• AllMyVinyl #66
• Band: Brian Setzer
• Album Title: The Devil Always Collects
• Release Date: 15 Sep 2023
• Date purchased: 26 Dec 2023
• Location purchased: Amazon
• Color of vinyl: transparent red
• Number of discs: 1
• Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]

This one I won’t have any old memories of as it was released NEW after I got back into vinyl in 2020, so the usual part I write about with old memories simply doesn’t exist.  But I can tell a story anyway – a short one.  This album came out in Sep of 2023, and at the time I was going through some health issues, and my attention to music and other fun things wasn’t what it normally was.  However, I’m lucky enough at age 59 to still have both my mom (81) and my grandma (100) still with me, and bless their hearts, they still send me money for Christmas just like they did when I was many MANY decades younger.  That caveat is that that money can’t be used for just paying bills, it needs to be something fun, and in this past Christmas fun, I ordered this album on vinyl with said money.  That’s why the purchase date is 26 Dec.  ha. :)

Anyway, I’ve known about Brian Setzer for a long time.  I remember when the Stray Cats started in the early 80’s – I was there, so I’ve followed his career.  What Brian never gets credit for is his guitar playing.  This stuff in the Cats era is less complicated and more “to the song”, but man this guy can play.  Seeing him live, and on some of the work he’s done outside of the Stray Cats structure has shown me he deserves more credit.  Some of his riffs are simple, some are complex, but they all tend to envoke a reaction – in fact, I have a story about that I’ll tell at the end of this album stuff relative to my son.

Anyway, I have a handful of his albums, but not a ton on vinyl, but I do have this one.  When it came out it was sold in a translucent red vinyl – given the title of the album, I’m sure the choice to make it red was intentional.   My wife saw the cover art and was immediately Like “Ewww” – although she didn’t have the same reaction to the Born Again cover – hahah.  I noticed when I got the vinyl out to play it and take the picture for the page header the sleeve shows a small amount of that mark you get on OLD vinyl and you can see the outline of the actual disc on the outside of the sleeve.  This is only one year old, and while it’s not a lot, it’s odd to see that on a 14 month old copy of an album.  If you look on the cover image and look to the right you can see it.  Oddly if I pick it up and look at it, it’s not nearly as noticeable.  Shrug.  Doesn’t affect the vinyl itself however.

The best thing about a Setzer album (whether Cats, or Setzer Orchestra, or just Setzer himself) is the guitar riffs.  His albums are always packed with them, and this album is no different.  His entire vibe is one of old school 50’s & 60’s rock.  I mean he’s KNOWN for rockabilly – which just oozes that.  I say this because sometimes the album songs tend to run into each other.  That’s not necessarily bad, but it’s basically a big slab of Setzer riffs, and most of the album has a similar style.  I’ll obviously point out differences, but this isn’t the type of artist where you get a lot of musical experimentation.  You put on a Setzer album you expect “that” guitar sound of his.

This extends out to the first track – “Rock Boys Rock” – it’s a standard Setzer track – fast old guitar sound you’d expect from Setzer with some female backup singers thrown in for good measure.  Not the most memorable track, but it gets the job done.

The Devil Always Collects – This has a slightly different tone to the main guitar riff, one I like.  If you watch the EPK video Brian recorded for this album he talks about the genesis of this guitar riff, and the idea behind the album title and song in general.

Girl on the Billboard – This was a single, so it had a video produced – an animated one.  I kind of like this one more than the two that came before it on the album, although I’m struggling to say WHY exactly.  Found myself jamming at my desk a bit more here.

The Living Dead – A slower track.  At least compared to the other songs on the album.  Even the slower Setzer songs tend to sound not THAT slow.  His usual guitar sound is a bit muted here – the focus is elsewhere on this track.  In that regard it’s a bit of an outlier.

What’ll it be Baby Doll? – This title seems like something the Stray Cats would have done.  That phrase “baby doll” just sounds like old school rock and roll.  The song also kind of has the vibe of a Cats song vs a Setzer solo track.

Black Leather Jacket – Side one ends with this track that I would have loved to have seen a video made out of it.   The song title alone just conjures an image, and coupled with the guitar riffs, it brings a distinct style of visual to my mind.  Would have loved to have seen if they did the same thing with an official video.  Great track – my favorite from Side 1 for sure.

She’s Got a Lotta… Soul! – This one I can hear a small influence by the old surf guitar god, Dick Dale.  If this was a Weird Al track, I’d call it a “style parody” of sorts.  It reminds me of something that Dale would have done way back.  Which of course fits into the overall Setzer vibe pretty well.

Play that Fast Thing – Given that song title, it’s oddly not fast at all.  Also, the main guitar riff from this song I could swear I’ve heard in a Setzer song before.  It sounds really familiar – I just can’t place it.

A Dude’ll Do (what a Dude’ll Do) – Love the way this riff starts – great sound to it.  Has a slapping bass that I also dig – reminds of what I heard a bunch of in a band out NY – “Lara Hope & The Ark-Tones”.  The vocals are interesting when he repeats the title a few times, as it ends up sounding like “Doodle Doo”.  I like the wordplay there.  Another straightforward Setzer riff.  Like the combination of vocals here with the guitar work.

Psycho Suzie – Another faster track, but this one seems to suffer from sounding like a lot of his other tracks.  Little unique here.  Not bad at all, but nothing stands out.

One Particular Chick – A slower one more focused on the beat than Brian’s guitar work.  The kind of thing you want to sit there and snap your fingers to go along with it.  Also the use of “chick” in the title is a throwback of course.  :)   Like the song.  Ends the album well.

Overall, you can see I didn’t write a ton about the individual songs, but that speaks to what I said before it started about a lot of it being cut from the same cloth.  I also don’t have a ton of experience and background with this one.  It came out at a time in my life when I was going through some health issues (some of which remain to now).  I point that out as a lot of what I write in these things is drawn from memories in the past, and there’s not a lot of that with this album given it’s just one year old and haven’t listened to it a ton.  Having said all that – I did enjoy it.  It’s hard to dislike any Setzer album from any of his bands.  Some songs you’ll like more than others – but that’s pretty much the norm with any artist you’ll listen to.

Overall, a good old slab of American old school rock and roll – put it on, and forget about problems in your life.  You’ll have a good time.

(Don’t forget to read the extra part below the photos and videos)

Let’s Shake

I’m putting this down here for a reason.  First off, it’s not from this album, but the album the song is from I don’t own on vinyl – but I absolutely wanted to say something about it.  Something I wrote for the Devil Collects album made me think of this, and given the album this is from (Rockabilly Riot) is closer to this one than the other Setzer I have on vinyl, I chose here to say something.

Setzer songs are known for their upbeat energy – the kind of thing you can get up and dance to.  There’s a lot over his catalog that make you do that, but I wanted to talk about the song “Let’s Shake”.  This is so FULL of this energy, it’s positively BURSTING at the seams with it.  It’s a fast song – even by his standards – and the main riff is just off the charts full of that vibe that makes his songs what they are.  But the main reason I’m writing at all is about my son.

My son has autism, and is mostly non verbal.  He only says a few songs here and there, and it’s a struggle to get any kind of communication going.  If you know someone in your family with non-verbal autism, then you can get it.  However, one night my wife and I were playing tunes, and I chose to play Let’s Shake.  To our shock and surprise, my son started doing his version of dancing – which is pretty much just standing in place and bobbing up and down.  We were stunned.  When the song was over, he said clearly one of the few words he does – “again”.  So we played it again – more dancing.

Since then when the song comes on, I can see him bopping in the car or jamming in place, it pleases me to no end this song has touched him, and for that I’ll forever be in debt to Brian Setzer – we found a song that reaches our son.

The video for it is kind of cornball, has power, energy, fun, some sexiness – a great three and half minutes of fun.  Check it out.   Given it’s not from the Devil Always Collects album is why I wrote about it down below the bottom of the page – in a separate spot.

“… shimmy those hips, let’s get real gone….”