Customer Reviews

Stray Cats

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a joke!! This is one damn fine album. I remember purchasing this when it first came out as an import LP (courtesy of a great review in Trouser Press, which was really the early version of Mojo, but I digress) and none of my friends could understand what I saw in these guys (Styx anybody???). Of course a year or two later they were MTV poster boys and the rest is history. Where do I start...Fish Net Stockings; Wild Saxophone; Ubangi Stomp; Jeannie Jeannie Jeannie. Oh yeah, a couple of hit singles here too (Stray Cat Strut and Rock This Town). Forget the Greatest Hits and Built for Speed. This one and Gonna Ball are the only two that you need. Why these are not available Stateside is a complete mystery.

This was the first album the Stray Cats recorded, and it was released in Britain. Tracks from this first album and the second British release "Gonna Ball" were culled to form the first US album, "Built For Speed."

This album is their true debut album, and it is still the BEST Stray Cats album. Better than "Built For Speed." You just can't argue with songs like "Fishnet Stockings." I still love this stuff.

Robert Gordon is the guy that really started the rockabilly revival in the late 1970s, but the Stray Cats' first self-titled album was the one that received the most media coverage in the UK and started the rockabilly craze of the early 1980s. The first album by the Stray Cats was released in the UK in 1981 and was available only as an import in the USA. The Stray Cats wouldn't become really popular in the US until 1982 when cuts were taken from their first two British albums to create their first US album and then they hit it big with their videos on MTV.

"Stray Cats," the cd which is still available in the USA only as an import includes the hit songs "Stray Cat Strut," "Rumble In Brighton," and "Rock This Town," which was cowritten with Dave Edmunds. Also included are the old rockabilly classics "Double Talkin' Baby," a hit for Gene Vincent, "My One Desire," which was written by Dorsey Burnette and was a hit for Rick Nelson, "Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie," which was a hit for Eddie Cochran, and "Ubangi Stomp," which was a big hit for three Sun Records rockabilly stars Carl Mann, Warren Smith, and Jerry Lee Lewis. My other favorite songs on the album include "Runaway Boys," "Fishnet Stockings," and "Wild Saxaphone."

The Stray Cats who consisted of a bare bones trio, chose some great songs to cover, but Brian Setzer was a good song writer too. Brian of course has gone on to greater fame and continues to be the most popular mainstream rockabilly artist of his generation with his own band still playing rockabilly, swing, and jazz.

Forget all the best of albums and the rest. This is the album which you're gonna get. You won't be disappointed. If so....sorry buy the latest Celine album and forget about getting into serious music.

This is The Stray Cats first album. This album has never been released in the United States. Six of the songs from it, including the hits "Stray Cat Strut" and
"Rock This Town", were issued on the band's first American album Built for Speed. "Storm the Embassy" is about the Iran hostage crisis of 1979-80 and may be the only time the Stray Cats recorded a political song.

1. "Runaway Boys" ~ (Brian Setzer, Jimmy McDonnell) - 3:03
2. "Fishnet Stockings" ^ (Brian Setzer) - 2:25
3. "Ubangi Stomp" ^ (Charles Underwood) - 3:14
4. "Jeanie, Jeanie, Jeanie" ~ (George Motola, Ricky Page) - 2:21
5. "Storm The Embassy" ^ (Brian Setzer, Slim Jim Phantom) - 4:08
6. "Rock This Town" ~ (Dave Edmunds, Brian Setzer) - 3:28
7. "Rumble in Brighton" ^ (Brian Setzer, Slim Jim Phantom) - 3:16
8. "Stray Cat Strut" ~ (Brian Setzer) - 3:16
9. "Crawl Up and Die" (Brian Feli, Jim Feli) - 3:13
10. "Double Talkin' Baby" ~ (Danny Wolfe) - 3:05
11. "My One Desire" ~ (Dorsey Burnette) - 2:57
12. "Wild Saxophone" ^ (Brian Setzer) - 3:01

Excellent music. Love the upright bass! The stray cat strut really rocks this town! Inside out! Missed a chance to see Brian Setzer at La Zona Rosa, in Austin Dec 10, 2011. But my son said he was awesome! Still rock-a-billy-ing...And Slim Jim was still with him. For some songs anyway!

At long last the 1st release by the Stray Cats with all of the original Credits!
The record that 'made' the Stray Cats a household name.
Glad to see the Philadelphia connection in the credits... Bobby Startup & then Philly based manager, Tony Bidgood.

I've loved the stray cats since I was a kid spinning the old LPs I scrounged. However, I've just been made aware of the slight tweak they did to Eddie Cochran's "Jeanie, Jeanie, Jeanie", and funny as it is, it surprises me they don't have an explicit language warning on the front of the album, being in this day and age. Rockabilly for Life!

I loved the cats when this first came out . I went to several stores looking for this as it was import LP only. So I finally bought the CD to play in the car. Great CD.

The Stray Cats is that rare band that emerged in the early 80s playing straight up rockabilly against a backdrop of post New Wave and the latest British Invasion e.g. U2, Eurythmics, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Culture Club etc and yet still managed to chart 2 hits from this album on the American Top-40 countdown: "Rock This Town" and "Stray Cats' Strut". The other tracks are far from filler material too with "Rumble In Brighton" being the one great standout among other good tracks. If you are into old time rockabilly like Cliff Gallup or just plain Bill Haley type rock and roll, this is the disc to get. Now this album has been very well remastered for a great sound and comes in a mini-lp sleeve packaging which is a nice have. The price for this import is pretty steep though which makes me glad I was able to get this from a source in Japan which is a lot closer to home for me and hence save lots of moolah on shipping and handling let alone the list price as well.