AMONG the many surprises 2024 had to offer, arguably the most unexpected took place on the night of September 25. “Happy Birthday Mary Jo!” Bob Dylan wrote on X. “See you in Frankfort.”
Whoa – who was Mary Jo? And did he mean Frankfort, the state capital of Kentucky, or Frankfurt, where Dylan was due to play a few weeks later? And hang on, was that really Bob Dylan anyway? A further post on September 30 said, “I just found out the other day that Bob Newhart was gone. Rest in peace Bob. You brought us a lot of joy.”
More followed – including a restaurant recommendation when in New Orleans and a thwarted experience at a publishing convention in – yes – Frankfurt.
While Dylan’s presence on social media may well have sent scholars into a lather (are the posts canon?), his missives, however random or cryptic they may appear, are nevertheless an intriguing development. They read more like short stories, full of chance meetings and melancholy outcomes: “I ran into one of the Buffalo Sabres in the elevator at the Prague hotel,” Dylan wrote on October 9. “They were in town to play the New Jersey Devils. He invited me to the game but I was performing that night.”
It’s unlikely Dylan will be posting much about our Review Of The Year, although – no spoilers, really – he’s in it. For this year’s poll, 44 contributors voted for a total of 426 new albums and 180 archival releases. For anyone who is interested, there were 86 votes between our Album Of The Year and the album in second place, but only six votes separating the next three albums.
Alongside our Albums Of The Year, Archival Releases Of The Year, Best Books, Films and Music Documentaries, you can find Nick Cave, Alice Coltrane, Bruce Springsteen, Mick Head, Cassandra Jenkins, Julia Holter, Waxahatchee, Beak> and English Teacher.
There’s plenty to dig into besides the Review Of The Year polls, including Elvis Costello, Joe Boyd, The Troggs and a 32-page supplement: My Year In Music, where the stars of 2024 share their favourite albums, reissues, books and gigs of the year with us.
I’d especially recommend Alastair McKay’s powerful tribute to one of Uncut’s formative influences, Kris Kristofferson. As Margo Price tells Alastair, “His plain-spoken yet eloquent way of writing was a gift. He wrote from the heart and could paint a story or an entire landscape in just a few verses. His writing and acting both encapsulate the woes and the wins of humanity. His words and songs, they have living, breathing souls. They are sacred.”
