in the new Wire

Frank Budgen
The Legend of Frank Budgen
Specific 10″

“Totally weird one. I get the idea that this is a jape, but if so, it’s a jape so beautifully and elaborately crafted that it stands as a wonderfully crazy art project in its own right. Packaged in a Folkways-style 10″ sleeve with accompanying booklet, this is said to represent the recorded legacy of a drifter named Frank Budgen, about whom little is known, except that he called Troy, NY home for a while, early in the 21st century. There are six tracks, with heavy blues guitar, drums and vocals in a blown style reminiscent of Michael Yonkers, George Brigman and even The Workdogs. It’s wild lo-fi style, regardless of its actual provenance. And the care taken with the presentation is certain to appeal to cultists of most known stripes. Released in a numbered edition of 99, it’s a real brain rattler, which features one of the screwier Beefheart covers you’ll hear in this lifetime.”

-Byron Coley
The Wire – May 2008

The Legend of Frank Budgen is still available from Specific Recordings.