There was some talk on various shows during Radiothon Week about the Philbys, and it seems like it’s a good time to maybe bring some of the reasons for a Philby List to the forefront.
So, I will highlight some points that I continue to make and they might even appear in the submission addendum to this post:
- I like to think of the annual philby list as an artists’s list. When musicians are fortunate enough to find the funding to make a single, EP, or an album, they often have no idea how to promote it, or get it on a radio station. They shouldn’t be penalized for not knowing “a system” for reviews.
- Although the Philbys always name a year, it is only for reference purposes, i.e. to be able to discuss various years over time. It also happens to be what the public expects when looking at a list. It seems to me that having a rigid timeframe goes against the artist’s timeclock. I mean, it’s difficult enough to have to write and record the music! Those yearly timeframes are for publications and websites that like to tout their year end lists. I have nothing personal against them. In fact, I often look at them myself. I love music lists–even ones I don’t agree with! However, I feel those lists are biased towards late year releases. I’ve seen lists where an album gets rated highly and it hasn’t even been released when I’m reading the publication. How can a reviewer fairly rank an album on such a list? The Philby lists only have music that has been explored and mostly played on weekly “Theme Attic” shows.
- Typically, the Philby Lists cover a four year or longer sliding time span. Why? See point #1 for some of the reasons. It has to be frustrating for an artist that puts together a good album and then can’t get anyone to listen to it. Maybe same artist learns some lessons from the first release and is more successful in promoting the second release. Should the first good album continue to be ignored or forgotten? NO! That’s one of the reasons for the Philbys. I’ll even go back further than four years if I run across an album that I feel deserves recognition. So, when albums are picked that don’t appear to fit the year of release, it’s not a mistake! It’s all part of the Philby plan!
- The Philbys are released according to my timeline–not someone else’s! I don’t care about someone else’s agenda. If you want more of an explanation, reread reason #2. I always figure that no matter who the artist is, they are happy to receive recognition for “brilliant musical achievment,” which is what the Philby Award stands for. By the time I release my unscheduled lists, they come as a completely unexpected surprise, without competition from other lists. I like that!
- Since the Philby lists contain a wide variety of genres, they specify some of those categories like blues, jazz, rock, americana, etc… If I label an artist as best Jazz album or Rock album and it is far down on the list, it still means that the artist can quote me as saying that it was named as the “Philby Best Rock Album of 2017” or whatever year it might be. In fact, I encourage it! That benefits both the artist and myself! I’m OK with that two-fer! And rather than put out seperate lists for each style of music, I prefer the immensity of the Philby lists! That’s how I listen to music!
I hope that highlighting some of these points helps to understand the Philby lists a little better!
But the lists are about “Good Music,” any style, any year!
I would also like to state again that unless a song has appeared on a weekly Faves list, it will NOT show up on this year’s final songs list.
I will also provide submission info at the end of each one of these updates!
Regardless, here is another in a series of unofficial updates:
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41.Outside of This Town—Christone “Kingfish” Ingram (Kingfish)
42.Make Up Your Mind—Heathcote Hill (Fight Another Day)
43.Solo—Arnold Mitchem (Single)
44.Life Out of Control—Linden Thoburn (Scarecrow)
45.No Way to Live—Mike Ward (The Darkness and The Light)
46.Jesus on the Dash—Vegas Strip Kings (Jackpot!)
47.Stuck in a Rhyme—Cool King Chris (Paradigm Shift)
48.Turn My Heat On—Scott Greeson with Warriors, Zombies, and Other Joedai Pilgrims (Collaboration)
49.Too Cold to Cry—Lindsay Beaver (Tough As Love)
50.Time Flies By—Gary Browe (Red Sky Remembers)
51.Never Let You Go—Biltmore (Revolutions and Romantics)
52.Long Gone—Karen Nash (Love and Justice)
53.Split Decision—Popular Creeps (Single)
54.This Morning—Ben Levin with Bob Corritore (Before Me)
55.Keep Diggin’—The Stone Souls (The Stone Souls)
56.Built to Break—Mike Galbraith (Here, Elsewhere)
57.Lightspeed—Steve Leaf and The Ex—Pats (Lightspeed)
58.Snake Wine—Transit Method (We Won’t Get Out of Here Alive)
59.Show Them It’s True—The Simon Kennedy Band (Make Up Your Mind)
60.Object Permanence—Sydney Sprague (Maybe I Will See You at the End of the World)
61.Time Goes By—Territorial Chant (Territorial Chant 6)
62.Power Thru—Rick Mummey with Warriors, Zombies, and Other Joedai Pilgrims (Collaboration)
63.I Feel Like My Old Self—Nora Jane Struthers (Bright Lights, Long Drives, First Words)
64.Quarantine Dream—Scott Martin (Quarantine Dream)
65.Stuck in Orbit—Xposed 4Heads (Ultra Sound)
66.Little Miss Night and Day—Boz Scaggs (Out of the Blues)
67.Peculiar—The Slackers (Peculiar)
68.Pirates—Joanna and The Jaywalkers (The Open Sea Before Me)
69.River of Tears—Upstairs Party (Upstairs Party)
70.Graveyard Train—Wild Ponies (Radiant)
71.Lonesome City—Dave Karchner (Lonesome Town)
72.My Mother Gave the World to Me—Jubilant Bridge
73.Turn Up Your TV—Michael Snyder—Barker (Tales of Whoa!)
74.The Original Swing—Seth Bernard (Eggtones for Fun)
75.Analise—Inland Isle (Time Has Changed Us)
76.Black Patch—Kelsey Waldon (White Lines/White Noise)
77.Sweet Marie—Strawberry Heritage (Light Magic)
78.Go to Girl—Travis Bowlin (Secondus)
79.Hard Times—Sublunar Minds (Into a Future Bright and Beautiful)
80.The Warning—Robin Tucker (The Way Out)
81.Then There Was You—Steve Sterner and Sundown (November Rain)
82. Consolation Prize—Jeremy Porter and The Tucos with Jennifer Westwood (Don’t Worry, It’s Not Contagious)
83.Long Way Back—Terri Binion (The Day After the Night Before)
84.Talk to Me—Makoto (Spirit of the Island)
85.Radar Contact—TR3 featuring Tim Reynolds (The Sea Versus the Mountain)
86.House of the Rising Sun—Johnny Mastro and Mama’s Boys (Never Trust the Living)
87.Here Comes Love—Robert Stark (Robert Stark)
88.Did It All—Gogol Bordello (Seekers and Finders)
89.All We Ever Have Is Now—Valerie JanLois (No Drop of Love Is Ever Wasted)
90.Storyline—Trio of Awesuhm (Cowboys and Aliens)
91.Nuthin’ to Me—Suzi Moon (Call the Shots)
92.When She Smiles—Kevin Lockhart and Bill Bosler (Waterbound)
93.Berlin—Karolina Rose (Invicta)
94.Escape Route—Jordi (Single)
95.Got Me Glued—The Transparent Tones (Lovely)
96.Summer in a Bottle—Marvin Etzioni (Single)
97.I Gotta Dance to Keep From Crying—Tom Faia and Kate Miller (Harry’s Place)
98.On and On—Tin Sparrow (Shoelace Ring)
99.Be a Good Girl—CJ Ramone (American Beauty)
100.Train to Nowhere—Hannah’s Field (Revolutionary Soldiers)
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Here’s a section on submissions:
I am accepting entries for Philby consideration!
The album selections are made from a sliding four year pool of music.
The pool for 2022 is 2019-2022.
One of the reasons that I use a multiple year submission scale is that just getting music out to the world is sometimes difficult for an artist.
A lot of them are not really wired for self promotion.
Making music is totally different than drumming up interest in it, especially for independent musicians.
Yes, there are promoters that can help with that. And nothing against promoters because they have a role to play. But they cost money, and the artist already had to pay to record the music, and may not be prepared for the process of promoting it.
After looking at how some other independent awards are handled, I figured a four year window allows me enough time to serendipitously run across someone’s music.
I have told this story several times, but I try very hard to listen to everything that is submitted.
Although I work on my list, starting literally on January 1st, using a four year sliding window, I carry over some of what would qualify from the prior years.
So, if you’ve made some music dating back as far as 2019, I will accept that music for consideration.
If you have something older than 2019, send that, too, but identify the release date. I’m always looking for GREAT music.
For the Philbys, I’m looking for full albums.
However, if you only have a single, I’ll accept that, too. Don’t forget that I also have a Philby Hot Songs list, and more artists are releasing singles these days.
But please don’t send me an incomplete album if you have one.
So, please don’t edit for me.
I dislike that and I might not even check out the item. I don’t know why anyone would only send selected songs instead of their whole work of art for consideration.
Please don’t send me links to listen to music. That’s not how I listen to music. And I probably won’t listen to it if you send me a link to stream it. Either send me the album to download or request my mailing address to send a physical copy.
Every year I say that if your item came out later than May, it may not end up on this year’s list. So it’s possible that submissions entered now may only be considered for 2021. (It sounds so good to think of 2020 being finished!)
However, this year will be totally different than other years. I have not received any where near the amount of releases that I normally do.
It might be an excellent year to send a submission.
I will accept any genre of music. I like a variety of styles, even on the same album!
So, please e-mail your mp3s, and please make sure it is an mp3 only, to phil@philmaq.com.
If you want a physical address or have other questions, please e-mail me at the same address. Because selections will be considered for more than a single year, there isn’t an expiration date at the present.
If you want someone who will actually listen to your music, I am that person.
If you want some recognition for working hard and baring your soul, that might be me, too. I can’t make any promises, but I will listen to your music.
If you are reading this and are not a musician but know someone who is, please forward this to them.
Good luck to all who participate!
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My weekly radio show “Theme Attic,” can be heard Wednesdays, 12PM-4PM ET!
The show can be heard on WHFR 89.3 FM in the Dearborn-Detroit area of Michigan, or it can be streamed with this link: https://www.whfr.fm/streamer/!
It almost always includes a weekly countdown of my favorite albums or songs and some shows feature two countdowns!
There’s plenty of other musical things to browse on my website!
Here’s the link to the complete history of all the Fave Albums: https://philmaq.com/phils-lists/phils-faves-albums/!
Here’s a link for the complete history of all the Fave Songs: https://philmaq.com/phils-lists/phils-faves-songs/!
Another list that you might find interesting is my list for “The Most Awesomest Songs of the Day”: https://philmaq.com/most-awesomest-songs/!
If you’d like to know what I think are even better than the awesome songs, have a look at “The Greatest Songs Ever Recorded”:https://philmaq.com/the-greatest-songs-ever-recorded/! Occasionally, an “awesome song” crosses over to become a “Greatest Song!”
My somewhat unusual Hall of Fame can be explored here: https://philmaq.com/hall-of-fame/!
Lastly, but most importantly, is my Philby Awards link! A Philby is my annual award for outstanding musical achievement! https://philmaq.com/philbys/!
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If you like what you see, don’t forget to spread the word by hitting the “like” button on my Facebook page, Phil Maq!
#Unofficial2021PhilbyHot100SongsUpdate #Philby #Philbys
