Merry Christmas from The Run Out Grooves

Happy Holidays all

Father Christmas spinning some wax - ChatGPT4

I don't want to sound like a narrator at the start of a festive film, but I hope this season finds you all well. I have recently returned from a trip with my family, my sister’s family and my parents to Lapland to take the children to see the big man, and it is safe to say the Christmas spirit is abundant in our household. On top of that, I have a decade’s worth of potential Christmas card shots on me.

Kuttanen, Finland - yesterday.

Of course, Christmas is not always a brilliant time for everyone and every year, many terrible things don’t pause for breath because it is the end of December. With my time as an adult being spent away from where I grew up, with my children now and of course after the Christmases impacted by Covid-19 it is a valuable time to take stock.

So we will do that for The Run Out Grooves in 2023

This year, we have doubled our subscriber numbers; this is not what this project is about, but it is satisfying to see so many people interested in reading my thoughts on closing tracks, whether they are here for every edition or just some. This is the 99th edition of the year, with coverage of 82 separate albums from 47 different years. We are now at the point where only a few years between 1958 and 2023 have no entries, as the move away from the Acclaimed Music top 100 that kicked us off has allowed us to jump around more.

It hasn’t just been about the standard entries; I was delighted to interview Polyphonic following up a video on closing tracks in March.

And the second part here.

We were also happy to speak to Peter and David Brewis, aka Field Music, about their favourite album closers by themselves and others.

With a second part here.

We also had monthly themes across April-August, with the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s all getting a month in the spotlight. This also allowed me to invite Friends of TROG

Challenge 69

,

Chris Dalla Riva

,

Steve Goldberg

,

Matt Springer

,

Ray Padgett

and

Jeremy Shatan

to write about Nick Cave, Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, and 2014 in the same way

Kevin Alexander

had done on New Order. Huge thank you to each and every one of them; I hope that the issues on this platform are tackled, and this spirit of collaboration can continue.

We also looked at epics in October, such as Mogwai Fear Satan, Sister Ray and, due to a decent placement in Google rankings, my most-read piece of all time, Rime of The Ancient Mariner.

Thanks also go to everyone who has retweeted, linked, re-stacked, commented, replied to an email or forwarded one onward. One of my biggest compliments was from three separate individuals telling me about the post Everything Must Go, inspiring them to listen to it for the first time in ages and thoroughly enjoy it. I’ve also enjoyed writing about non-obvious album closers like ‘Hello’ and ‘Don’t You Want Me’ and efforts that nearly perfect the art, such as ‘Riders on The Storm’ and ‘Echoes’. I should also shout out to entries that have tested the idea of this series to destruction, like Monty Python and Phillip Glass.

What to expect in 2024? Well, early on, we will take a first proper look at an album from 2023 and expect spring to see a few entries that look back at albums celebrating landmark anniversaries in 2024. We will also hit our 200th and 250th albums, and I’m hoping for more collaboration and, hopefully, more interviews with artists. I’ll also get on top of the tags next year!

In the 2023 look-ahead, I said you could expect five things: Collaboration, a focus on newer albums, moving away from artists that have featured too often, looking at entries based on the closer, not the album and finally, a paywall option for those who want a little extra content and access to the archives. I’m pleased to say all of those have happened, and I hope I can say the same for 2024’s plans in about 366 days.

Without further ado, it’s time to hit the run-out groove for 2023 and be ready to place the stylus on Track 1, side 1 of 2024.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

P.S. Don’t forget, the playlist is always available.