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 ...
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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, Rovi
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