The Tex-Mex Fireball

 

 

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George Tomsco is one of those almost legendary axe men from the early days of rock'n'roll. Not as spectacular as the really big names like Scotty Moore or Cliff Gallup, more of a back room boy, but still well worth a listen. Norman Petty, the famed producer and manager of Buddy Holly employed George and his band, the Fireballs to operate as studio band in his Clovis, New Mexico Studios from the late 1950's to the late 1960's. This album documents some of the results of those sessions. Plus some much later sessions from Tomsco and the Fireballs.

Included are the controversial tracks made as home recordings by Holly himself which were subsequently overdubbed by George and the Fireballs at the behest of Petty. The vast majority of the other tracks are by total unknowns several of whom went back to their day jobs - one turned to stock broking apparently. However two big names do appear. The first is Arthur Alexander, one of the early soul men and a favourite of the early Beatles.The recording of Alexander which appears here has the characteristic deliberate sound that we associate with his hits. Tomsco fits well into the overall picture contributing all the fills that you would expect. It's a major leap from Clovis tex-mex to soul but the Fireballs manage it.

The other big name is Carolyn Hester who was big in the folk scene in NY in the early 60's. She was born in Waco, Texas, and grew up in Dallas, Austin and Denver before the family settled in Lubbock. She often went out with Buddy when he visited NY. There's an interesting connection to Dylan in that, after she had signed to Columbia, she persuaded them to use the then unknown Bob on harmonica for her first session. The Tomsco reference here is the song which was written by George and Babs Tomsco. It's not world shaking but typical of the pop folk of the early 60's.

George and Babs contribute several songs and vocals to the album. George solos on the pleasing country number "Goin' Away". There are a couple of duets with "Come on Home" the better of the pair. It's good but could have done with a little more edge." Like all the others" is sung by Tommy Haney. Again pleasing. With some promotion this could have sold a few.

For someone of my vintage many of the vocal tracks on this album have a time machine effect. They're instantly evocative of the late 50's but not recognisable as someone you know. Relatively polite rock'n'roll. Several like Jimmy Craig's "Oh Little Girl" are strongly influenced by Holly. In part this is because of the common thread of Tomsco's guitar which is very reminiscent of Holly in both lead and rhythm parts. Hulan Bass' novelty song "Little Bitty Man" is one of the few that has its own sound seemingly separate from the Clovis influence.

There aren't enough instrumentals. Under the nom-de-plume, George Tomsco and the Dots, the Fireballs contribute "Mexican Fun" which takes a few seconds to warm up. It eventually picks up some mariachi horns leading one to suspect it might have been intended for the "Vaquero" album. A much later version of the boys - reunited in 1989 - gives us "Walkin'" and "Fiero". Both are good but the former is a tad lacking in urgency. Drummer Gary Lee Swafford's two numbers are good, sounding like a cross between prime Fireballs and Sandy Nelson. These came later than the main Fireballs numbers and George sounds as if he's picked up some new licks. The Wes Dakus number "Las Vegas Scene" is another goodie, offering further variation on the basic Fireballs sound.

I'm not sure I see the need for including the very low-fi demo version of "Rip it Up" which precedes the final track, which itself is another version of "Torquay". I'm also unsure whether I approve of the dubbed Holly tracks being present. All Holly fans will already have these as will most r'n'r fans. I have to assume they're here for completeness and to illustrate what the Fireballs did for these numbers. Inevitably this raises the old question as to whether Petty should done this the Holly originals. The sleeve notes make the valid point that the record label, Coral would have been highly unlikely to sanction Holly's masters in their naked form. I find the dubbed songs too busy. My guess is that a slightly more mature Tomsco, say by a couple of years, would have made a better job of them. To me he's trying too hard.

I don't usually criticise Ace but I do have one particular beef with the overall set. Why couldn't the tracks have been in order? As it stands it's a devil relating the notes to the songs. And the Holly numbers are spread rather than being in a block. Why? This unfortunately detracts somewhat from the usual excellent reaearch job done by Ace.

It's difficult to give a star rating to this album. For the Fireballs/Tomsco/Petty completist it's probably magnificent. For the casual fan it's more likely to be a no go area. I'm somewhere in between - I'm keen on the instrumentals but most of the vocals are pleasant but that's all - so I'll stick with three.

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