Mercury Music Prize 
/ Maxliu / 19 July 2011 / Leave a Comment 
Great hat, great album, bad bet
"If I'm having an early bet, it's on Everything, Everything."
Mercury Music Prize betting aficionado Max Liu takes an early look at this year's shortlist. He'll be back with a more comprehensive article in the coming weeks.
Let England Shake is a fine, fine piece of work and I would be delighted if it won the 2011 Mercury Music Prize. However, with PJ Harvey likely to go off as favourite when the Betfair markets go up, I won't be backing her to repeat her 2001 success. The favourite won last year but I don't think it's a profitable punting position to take in a field of this size. And on an event so famously unpredictable.
Now, this column has made history by correctly tipping two out of three of the last Mercster laureates - Speech Debelle at 14/1 and Elbow at 7/1 - and I want it noted that the present document is very much a first draft. I won't be backing Guy Garvery and co. to repeat their 2008 success because two-time winners are a rarity and Build A Rocket, Boys! is the Bury quintet's weakest long player.
I'd be delighted if either King Creosote & John Hopkins - Diamond Mine is excellent but perhaps a little short at around 37 mins for judges' taste - or Anna Calvi - whose self-titled debut is a super-smart, sexy-swinging post-surf-rock lipstick romp - were to triumph. But if I'm having an early bet, it's on Everything, Everything.
Everybody likes Everything, Everything. I don't like Everything, Everything but that's not what this is about; if it was, the King of Limbs - a challenging album that asks us to ask ourselves what we want from listening and, indeed, what listening is - would be at the top of that list. Oh, loss.
The market will be up soon but, for now, here's the list in full:
1. Metronomy - The English Riviera
2. Adele - 21
3. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
4. Gwilym Simcock - Good Days At Schloss Elmau
5. Tinie Tempah - Disc-Overy
6. James Blake - James Blake
7. Elbow - Build A Rocket, Boys
8. Everything Everything - Man Alive
9. Katy B - On A Mission
10. Ghostpoet - Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam
11. King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine
12. Anna Calvi - Anna Calvi
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