Ray Black & The Flying Carpets: Downtown Ride.
Release Date: 10th September 2022.
Reviewed:10th October 2022 by Dave Diamond.
BAND MEMBERS:
Vocals: Ray Black (Rawand Baziany)
E-Guitar- Bone (Martin Bone)
Acoustic/Baritone Guitar: Pieri (Pieri Leoncini
Drums- Boz Doz (Benjamin Kurz)
Upright Bass: Ray Black (Rawand Baziany)
Piano: Sascha Kommer
Steel Guitar: Wendl
Produced by: Ray Black & Dollar Bill at Black Shack Recordings (Calw, Germany)
Mixed by: Ray Black at Black Shack Recordings (Calw, Germany)
Mastered by: Heiko Schulz (Leonberg)
Front cover artwork by: Urban Zotel (http://urbanzotel.com)
Photo’s: Marc Schaefer.
Distribution: Live Shows, Rhythm Bomb Records, Amazon, Jpc, Wom, via streaming and on all major Platforms like Spotify.
BAND BIO/Influences: Our musical influences can be found everywhere in rockabilly, blues, country and Rhythm & Blues music. But above all in the spontaneity, honesty and ingenuity, of all those great musicians from that time, that laid the foundation for today's Rockabilly sound.
Let’s have a listen to the tracks:
Downtown Ride (Baziany) – A Twangy Guitar by Martin kicks off the first song on this 14 track release…great steady drum beat, constant rhythm guitar, fab bass and lead vocals from Ray make this one a real catchy country rock ‘n’ roll number…” I’m on the cruise baby and I’m on the look out for you!”…great breakdown section at 2 minutes…a real top notch strollin’ pace opener indeed!
Hornet Bop (Baziany) – You gotta do this new dance…the hornet bop… a great vibe on this tune and I can see it being a great dancefloor filler at weekenders…dig man dig and bop cat bop! I gotta play this one again daddio’s!
That’s What I'd Do (Joy Byers) – A mid paced track, showcasing the lead vocals on this one, accompanied nicely to a great rhythm section including baritone too. It has a really nice change of tempo at 2 minutes with just vocals and a floor tom as a back beat, then straight back into the verse…
The Wounded Camel (Hebel, Farag) – fantastic cover of the 1964 track..this one the band have turned into a more desperate rock ‘n’ roll style strolling version.. with great hey hey hey backing vocals… I can see this one getting lots of airplay…fab track and a great cover.
Speed King (Baziany) – this track starts with a snare beat then in comes the raw hic cupping style vocals…this is a real great rockin’ number and the guitar solo is pure class with that slapping bass sitting just behind it , and 2 solos too…nice drop down on the second solo too!..At 2 minutes 30 this song is 100 mph of pure raw rockabilly… think Pat Cupp and you won’t be too far off!
Big Ol’ Spark (Baziany) – More of a jive tempo to this track, raw vocal accompanied with excellent musicianship and even hand claps! Fantastic middle eight section lifts the song right up…This will be a sure-fire hit on the jive scene.
Rockin’ In Bagdad (Jerry Reed) – cover of the 1957 track, great to hear another version of this tune, it has a great jump stomp to it, and Ray Black & The Flying Carpets have done a great version and brought this 50’s tune right up to date…
When The Sun Comes Up (Baziany, Leoncini) – Nice to hear the slide on this number that sits just in front of the snare and right behind the lead…nice harmonies on this track…could have come right outta Rollin Records in the 70’s revival era… everything about this song is great and it’s another very well written and worked out number.
Thirsty In The Desert (Baziany, Leoncini) – at 4 minutes 17 this tune has fantastic lyrics to this self-penned track. It has a Spanish western feel to it and great use of shakers in the background…really love the two instrumental breaks… really well mixed tune that has great levels throughout. “drinking water from the fountain of regret!”..love it!
On The Go (Baziany) – a great western style chugging tune..you could imagine this one being in the film Take A Hard Ride…. A real foot tapping track and a fab addition to this great sounding album. At 3 minute 47 seconds this tune is an awesome song with great lyrics. Drums, rhythm, lead, vocals are all spot on.
Stories Told (Baziany) – great start to this blues bopper style, with a dirty sounding geetar and single shot snare, slapping bass and a deeper vocal from Ray…loving the stop mid-way that kick starts straight back into another verse…get in!…nice key change on the last verse…great tune!
Burning Lips (Baziany) – Back to a jive tempo for this original track, really nice to hear the piano cutting through on the solo..this one has a straight beat, nice use of baritone once again, it’s a very powerful track with the geetar taking the second solo…a head shaker and another very well thought out original from the band.
I Never Felt This Way (Lee) – cover of the Wally Lee tune…nice melodic piano running through this tune and yet again showcasing the whole bands musicianship and Ray’s vocal range too… Another very hip clicking number that keeps going round your head after hearing it.
Weird Feeling (Pendarvis) – top notch cover version of the Tracy Pendarvis track…the band have increased the tempo slightly to the original and personally I think it’s made it move along much better..floor tom, with a chord lead and vocals start this tune off, then it follows the originals format but with a better and more powerful sound..
In their own words –about the band when formed gigs etc?
Ray Black and The Flying Carpets’ are a string band quartet with a zest for life, music and performing. They comprise; ‘Ray
Black’ singing and slapping the ‘56 Kay M-1 Upright Bass’, the calm and collective ‘Bone’, whose fingers comes to life twanging
his ‘D‘Angelico Electric Guitar’, the peppy ‚Pieri strumming the tempo on his ‘Western Rhythm’ or ‘Danelectro Baritone Guitar’, and behind the boys the pulse of the band beating the ‘Sonor Teardrop Drum kit’, ‘Boz Doz’.
We have played many festivals and here are a few of them…High Rockabilly (Spain), Walldorf Weekender (Germany), Berlin Shake (Germany), Tear it Up (Croatia), Rockin’ at the Drive in Barn (NL, )Ace Cafe (Switzerland), Bethune Retro Festival (France)…but never played the U.K….
CLOSING COMMENTS ABOUT THE ALBUM:
Wow! Really liking this band…their musicianship is top notch and the whole sound is fantastic and it’s great to hear vintage equipment used too!…Ray’s Lead vocal has a great range and it’s fab to have so many rockin’ variations on one C.D.
Their self-penned tracks are awesome and very well worked out and you can see that time has been well spent on the solo’s too…the stand out covers for me are The Wounded Camel and Weird Feeling…
>>> Be sure to contact the band to grab a copy of this 14 track C.D. and keep your eyes and ears open as the band tell me that there will be a Vinyl LP following in 2023. They have a single out on Migraine on 7“, limited to 500 pcs. Contains Stories Told and Downtown Ride, Double A-Sider.
ANY YOU TUBE CLIPS?
Album just out…here’s the guys live at Tear It Up Festival in Croatia..
Reviewed by Dave Diamond
