Stray Cats "40"

(Surfdog/Mascot Records 2019)

Cat Fight (Over A Dog Like Me)

Rock It Off

I've Got Love If You Want It

Cry Danger

I Attract Trouble

Three Time's A Charm

That's Messed Up

When Nothing's Going Right

Desperado

Mean Pickin' Mama

I'll Be Looking Out For You

Devil Train

No need for an introductory paragraph when it comes to arguably thee most famous and influential rockabilly band of the past 40 years. Everyone from within the rockin' scene and most from without knows the Stray Cats. Their initial output and indeed image was fresh, exciting, different. Runaway Boys was unlike any other rockabilly song I'd heard up to that point. Granted, I was only 10, but when I heard it on the radio and then saw them on Top Of The Pops I was immediately taken by the whole package. These boys had everything. Fast forward to 1983 and the Rant n' Rave album. I took the lyrics about not going to school on (She's) Sexy + 17 seriously and subsequently failed most of my subjects that year as I was never there to learn anything. Point being. the Stray Cats played a big part in my life growing up. I wanted to be Slim Jim. That guy was my hero. As the years passed and more albums were released, some were hit and some were miss. By this time though I'd crossed over to the realms of psychobilly and the new breed of neo rockabilly and Cats albums weren't the be-all and end-all for me anymore. So when the trio announced a new album was in the pipeline I was hopeful of something great. I say hopeful and not sure as the Setzer solo stuff did nothing for me. The first two teaser songs the boys released, "Cat Fight (Over A Dog Like Me)" and "Rock It Off" dashed those hopes. Tedious, tired, run-of-the-mill songs. Still, I held out hope for the album. Unfortunately it was just more of the same with maybe a couple of okay-ish songs that might grow on me with further listens but at this point, forcing myself to like something kinda defeats the purpose. Nothing really grabs me on this album. Nothing! They say you can't judge a book by its cover. Well you can definitely judge this album by its cover! Unimaginative, lazy and well, it's all been done before. It's definitely been done by Setzer before as on more than one occasion he's borrowing from past output or in the case of Cry Danger simply adding different lyrics to a song which is a carbon copy of Aztec from his solo outing The Knife Feels Like Justice. The production is muddy with the snare sounding like it's from a demo tape and the slap of the upright bass is barely audible. Seemingly it was recorded live in the studio. But the finished product sounds like...well, it's like when you can hear a band playing in a venue but you're outside on the street a couple of doors away. Maybe if they had hired Dave Edmunds to produce this album it may not have been such a disappointment. But with that said, the song writing is just not that great to begin with so maybe not. I read an article in The Washington Post recently where Lee Rocker is quoted as saying " “We are the best band that has ever played this music.” No Lee. No you are not. Either that statement is completely pompous or the Stray Cats are completely unaware of the plethora of rockabilly and neo rockabilly bands out there that make this album sound pedestrian. Having read some feedback around the net there seems to be two camps when it comes to this release. Those that love it and those that find it mundane. I didn't want to belong to the latter camp but unfortunately I do.

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