Origin: New York (USA)

FAR CRY

Peter Thom - Phil Galdston

Far Cry albums:

	The more things change - 1980 (with lyrics)
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Notes about Far Cry:

 Text in English

- Far Cry was the name under which the songwriters Phil Galdston and Peter Thom, who had released *American Gypsies* in 1977 as Galdston & Thom, issued the album *The More Things Change...* in 1980 [1, 2, 3, 4].

Phil Galdston, a native of New York, taught himself piano and studied trumpet [2]. In high school he played keyboards and sang with the Cisum Five ("Cisum" being "music" spelled backwards), a group signed to Epic Records whose single "Medal of Honor", written by Galdston and the guitarist David Brightman, was an anti-war song [2, 5]. The group gradually fell apart and, two years later, Galdston formed Freeway, a jazz-rock band that played the Bitter End and the Fillmore East and appeared on *The Tonight Show* [2, 6]. He also arranged for Paul Anka, assisted the Columbia Records producer Teo Macero on several projects and accompanied Diane Keaton on *The Tonight Show*, and for four years he worked with the comedian Robert Klein as pianist and road manager, co-producing Klein's three albums, two of which were nominated for a Grammy [2, 6, 7, 8]. He graduated from Union College in 1972 [6].

Peter Thom was born in Edinburgh in 1944 and moved with his family to Montreal two years later [2]. He taught himself piano at ten and sang lead in rock bands in high school [2]. He gave up music for two years while studying engineering and returned to it full time after winning a televised talent contest; he then spent two years on the Canadian television show *The New Generation*, singing and talking about the topics of the day, while arranging and singing with the Montreal rock band The Strangers and co-writing a university musical comedy [2]. In 1965 he met Milt Okun, then musical director of Peter, Paul & Mary, who helped him sign with Epic Records, which released his single version of Al Kooper's "Fly Away" [2]. After moving to New York he began performing around the country as a guitarist and singer of blues and folk songs [2]. By 1971 he had built a sizeable following and signed with United Artists, which released his debut album, *Peter Thom*, in 1972 [2, 4, 9]. After touring he returned to New York, where he worked as a freelance songwriter and backing vocalist before becoming lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the Joffrey Ballet Orchestra [2, 9].

Galdston and Thom met in the summer of 1973, when Thom joined Galdston's band [2]. Galdston was looking for a singer for Freeway, and the manager Larry Brezner played him a couple of tracks from an album Thom had made [9]. Freeway soon gave way to a songwriting partnership, and the two signed a publishing contract with Chappell [9]. In 1975, at the suggestion of a colleague at Chappell, they entered "Why Don't We Live Together" in the American Song Festival [2, 9]. The song won the Grand Prize among some 60,000 entries, with $30,500 in prize money [1, 2, 8, 9]. Barry Manilow included it on *Tryin' to Get the Feeling* (Arista, 1975), and Geoff Muldaur, Tom Jones and The Tymes also recorded songs by the duo [2, 9, 10].

The win led them to look for a record deal, which resulted in *American Gypsies* (Warner Bros. BS 3037), released in 1977 as Galdston & Thom [1, 2]. John Simon, best known for his work with The Band, produced it together with the duo [1, 2]. It was recorded and mixed at Sigma Sound Studios in New York between November 1976 and March 1977, with the rhythm tracks for most of the songs recorded at MediaSound and Generation Sound Studios [1].

Their next record, in 1980, appeared under the name Far Cry [2]. *The More Things Change...*, their only album as Far Cry, was produced by Elliot Scheiner for Phil Ramone's Touchstone Records and issued in the United States by Columbia (JC 36286) [2, 3, 4]. Scheiner had started in 1967 as Ramone's assistant at A&R Recording and had worked as an engineer on Steely Dan's *Aja* and *Gaucho* [11, 12]. Ramone is credited as executive producer, and the album was recorded at A&R Recording and Automated Sound Studios in New York [4, 13, 14].

Rob Mounsey played keyboards and wrote the horn, string and rhythm arrangements, except for the strings on "Suddenly Strings", arranged by Walter Raim [14]. Galdston and Thom are credited with the lead vocals, and Galdston also played piano and electric piano [2, 3, 14, 15]. The guitarists were Steve Khan, Jeff Mironov, Mark Doyle and Elliott Randall; the bassists Will Lee, Neil Jason, Doug Stegmeyer and Tony Levin; the drummers Bernard Purdie, Chris Parker, Liberty DeVitto and Ed Greene; Ralph MacDonald played percussion; and the horns were Randy Brecker, Marvin Stamm, Barry Rogers, Dave Tofani, Ronnie Cuber and Timmy Cappello [2, 14, 15]. Donald Fagen sang backing vocals on three tracks and Patti Austin on a fourth [2, 4, 13, 14]. Bob Ludwig mastered the record [2, 3, 13]; Paula Scher is credited with the design, and Jan Staller and Jim Houghton with the photography [3, 14]. The album was also released in 1980 in Europe (CBS 84216) and Japan (CBS/Sony 25AP 1920) [13]. A CD edition appeared in Japan in 2001 (Sony Records International, SRCS 9840), followed by another Japanese CD reissue in 2016 (SICP 4866) [16].

Galdston stopped performing in 1982 and continued as a songwriter and producer [6, 8]. In 1989 he wrote the music of "Save the Best for Last" with Jon Lind and the lyrics with Wendy Waldman [6, 17, 18, 19]. Vanessa Williams recorded it for *The Comfort Zone* (1991) and it was released as a single in January 1992; it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on 21 March 1992 and stayed there for five weeks [17, 18, 19]. ASCAP named it Song of the Year as the most performed song of 1992 [6, 8, 18], and it was nominated for the Grammy for Song of the Year at the 35th Annual Grammy Awards, held in 1993 [7]. Among Galdston's other credits is Starship's "It's Not Over ('Til It's Over)", which reached number nine in the United States in 1987 [8, 14, 19]. -

Notas sobre Far Cry:

 Texto en Español

- Far Cry fue el nombre con el que los compositores Phil Galdston y Peter Thom, que en 1977 habían publicado *American Gypsies* como Galdston & Thom, editaron en 1980 el álbum *The More Things Change...* [1, 2, 3, 4].

Phil Galdston, natural de Nueva York, aprendió piano por su cuenta y estudió trompeta [2]. En el instituto tocó los teclados y cantó con los Cisum Five («Cisum» es «music» escrito al revés), un grupo con contrato en Epic Records cuyo sencillo «Medal of Honor», compuesto por Galdston y el guitarrista David Brightman, era una canción contra la guerra [2, 5]. El grupo se fue deshaciendo poco a poco y, dos años después, Galdston formó Freeway, una banda de jazz-rock que tocó en el Bitter End y en el Fillmore East y apareció en *The Tonight Show* [2, 6]. También hizo arreglos para Paul Anka, asistió en varios proyectos al productor de Columbia Records Teo Macero y acompañó a Diane Keaton en *The Tonight Show*, y durante cuatro años trabajó con el cómico Robert Klein como pianista y jefe de gira, coproduciendo los tres discos de Klein, dos de los cuales fueron nominados al Grammy [2, 6, 7, 8]. Se graduó en el Union College en 1972 [6].

Peter Thom nació en Edimburgo en 1944 y su familia se trasladó a Montreal dos años después [2]. Aprendió piano por su cuenta a los diez años y fue cantante principal de varios grupos de rock en el instituto [2]. Dejó la música durante dos años mientras estudiaba ingeniería y volvió a ella a tiempo completo tras ganar un concurso de talentos televisado; después pasó dos años en el programa de la televisión canadiense *The New Generation*, donde cantaba y comentaba los temas del día, a la vez que hacía arreglos y cantaba con el grupo de rock de Montreal The Strangers y coescribía una comedia musical universitaria [2]. En 1965 conoció a Milt Okun, entonces director musical de Peter, Paul & Mary, que le ayudó a firmar con Epic Records, sello que publicó su versión en sencillo de «Fly Away», de Al Kooper [2]. Tras mudarse a Nueva York empezó a actuar por todo el país como guitarrista y cantante de blues y folk [2]. En 1971 ya había reunido un público considerable y firmó con United Artists, que publicó su álbum de debut, *Peter Thom*, en 1972 [2, 4, 9]. Después de una gira volvió a Nueva York, donde trabajó como compositor independiente y corista antes de convertirse en cantante principal y guitarrista rítmico de la Joffrey Ballet Orchestra [2, 9].

Galdston y Thom se conocieron en el verano de 1973, cuando Thom se incorporó al grupo de Galdston [2]. Galdston buscaba cantante para Freeway, y el mánager Larry Brezner le puso un par de temas de un disco de Thom [9]. Freeway dio paso pronto a una colaboración como compositores y firmaron un contrato editorial con Chappell [9]. En 1975, por sugerencia de un colega de Chappell, presentaron «Why Don't We Live Together» al American Song Festival [2, 9]. La canción obtuvo el gran premio entre unas 60 000 inscritas, con 30 500 dólares en premios [1, 2, 8, 9]. Barry Manilow la incluyó en *Tryin' to Get the Feeling* (Arista, 1975), y Geoff Muldaur, Tom Jones y The Tymes también grabaron canciones del dúo [2, 9, 10].

El premio les llevó a buscar un contrato discográfico, que se concretó en *American Gypsies* (Warner Bros. BS 3037), publicado en 1977 como Galdston & Thom [1, 2]. Lo produjo John Simon, conocido sobre todo por su trabajo con The Band, junto con el propio dúo [1, 2]. Se grabó y se mezcló en los Sigma Sound Studios de Nueva York entre noviembre de 1976 y marzo de 1977, con las pistas rítmicas de la mayoría de los temas grabadas en MediaSound y Generation Sound Studios [1].

Su siguiente disco, en 1980, apareció con el nombre de Far Cry [2]. *The More Things Change...*, su único álbum como Far Cry, fue producido por Elliot Scheiner para Touchstone Records, el sello de Phil Ramone, y editado en Estados Unidos por Columbia (JC 36286) [2, 3, 4]. Scheiner había empezado en 1967 como ayudante de Ramone en A&R Recording y había trabajado como ingeniero en *Aja* y *Gaucho*, de Steely Dan [11, 12]. Ramone figura como productor ejecutivo, y el álbum se grabó en A&R Recording y Automated Sound Studios, en Nueva York [4, 13, 14].

Rob Mounsey tocó los teclados y escribió los arreglos de metales, cuerdas y ritmos, salvo las cuerdas de «Suddenly Strings», arregladas por Walter Raim [14]. Galdston y Thom figuran en los créditos como voces solistas, y Galdston tocó además el piano y el piano eléctrico [2, 3, 14, 15]. Las guitarras corrieron a cargo de Steve Khan, Jeff Mironov, Mark Doyle y Elliott Randall; el bajo, de Will Lee, Neil Jason, Doug Stegmeyer y Tony Levin; la batería, de Bernard Purdie, Chris Parker, Liberty DeVitto y Ed Greene; Ralph MacDonald tocó la percusión; y los metales fueron Randy Brecker, Marvin Stamm, Barry Rogers, Dave Tofani, Ronnie Cuber y Timmy Cappello [2, 14, 15]. Donald Fagen cantó coros en tres temas y Patti Austin en un cuarto [2, 4, 13, 14]. Bob Ludwig masterizó el disco [2, 3, 13]; Paula Scher figura como autora del diseño, y Jan Staller y Jim Houghton, de la fotografía [3, 14]. El álbum se publicó también en 1980 en Europa (CBS 84216) y en Japón (CBS/Sony 25AP 1920) [13]. En 2001 apareció en Japón una edición en CD (Sony Records International, SRCS 9840), a la que siguió otra reedición japonesa en CD en 2016 (SICP 4866) [16].

Galdston dejó de actuar en 1982 y siguió como compositor y productor [6, 8]. En 1989 escribió la música de «Save the Best for Last» con Jon Lind y la letra con Wendy Waldman [6, 17, 18, 19]. Vanessa Williams la grabó para *The Comfort Zone* (1991) y se publicó como sencillo en enero de 1992; el 21 de marzo de 1992 llegó al número uno del Hot 100 de Billboard, donde se mantuvo cinco semanas [17, 18, 19]. ASCAP la nombró Canción del Año por ser la más interpretada de 1992 [6, 8, 18], y fue nominada al Grammy a la canción del año en la 35.ª edición de los premios, celebrada en 1993 [7]. Entre los otros trabajos de Galdston figura «It's Not Over ('Til It's Over)», de Starship, que alcanzó el número nueve en Estados Unidos en 1987 [8, 14, 19]. -

Sources/Fuentes:

1. Galdston & Thom, *American Gypsies*, LP, Warner Bros. BS 3037, US, 1977. Credits, notes and front-cover sticker as transcribed in Discogs (release 2366527: https://www.discogs.com/release/2366527-Galdston-Thom-American-Gypsies).

2. Far Cry, *The More Things Change...*, LP, Columbia JC 36286, US, 1980 (promotional copy). Single-sided biographical sheet ("Bio sheet") included with some copies, examined from an image; label, credits and notes as transcribed in Discogs (release 7191810: https://www.discogs.com/release/7191810-Far-Cry-The-More-Things-Change).

3. Far Cry, *The More Things Change...*, LP, Columbia JC 36286, US, 1980. Credits as transcribed in Discogs (release 4216459: https://www.discogs.com/release/4216459-Far-Cry-The-More-Things-Change).

4. Warm Breeze Music. "Far Cry / The More Things Change ...", review in Japanese, 19 April 2020, updated 18 May 2023 (https://warmbreeze.jp/music/far-cry-the-more-things-change).

5. Cisum, "Medal of Honor" / "Mrs. Orange", 7" single, Epic 5-10362, US, undated. Label credits as transcribed in Garage Hangover, "The Cisum V – Ultra-Sonic Acetate I'm So Glad", post by Chris Bishop, 1 August 2014 (https://garagehangover.com/cisum-v/).

6. Union College News Archives. "Songwriting on his own terms." 1 July 1996 (https://muse.union.edu/newsarchives/1996/07/01/songwriting-on-his-own-terms).

7. GRAMMY.com. "Song Of The Year", 35th Annual GRAMMY Awards (1993) (https://www.grammy.com/awards/categories/song-of-the-year/1993/); "Robert Klein", artist page (https://www.grammy.com/artists/robert-klein/9231); both consulted 20 October 2026.

8. NYU Steinhardt, "Phil Galdston", faculty profile (https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/people/phil-galdston); Music Creators North America, "MCNA Executive Phil Galdston" (https://www.musiccreatorsna.org/mcna-executive-phil-galdston/); both consulted 20 October 2026.

9. Burger, Jeff. "Galdston & Thom: Winning Newcomers." Interview dated 10 May 1976 (original publication date as stated on By Jeff Burger) (https://byjeffburger.com/1976/05/10/galdston-thom-winning-newcomers/).

10. Barry Manilow, *Tryin' to Get the Feeling*, LP, Arista, US, 1975. Release date (1 October 1975) and track list as given in Wikipedia, consulted 20 October 2026 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tryin%27_to_Get_the_Feeling).

11. Flans, Robyn. "Classic Tracks: Elliot Scheiner and Steely Dan." *Mix*, 31 January 2018 (https://www.mixonline.com/recording/classic-tracks-elliot-scheiner-steely-dan).

12. AES Toronto Section. "Elliot Scheiner Biography." Discrete Surround series, 1998–99 season (https://www.torontoaes.org/98-99/discretesurround/bios/ElliotScheiner.html).

13. Far Cry, *The More Things Change...*, LP, CBS/Sony 25AP 1920, Japan, 1980; LP, CBS 84216, Europe, 1980. Credits and notes as transcribed in Discogs (release 5019908: https://www.discogs.com/release/5019908-Far-Cry-The-More-Things-Change; release 3898726: https://www.discogs.com/release/3898726-Far-Cry-The-More-Things-Change).

14. Sessiondays. "1980 Far Cry – The More Things Change," May 2023 (https://www.sessiondays.com/2023/05/1980-far-cry-the-more-things-change/); "1987 Starship – No Protection," 26 January 2023 (https://sessiondays.com/2023/01/26/1987-starship-no-protection/).

15. Heavy Harmonies. "Far Cry – The More Things Change", CD title page, consulted 20 October 2026 (https://heavyharmonies.com/cgi-bin/glamcd.cgi?BandNum=7055&CDName=The+More+Things+Change).

16. Far Cry, *The More Things Change...*, CD, Sony Records Int'l SRCS 9840, Japan, 20 June 2001; CD, Sony Records Int'l SICP 4866, Japan, 2016. Discogs (release 6222228: https://www.discogs.com/release/6222228-Far-Cry-The-More-Things-Change; master 549294: https://www.discogs.com/master/549294-Far-Cry-The-More-Things-Change).

17. Breihan, Tom. "The Number Ones: Vanessa Williams' 'Save The Best For Last'." *Stereogum*, 10 January 2022 (https://stereogum.com/2172120/the-number-ones-vanessa-williams-save-the-best-for-last/columns/the-number-ones).

18. Kawashima, Dale. "Phil Galdston, Wendy Waldman & Jon Lind: Writing The Classic Hit Song 'Save The Best For Last' For Vanessa Williams." *Songwriter Universe*, 4 December 2013 (https://www.songwriteruniverse.com/save/).

19. Wikipedia, "Save the Best for Last" and "Starship discography", consulted 20 October 2026 (Save the Best for Last: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Save_the_Best_for_Last; Starship discography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_discography).