Brian Setzer

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Guitarist + singer & songwriter Brian Setzer was born April 10, 1959 in Long Island, New York USA. As a teenager, Setzer drew inspiration from '50s' Rockabilly, fused it with New Wave, Punk and created a phenomenon with his band: Stray Cats. The trio first hit the U.K. charts in 1981 and such tunes as "Rock This Town" and "Stray Cat Strut" both became top 10 smashes in U.S. over a year after their British chart peaks.

After Stray Cats broke up for the first of several times in 1984, Brian Setzer started working on his first solo album, the surprisingly ambitious Heartland-Rock oriented "The Knife Feels Like Justice", which he released in 1986; it reached the #45 position on The Billboard Top 200 Albums chart and the title-cut peaked at #13 on The Mainstream Rock Tracks.

Two years later he released his second solo set, "Live Nude Guitars", which only went to #140 on The Billboard 200 chart producing a Mainstream Rock top 40 minor hit with "When The Sky Comes Tumblin' Down".

During the early '90s, when Grunge ruled the charts, Setzer assembled his monstrous big band complete with a 13-piece horn section that ignited an international modern Swing explosion.
"The Brian Setzer Orchestra" was released in 1994 to little commercial success.

Another disappointing LP, "Guitar Slinger", followed two years later.

With his third Orchestra album and fifth solo album overall, Brian Setzer again found himself at the top of the music business; released in June 1998, "The Dirty Boogie" sold millions of copies peaking at #9 on The Billboard 200; the disc contained "You're The Boss", an Elvis Presley/Ann Margret duet, recasted for Setzer and No Doubt frontwoman Gwen Stefani as well as the Modern Rock top 20 hit "Jump Jive An' Wail", a cover of Sicilian-American Jazz trumpeter Louis Prima.
The hard work finally paid off when The Brian Setzer Orchestra racked up two Grammy wins on February 25, 1999 at the 41st Grammy ceremony. The first was for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for "Sleepwalk", "Jump Jive An' Wail" won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by Duo or Group.

Setzer continued his second round of hipness and commercial success with "Vavoom!", released in June 2000 this album crawled its way to #62 on The Billboard 200 and "Caravan" was eventually awarded a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

The following year the pompadoured Long Islander returned with a three-piece ensemble under the banner of Brian Setzer '68 Comeback Special. If the name represents homage to Elvis Presley, the trio's disc, "Ignition!", represents a return to purist Rockabilly; the album failed to rival the success of its two predecessors and stalled at #152 on The Billboard 200.

In October 2002 Brian Setzer redefined holiday music with the release of "Boogie Woogie Christmas", a 12-song set recorded with his horn-fueled big band which debuted at #141 on the U.S. Top 200 Albums chart.

Exactly one year later, he released a new solo album entitled "Nitro Burnin' Funny Daddy" on Surfdog Records, this was also the hardest-rocking Setzer effort since his mid-'80s work but didn't come close to cracking The Billboard 200 Sales list only reaching the #23 spot on the Top Independent Albums chart.

The Brian Setzer Orchestra's second Christmas offering, "Dig That Crazy Christmas", pretty much picked right up where "Boogie Woogie Christmas" left off, peaking at a respectable #56 on the Billboard all-genre Top 200 chart upon its October 2005 release.

In October 2006, the veteran Rockabilly artist churned out his next solo album, "13", which barely scraped into the top 40 of the U.S. Independent chart.

The following year, Brian Setzer reconvened his big band for its first non-Christmas-related set since 2000's "Vavoom!". With "Wolfgang’s Big Night Out", Setzer embarked on the most ambitious undertaking of his career in re-arranging and orchestrating well-known classical themes from Beethoven, Strauss, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and others into Vegas-ized Rat Pack-era Swing. The disc debuted at #141 on The Billboard 200, falling just one position short of #1 on the special U.S. Top Classical Crossover Albums chart.

Setzer just completed his new record entitled "Songs From Lonely Avenue". The album features 13 new original songs all written by Setzer. Inspired by the attitude and tension of the film noir soundtracks from the '40s and '50s, Setzer set out to create songs that carry a classic cinematic mood that's missing from today's musical landscape; the opening track, "Trouble Train", sets the mood for the whole album.

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The Knife Feels Like Justice

(1986)

1. The Knife Feels Like Justice
2. Haunted River
3. Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
4. Bobby's Back
5. Radiation Ranch
6. Chains Around Your Heart
7. Maria
8. Three Guys
9. Aztec
10. Breath Of Life
11. Barbwire Fence

 

Live Nude Guitars

(1988)

1. Red Lightning Blues
2. Rockability
3. Rebelene
4. Nervous Breakdown
5. Every Tear That Falls
6. Temper Sure Is Risin'
7. When The Sky Comes Tumblin' Down
8. She Thinks I'm Trash
9. Love Is Repaid By Love Alone
10. Rosie In The Middle
11. So Young, So Bad, So What
12. The Rain Washed Everything Away

 

—The Brian Setzer Orchestra—

The Brian Setzer Orchestra

(1994)

1. Lady Luck
2. Ball And Chain
3. Sittin' On It All The Time
4. Good Rockin' Daddy
5. September Skies
6. Brand New Cadillac
7. There's A Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder
8. Route 66
9. Your True Love
10. Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square
11. Straight Up
12. Drink That Bottle Down

 

—The Brian Setzer Orchestra—

Guitar Slinger

(1996)

1. The House Is Rocking
2. Hoodoo Voodoo Doll
3. Town Without Pity
4. Rumble In Brighton
5. The Man With The Magic Touch
6. (The Legend Of) Johnny Kool
7. Ghost Radio
8. (Everytime I Hear) That Mellow Saxophone
9. Buzz Buzz
10. My Baby Only Cares For Me
11. Hey, Louis Prima
12. Sammy Davis City

 

—The Brian Setzer Orchestra—

The Dirty Boogie

(1998)

1. This Cat's On A Hot Tin Roof
2. The Dirty Boogie
3. This Old House
4. Let's Live It Up
5. Sleepwalk
6. Jump Jive An' Wail
7. You're The Boss
8. Rock This Town
9. Since I Don't Have You
10. Switchblade 327
11. Nosey Joe
12. Hollywood Nocture
13. As Long As I'm Singin'

 

—The Brian Setzer Orchestra—

Vavoom!

(2000)

1. Pennsylvania 6-5000
2. Jumpin' East Of Java
3. Americano
4. If You Can't Rock Me
5. Gettin' In The Mood
6. Drive Like Lightning (Crash Like Thunder)
7. Mack The Knife
8. Caravan
9. The Footloose Doll
10. From Here To Eternity
11. That's The Kind Of Sugar Papa Likes
12. '49 Mercury Blues
13. Jukebox
14. Gloria

 

—Brian Setzer '68 Comeback Special—

Ignition!

(2001)

1. Ignition
2. 5 Years, 4 Months, 3 Days
3. Hell Bent
4. Hot Rod Girl
5. 8-Track
6. '59
7. Rooster Rock
8. Santa Rosa Rita
9. (The Legend Of) Johnny Kool (Part 2)
10. Get 'Em On The Ropes
11. Who Would Love This Car But Me?
12. Blue Café
13. Dreamsville
14. Malagueña

 

—The Brian Setzer Orchestra—

Boogie Woogie Christmas

(2002)

1. Jingle Bells
2. Boogie Woogie Santa Claus
3. Winter Wonderland
4. Blue Christmas
5. Santa Claus Is Back In Town
6. Baby It's Cold Outside
7. The Nutcracker Suite
8. (Everybody's Waitin' For) The Man With The Bag
9. Sleigh Ride
10. So They Say It's Christmas
11. O Holy Night
12. The Amens

 

Nitro Burnin' Funny Daddy

(2003)

1. Sixty Years
2. Don't Trust A Woman (In A Black Cadillac)
3. When The Bells Don't Chime
4. That Someone Just Ain't You
5. Rat Pack Boogie
6. Ring, Ring, Ring
7. Drink Whiskey And Shut Up
8. Smokin' 'N Burnin'
9. Wild Wind
10. St. Jude
11. To Be Loved
12. When The Bells Don't Chime [Banjo mix]

 

—The Brian Setzer Orchestra—

Dig That Crazy Christmas

(2005)

1. Dig That Crazy Santa Claus
2. Angels We Have Heard On High
3. Gettin' In The Mood (For Christmas)
4. White Christmas
5. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
6. 'Zat You Santa Claus?
7. Hey Santa!
8. My Favorite Things
9. You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch
10. Cool Yule
11. Jingle Bell Rock
12. Santa Drives A Hot Rod
13. What Are You Doing New Year's Eve

 

13

(2006)

1. Drugs And Alcohol (Bullet Holes)
2. Take A Chance On Love
3. Broken Down Piece Of Junk
4. We Are The Marauders
5. Don't Say You Love Me
6. Really Rockabilly
7. Rocket Cathedrals
8. Mini Bar Blues
9. Bad Bad Girl (In A Bad Bad World)
10. When Hepcat Gets The Blues
11. Everybody's Up To Somethin'
12. Back Streets Of Tokyo
13. The Hennepin Avenue Bridge

 

Wolfgang's Big Night Out

(2007)

1. Take The 5th [based on Beethoven's "5th Symphony"]
2. One More Night With You [based on Grieg's "Hall Of The Mountain King"]
3. Wolfgang's Big Night Out [based on Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusic"]
4. Honey Man [based on Rimskey-Korsakov's "Flight Of The Bumblebee"]
5. Yes We Can Can [based on Offenbach's "Can Can"]
6. Swingin' Willie [based on Rossini's "William Tell Overture"]
7. Sabre Dance [based on Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance"]
8. For Lisa [based on Beethoven's "Fur Elise"]
9. Here Comes The Broad [based on Wagner's "Lohengrin" And Mendelssohn's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"]
10. 1812 Overdrive [based on Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture"]
11. Some River In Europe [based on Strauss's "Blue Danube"]
12. Take A Break Guys [based on "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"]

 

Songs From Lonely Avenue

(2009)

1. Trouble Train
2. Dead Man Incorporated
3. Kiss Me Deadly
4. Gimme Some Rhythm Daddy
5. Lonely Avenue
6. King Of The Whole Damn World
7. Mr. Jazzer Goes Surfin'
8. Mr. Surfer Goes Jazzin'
9. My Baby Don't Love Me Blues
10. Love Partners In Crime
11. Passion Of The Night
12. Dimes In The Jar
13. Elena

 

Brian Setzer discography - an exclusive and detailed creation of 100xr.com
The section contains all of Brian Setzer albums released to date
with original cover art and complete track-listing

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