Stray Cats - Gonna Ball (1981) - €10,00

Gonna Ball is the second studio album by American rockabilly band Stray Cats, first released in the UK by Arista Records in November 1981. The album was produced by the band and Hein Hoven. It went platinum in the U.K.

Five of the album's tracks ("Baby Blue Eyes", "Little Miss Prissy", "You Don't Believe Me", "Rev It Up and Go" and "Lonely Summer Nights") were later included on the band's first American album, Built for Speed (1982). 

The Stray Cats' second album, Gonna Ball, was considered something of a disappointment when it was released in 1981; back then, it had the disadvantage of competing with the expectations raised by its immediate predecessor, a miraculous debut produced under the guidance of Dave Edmunds. 

When they pulled up stakes in England and returned to the U.S.A., they signed with EMI-America and built their American debut around what the band considered the best songs off of their first two records -- as a result, neither U.K. album was widely heard intact on American shores. 

Heard on its own terms 23 years later, Gonna Ball seems like a minor masterpiece, capturing the group going deep into early rock & roll and even pre-rock & roll roots music and far beyond the boundaries of rockabilly, supported by various players, including Rolling Stones alumnus Ian Stewart. 

Their rendition of Johnny Burnette's "Baby Blue Eyes" was a bracing opener (later moved to the closing spot on their third album). Brian Setzer's "Cryin' Shame" included a killer extended jam and harmonica showcase, and the Lee Rocker/Slim Jim Phantom-authored "(She'll Stay Just) One More Day" was a sophisticated piece of jump blues with a beautiful sax solo at its center and powerful central riff; Setzer's "What's Goin' Down (Cross That Bridge)," in turn, was as fine a Bo Diddley tribute as had been done by any white artist since the 1960s -- and none of those three made it on to their American debut LP. Setzer's "You Don't Believe Me" oozed the spirit of Elmore James out of every guitar note, while "Gonna Ball" and "Wicked Whisky" were exercises in rockabilly primitivism.

 "Rev It Up and Go" -- which made it to the third album -- was an impassioned Chuck Berry homage that also obliquely acknowledged the Beach Boys' service in making his riffs work in a uniquely white suburban context. "Lonely Summer Nights" -- also on the third album -- proved that this band could handle the ballad side of '50s music with the best of them when they wanted to. And "Crazy Mixed Up Kids" (which didn't make the cut to album number three) was a psychobilly instrumental workout par excellence. 

Side A

A1.  Baby Blue Eyes - 2:49  

A2.  Little Miss Prissy - 3:01  

A3.  Wasn’t That Good - 2:45  

A4.  Cryin Shame - 3:30  

A5.  (She’ll Stay Just) One More Day - 3:42  

Side B

B1.  You Don’t Believe Me - 2:58  

B2.  Gonna Ball - 3:15  

B3.  Wicked Whiskey - 2:17  

B4.  Rev It Up & Go - 2:28  

B5.  Lonely Summer Nights - 3:21  

B6.  Crazy Mixed Up Kid - 2:40 

Notes

Release:  1981

Format:  LP

Genre:  Rockabilly

Label:  Arista Records

Catalog#  204019

Vinyl:  VG+

Hoes:  VG+

Prijs: €10,00

Stray Cats - Stray Cats (1981)

Artist:  Stray Cats
Title:  Stray Cats
Release:  1981
Format:  LP
Label:  Ariola Records
Catalog#  203295

Stray Cats is the first album from the rockabilly band Stray Cats. It was released in the UK and was very successful, with hits such as “Runaway Boys,” “Stray Cat Strut,” and “Rock This Town.”
Stray Cats debut album came hot on the heels of the two hit singles “Runaway Boys” and “Rock This Town,” both energy filled rockabilly songs that hearkened back to the 1950s era of pure rock & roll with an updated, clean ’80s sound highlighted by the prominent double bass playing of Lee Rocker and drumming of Slim Jim Phantom. The Stray Cats had more depth than pure rockabilly, as shown on the out and out rock & roll tracks “Fishnet Stockings,” “Double Talkin Baby,” and “Jeanie, Jeanie, Jeanie” (a facsimile of “Summertime Blues”), and the sleazy third single “Stray Cat Strut,” perfectly evocative of a night out on the tiles. “Storm the Embassy,” a song about the Iranian hostage situation than ran throughout 1980, would not have sounded out of place performed by the Clash, and “Ubangi Stomp” bore more than a passing resemblance to another musical craze of the early ’80s: ska as performed by Madness or any of the 2 Tone stable of acts.
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”.


Side one
1.  Runaway Boys  (2:59)
2.  Fishnet Stockings  (2:24)
3.  Ubangi Stomp  (3:10)
4.  Jeanie, Jeanie, Jeanie  (2:17)
5.  Storm The Embassy  (4:06)
6.  Rock This Town  (3:24)

Side two
1.  Rumble In Brighton  (3:11)
2.  Stray Cat Strut  (3:14)
3.  Crawl Up And Die  (3:11)
4.  Double Talkin’ Baby  (3:02)
5.  My One Desire  (2:55)
6.  Wild Saxaphone  (3:00)

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