Best of the Rest of the Fireballs Vocals 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 collectors 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 GilmerFireballs library. (Point of clarification to those confused by the nebulous GilmerFireballs 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, werent terribly notable or creative. As this is the odds and ends of their catalog (all taken from 1959-1969 singles), it doesnt even stand up too well in comparison with their other anthologies. Its fairly limpid poprock, often borrowing heavily from trends of the period, as the Fireballs do on the light British Invasion rip-off Baby Whats Wrong, the stiff hot rod music of Yummie Yama Papa, and the Hang on Sloopy rewrite Say I Am. On Gilmers 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 ock. There are occasional efforts that are better than others, like the country blues groove of Gilmers Im Gonna Go Walkin the slow 45 version of Gilmers Buddy Holly cover, Lonesome Tears and the gentle, bluesy folk-rock of Aint 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, All Music Guide Artist The Fireballs featuring Jimmy Gilmer Studio Ace Format CD