The Fly Right Trio – Wild About You Baby
Tombstone TOMBCD2008
Gean Genie – Yeah, Yeah, Yeah – Wild About You Baby – Brand New Cadillac – With Your Love – Real Bad News – Suzie Q – Make It – Hot Red – All These Nights – It’s All Over Now – Tornado – Wipe Off
Not to be confused with Big Sandy’s backing band, this Fly Right Trio, which is of interest to us, hailed from the Netherlands. The band played, for the most part, a high-energy, top-notch Neo Rockabilly, and all three musicians were more than competent with their respective instruments.
Following in the footsteps of The Polecats‘ cover of John I’m Only Dancing, The Fly Right Trio tackles David Bowie’s Gean Genie. The powerful, bluesy groove lends itself perfectly to a rather wild Neo-Rockabilly reinterpretation, which the guitar player embellishes with an excellent solo. The next track, Yeah Yeah Yeah (also recorded by Three Alley Cats, in which Hans van der Velde, double bassist of the Fly Right Trio also played), is a bouncy and very catchy Neo-Rockabilly number featuring a saxophone solo. The saxophone reappears on the title track, a wild rockin’ blues, reminiscent of The Wigsville Spliffs. They are less convincing with their version of Brand New Cadillac, which, while not bad, is hardly original. Fortunately, their cover of Johnny Power’s With Your Love is much more successful, the saxophone providing the perfect touch for this typically fifties slow tune. Real Bad News is a Rockin’ Blues number with an early sixties flair.
As with Brand New Cadillac, their cover of Suzy Q, while perfectly executed, doesn’t offer much that’s original. In contrast, Make It, the following track, is absolutely beautiful, alternating between passages of simmering rage and bursts of energy. Hot Red continues in the same vein of pure energy, flirting with Psychobilly. The band likes to alternate tempos and moods. Thus, All These Nights is a classic slow blues, but particularly well done. At this point in the album, we know what the band’s guitarist is capable of, and we’re not disappointed when his solo arrives. It’s not easy to follow the Rolling Stones, the Sharks, or the Meteors (not to mention the original by Bobby Womack) by covering It’s All Over Now, but the Fly Right Trio pulls it off with flying colors, delivering an energetic version. Speaking of energy, the band has plenty to spare in their cover of Tornado by the Jiants. The album concludes with Wipe Off, an instrumental blending Surf (not surprising with a title like that), with influences ranging from Link Wray to Duane Eddy.
Listening to this excellent album, one wonders why the band wasn’t more successful. It’s actually very difficult to find information about the Fly Right Trio online. If you’re a fan of the Neo Rockabilly sound of the late 1980s and early 1990s, try to get your hands on this album; you’ll be more than rewarded.
Fred “Virgil” Turgis
