Hot on the heels of their 1981 self-titled debut, the Stray Cats released their follow up, Gonna Ball. Whereas their debut saw massive success, and spawned multiple chart singles in the UK, their second album didn't fare as well. While the single, You Don't Believe Me would chart in the UK, it would peak at fifty-seven, a far cry from the top ten hits their debut spawned.
Playing through it, Gonna Ball essentially offers a carbon copy of their self-titled debut. In fact, it could have easily been a double LP album released as part of it. This, however, is not necessarily a bad thing.
Amongst the various songs, I found some new tunes to tap my toes to, and ultimately add to my shuffle list. These included, Baby Blue Eyes, Wasn't That Good, Cryin' Shame, You Don't Believe Me, Gonna Ball, and the awesome instrumental, Wicked Whisky.
The same "problem" I had with their debut is what I found myself experiencing here. While the songs are good, they start to all mesh together, sounding the same from track to track. It was so bad that at one point I didn't even know what song I was listening to.
But again, I did enjoy listening to the album. It was another nice entry into the rockability 50's style. Additionally, unlike their prior release, it also avoided the pitfalls of combining elements of punk. Basically, it was straight up malt shop rock and roll.
Despite its lackluster release, combined sales of both their first and second album were sufficient for EMI America to compile a selection of tracks from both, six from their debut, and five from Gonna Ball, to create the compilation, Built For Speed. This would serve as the band's debut album in the USA.
This was followed up in 1983 with their third album, second in the US, Rant N' Rave With The Stray Cats. You'll catch me there next time...you know, tomorrow. So far, so good.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS September 14, 1985 |
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