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Blast Off! is the fifth album by the American rockabilly revivalist band Stray Cats, released in 1989.[2][3] It marked a reunion of the band, after three years of solo endeavors; the band's previous album, 1986's Rock Therapy, was produced to fulfill a record contract.[4][5]

Blast Off!
Studio album by Stray Cats
Released	1989
Genre	Rock, rockabilly, pop
Label	EMI America[1]
Producer	Dave Edmunds
Stray Cats chronology
Rock Therapy (1986) Blast Off! (1989) Rock This Town: Best of the Stray Cats (1990)

The album peaked at No. 111 on the Billboard 200.[6] It peaked at No. 58 on the UK Albums Chart.[7] The first single was "Bring It Back Again".[8]

The band supported Blast Off! by touring with Stevie Ray Vaughan.[2]

Production

The album was produced by Dave Edmunds, who recorded it in two weeks.[9][10] The band began work on the songs at Brian Setzer's house, in the summer of 1988.[11] "Gene and Eddie" is a tribute to Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran.[12]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[13]
Chicago Tribune	[4]
Los Angeles Times	[14]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide	[15]
Orlando Sentinel	[16]
Ottawa Citizen	[17]
Record Collector	[18]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[19]
San Jose Mercury News	[20]
The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music	[21]

Spin thought that the album "sounds even more half-hearted than the Stray Cats original (so to speak) take on the rockabilly revival."[22] The Boston Globe determined that "Setzer can still play rave-up guitar with the best of them, though this album has time warp written all over it."[23] The Ottawa Citizen noted that "the humor is there; they give Mr. Spock a pompadour during a ride around the galaxy, then walk on the moon in blue suede shoes."[17] The San Jose Mercury News wrote that "if the way in which the Cats once played with and to nostalgia was original—in a secondhand sense—it now seems only dreary and rehashed."[20]

The Orlando Sentinel stated that "Edmunds gives the Cats a new lease by rekindling the fire that dimmed after their debut album."[16] The Calgary Herald declared that "it rocks and that's why Blast Off is a fun rerun of the party-hearty sound that saw the Stray Cats top the charts in 1982–'83."[24] The Los Angeles Times panned the album, writing that "these un-cool Cats should feel lucky they even get a second chance—especially since they show no sign of being more than a one-dimensional act."[14] The Gazette opined that "the Stray Cats have returned to their original launching point—as a good club band with no real vision."[25]

AllMusic wrote: "Featuring a set of pleasant, but unexciting, songs, Blast Off indicated that the Stray Cats' revved-up rockabilly ran out of gas quickly."[13] Record Collector concluded that "there’s a fiery venom to the galloping title track ... and then there’s way too much filler."[18] MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide called the album "unjustly ignored."[15]

Track listing

References

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