It’s been just over six years since I did one of these for 1991. That was made up of 2 months’ worth of selections, this 1992 list was comprised of 9 months’ worth. 1993 was the first year in which I did a full year’s worth of plays/shows, so at current rate of progress it could be 8 or 9 years before we get a Festive Fifty for that year. Before unveiling the list, a few personal observations:
Out of that 9 months’ worth of selections, 84 were in contention for a place in this Festive Fifty. I appreciate that it was a case of needs must for my 1991 list (which took 2 November 1991 as its starting point) but the fact that I had 54 potential tracks from that 2 month period suggests to me that 1992 wasn’t as good a year, musically, as the previous one had been.
Comparing it to the 1992 Festive Fifty which Peel’s listeners voted for, there are 14 tracks which turned up in my 1992 posts, but only 3 of which made it onto my 1992 Festive Fifty. Luck of the draw/timing quirks on the recordings I heard meant that there are plenty of tracks on that list I never heard, maybe they came out while I wasn’t doing any plays between July-September of 1992. For instance, Sugar have three entries on that list, but in all the years I listened across Peel shows from 1992, I don’t remember hearing anything by them.
Furthermore, when looking at his choices for the 1992 Peelenium, only Tempo [Fever Pitch Riddim] by Anthony Red Rose was included on this blog, and despite my raving about it, when it came to looking back over all the choices for the year to whittle down for our Festive Fifty, it didn’t register with me enough to make the longlist, let alone the final 50.
The final 50 are all personal choices with the top echelon of tracks being those that most stayed in my memory or which were cast-iron earworms for me.
As with the 1991 list, all the selections are tunes which were released in 1992 (although there may be a little elasticity on that with some of the soukous selections.) Had I included favourite tunes played by Peel, but not released in 1992, I’d have made space for Hot Burrito #2 by The Flying Burrito Bros. (1972), Smile on your Face by Dangerous Birds (1982) and MotorCity by Age of Chance (1985). So, with all that said, here is the Smell of the Greasepaint and the Sound of John Peel’s Festive Fifty for 1992:
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