One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded: “Life in the Air Age” by Be Bop Deluxe!!!

For as long as I’ve been on the radio, and definitely for as long as I’ve been writing a blog, I will occasionally make a reference to a song being “One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded!” (GSER)

I would usually follow that by saying that I would eventually start a category for it, but then never get around to it.

Well, now I’m getting around to it!

My radio show, “Theme Attic,”  is on Wednesdays 1PM-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/!

The Greatest Songs will pretty much follow the pattern of The Most Awesomest Song of the Day.

I’ll select a song to celebrate and then give my thoughts about it. Nothing really brand new here that hasn’t been done before. But since I have a website, I can collect them and lay out what my own greatest songs are.

Here’s a link to 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!”

Even though I always emphasize new music and artists, it’s always fun to take a short drive through the legendary artists, since they influenced those other artists!

But a song doesn’t have to be old or done by a legendary Theme Attic Hall of Fame member to be thus honored.

I can think of several songs that are only a few years old or less that I could identify as One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded.

This will be fun, and hopefully you will join me on my journey!

If you like what you see, don’t forget to spread the word by hitting the “like” button on my Facebook page, Phil Maq!

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One song will always be a part of my Anniversary memories.

This year is the eleventh anniversary of my “Theme Attic” radio show.

Back then it was on Thursday mornings at 10 AM.

I was supposed to have someone with me for my “maiden flight,” but that person forgot, so I went on the air by myself.

That wasn’t a big deal, and in hindsight, it was probably a blessing in disguise, because I had to figure everything out and didn’t have to have someone telling me how to do it instead of how I wanted to do it. Big difference!

My format is themes based on a variety of music styles. The way I saw it, the more I mixed things up, the more entertaining it would be.

I had a theme song picked, so when my time came up, I looked at the board, hit the buttons, and it was showtime!

After my spoken introduction, I was ready for my first set.

I had chosen flying or traveling since it seemed like a natural choice with half of the country moving around for the holidays.

When I was collecting the CDs for my show, I couldn’t find what I wanted for my first song–another fortuitous piece of luck.

Defaulting to my second choice–which I was planning to play anyway, I segued from the instrumental I was speaking over, to the ultra wickedly cool intro of bongos, drums, and claves, along with Bill Nelson’s chicken scratching, before his intro riffs kicked in on “Life in the Air Age” by Be Bop Deluxe from “Sunburst Finish!”

Perfect!

I was rollin’!

Be Bop Deluxe is one of my favorite bands, right up there with The Beatles and Bruce Springsteen!

I’ve always liked their prog/rock with a touch of Sci-Fi approach to music!

Bill Nelson is often considered one of the best guitarists, and he has certainly been prolific since the band broke up.

Andy Clark’s atmospheric keyboard/synthesizer work (He went on to play with David Bowie and Peter Gabriel!), Charles Tumahai on bass, and Simon Fox on drums and percussion, added to Be Bop’s sound!

I always felt they had a total band identity!

Looking at an eleven year mark, this ceratainly isn’t the way I wanted to do it.

I mean, living through the pandemic is enough to, ahem, “Make a robot cry.”

But it’s the best I can do, and if you read my story and/or listen to the song, we will have connected in a way similar to radio!

And this year I will be telling you about this memory live in the studio!

One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded is “Life in the Air Age” by Be Bop Deluxe!!!

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I have plenty of other musical areas to explore:

Here’s a link for my weekly list of Fave Songs:

https://philmaq.com/phils-lists/phils-faves-songs/

Here’s a link for my weekly Fave Album lists:
philmaq.com/phils-lists/phils-faves-albums

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/!