Runaway Boys: A Retrospective '81 To '92

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Runaway Boys: A Retrospective '81 To '92 album cover
Album Information
  • Artist: Stray Cats (See All Albums by Stray Cats)
  • Date Released: Jan 14, 1997

  • Genre: Alternative/Punk, Style: Commercial Alternative, Alternative, Rock, Indie Rock

  • Label: EMI

Total Tracks: 25   Total Length: 77:35

eMusic Features

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Flying Saucers Rock & Roll

By Lenny Kaye, eMusic Contributor

Of all rock's family tendrils, rockabilly is the one that keeps re-boppin', sporting a revival every decade or so, its coming-of-age kicks allowing each new offspring to roll its own. Guitar-heavy, emphasizing Wild Ones rebellion ("whaddya got?") and sonic dazzle (heavy on the reverb and chest vibrato), it raves and paves garage-punk (The Seeds to Damned), shockabilly (The Cramps and Chadbourne), new-wave (Stray Cats and Dire Straits), waggle-wobble (Jon Spencer and Boss Hog), Nirvana and… more »

They Say All Music Guide

An exemplary best-of, this has 25 tracks from throughout their career, leaning heavily on the earliest and best material. It also contains a few tunes that were previously unreleased in the U.S., the B-side cover of the Supremes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love,” and all three non-album songs from their 1983 double-45 “(She’s) Sexy + 17.” Those who prize authenticity might continue to scorn this rockabilly revivalism. But now that the debate over whether the group were poseurs or not has become irrelevant, it’s a surprisingly solid guilty pleasure, even if it’s more or less reheated Gene Vincent. – Richie Unterberger