The 1982 Listening Post - Stray Cats - Built for Speed

 Reviewed by Chris Roberts

Released: June 7 1982 Stray Cats Built For Speed Genre: Rockabilly Toonces Allen’s Rating: 5 out of 5 Chris’s Rating: 4 out of 5 Highlights: Rock This Town Stray Cat Strut Rumble In Brighton Runaway Boys Allen's Additional Highlights: Built For Speed Rev It Up & Go Little Miss Prissy At Sepulveda Junior High, the metalheads dug Ozzy and Judas Priest. New wave kids idolized Duran Duran and Adam and the Ants. Punk was just scary! There was a tribal affiliation to musical taste, expressed through clothes and hair, that was a key indicator of coolness. I wanted more than anything to belong to a tribe, but my Licorice Pizza and Miller’s Outpost dreams were limited by a Star Wars action-figure salary. I don’t remember when I first became aware of the Stray Cats. But courtesy of the Happy Days propaganda machine, I knew the Fonz was the epitome of cool, and on a trip to the Glendale Galleria, I came home with the Stray Cats “Rock This Town/You Can’t Hurry Love” 7-incher. I was 99 cents closer to popularity! The rockabilly single ended up being a big hit with my Mom, though it was my dad who brought home the Built For Speed LP. (My dad’s hot take: “The Stray Cats can’t sing worth shit—they sound more like the crappy band that played at our high school dances.) So, in addition to being my passport to coolness, Built For Speed was something of a Roberts family album. At least until the Dippity-Do in my hair started to fail. There’s a “Freaks & Geeks” episode where Sam attempts to impress the head cheerleader with a powder blue disco jumpsuit. Of course, it’s 1980, and DISCO SUCKS (even though MST3K’s Joel Hodgson is the manager at the disco clothing store) so Sam’s plan backfires, and everyone in school laughs at him. I’ve got a Mad Libs version of that story, using rockabilly instead of disco, a handknit argyle sweater vest, and a mom-styled pompodour. The rockabilly look is challenging for someone who isn’t fully grown. It really requires towering Silvio Dante hair, slick Fonzie attire, and (if you can drive) some old school wheels. While the Stray Cats cultivated a 50s meets 80s sensibility, a half-measure, like say, hair gel instead of pomeade, or Toughskins instead of Levi’s … you’re not going rock this town, that town, or any town. I don’t even remember if there was a rockabilly tribe at Sepulveda. It’s easy to lump the Stray Cats into the Duran Duran/MTV/proto-boy band wave that prioritized looks over songs. That, and the LARPing piece of rockabilly, always made the Stray Cats music feel secondary. But there’s still lots of runaway boys and double talkin’ babies dressing 50s-style for the Blasters and Social Distortion shows today, part of that symbiotic relationship between rock/rockabilly with classic car culture that keeps 50s fetishism alive. Nobody writes songs about ma-ma-my Corolla, but we can imagine our ride is something a little less fuel efficient when the Stray Cats are on. Built For Speed is more than the album equivalent of a Mel’s Drive-In. First, there’s Rockpile founder/producer Dave Edmunds’ pedigree as a cultivator of 50s sounds. Then there’s the band—Lee Rocker, Slim Jim Phantom and Brian Setzer—handsome, stylish AND talented musicians. When the material is great, like “Rock This Town” and “Stray Cat Strut,” the Stray Cats could be either 50s or 80s stars. The out-of-control bounce in “Rock This Town” and slinky bass in “Stray Cat Strut,” are so much fun. I cannot resist singing “Stray Cat Strut.” OK, I think my dad was right to call out the vocals. Brian Setzer had the look and the licks, but he ain’t Elvis or Roy Orbison. I don’t always buy his act, but most of the time he’s serviceable. As for the rest, “This Side” (the A-side) of Built For Speed is excellent. In addition to “Rock This Town” and “Stray Cat Strut,” there’s “Rumble In Brighton,” which depicts an 80s UK version of S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, wherein the rockabilly cats scratch and hiss in the alley against mighty mean skinheads, whilst all the cops can do is stroke their bobbysticks. It’s a solid teen anthem. And per the rockabilly rules and regulations, there’s two classic car fetish songs, the title track “Built for Speed” and “Rev It Up and Go,” which celebrate the joys of a junker 39 Ford, as well as a customized-to-perfection 57 Chevy. No chassis shaming here. “That Side” kicks off with the blistering and belligerent “Runaway Boys” but otherwise it’s a meow-mixed bag. “Lonely Summer Nights” is the slow jam, but defanged and declawed, the Cats sound like they’re getting ready for the mother-son dance. The energy picks back up with “Double Talkin’ Baby,” and Eddie Cochrane’s “Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie,” but there’s some missing teeth. Stil, it’s not a bad ride.

The 1981 Listening Post - Stray Cats - Gonna Ball

 Stray Cats - Gonna Ball

#495

October 1981

Stray Cats

Gonna Ball

Genre: Rockabilly Revival

4 out of 5

Highlights:

Little Miss Prissy

Cryin’ Shame

Rev It Up and Go

Lonely Summer Nights

Half of this album will comprise Built for Speed in 82 and now that we’ve covered both the 1981 records…maybe we should just consider Built a compilation album and not cover it since we all know that it’s a classic and will be little more than a return to what we’ve already heard.

Usually I complain when a band opens with a cover but with Gonna Ball I don’t think it’s that simple. These guys weren’t reinventing a sound as much as they were bringing it up to speed for the era. For example: “Little Miss Prissy” has it’s feet firmly in the Eddie Cochran aesthetic but the razorblades guitars are decidedly 1981, in fact, I’d say it sounds more like what we are gonna hear from the likes of Izzy Stradlin in a few years. 

Listen to “Wasn’t That Good”. Yeah yeah, it’s a cover but it’s also a harbinger of a sound that Brian will be one of the ushers of 20 years later. I could cut the rug at The Derby to that track as it butts up against “You & Me and the Bottle Makes Three” by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy or “Ding Dong Daddy” by Cherry Poppin’ Daddies all night long. 

Gonna Ball plays like a collection of singles which is what a lot of Stray Cats albums play like. Is it as explosive as Stray Cats? No, it plays more like a companion piece. Like this is the set of B-Sides to all those A-Sides but you loved the B-Sides as much (or more) than some of the main singles cuz, hell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2tvYqrHIvY&list=PLlvn8uktX5LuIvoFBrPuHTJVGxbObU-X3

The 1981 Listening Post - Stray Cats -Stray Cats

Stray Cats - Stray Cats

#73

February 1981

Stray Cats

Stray Cats

Genre: Rockabilly

4.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Runaway Boys

Ubangi Stomp

Storm the Embassy

Rock This Town

Rumble in Brighton

Stray Cat Strut

Here it is. The apex of Rockabilly Revival. Like The Ramones before them, Setzer and the boys hopped the pond and blew this stuff up. The success of the Broadway show Grease should have been a bellwether that this was going to happen and we should have all known that it wouldn’t last forever. I mean, I love to Rock but even I get tired of AC/DC telling me, in various ways, how we are going to do that. 

Anyhoo. Here it is. The early samplings of transplanted American Brian Setzer’s electric fingers, Lee Rocker’s stand up bass and Slim Jim Phantom’s simple but effective drumming.

Because Built For Speed comes next year, and that’s the one that everyone had, the one that brought them fame and fortune, is it fair to even talk about this record? 

The production, a lot of it by Dave Edmunds, is muddy and unimpressive but that could be the YouTube transfer. 

I get why you might leave off “Storm the Embassy” from the next couple records but, you know what? Joe Strummer wanted to play in this sandbox and, after London Calling, he never got back there. Glad Brian and the guys picked up that mantle. I really don’t expect anti-war protest songs from my Rockabilly but, I really appreciate it. 

I can hear the opening 6 bars of “Rock this Town” and be instantly transported to when I was a teenager and time stood still, while Brian’s retro-velvet burst into that forced wail, we all wore denim jackets with the collars turned up, we rolled up our jeans and wished we could East Coast Swing Dance. Years later I would learn and I would jam to this song. (I have two signature moves, something every short dancer needs to be able to impress). And is there as sublime a one-two as this song into “Rumble in Brighton”?

No. The answer is no. 

I used to play “Stray Cat Strut” right after “The Prey” by Dead Kennedys. They both had ominous and slinky bass lines and I used to imagine that the character in the former was the murderer in the latter. Ah, youth. 

Much of the album, though, is filled with covers from the era that, while they work, Edmunds and the Cats don’t really add anything as much as pay homage to half of them. The exceptions being:

The cover “Ubangi Stomp” which picks up everything The Cramps ever did, throws it up against the wall, pulls out its switchblade and makes Lux piss his interior. 

“Jeannie Jeannie Jeannie” which the guys make their own. “Double Talkin’ Baby” works just fine. “Wild Saxophone” belongs in the hands of Bog Bad Voodoo Daddy or Royal Crown Revue. 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pase83SZkDg&list=PLg_vNWyQLaUUl-joidx6Nrk8C81IjcIUh&index=11

The 1986 Listening Post - Stray Cats - Rock Therapy

Stray Cats - Rock Therapy

#83/1250

March 2 1986

Stray Cats

Rock Therapy

Genre: Rockabilly

3.25 out of 5

This is the sound of a contract obligation.

Brian sounds tired. He’s noodling his way through the 1-4-5’s and making vain attempts at howling but you can tell that his heart isn’t it. 

We’ve all moved on from the retro sound of 1981. 

Inoffensive but uninspired. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/rock-therapy/1444052203

The 1986 Listening Post - Brian Setzer - The Knife Feels Like Justice

Brian Setzer - The Knife Feels Like Justice

#48/1215

February 14 1986

Brian Setzer

The Knife Feels Like Justice

Genre: Rock

3.75 out of 5

Highlights:

The Knife Feels Like Justice

Radiation Ranch

Aztec

Is it Bryan Adams? Tom Petty? John Mellencamp? Jon Bon Jovi?

Nope. It’s genre hopping guitar god Brian Setzer. 

The thing about Setzer that always struck me was just how good he thinks he is. But not in a Malmsteen way. He really likes himself. And he likes playing that 6 string. 

Just like Springsteen went country this year and Billie Joe Armstrong went full on Everly Bros a couple years back, Setzer sets his sights on the roots of rock and roll and runs it through his fingers and what comes out is Stadium Rock. 

I’ve never had any issue with Setzer’s voice, although I think he strains to sound like he can actually do it or his songwriting, though everything that comes out of him is so obviously influenced by others so I have no truck with this, either. But for all those reason I can’s say it’s great. I’m glad I heard it, since I have a big Setzer hole between the first Stray Cats and The Dirty Boogie. But it’s just a notch below JBJ’s faux-country that’s on the horizon.  Sometimes he actually sounds like Psychedelic Furs (“Chains Around Your Heart”) other times like The Alarm (“Aztec”) or Springsteen (“Breath of Life”) but he has no identity of his own. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-knife-feels-like-justice/1443503262

The 1983 Listening Post - Stray Cats - Rant 'n' Rave with the Stray Cats

Stray Cats - Rant 'n' Rave with the Stray Cats

August 15, 1983
Stray Cats
Rant ’n’ Rave with the Stray Cats
4.25 out of 5

Highlights:
18 Miles to Memphis
(She’s) Sexy + 17
Dig Dirty Doggie
I Won’t Stand In Your Way

Dear Neil Young,
This is what you were trying to do.

How did Dave Edmunds produce such a big sound? I never really thought of him that way but he comes through. While I’m already tiring of the retro-rocknroll sound it’s that wider sonic production that pushed this record over the finish line. It’s as good as, say, Robert Gordon’s stuff but this sub-genre is finally wearing out its welcome for me. That said, this is a solid offering if you wanna grab your significant other and bust out some East Coast Swing moves on the dance floor. And, if you know me, you know I dig me some east coast swing.