Stray Cats Albums Ranked

The Stray Cats were formed by guitarist/vocalist Brian Setzer in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York, in 1979. At first, Setzer played rockabilly covers in a band called the Tom Cats with his brother drummer Gary and bassist Bob Beecher; however, Setzer soon abandoned that group to join up with newly rechristened school friends Lee Rocker (born Leon Drucker) and Slim Jim Phantom (born James McDonnell). Their retro ’50s look and sound didn’t go over well around Long Island, though, and in the summer of 1980, the group headed to England, where a rockabilly revival movement was just beginning to emerge.
For a few years in the early 1980s, the Stray Cats were one of the hottest bands in rock & roll, racking up Top Ten hits — “Rock This Town,” “Stray Cat Strut,” “(She’s) Sexy + 17” — with the aid of the newly founded MTV, which found their retro fashion visually kinetic. The group’s fall was near as swift their ascendency — by the end of the ’80s, they had fallen apart — but the Stray Cats made an indelible impact, sending the rockabilly revival into the mainstream and setting the pace for the music’s continuation over the ensuing decades.
The Stray Cats reunited on occasion throughout the 2000s, always concentrating on live performances, not the recording studio. The group sat out most of the 2010s but returned at the end of the decade with 40, their first album of original material in 27 years. Here are all of the Stray Cats’ albums ranked.

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8. Original Cool (1993)

“Absolutely no one does the rockabilly hits like the Stray Cats: nobody. This album proves it. 20 Flight Rock is so incredible, it must be heard to be believed. Somethin’ Else just jams, I Fought The Law is almost better than the original, Be Bop A Lula, surpasses the orginal, Let It Rock is everything you expect it to be and Train Kept A Rollin’ will keep you rollin’ and wanting more. The rest are excellent as well, but these moments stand out. An excellent CD that is a must-have for any true Stray Cats fan and any true fan of rockabilly. Brian, Slim Jim, and Lee; you have done well.”

7. Rock Therapy (1999)

“By 1986 each member of The Stray Cats was deeply involved in his solo stuff. Setzer has released his first solo album “The Knife Feels Like Justice” in a John Cougar vein at the beginning of the year and Lee and Jim teamed with David Bowie’s guitarist Earl Slick in Phantom, Rocker and Slick for two albums if far to be exceptional contain some interesting things if you’re curious or nostalgic of the 80’s. But the three of them were tied to EMI with, according to Setzer, a bad contract. The best way to solve it was to record this album. So from the start it wasn’t really a “new” Stray Cats album. “

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6. Let’s Go Faster (1990)

“Looking for a modern sound (and a chart appealing) the band has lost its identity and its specificity. The result is the absence of the slap bass (replaced by an electric bass) a key element of their sound the same way the Gretsch and the stand-up snare are. Probably disappointed by the result the band issued “Let’s go Faster” only in Japan and Australia. Later a bootleg album appeared with the demos. The lame songs stayed lame, but at least the good ones weren’t wasted by the production.”

5. Gonna Ball (1981)

“The second Stray Cats album – a commercial flop in the UK, I believe, which is disappointing in hindsight. The Cats moved away from pure rockabilly to explore rhythm & blues – sadly about 10 years before the rockabilly scene was ready for it. Stand out tracks – “Little Miss Prissy”, Setzer playing a lovely slide at the beginning, “Wicked Whisky”, “Crazy Mixed Up Kid” – loads of Setzer guitar. Lee Rocker handles vocals on “She’ll Stay One More Day”, long before he established his own blues band.Production values perhaps are the weakest on any of the Cats’ releases, as they tried to self produce, stuck in Montserrat in the Caribbean, but don’t let that put you off.”

4. Choo Choo Hot Fish (1992)

“”Choo Choo Hot Fish” can be seen as the successful version of “Let’s Go Faster”. It is innovative but still with a feet in the tradition and is their most ambitious effort to date. It also sees the return of Dave Edmunds behind the glass. The opening track is representative of that mood, pumping sound, modern drums mixed with rockabilly elements for a tribute to Elvis. “Cry Baby”, a non retro melodic rockabilly tune, is an instant Stray Cats classic and has that timeless sound that makes the trio so special. And with Edmunds on second guitar and on duet vocal it reminds the good old days of “The Race Is On”.”

3. Blast Off! (1989)

“Wonderfully produced by Dave Edmunds, a Rockabilly Rocker himself, Blast Off is a wponderful venture into foot stompin’ tunefully magnificent Rockaboilly music. By the time you get to the tenth track you know you have been in a Roclkabilly World. On track two you are treated to the male version of the song “GIna”. Rockabilly fans lknow that the female version can be found on the classic Josie Cotton “From The Hip” release. Its a great trip into 80s music and the Stray Cats themselves.”

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2. Stray Cats (1981)

“It’s fun!! It’s hip-shaking! If you don’t dance you ain’t alive! Dig those drums. Rock n roll all NIGHT long! The regeneration of Rock n Roll!, if you want to live rock n roll, l dig this album! Live!, live rock n roll as it was discovered. Don’t make it an intellectual assumption… Make it a SOUL feeling!”

1.Rant ‘n Rave With the Stray Cats (1983)

“This is without a doubt, ONE classic STRAY CATS recording. “I WON’T STAND IN YOUR WAY” is the greatest tune Brian Setzer has ever recorded. But this is a first for me: THERE IS A CENSORED BLEEP OF ONE LYRIC IN THE OPENING TRACK, “REBELS RULE”. I have never purchased a censored CD, or Vinyl Album for that matter, in over 30 years of collecting music. This is an IMPORT by Arista. Do they censor lyrics in Britain? I did not know. I know this band was popular in England before they made it in America. Their first 2 vinyl releases were British Imports which I still own. And they’re available on IMPORT CD here at Amazon. Although I’m having trouble obtaining GONNA BALL. But this recording, RANT, AND RAVE WITH THE STRAY CATS, was one of their first domestic releases back in 1983. Why was it not domestically re-released on CD? Probably too obscure.”