Boy Mercury, shooting through every degree...
Not a bad list for the Mercury this year, IMHO, at least given the normal standards.
If Hawley's Coles Corner doesn't win, I will:
- Cry
- Not be at all surprised
So have the rules changed? Or is there some new, revisionist interpretation of them that means that a bloke from somewhere near Seattle now qualifies as a "British or Irish" artist?
posted by Rob at 12:25 PM
9 Comments:
Guillemots are gonna win - I had a moment of inspiration listening to the album late on Sunday night where I thought "Either this or Lily Allen will win the Mercury Prize". Halfway there already.
If it doesn't then I hope Editors do.
10:09 AM
Editors would be my second choice after Hawley, especially after that Brixton gig. Clearly, Hawley is not going to win, although I really want him to if only to hear his acceptance speech. And Arctic Monkeys are surely too popular (and a little too far past the zenith of the hype) to win this one. So Editors look most likely to win if they aim for the mainstream-ish selections.
Haven't heard the Guillemots album in full, but I liked the couple of snippets that I have.
12:13 PM
The Guillemots are ace, their first three EPs/singles have all been good.
I only realised that the mercurys were being announced about 2 days ago and thought to myself "i bet i won't have bought any of those that will be on the shortlist". I was right (well apart from a copy of The Back Room). However as i've had a self imposede album ban for the last 6 months in a bid to save money, i don't feel quite as out of touch.
The ...Monkeys don't seem to be big here at all so their album is only 6 quid, i may go get that. One band that are huge here, who i was liking before we came out, are Wolfmother. They are fupping wick'.
9:27 AM
Where's Plan B? Seriously.
7:21 AM
Same place as Lilly Allen, I guess. Too similar to recent previous winners, maybe? (Dizzy Rascal, Ms. Dynamite...)
5:04 PM
The only person he could really be compared to is Mike Skinner, and this album is a mile better than The Streets last two efforts.
And are you really gonna claim that Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, Arctic Monkeys et al are actually offering anything that hasn't been nominated every single year before (and usually several orders of magnitude better?) You get at *least* two indy-guitar bands in the final nominations list EVERY YEAR!
GAH!
5:38 PM
Hey, I didn't say it was right! I definitely wouldn't claim that.
But it is the way it generally works. Why was "Awfully Deep" nominated, but not "Alternately Deep" this year (which I think is a better record)? For that matter, the second Franz Ferdinand album is better than the first, but they've been supplanted in the popularity stakes by the Arctic Monkeys so they're left out too.
Generally they go for a handful of popular choices, and that generally means a couple of indie bands. I'm not making a qualitative judgement here. And possibly neither are they...
8:56 AM
So what you're saying is that it's become the Brits rolled into a single category, where the only difference is that the record companies still dictate who's nominated, but can't divvy out the prizes between them before hand!
The only thing that's 'fresh' about the Arctics is the acne. The Tom Yorke album is solid but not great, and Muse have yet to make an album you don't always skip more than half the tracks on.
You've taken me way off the point - the Mercurys originally were meant to try to find the 10 best or most interesting albums of the year, and if you make such a list and leave Plan B off it then you are simply WRONG!!
I got an email from Wreckless Eric last week by the way!
5:42 PM
Was he moaning about the Mercury too?
There should be a Medway Mercury. Wreckless Eric vs. Len Price etc. Len Price vs. Len Bright, perhaps?
I think you would find that many many Muse fans would disagree with your statement, but then you'd have to start a conversation with them, which would probably be an unpleasant experience that could only end badly.I would have agreed with you, except I'm not sure it's true of the new album. Shorter songs make them more listenable. Although I've only listened to it all the way through at the gym thus far; it's good for those purposes at least.
Look, they gave this prize to sodding M People, there is no credibility to it at all; I just WANT there to be, against all evidence to the contrary.
11:32 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home