In depth look at two potential winners... (Mercury Music Prize)

Member Name: gissing

Product:	Mercury Music Prize
Date:	01/08/00 (23 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Coldplay/Badly Drawn Boy

Disadvantages: Usual token gestures

Although I havent listened to *all* the acts on this shortlist, its really down to two for me. The outstanding albums, in many different ways this last year, are Badly Drawn Boy's long awaited first album "The hour of the Bewilderbeast", and the magnificent Parachutes by Coldplay.

re: coldplay
What really frustrates me about people in the music press and listeners too is that they initially jump on to a specific bandwagon - then suddenly when that band becomes mainstream the act becomes "tired, boring and non progressive" etc etc.

Its pretty sad I think - look how long the press hyped up Gay Dad - saying they were the next big thing, until they kinda realised they'd been manipulated by them - suddenly GayDad are the worst band in the world. Almost comically bad.

(actually listen to their debut, and you'll see its a great album :)

anyways back to the point.

either of these albums should win the prize - i really do think both are good developments of music as a whole.

Coldplay write touching, melodic accoustic bitesize chunks of emotion, whereas Gough & co's Hour of the Bewilderbeast is frankly genre creating. Which to go for? Well I think coldplay have been writing amazing songs for a while now - issuing singles on labels such as Fierce panda and the like and deserve greatness. Coldplay by a nose :)

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