MetaChat - Brian Setzer

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21 March 2007

Brian Setzer was the lead vocalist and guitarist for 80's faux-rockabilly outfit the Stray Cats. Nowadays he leads an orchestra playing ersatz swing dance music. What many people don't know is what happened in between. →[More:]

In 1986 after the Stray Cats split, he went solo and released one tremendously good album of smart, punchy, straight ahead rock and roll called The Knife Feels Like Justice, eschewing the affectations and revivalisms for once. He was doing an interview on 102.7 WNEW and they played a few tracks that blew me away and I rushed right out and bought the cassette. And apparently, I was the only one, since the album sank like a stone commercially and went out of print for the next two decades. Which is a damned shame since it's better than anything he did with the Stray Cats or any of his swing stuff, at least to these ears.

Here's a few choice tracks:

The Knife Feels Like Justice
Bobby's Back
Radiation Ranch
Boulevard Of Broken Dreams

Hope you like 'em as much as I do.

post by: jonmc at: 11:22 | 10 comments

Thanks, jon. Can't listen at work, but I have a lot of admiration for Setzer (though I've never heard these before). Looking forward to giving it all a listen when I get home. I liked both the rockabilly phase and the swing phase. Though many may not like his swing stuff, as a swing dancer, I'm really impressed with his grasp for the music and his energetic, full-throttle approach. His is among the very best stuff to dance to, and that puts him high among the ranks of swing composers.

posted by Miko 21 March | 11:28

This stuff is very different from both periods, Miko. It definitely shows the influence of great early rock and roll, but he decided not to be retro for a change and just rock out. Of course, that kind of sound wasn't exactle huge in the mid '80's (Springsteen and a few others excepted) so it went nowhere.

posted by jonmc 21 March | 11:31

Looking forward to snagging those when I get home, thanks jon! I'm a big fan of his (although more towards the rockabilly than the swing- so maybe I'll dig this more than the current stuff).

posted by kellydamnit 21 March | 11:32

I wore out this cassette tape when I was a kid. Love it. There's also some scorching gospel on it ("Three Guys"). Straight up country rock. Terrific stuff. Thanks, jonmc.

posted by Hugh Janus 21 March | 11:34

Hugh, fess up. We were both left here by the same spaceship, right? (You are the first person I've ever met who is even cognizant of this album's existence, let alone owned it like me)

posted by jonmc 21 March | 11:35

The only Setzer story I can offer up at this time is that I read an interview awhile back about him and his tattoos, his dad told him something to the effect that, get whatever and as many as you like, just be sure never to have them in places you can't cover up in court.

posted by edgeways 21 March | 11:46

What is faux-rockabilly?

posted by danostuporstar 21 March | 11:48

We were both abducted by the same spaceship, dude, and dropped back on Earth moments later with memories they cross-implanted between us. That time you spray-painted "Missus Pick Is A Dick" on the elementary school wall? That was me. And I'm starting to wonder if I really have an Italian grandma after all, though I'm loathe to give up these special meatball memories I have.

It took forever for them to release Knife on CD, but as soon as they did, you can bet your ass I bought a copy for my brother for Christmas (I tend to buy CDs I know I already like for other people and not myself -- it's a compulsion of mine).

posted by Hugh Janus 21 March | 12:07

Oh yeah, and if a new listener hears this without having realized what a guitar virtuoso Setzer is, they will. Oh, they will.

posted by Hugh Janus 21 March | 12:12

I saw some concert footage of him playing some of these back in the day, and was blown away. Unfortunately, I no longer have any idea when or where he was playing, or even when I saw it. But the music stuck.

posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson 21 March | 13:06

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