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Mercury Nominations 2008

By | 22 July 2008

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Nominees for what we should now call the Nationwide Mercurys 2008 are in, and are:

- Elbow: The Seldom Seen Kid
- Laura Marling: Alas I Could Not Swim
- Robert Plant & Alison Krauss: Raising Sand
- Adele: 19
- The Last Shadow Puppets: The Age Of The Understatement
- Portico Quartet: Knee-Deep In The North Sea
- Burial: Untrue
- Neon Neon: Stainless Style
- Estelle: Shine
- British Sea Power: Do You Like Rock Music?
- Rachel Unthank & The Winterset: The Bairns
- Radiohead: In Rainbows

No Portishead then.

No Duffy either.

Have they got it right?

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  • John Murphy

    Very odd list.
    No MIA. No Portishead.
    Estelle? Adele? and I’ll say it again, Estelle????
    But then M People won the Mercury Prize once over Pulp’s A Different Class so who knows the reasoning.
    I’d like to see either Laura Marling or Elbow win. But I’d imagine it’ll be Radiohead.

  • Michael

    You don’t fancy a punt on Robert Plant & Alison Krauss?
    They could throw a curveball and give it to British Sea Power, I guess, but I struggle to see it.
    And where would awarding it to Radiohead leave the prize? It’s not like the world has to be told about that album, is it.
    A good day for XL anyway: the only label with two entries. Add BSP and that’s three for Beggars Group.

  • Rob Watson

    £20 on Burial. He’s just about the only exciting artist on the list apart from Neon Neon. Adele?! ADELE?!!!
    Wasn’t the Mercury about giving great underrated artists a leg up? The hell are Radiohead going to do with £20,000?

  • Michael

    Good point – does anyone know what the Mercury is supposed to be for?
    Rachel Unthank is going to sell lots more albums now. This is a good thing; likewise for Burial.

  • John Murphy

    I guess Plant/Krauss is worth a punt, although Alison is American of course so if it does win be prepared for lots of moans of “but she’s not even British” like when Antony won it a couple of years ago.
    Like Rob, I’m struggling to see the point of the Mercury these days. Firstly, there are so many award ceremonies that surely it’s a bit devalued. And who decides who wins? “Tastemakers”, that’s who. And who deigns these people to be tastemakers? Nobody as far as I can see.
    Still, looking forward to the show in September. I hope Ade Edmondson is on again, I enjoyed his deliberations on what the youth of the nation was listening to .
    It’ll be hilarious if Burial do win though, just to see Jo Whiley pretend that she absolutely loves them and always has, honestly….

  • Ben Hogwood

    I reckon Burial will get it – and as John says, he’ll suddenly win over the daytime DJs!
    The Estelle album is good, for sure, but I’d rather the Shortwave Set, Mystery Jets or even Jim Noir had been put forward.
    Still, I think it’s an interesting list, and has already found me a new album to buy in the Portico Quartet…
    Feature at the weekend, all being well!

  • Darren

    I think Burial will win it too. It’s very good- I bought the album after the New Statesman gave it a full page review – the last place I’d expect to see music journalism!
    Looks like they’ve done the usual thing of trying to tick all the boxes to make sure each genre is represented. Surely being any good should be the only criteria? (Sigh)
    So glad that Duffy didn’t make it on the list. She’s more omnipresent that God at the moment and frankly it’s beginning to irritate me. Listen to something else people!!!!
    No Johnny Flynn too – which is a shame.

  • John Murphy

    I thought Johnny Flynn would get a nomination as well, but I guess they’d already thought they’d got their “nu-folk” angle covered with Laura Marling and Rachel Unthank. Shame though as it’s a cracking album.
    I also thought Foals would get a nomination – I’m not a particular fan but thought they were a very ‘Mercury’ sort of band.
    And I must point out that my above comment about Ade Edmondson was meant to be sarcastic!

  • John Murphy

    Oh and if you type Burial review into Google, the first result is Tony’s review. Which is nice.

  • Rob Watson

    I just posted this on the Guardian’s site after Conor McWotsit and Jude Rodgers felt they had to defend thee shortlist. Burial’s now the favourite. Bugger – £20 out the window.
    Well… Jude Rogers and Conor McNicholas feel the need to defend the shortlist – it wouldn’t really be a Mercury prize if everyone was happy with the nominees (although, guys, c’mon – Adele? If she’s a Mercury nominee then you might as well give Duffy a Grammy and be done with it. I’m still reeling from her winning a Brit Award after an EP and an appearance on Jools Holland).
    For me, there’s no conspiracy, no financial incentives, no tokenism that isn’t already displayed across the industry and no “blow jobs from the majors” as Jude so eloquantly points out. What there is though is a stunning lack of imagination at the heart of the prize itself. What is the Mercury for exactly? Is it to award the best album of the year? We’ve got Brits, Grammies, MTV, Q and NME awards for that kind of thing. The most imaginative? So why is Adele nominated? Cracking pipes, I’ll admit, but about as groundbreaking as the latest Dodgy album.
    I always thought that the Mercury was designed to help wonderful but underrated artists get a leg up. Yes, the Winterset will get a huge sales boost today, but will they win? I doubt it. If the prize were serious about making the most of slow-burning or new talent in the industry (a reason I’m delighted BSP got a nod, even though it’s for the wrong record and 5 years too late) then they’d kick Radiohead, Estelle, Elbow (although it pains me to say it) and Adele off, and let the others fight it out.
    If the judges have any balls, they should give it to Burial – as the chair of judges said, the winner should have “the aural equivalent of personality” and “define the time”. Noone does this better on the shortlist than he. If they give it to Adele, will the last person leaving EMI please turn out the lights. It’s time for a rethink on the very premise of the award.

  • Darren

    I’m sat at home waiting for it to come on the TV and I’m strangely excited. That doesn’t normally happen with the Mercurys. Am I normal?

  • Darren

    So it’s Elbow then. Fair enough. It’s a brilliant album I think.
    It’s been a tricky one this year and I didn’t evny the judges (once you ruled out the more poppier efforts). I think they made a good choice.