They’re straight reissues, with no bonus cuts, but they still provide a valuable opportunity to re-evaluate the band’s output.Įqual parts covers and originals, Rock Therapy was primarily recorded live. Rock Therapy and Blast Off have recently been reissued by Hep Cat Records. Since then, they’ve played live dates through the years, although even now, they’re in the midst of a farewell tour. The band separated again after a covers album, 1993’s Original Cool. Realizing they were obligated to produce one more album, the band reformed for 1986’s Rock Therapy, only to break up again before reconvening for 1989’s Blast Off. After 1983’s Rant N’ Rave With the Stray Cats, the band broke up. Part of that perception problem, though, probably lies in the band’s on-again/off-again nature. The Stray Cats were always a better band than they were given credit for at the height of their popularity, and certainly deserve more credit than they currently receive in people’s memory. Together, they single-handedly brought about a short-lived rockabilly revival. Anchored by Lee Rocker’s bass and Slim Jim Phantom’s drums, Brian Setzer emerged as a guitarist who could play pretty much anything the history of rockabilly threw at him. A quick look at their catalog, though, reveals a string of hits that includes “Stray Cat Strut”, “Runaway Boys,” “Rock This Town”, “(She’s) Sexy + 17”, and others. In the October 1998 issue of Guitar World magazine, Brian Setzer’s solo from ‘Stray Cat Strut’ ranked #92 on the Top 100 Guitar Solos of All Time list.The temptation is to think of the Stray Cats as one-hit wonders who strutted onto MTV for their 15 minutes, and that there wasn’t much more to their story than that. “‘Stray Cat Strut’ was the third single released from the album, charting Top 5 in the US and peaking a #11 on the UK Singles chart.

In August they met Dave Edmunds and legend has it he begged to produce them ‘Before someone else f**** your sound.’ In September, The Stray Cats signed with Arista Records and almost immediately entered the studio to record their debut album, Stray Cats, produced by Edmunds, and it was released to wide critical and commercial acclaim. After changing their name to the Stray Cats (thanks to French rock critic Bruno Blum) they soon had all the London Rock ‘n’ roll scene talking (including the Kinks, the Rolling Stones and The Pretenders). “In June, 1980, three young Rockabilly cats named Brian Setzer, James Mc Donnell and Leon Drucker – performing together under the name of the Tomcats – raised enough money to move to London. The group was known mostly for their single ‘Ooh Poo Pah Doo’, but they released several other 45 rpms on small labels like Prelude Records, including their own songs like ‘Do the Freeze’ and ‘Icky Poo’. “The Nomads began as a late ’50s-early ’60s Doo-wop and dance band, playing every summer Wednesday night at the La Mesa Youth Center in San Diego, CA, featuringsax player Dwight Bement (formerly of the Fydallions, later of Gary Puckett & the Union Gap, and Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids, the first band to appear on American Bandstand despite having no record out). The band lasted four years, and King would later credit Robinson as one of his earliest and influential teachers. ‘Lonesome Lee’ performed with local musicians until 1952 when he met Freddie King, who he met outside a welfare center, and the two formed a band called The Every Hour Blues Boys. Robinson performed with other Blues musicians of the period and worked as a session musician. “Jimmie Lee Robinson, also known as ‘Lonesome Lee’, was a Blues musician who was predominantly known for his involvement in the Chicago Blues scene of the 1940s and 1950s. Such is the case of ‘Stray Cat Strut’, which had not one but two antecedents: ‘Lonely Travelin’, by Chicago bluesman Lonesome Lee and, more especially, ‘Icky Poo’ by The Nomads, an obscure San Diego white Doo-wop band. Hit version by Stray Cats (US #3/UK #11 1981).įrom the wiki: “Head cat of the Stray Cat pack, Brian Setzer, has always been quite open and honest in his self-confessed pillaging of old Rock ‘n’ roll songs, something which he equates to the widespread practice of rearranging old-time Country and Blues tunes into popular music. Inspired by “Lonely Travelin'” by Lonesome Lee (1956)

Stray cats songs