Episode 50 - Freebirds (ft. Atomic Rooster, Budgie & Europe)

The Hall of Fame hits 150 albums with this latest episode from the Sadmen, who were each tasked with finding an album with an avian theme after the Tico Torres Tombola of Topics and Themes spat out Birds as the subject matter for the pod's half century.

The lure of the most obvious choice also giving him the opportunity to head back to the early 1970s was too much for Mark to resist and so he rocked up with a copy of Budgie's 1973 album Never Turn Your Back On A Friend under his arm.

Steve, a self-appointed child of 80s glam and thrash rock, surprised even himself as he dredged up memories of anaglypta wallpaper, orange and tan soft furnishings, avocado bathroom suites and, crucially in this context, his old man's copy of Atomic Rooster self-titled 1971 debut.

Richard bowled into the mid-Eighties and the 1984 album that proved what its successor - The Final Countdown - belied. Namely that beneath the saccharine MTV-chasing veneer of Carrie Europe were an honest-to-goodness hard rock band at heart.