I knew of Phil Gammage from a sort of CD EP that I got many years ago called The Electric Radio Sampler Music Test, I believe in a grab-bag package from Bomp! Records. Two of the songs from Cry of the City, “The Stranger” and “High Roller” were on that record that I immediately took to – slice-of-life stories that were well written and backed by a strong rock band. His vocals are a little idiosyncratic – he doesn’t have a trained voice and has some trouble with high notes, but he packs a lot of emotion into his music. It never occurred to me that Phil Gammage might be someone who had fallen so completely through the cracks.
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.
The other Chris Wilson song, “The Derelict” is even better – it is the “yo ho ho and a bottle of rum” pirate song. The original song was made up by Robert Louis Stevenson for his 1883 adventure tale, Treasure Island. Young Ewing Allison, a newspaperman of that era, wrote a full poem based on the short verse included in the novel. Accompanied by a gritty rock band called (appropriately enough) the Barbary Coasters (also from San Francisco), the lyrics are taken from that poem and I believe include all six stanzas. I also have the full CD by Chris Wilson that includes both songs, Back on the Barbary Coast.
There is also a Kim Fowley song, “Rockin’ in the Balkans”, and the EP rounds out with “I Pledge Allegiance To Disobedience” by the outrageous GG Allin & the Murder Junkies.
(March 2015)
