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Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

Have Another Ball (2008)
Fat Wreck Chords

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Contributed by: dktr
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on July 11th 2008

Is this a new album? Sort of. Is it a reissue? Sort of. All of these tracks were recorded at the time of the first album, Have a Balll, with the idea, apparently, that the first album would be a double album. Then they thought twice and it became a single album with a follow up of similar tracks released around 10 years later (to celebrate their 10 years of amazing rewriting).

Of course it’s all good fun, with surprising moments of genuine quality. When they are, Me First are a great covers band with a zest for covering with wit and charm. There’s a genius behind being able to take these songs and whittling them down to their most basic level, leaving them recognizable yet new and alive.

And if you take them seriously, you’re a sick horse and should be taken outside shot and made into glue.

The real successes here are Hall & Oates’ "Rick Girl," "I Write The Songs" (made famous by Barry Manilow, great heavy metal intro) and "Only The Good Die Young" (Billy Joel).

But there’s some crap ones, all part of the game, really. They need the shit ones to make the good ones even better, maybe. But, it’s all fun. The only real disappointment is in that the final song, Elton John’s "Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me," doesn’t live up to expectation considering what they’ve done in the past ("Rocket Man," "Cabaret," etc.). It’s a bit crap. Not good crap, but crap crap. Oh well.

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paulrulzdood (August 11, 2008)

pretty shitty review.

"only the good die young", "the boxer", "rich girl" and "don't let the sun go down on me" are all classic Me First tunes and most people probably already had them somewhere or another (can I get an Amen for PUnk-o-rama vol.2?)

Certainly some duds as well, but it's me first.

good way to complete your collection, but really, just go get "have a ball" and "blow in the wind" and you have 85% of their good covers.

Paul

damienbigfoot (August 11, 2008)

This band..........

billnye (August 10, 2008)

what's the point of listening to this at all?

balaka2 (August 10, 2008)

saw them last night at HOB in san diego. Fat Mike on the Glasshouse and their lack of booze: "I dont normally say this, but ya know what? Fuck Pomona." Good show. Relatively weak cd, but still entertaining.

telegraphrocks (August 9, 2008)

Real songs > cover songs.

This 'band' has always bothered the fuckin' crap out of me.

candypatrol (August 9, 2008)

Saw them last night, fuckin awesome. As many times as I've seen them their shtick never gets old. All the cheesy jokes, group hugs and drunken antics never fail to put a smile on my face. Plus they played "Isn't she lovely" and "Sunday morning comin down" both I'd never seen before. Only gripe was that it was at the glasshouse which had no bar. Had to down a half pint of jack in the parking lot, oh well. Score is for the show.

BTW anybody else notice that some songs sound better than others on this CD? Seems country roads and only the good die young are much louder and more crisp. Maybe cuz they were previously released on comps?

pricey123 (August 8, 2008)

dont let the sun go down on me is in my top 3 gimmes tracks!!! that, i write the songs, good die young and rich girl are the best on here in my opinion.

id give this 7.5. better than have a ball? hmm... dunno. i can listen to all this album but i always skip jet plane, uptown girl and seasons in the sun on have a ball

Cos (August 8, 2008)

Now here's a review that is as long as it needed to be. Nice job.

Does anyone else miss the 30 word fanzine reviews? Seriously, this is not a college dissertation. Its punk rock.

JerryCola (August 8, 2008)

On one hand most of these songs were also available from various compilations if you didn't wind up getting all those early 7" records before they went out of print... however it does feel nice to have all the songs on one album now.

But yeah some of the songs choices were better than others for this album. As much as I love You Got A Friend and Country Roads, I think Mahogany is the best cover on here with that Germs riff of Richard Dagger’s Crime at the beginning and end of the song.

I’ve been questioning which cover of Mahogany I like better, the Gimmes version or Pinhead Gunpowder’s version.

christian (August 8, 2008)

Love it. These guys can do no wrong.

weffjebster (August 8, 2008)

Score is for The Boxer.

ddb43 (August 8, 2008)

Yeah!yeah!yeah!

booker_pee (August 8, 2008)

pretty good album. "the boxer" remains my favourite-ever gimmes moment.

blip (August 8, 2008)

haha, the end of this review reminded me of the Office when Dwight practices his first speech with Michael and ends the speech with "etcetera"

lollll score is for the office

fattony (August 8, 2008)

Does anyone even proofread their reviews before submitting anymore?

Also, I strongly disagree that "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" is crap. I think it's one of the best songs on the album. But since this is basically a b-sides album, about half the songs are good and the other half pretty much suck. I've never read anything that indicated their first album was going to be a double album either. Most of these songs were recorded for the 7" singles they put out before their first album was released. The first album was made up of the better half of those songs.

facetofacereunion08 (August 8, 2008)

weird way to end a review...