The End Of The End Of Year Lists

In my final post of 2024, I have taken another look at the Dubhed Top 20 most popular posts. As with 2023's list, these are in descending order to manufacture some countdown tension, again with a few video inserts at various points. Or you can scroll down the page to see what's at #1...

The spread is more uneven is more uneven this year - January and October are the most popular months, April not far behind. March, June to August and, perhaps less surprisingly, December don't even get a look in at the Top 20. My Dubhed selections feature in just over half of the Top 20, which is good to see.

January's birthday nod to Susanna Hoffs hit the mark and was well inside the Top 10 for most of the year, only dipping out when posts from the last few months starting climbing up. Jesse Fahnestock also scores a triple whammy, with Jezebell and 10:40 respectively.

 

Sadly, too many obituaries this year, the tributes to J. Saul Kane, Chris Cross of Ultravox and Keith LeBlanc being particularly well received, even though the news of their passing wasn’t.

 

And two comebacks also attracted a lot of attention, one very welcome (The Cure, crashing into the Top 10 in October) and one very much the opposite (#15 in November).

 

I'm delighted that this year's #1 featured what for me is the best album of the year, in any category or genre.

In case you missed them first time around, click on the titles for the original post. Dubhed selection links have also been restored, where appropriate. When you get to #1, go and read my review of the album, posted shortly after I played it for the first time, then you'll understand why there was never any doubt in my mind. Happily, as the most visited post in 2024, it seems that you all agree.

Thanks so much for your support this year. I love writing this blog, but your comments, suggestions and gentle editing corrections give me the motivation to keep writing, keep wanting to do better and, in simple terms, give a shout out for all those talented people whose passion to create music inspires me every day.

Have a great New Year's Eve and best wishes for a brilliant 2025. I'll be here as usual tomorrow.

 

20) Roll With Me 'Til The Sun Dips Low (Khruangbin) (18th October)

19) Swallow It Up (Lee 'Scratch' Perry) (1st October)

18) If Ever The Devil Was Born Without A Pair Of Horns, It Was You Jezebell, It Was You (Jezebell) (5th May)

17) I'm On Fire, Boss! (Bruce Springsteen covers) (19th January)

16) These Things That Stir Me Will Not Deter Me (Jo Bartlett) (7th February)

 

15) Who Is More Fascist? The Fascist? Or The Fascist Who Follows Him? (7th November)

14) Les Disques Du Crépuscule En Sept Sélections Pour Sept, er, Quid (2nd May)

13) Citizen Kane (J. Saul Kane) (19th November)

12) Unplug The Jukebox (Adam & The Ants) (15th January)

11) Be Still My Beating Heart (Susanna Hoffs) (17th January)

 

10) Dubcamp Friday (4th October)

9) Name After Name After Name (Chris Cross / Ultravox) (2nd April)

8) Summer Alone (The Cure) (8th October)

7) Clues To The Edit (Jezebell) (22nd September)

6) ACT 1.5 (Massive Attack) (2nd September)

 

5) Sub Dub (African Head Charge) (20th October)

4) LeBlanc Beats (Keith LeBlanc) (5th April)

3) Chart History (Top 20 UK singles) (20th January)

2) Thousand (Dubhed's 1,000th post) (6th January)   

1) A Gift (Sounds From The Flightpath Estate) (6th April)     

When I posted the Dubhed 2023 Top 20 on 2nd January, John Medd was quick to respond with a suggestion:

 

"I know it would be like knitting fog 

but have you thought of condensing the year down 

not just into 20 posts, but 20 tracks 

- segued into a 60/70/80 minute megagmix? 

Push the boat out, 

make two sides of 40/45 mins 

and whack it out as a C90!"

I replied, filed it away and then pulled it back out of the drawer when I started this post. 21/22 tracks segued into an 85-minute mix. You can split it in half and fit onto a C90, if you don't mind some spooling at the end of Side 2. 

This selection is dedicated to John Medd (thanks for the suggestion, hope you're doing well) and Swiss Adam (not least for his contribution to this year's #1). 

 

And to everyone else, whether you're a fellow blogger (active or lapsed), commenter or silent visitor - not forgetting those lovely bots in China and South Korea - thank you again!

1) Three Rings: 10:40 ft. Emilia Harmony (2024)

2) 1000 Fahrenheit (Welsh Version): The Wedding Present (2014)

3) Camouflage (Single Version): Campbell / Mallinder / Benge (2021)

4) A Love International (Album Version): Khruangbin (2024)

5) Roll Away The Stone: Mott The Hoople (1974)

6) Hymn (Album Version): African Head Charge (1990)

7) Mega Mix (Remix By Grimm Death aka J. Saul Kane): Bomb The Bass (1988)

8) Donkey: Jezebell (2024)

9) Young Savage: Ultravox (1977)

10) Alone (Live @ BBC Radio Theatre, Broadcasting House, London): The Cure (2024)

11) ID (Unreleased early version of 'Eutopia'): Massive Attack x Young Fathers (2020)

12) (I Want To) Kill Somebody (Keith LeBlanc Mix): S*M*A*S*H (1994)

13) 100lbs Of Summer (Tricky Remix): Lee 'Scratch' Perry ft. Greentea Peng (2023)

14) Tuff Gong: Creation Rockers (2012)

15) They Don't Know (Cover of Kirsty MacColl): Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs (2013)

16) A.N.T.S.: Adam & The Ants (1981)

17) We All Need (Jezebell's Ghost Train Mix): A Certain Ratio (2024)

18) All You Fascists (Cover of 'All You Fascists Bound To Lose' by Woody Guthrie): Broken Chanter (2024)

19) I'm On Fire (Cover of Bruce Springsteen): Anna Ternheim (2023)

20) Drawing A Line (Ghost Tape No.2): Jo Bartlett (2024)

21) Smokebelch II (Khayem's Second Cut Won't Hurt At All): Andy Bell & The Sabres Of Paradise (2024)

The End Of The End Of Year Lists (1:24:50) (KF) (Mega)

(Sleeve) Notes: 

 

1) The songs by The Wedding Present, Broken Chanter and Anna Ternheim didn't respectively feature in the original posts #2, 15 and 17 but would have if I'd had the songs at the time!

 

2) Same for J. Saul Kane's brilliant Bomb The Bass megamix from 1988.

 

3) I still haven't actually bought or listened to The Cure's new album from start to finish, but I have dipped into the concert for BBC Radio 2. Isn't it wonderful?

4) You'll quickly twig that A.N.T.S. by Adam & The Ants is set to the tune of Y.M.C.A. by The Village People. And why not?

 

5) Jesse Fahnestock is not paying me to get maximum exposure in the annual Dubhed Top 20, honest.

 

6) Jesse's contribution as 10:40 to Sounds From The Flightpath Estate was released as a standalone single in the summer, which is why it's included here. The album in general was only available as a limited edition double vinyl, which sold out in (excuse the pun) record time.

7) In March 2020, during the COVID lockdown, Andy Bell was taking song requests to perform and post on YouTube. Andrew Weatherall had passed mere weeks before, and @supawide45 suggested Andy have a go at Smokebelch II in tribute to The Guv'nor. Which he did, commenting, "Makes me want to actually record an acoustic arrangement of it!"

In March 2024, after a close-to-the-wire completion and submission, Andy's recorded version of Smokebelch II was released as the closing song on Songs From The Flightpath Estate. As it was perhaps always meant to be.

I've not included Andy's 2024 version, as it's place is on the album that Swiss Adam and his Flightpath Estate colleagues poured their hearts and souls into creating. 

 

Instead, I've taken Andy's lockdown sketch, itself barely half a minute, looped and re-edited it a bit, then spliced with a section of Andrew, Jagz and Gary's Beatless Mix of Smokebelch II from 1993. It's an amateurish edit, but I think it (just about) works.