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 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/!
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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(The original text for this post was published on May 31, 2020)
We’re going to go local today, but I’m going to pick a song from an album that went over well all over the world!
Kenny Parker has been delivering the blues to Detroiters for several decades, and continues to hone his skills!
Last year, he released his Philby Award winner and best album to date, “Hellfire!”
The album is packed with a solid collection of many styles of blues tunes.
But the final song, “Hard Times in the Land of Plenty,” has enough juice to short circuit the rest of that fine album!
It’s a song with a familiar blues theme: In a country as wealthy as ours, it sure is hard to make a living, let alone survive.
The song starts with a guitar riff that sounds like it was borrowed from Paul Burlison when he was with Johnny Burnette!
The driving rhythm takes you hostage until the end of the song!
Dan Devins passionately belts out the lyrics!:
“You gotta rob Peter to payback Paul/
You used to stand up straight, but now you gotta crawl/
Hard times in the land of plenty/
Some got it all/
And the rest ain’t got any.”
Legendary guitarist Jim McCarty keeps things going at warp speed by cutting loose with a wicked guitar solo, then Dan returns for a final verse before the ride rocks to a stop!
Kenny Parker keeps the band tight and going in the right direction!
And as bad as things were when this song was written, world situations now are considerably worse with a pandemic virus, sky high unemployment, racial tensions, and lack of any kind of leadership at the Federal level.
This is angry blues!
This is combustible blues!
This isn’t blues/rock.
It’s damn near punk blues!
We can only hope that things get better!
One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded is “Hard Times in the Land of Plenty” by Kenny Parker!!!
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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 brilliant musical achievement! https://philmaq.com/philbys/!
If you like what you see, don’t forget to spread the word by hitting the “like” button on my Facebook page, Phil Maq!
#KennyParker #Hellfire #HardTimesintheLandofPlenty #PhilMaq #OneoftheGreatestSongsEverRecorded #GSER
