If you're familiar with Phil Gammage's recent output both solo and as Adventures In Blues Land this album follow a similar pattern only more acoustic than electric.
It's All real good is a classic blues shuffle about homophobia and fights that break out when people make base assumptions about you with some really great harp playing as the story unfolds with a couple of interesting twists both musically and lyrically and this may well be the same John that Slaughter & the Dogs had a situation or two with.
Luck Don't Pass Us By is a cool little plea for lady luck to work for Phil for once and to let him get what he wants a cool gentle acoustic blues with a tambourine providing most of the song's percussion.
Hellcat Maggie is Phil's re-telling of the 19th century legend of Maggie and what she got up too as a real hellcat it's a dark and brooding as we all want to avoid Maggie's wrath.
Dancing On Top Of The World is a great song about the days when you could go and dance at windows to the World on top of the World trade centre in New York and has a lovely nostalgic feel to it with some lovely backing vocals from Michele Butler.
Naked In The Rain is a nice gentle blues to open with and who doesn't want to dance naked in the rain at some point, yes this reviewer has actually done that on a Spenser Tunic photo shoot many years ago and yes we should all do it at least once.
Then comes the rather elegiac Give Away as Phil contemplates his departure to the next place and asks us to all stand in a circle as we dance to his memory, well I certainly hope this isn't his goodbye record as his recent run of Blues albums are all really good and worth hearing. Wandering Stars is nice and mellow with quite a reflective feel to it and the most minimal percussion.
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Let Love Begin is a bit down at heart at the end of one love and the hopes for the next love as life must go on that sounds like it's being sung while he's sitting on a porch looking at a sunset, here's hoping he finds that new love.
The album then closes with Second Time Around is gentle laid back and has some real Little Walter style harmonica as Phil tells us he's coming back for more the second time around. If your lucky or have the right version of the album you might find a bonus second version that isn't a dub plate but just a slightly tweaked version like they couldn't figure out which take was best, and I can't either so you'll have to listen to both of them and make up your mind.
Find out more at http://philgammagemusic.com/ and order the album here https://philgammage.bandcamp.com/album/its-all-real-good-album.
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