Jimmy Gilmer

The Fireballs were best known as an instrumental act, landing chart hits with the likes of "Torquay," "Quite a Party," and "Bulldog," and their most successful vocal sides found the band taking second-billing to guitarist and sometimes lead singer Jimmy Gilmer, most notably "Sugar Shack."

For anyone in their mid-teens in the mid-5Os, and into music, it had to be rock'n'roll - American rock'n roll. There was no British equivalent to the sound. In the UK, it was Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, The Platters, Alan Freed, Radio Luxembourg, Voice Of America.

Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat (after bands from Liverpool and nearby areas beside the River Mersey) is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll (mainly Chuck Berry guitar style and the midtempo beat of artists like Buddy Holly), doo-wop, skiffle and R&B. The genre provided many of the bands responsible for the British Invasion of the American pop charts starting in 1964, and provided the model for many important developments in pop and rock music, including the format of the rock group around lead, rhythm and bass guitars with drums. The Beat Of The Pops - excellent selection of beat tracks.

In early 2018, Eric Records revisited one of our most popular early collections to improve the overall sound and upgrade specific tracks. Originally released in 1996, this collection offers 21 hard-to-find pop hits from the early sixties, 12 in full stereo. This newly re-mastered CD contains the ORIGINAL HIT SINGLE versions of #1 hits like “Sugar Shack” by Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs, “Wooden Heart” by Joe Dowell, “I Will Follow Him” by Little Peggy March and “Dominique” by The Singing Nun. Every song has been lovingly re-mastered from the original master tapes for brilliant clarity and full, rich sound.

In the early to mid-1960s in Australia, the landscape was rapidly changing - the Holden now had serious competition from newcomers the Ford Falcon and Chrysler Valiant. Householders were saving and buying television sets - and Top 40 radio along with local record shops were doing big business. Another Saturday Night - 60s Giants of The Jukebox, put together by compilation producer Brent James takes us back to that booming period just prior to - and at the start of the 'British Invasion'. A 2CD set superbly mastered with State by State Australian Chart details along with extensive liner notes, the set features local chart hits from Tommy Roe, Johnny O'Keefe, Rick Nelson, Bobby Fuller, The Delltones, Jumpin' Gene Simmons, Mike Sarne, Elvis Presley, Del Shannon and many others who set the stage the for the hits that were to come.