Stray Cats is the first studio album by American rockabilly band Stray Cats, first released in the United Kingdom by Arista Records in February 1981. It was produced by the band and Dave Edmunds.
The album was successful in Britain, peaking at No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart, and produced the UK Singles Chart top 40 hits "Runaway Boys" (No. 9), "Rock This Town" (No. 9) and "Stray Cat Strut" (No. 11). The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame later listed "Rock This Town" as one of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll".
The fifth track on the album, "Storm the Embassy" was based on the song "Boys Having Babies" recorded in 1979 by Brian Setzer's previous band The Bloodless Pharaohs. The lyrics were subsequently rewritten about the Iran hostage crisis of 1979–80.
The album was only issued in the United States after the success of the band's first American album, 1982's Built for Speed. However, six of the songs from Stray Cats ("Rock This Town", "Stray Cat Strut", "Rumble in Brighton", "Runaway Boys", "Double Talkin' Baby" and "Jeanie, Jeanie, Jeanie") were already included on Built for Speed.
Track listing
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.
Stray Cats
- Brian Setzer – guitar, vocals
- Slim Jim Phantom – drums
- Lee Rocker – bass
Additional musicians
- Gary Barnacle – saxophone
Production
- Aldo Bocca – engineering
- Dave Edmunds – production
- Hein Hoven – engineering
- Neil – tape operation
- Nick – tape operation
- Brian Setzer – production
- Stray Cats – production
Design
- Gavin Cochrane – photography
- Chalkie Davies – photography
- Alain de la Mata – photography
- Chris Gabrin – photography
- Malcolm Garrett – sleeve design
- Toshi Yajima – photography
Charts
Weekly charts
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
! Chart (1981)
! Peak<br />position
|-
!scope="row"| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)
|align="center"| 41
|-
|-
! scope="row"| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)
| align="center"| 1
|-
!scope="row"| French Albums (SNEP)
| style="text-align:center;"| 1
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (1981)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)
| 32
|-
! scope="row"| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)
| 12
|-
|}