Balls of Fire 1976 Album

Black Oak Arkansas

Ruby Starr actually came back to the band for this one, and did the backing vocals for the cover of Bob Seger’s “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man”. But her appearance – as with the High on the Hog record – is a minor development in the grand scheme of things. The major idea here was a branching out of sorts. I say “of sorts” because the band does it buffet-style – there is a syncopated sex funk track (“Fistful of Love”), there is the “Great Balls of Fire” cover, there are these weird progressive/romantic rock songs towards the end of the album – but no one style the group follows to its’ logical end, for whatever unexplained reason. One of the album’s most exciting tracks, “Rock ‘n’ Roll”, is a fine example of what I described above – the searing guitar solo does not so much end as it just feels clipped off mistakenly. And yes, it does feel really weird to listen to Jim Dandy try to croon like Steve Walsh or Jim Perry on “Storm of Passion”, but the rest of the band heroically keeps the mood appropriately heavy and spooky, so it is not totally awkward.