Here it is.
Rock terapy.
Rock terapy is the 5th record we recorded as " Stray cats " It was the summer of 1986, we hadnt worked together for at least a year or more. The three of us had been busy touring and rereleasing solo records in `84 and `85. We were booked Into the legendary room A at Capitol studios in Hollywood. Capitol studio was ground zero for generations of recording musicans. This is the place where everyone from Gene Vincent to Frank Sinatra recorded, As well as an endless list of others.
Rock terapy is an Intense record with some of the best playing on it in the bands history. I concider it the lost Stray cat record, it wasent really promoted and we didn`t tour behind the record when it was released. We just met up, Tuned up, plugged in and pressed the record bottom and rocked. Therapy is an interesting and odd record for me in the sense that there`s a couple of songs that I think couldof that wound up on either a Setzer solo record "Reckless" or a Phantom, Rocker and Slick record " I wanna cry " On the banjo song " broken man," Brian shows that he can play the hell out of anythingwith strings. Slim Jim`s drums and my bass playing have some of our best moments on
"One hand loose" and "Beautiful Delilah." Another gem is "Race with the devil," Where the rock-solid foundation helps give Brian the chance to flash his flawless chops and great tone from his Gretsch guitar.
We recorded this record as live as possible, And when I listen to it today, I picture it so clearly. It makes me feel like I`m looking at photographs of Jim, Brian and me from that summer of 1986. I dig it.
Blast off!
Blast off was our sixth release, and a record that brought us back together after what had been a long off-and-on period for Stray cats. Five or six years had passed since the heyday of the early 1980s. It was 1989, the close of a decade. Brian, Jim and I decided that the time had come to reallywork and throw everything we had at this record.
We all wrote together, and collaborated on the sounds and feel that we wanted to achieve for Blast off. We haden`t done a record of predominantly original music since 1983, When Rant and rave was released. We had our first producer Dave Edmunds , backbehind the mixing board, we were ready.
What we hit on redefined rockabilly music of the time. The slamming bass, cave man drum beats and stinging guitar were as raw, powerful and dangerous as anything we had ever done. On Blast off, Psychobilly was born. I hear a lot of the bands that have come after us regurgitating bits of this record. The title track, "Blast off," influenced the next generation of punk/rockabilly bands, and helped to keep the music that started in Memphis in the 1950s alive and fresh. When I put this record on, I can still feel the sweat that we all poured into this recording. we wanted this record to count, to mean something. Slim Jim`s drumming on the song "Gina" makes me think of the Buddy Holly band on steroids. The songs "Slipping In" and "Rockabilly world" are great rockers with Setzer at his finest. "Gene and Eddie" is another one I`m really proud of. I remember sitting down with Brian and Jim, and coming up with a list of every Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran song we could think of. We added our own bits to it, and pieced together the song. It was like working on a gigantic jigsaw puzzle. I also love the closer of this record where I played a slinky jazz line on "Nine lives," and Jim played brushes on the snare drum. At the end of this song Brian leaned in to the mic and said "Give them the real thing".......... I think that probably says it best.
Liner notes by Lee Rocker