The Best of the Rest of the Fireballs' Vocals

by The Fireballs, Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs, Jimmy Gilmer

Overview

The detail-crammed title alone signifies that this is a disc for the hardcore collector of artists (the Fireballs and Jimmy Gilmer) who do not exactly have huge fan bases or receive glowing retrospective appreciations even in collector's magazines. As a functional fill-in-the-gaps collection that assembles 30 songs (all vocals, none instrumental) that never appeared on LP and have never before appeared on CD, it certainly does have its use to that small audience who wants a complete Gilmer/Fireballs library. (Point of clarification to those confused by the nebulous Gilmer/Fireballs association: nine of these cuts are credited to the Fireballs, 13 to Gilmer as a soloist, and eight to Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs.) Gilmer and the Fireballs, whether working together or separately, weren't terribly notable or creative. As this is the odds and ends of their catalog (all taken from 1959-1969 singles), it doesn't even stand up too well in comparison with their other anthologies. It's fairly limpid pop/rock, often borrowing heavily from trends of the period, as the Fireballs do on the light British Invasion rip-off "Baby What's Wrong," the stiff hot rod music of "Yummie Yama Papa," and the "Hang on Sloopy" rewrite "Say I Am." On Gilmer's part, "Break His Heart for Me" is an obvious derivation of Roy Orbison songs like "Candy Man," "Sugar in the Woods" is tepid late-'60s swamp rock, and "Model Child" contains some of the chintzier sitar-ish sounds in late-'60s rock. There are occasional efforts that are better than others, like the country blues groove of Gilmer's "I'm Gonna Go Walkin'"; the "slow 45 version" of Gilmer's Buddy Holly cover, "Lonesome Tears"; and the gentle, bluesy folk-rock of "Ain't That Rain" (with Gilmer and the Fireballs together). The Fireballs' 1965 single "Beating of My Heart" is a surprising oddity as an American cover of an obscure Joe Meek song, though the Meek-produced original (by British teen idol Heinz) is much better. ~ Richie Unterberger

Product Details

Release Date:	04/16/2002
Label:	Ace
UPC:	0029667182829

Tracks

1. Look Alive
2. Because I Need You
3. I'm Gonna Go Walkin'
4. My Heart Is Free
5. Young Am I
6. Cinnamon Cindy
7. Break His Heart for Me
8. Baby What's Wrong
9. Yummie Yama Papa
10. Lonesome Tears
11. Born to Be With You
12. More Than I Can Say
13. Beating of My Heart
14. Somebody Stole My Watermelon
15. Come to Me
16. Hungry, Hungry, Hungry
17. White Roses
18. Ja-Da
19. Say I Am
20. Ain't That Rain
21. All I Do Is Dream of You
22. Shy Girl
23. I Think I'll Catch a Bus
24. Three Squares
25. Baby
26. Watch Her Walk
27. Good Morning Shame
28. Model Child
29. Sugar in the Woods
30. Long Green

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Jimmy Gilmer   Primary Artist
The Fireballs   Primary Artist
Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Don Robertson   Composer
Lynn Easton   Composer
Joe Meek   Composer
Jimmy Gilmer   Composer
Marty Wilde   Composer
Nacio Herb Brown   Composer
Norman Petty   Composer
Michael Hawker   Composer
Buddy Holly   Composer
Arthur Freed   Composer
George Tomsco   Composer
Keith McCormack   Composer
Eddie Reeves   Composer
Jerry Allison   Composer
Carol Montgomery   Composer
Glynn Thames   Composer
Jerry MacNeish   Annotation
Richard Boyd   Composer
Brian Burrows   Package Design
Kenneth David   Composer
Robert Sharp   Composer
Steve Dodge   Composer
Louis Ridings   Composer
Herb Ryals   Composer
Juanita Jordan   Composer
Jimmy Reed   Composer
Barbara Tomsco   Composer
Sonny Curtis   Composer
Bob Carlton   Composer