The two songs that introduced me to Phil Gammage were on a sampler album entitled The Electric Radio Sampler Music Test (1993). The album is probably intended to be played inside record stores as an inducement to purchase albums on sale by the label who released it, Marilyn Records. It doesn’t look like much, but there is some great music on this little CD. Besides the two Phil Gammage songs, there are two by Flamin’ Groovies guitarist Chris Wilson. The opening track, “If Wishes Were Horses” is based on the old saying “if wishes were horses, then beggars would ride” – one of those sayings where everyone only seems to say the first half and often forgets how the rest of it goes (I had for this saying). On this song, he is backed by a San Francisco indie rock band, the Sneetches.
(March 2015)
