Mercury Worthy.

Just a few weeks ago, The XX won this years Mercury Music Prize. I'll say it first, I don't get the whole XX thing. Over recent years the Mercury Prize has faced some opposition, in terms of it's credibility. I wholly agree in the celebration of good music, and particularly the celebration of 'the album,' which with modern technology and the ability to pick and choose songs to listen to, is an art form which is slowly dying, there is less emphasis on the whole piece of music, often artists are releasing a disc as a selection of songs, not a whole musical text.

I'm not saying for a second that the board in charge of the Mercury do not pick good music to shortlist, perhaps it is purely personal opinion, but I think the last few years winners were not the best out of the shortlist. 

This year saw The XX beat the likes of I am Kloot's 'Sky At Night,' Villagers' 'Becoming a Jackal' and Wild Beasts' 'Two Dancers.' The year before a relatively unknown winner, Speech Debelle, won and subsequently no-one bought into it, a flop for the supposed Mercury judging panel's expertise. The year before that, Elbow's 'The Seldom Seen Kid' won. Don't get me wrong, I love Elbow and this is a fantastic album, but it beat Radiohead's 'In Rainbows.' 'In Rainbows' is not only a phenomenal album, one of their best in my views, but it also totally shook up the record industry with it's 'pay what you like' release approach. For a record to do this, I think it deserved the prize, plus it is also an phenomenal piece of music.

I could go on and on, giving opinion and thought into the shortlist, winner and overlooked albums for each year, but I won't, I just believe that this year, after last year's major flop, Simon Frith and his board of 'experts' need to be confident in their judgement, and not go on what perhaps might be believed by the public to be right, in order to save their credibility. I hope it does too, as the Mercury is a great opportunity for bands to receive publicity and boost album sales, especially in current times in the recording industry. 

So to bring me to my song, 2005 seen at that time, a particularly unknown act win. British born but based in America, an issue that caused some controversy, but this time, based on the view of picking the best album, they were right to do so, the 2005 prize was awarded to the record 'I am a Bird Now' by Antony and the Johnsons.

The record was the bands second album, which after the first releases by the band was acclaimed by many well known artists, featured collaborations with the likes of Boy George, Lou Reed and Rufus Wainwright. 

This genuinely is one of the most amazing records I have ever heard.

I don't want to give too much away about the band to those who don't know them that well, because I don't want any preconceived ideas or previous information to perhaps cloud opinion, thoughts or judgement, as when my friends and I discuss this band, we often come out with 'I can't believe that ......., I wouldn't have thought when listening that......' and the like.

So go listen to that record, from start to finish, no pauses, no interruptions, but if the digital age has got you by the throat, tracks 'Hope There's Someone,' 'You Are My Sister' and 'Man Is The Baby' are my favourites.

The song I post here is a cover they done for the film 'I'm Not There,' a movie about the life of Bob Dylan. A great film. It's a cover of 'Knocking on Heaven's Door' which they have totally made their own. 

I promised some people who I was speaking to about the blog I wouldn't write so much, got a bit carried away. Not talked so much about the act or the song, as I think if you've not heard the band before, the music is enough.

I'll try and write about an upbeat song next time, but right now this is what I want to listen to, and those that know me will also know that 'depressing/melancholic/slow' music is my favourite to listen to, even when I'm as happy as can be.

Go listen.