20 Years of the Mercury Prize - Winners Poll

Still a prick after all these years, DL, I see.

Glad you got that off your chest.

It's amazing what you can do with duct tape and Onken strawberry mousse.

OMG I understood that.

Elegant Slumming, easily. Most of the other stuff I've heard is either bland (Portishead, Roni Size, Talving Singh), irritating (Dizzee, Pulp, Primal Scream) or shite. The Ms. Dynamite album has few good tunes, but it's wildly uneven.

I think it might actually be Let England Shake. Umming and aahing between that and Dummy. Boy In Da Corner would be in there but for the weak section in the middle - I never want to listen to it all the way through.

2009: Speech Debelle - Speech Therapy

BLESS YOU

This is positive contrarianism gone mad though.

Antony And The Johnsons winning was a bit of a treasured moment for me because Conor McNicholas's stuttering incredulity was such a picture. Loved that record at the time, find a whole hour's worth of Antony's voice a bit hard going and treacly now. Also it broke up several years of haircut indie domination.

Jarvis loves "Pop", not the same thing as pop music

that Antony album is pretty short and sweet tbf

I didn't know before reading this thread that Antony & The Johnsons is an UK act! Somehow they've always sounded like they were from New York to me.

in honesty my favourite of these - certainly most listened - is (disc 2 of) New Forms.

But I like the Primal Scream, M People, Portishead, Pulp, Ms Dynamite, Dizzee Rascal, xx and PJ Harvey albums as well.

they're called the suburbs

I think it's a kind of Jimi Hendrix thing with Antony.

But yeah, they're okay. It's just that as Nina Simone fan I've never been able to deal with how much the singer tries to sound like her.

(xxx-post)

xp Antony was born in the UK though based in the US at the time - there was a minor fuss at the time about his eligibility.

but the irony is their music is actually about small town life

1992: Primal Scream - Screamadelica
Voting for Screamadelica now is like admitting defeat, bit like buying Beatles albums because you can't think of anything else you want.

1993: Suede - Suede
Nothing that makes Brett Anderson happy should be allowed, anywhere.

1994: M People - Elegant Slumming
Not down with the positive revisionism on this one, would probably be more open to it if it didn't have Heather Small's voice on them. But it beat His & Hers, and that at least annoyed Mark Radcliffe.

1995: Portishead - Dummy
A++++ classic for all time.

1996: Pulp - Different Class
Like it, don't love it, bar a few tracks.

1997: Roni Size / Reprazent - New Forms
After living in a student halls of residence when this was huge, I honestly never want to hear it ever again.

1998: Gomez - Bring It On
Hahahahaha you clowns.

1999: Talvin Singh - OK
See Gomez.

2000: Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour Of Bewilderbeast
Secretly like some of this, blame it being on a lot over the right summer in the right place.

2001: P J Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
Actually in danger of becoming underrated. I like this more than To Bring You My Love. Not the best PJ Harvey record in this poll, let alone overall.

2002: Ms. Dynamite - A Little Deeper
Terrific, not the best here.

2003: Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner
Terrific, not *quite* the best here.

2004: Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
It's a really good job the Divine Comedy were never eligible to win.

2005: Antony and the Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
See previous post.

2006: Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Lol.

2007: The Klaxons - Myths Of The Near Future
Seriously lol.

2008: Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Don't care.

2009: Speech Debelle - Speech Therapy
Who gives a shit.

2010: the xx - XX
DULLDULLDULL.

2011: PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Amazing.

^^^ mostly brilliant and correct

all the winners of the mercury prize are confessional albums about small town life, the fact that the winners represent a broad sphere of british life just goes to show how many different towns in Britain there actually are

Matt that Primal Scream precis shd be stickered on all future copies of Screamadelica

What's wrong with Heather Small's voice?!

She had a TV show over here where she read out the names of anybody convicted of shoplifting during the last week, it put a lot of people off her Tuomas.

Tho u haven't lived until u've heard "Terry Ganton, 25, 6 months conditional discharge" to the tune of "Sight for Sore Eyes".

Those were extra verses of "What have you done today to make you feel proud" though.

xpost TIMING!

Ah, okay. No need to put down her previous work because of that, though! I mean, Thriller is still a great album even if you don't approve of Micheal Jackson's caviar smuggling ring.

(xx-post)

What's wrong with Heather Small's voice?!

We don't like it, so there

You're the Queen?

At one point Heather actually got paid by Woolworths to search for the Aero inside your coat iirc

Heather Small's voice obviously isn't as bad as say, the gargly bloke from Gomez, but everything else on that album is so obviously inept that it's barely a talking point, whereas I usually love euphoric early 90s diva house so the voice getting in the way becomes twice as annoying.

The word "foghorn" comes to mind, not as strongly as when listening to Florence + the Machine but...

She had a TV show over here where she read out the names of anybody convicted of shoplifting during the last week, it put a lot of people off her Tuomas.

― placeholder for weak pun (Noodle Vague), Thursday, September 8, 2011

This doens't tell the whole story, think you are being kind of disingenuous here, Payne Stewart out of the arctic monkeys was also on that show and I don't recall him getting the same levels of criticism

Wait, I don't get it? You hate her voice because everything else on the album is worse than it? What?

She's the Dorothy Squires of "euphoric early 90s diva house", that's a reference you should have no trouble with I am sure, Tuomas

Wait, I don't get it? You hate her voice because everything else on the album is worse than it? What?

No I mean the exact opposite. I was talking about the Gomez album where everything else is as bad as the voice.

Also, anyone repping for the XX album please remember that this is David Cameron's sex music.

1992: Primal Scream - Screamadelica
Voted this one cos I've been listening to it again. By no means the monster of a record it was made out to be and the second side has one too many sandbags. Still, as a Weatherall advocate, I have to give it its dues.

1993: Suede - Suede
Not heard the whole thing. I quite like the singles off of it. I always feel as though I have to check over my shoulder with one hand hovering over ALT-TAB button when I listen to these guys.

1994: M People - Elegant Slumming
A bit smooth and adult for me - makes me think of people trying out sofas in DFS. At least it's not the Lighthouse Family. I liked "Don't Look any Further" when it came out - sounded like the Sanatogen advert - but didn't realise it was a cover for a long time. "One Night In Heaven" and "Moving On Up" are more refreshing and upbeat than I remember them.

1995: Portishead - Dummy
I actually owned this at the time. This and The Bends were my teenage misery soundtracks, so I've never gone back to Dummy at all.

1996: Pulp - Different Class
Have never actually listened to this all the way through - Pulp are a one-song-at-a-time band for me. A true singles band.

1997: Roni Size / Reprazent - New Forms
Coffeetable Jungle. Apart from one or two tracks I always despised this for putting an acceptable face on drum'n'bass. Polishing up all the ruff edges and adding jazz-wank live instrumentation just goes against my values, basically.

1998: Gomez - Bring It On
Meh, I only heard a couple of songs off it. It was okay I guess. Pretty unremarkable students-go-blues.

1999: Talvin Singh - OK
Not heard it. I'm sure it's "OK", woo-hoop!

2000: Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour Of Bewilderbeast
A load of fucking bullshit.

2001: P J Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
Already expressed my feelings about PJ. Trying to rectify it through increased exposure.

2002: Ms. Dynamite - A Little Deeper
I like everything I've heard, but not check this yet.

2003: Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner
2003 was a weird year for me when I pretty much missed out on any new music. As such I'm ashamed to say I haven't heard this.

2004: Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
Not my cup o'cha.

2005: Antony and the Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
Passable.

2006: Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Arctic Shitkeys

2007: The Klaxons - Myths Of The Near Future
The Cacksons more like

2008: Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Zzzzz.....

2009: Speech Debelle - Speech Therapy
Me neither..

2010: the xx - XX
Cold cold music. Never quite got into this.

2011: PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
See 2001.

i think if Roni Size wanted to make a coffee table d'n'b album he was well within his rights but as Tim F sorta points out above Disc 2 isn't like that at all and when he made Disc 1 the live instrumentation and songs and shininess was new and fun and fitted right in iirc

i like the ones i haven't heard more than the ones i have heard, from that list

some of the ones you haven't heard are terrible ffs, get a clue

you should hear the ones i have heard

1997: Roni Size / Reprazent - New Forms
Coffeetable Jungle. Apart from one or two tracks I always despised this for putting an acceptable face on drum'n'bass. Polishing up all the ruff edges and adding jazz-wank live instrumentation just goes against my values, basically.

you will always be wrong

new forms is a great record

do you hate shanks & bigfoot for doing the same thing to garage?

all music ever shd be ruff and shouty and sound like it was recorded in that railway carriage out of I Didn't Know You Cared by feral, fingerless tweens

the live instrumentation and songs and shininess was new and fun

flat, repetitive and lacking in momentum, you mean? I hear very little fun on this record. TBF the first two tracks are good enough - i liked high potent too.

fecking repetitive dance music

all music ever shd be ruff and shouty and sound like it was recorded in that railway carriage out of I Didn't Know You Cared by feral, fingerless tweens

― the Dorothy Squires of mean-spirited moaning and cynicism (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 8 September 2011 12:49 (19 seconds ago) Bookmark

Now yer talking.

hey, i was fifteen when new forms came out - you were lucky to even know what a coffeetable was back then.

Let's be really real, New Forms is way less coffee table than nearly every other drum & bass artist album released between 1995 and 1997.

ach, I'm being facetious, obviously. this is all based on recollection at the time. i wasn't hugely into drum'n'bass at the time, but i do remember hearing new forms and feeling as though it was bleached of all the things i did like about the genre.

Tim OTM. The beats were great on that record, especially compared to what Bukem or Alex Reece were doing.

I never gave a shit about "coffee table". I remember d'n'b purists getting irate over Everything But the Girl's Walking Wounded and it just seemed pissy and irrelevant to me. Just the usual dance scene politics.