''40'' is the ninth studio album by American

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

band

Stray Cats Stray Cats are an American rockabilly band formed in 1979 by guitarist and vocalist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker, and drummer Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in ...

, released in May 2019 by Surfdog Records. It is their first studio album in 26 years since ''Original Cool'' in 1993. The album was recorded, mixed, and mastered in Nashville, Tennessee.

Critical reception

Joe Bosso of ''

Guitar Player ''Guitar Player'' was an American magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francis ...

'' said: "The album brims with bracing, stripped-down rockers like 'Cat Fight (Over a Dog Like Me),' 'Mean Pickin' Mama' and 'Devil Train,' and every track boasts a widescreen riff and virtuoso guitar solo. But the band also serves up some new sounds with the riff rocker 'Cry Danger' (co-written with Mike Campbell) and the punk-like 'I'll Be Looking Out for You.'" Kenneth Partridge of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' said: "Four decades later, Stray Cats are ready to 'Rock It Off' with the same three basic ingredients they've always used: Setzer's twangy Gretsch guitar, drummer Slim Jim Phantom's elemental thumping and Lee Rocker's expertly slapped upright bass… On the standout 'Cry Danger,' the Cats venture out of their '50s comfort zone and move boldly into '60s garage-rock territory. The track features an intro guitar riff that'll make any Beatles fan instantly think of '

Day Tripper "Day Tripper" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a double A-side single with "We Can Work It Out" in December 1965. The song was written primarily by John Lennon with some contributions from Paul McCartney and ...

.'"

Track listing

Personnel

Stray Cats *

Brian Setzer Brian Robert Setzer (born April 10, 1959) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly group Stray Cats, and returned to the music scene in the early 1990s with ...

– guitars, lead vocals * Slim Jim Phantom – drums, vocals *

Lee Rocker Leon Drucker (born August 3, 1961), professionally known as Lee Rocker is an American musician. He is a member of the rockabilly band Stray Cats. He is the son of the classical clarinetists Stanley Drucker, the late former principal clarinet ...

– bass guitar, vocals

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2019 albums Stray Cats albums