"Gene and Eddie" is a weird, nicely crunchy pastiche of Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran lines and licks. The band was bringing those seminal sounds into a new, harder era. "The slamming bass, cave man drumbeats and stinging guitar," writes bassist Rocker in his new liner notes about the album, "were as raw, powerful and dangerous as anything we had ever done... psychobilly was born. I hear a lot of the bands that have come after us regurgitating bits of this record."

Everything old is new. "Gina" with its rolling drums looks back to Buddy Holly. The record was full of nostalgia and musical self-awareness even as it reflected its own time and broke new ground for the band. Song titles tell the story: "Rockabilly Rules," "Bring It Back Again," "Rockabilly World." It closes with the slinky "Nine Lives," a throwback to the early hit "Stray Cat Strut" but at the same time a showcase for a jazzy Setzer solo that looked ahead to the Brian Setzer Orchestra, which he was probably already contemplating; he formed the big band the following year.

Lee Rocker, for his part, has continued a steady output of very good solo albums that have helped carried the rockabilly revival into the 21st century. I saw him in Nashville two years ago and he seriously rocked the house.

Rockabilly aficionados and fans of the Stray Cats will want to pick up these nicely produced reissues.  Blast Off will be of interest also to the cowboy-hats-and-piercings crowd.  It's good to have these albums back in circulation.