music review

all Mercury Prize winners ranked

2022-10-30

A ranking of all Mercury Prize winners from worst to best. note from 2025-01-11: this list is from 2022, with the Little Simz write-up added later on the same year after it won, i updated my "favorite other nominated album of the year" to account for album i've heard in the meantime, i still haven't heard the Ezra Collective album that won in 2023 and i thought the English Teacher album from 2024 was kinda mediocre, but i'll probably update the list with new write-ups at some point

31.

Gomez - Bring It On

winner of the Mercury Prize 1998

My least favorite Mercury Prize winner, here we have a very psychedelic indie rock album that other people might get more out of. However, I personally found it to not be catchy enough, with songs that go on for too long and I did not find the psychedelic or blues elements to be very compelling at all and the vocals and the vocal effects came off as obnoxious to me. Again, probably not a bad album, others might get more out of it, but I could not stand it.

4/10
favorite song: Get Miles
least favorite song: Get Myself Arrested
favorite other nominated album in 1998: Massive Attack - Mezzanine (10/10)

30.

M People - Elegant Slumming

winner of the Mercury Prize 1994

A dance-pop and house album that is just sadly really boring. This album feels like it is too long for its own good despite just being slightly over 50 minutes, however it feels lacking in interesting ideas, the songs get monotone really quick and the individual songs are not catchy or distinct enough to stand out among one another. Probably works better on the dancefloors of the 1990s than for dedicated listening, but that is not what I was going for here.

5/10
favorite song: *shrugs*
least favorite song: *shrugs*
favorite other nominated album in 1994: Blur - Parklife (9/10)

29.

Roni Size & Reprazent - New Forms

winner of the Mercury Prize 1997

A very jazz-influenced drum and bass album, that as such is very interesting and I will not take away from that fact: This is a genuinely interesting album and probably a very important one at the time. However, the reason this is ranked so low is because of its crushing length, the original 2xCD version of this album clocks in at 2.5 hours and that is just, way too much and it does not offer enough variety to justify that runtime to me. The single CD version is more tolerable but even then I kinda tended to zone out partway through.

5/10 for the 2xCD version
6/10 for the 1xCD version
favorite song: Digital
least favorite song: something off of disc 2 idk i completely zoned out during that disc
favorite other nominated album in 1997: The Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole (10/10)

28.

Ms. Dynamite - A Little Deeper

winner of the Mercury Prize 2002

A neo-soul album with a lot of influence from hip-hop and r&b. As I learned Ms. Dynamite did work with underground garage acts in the late 90s and what I have heard from that is generally a lot more interesting than anything happening on this album unfortunately. This is considered one of the least good Mercury Prize winners and I can see why, this album just does not do anything daring or interesting or engaging. This is a nothing album, I got nothing of substance to say about it.

5/10
favorite song: Dy-Na-Mi-Tee
least favorite song: Krazy Krush
favorite other nominated album in 2002: haven't heard any other album here

27.

Primal Scream - Screamadelica

winner of the Mercury Prize 1992

With this one I wished I enjoyed it more. Dubbed the “Druggiest Album Ever” by NME, I can see what it is doing, and I know that me not liking this is a controversial opinion but here we are. I know that this album is really important to alternative dance and neo-psychedelia for years to come but I did not click with this album very much at all. This obviously might come from my personal distaste of neo-psychedelia, but most songs here felt much less dance-ready than I would have hoped and it feels inconsistent at best with some really good songs interspersed with a decent bunch of songs that feel like they are going nowhere.

5/10
favorite song: Loaded
least favorite song: Inner Flight
favorite other nominated album in 1992: Young Desciples - Road to Freedom (8/10)

26.

Benjamin Clementine - At Least for Now

winner of the Mercury Prize 2015

On his debut, Clementine showed a lot of potential, but sadly for me it only sometimes got to shine on this album. The soulful chamber pop on this album often feels a little too bare, there are some build-ups on the album that really work out and are satisfying as is, but they are too few and far between. Highlights here have great piano moments and really cool beats, but overall it did not work for me.

6/10
favorite song: Quiver A Little
least favorite song: Adios
favorite other nominated album in 2015: Jamie xx - In Colour (9/10)

25.

Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid

winner of the Mercury Prize 2008

This one is baffling, but for reasons beyond this album's actual content, however this has won against Burial's Untrue, Adele's 19 and Radiohead's In Rainbows and that alone is enough to set off my alarms. That said, the actual album is okay, nothing incredible, but decent orchestrated indie rock that is well produced, well written and from what I've heard all the people involved are cool, so good for them, it just is not my cup of tea.

6/10
favorite song: Grounds for Divorce
least favorite song: can't remember
favorite other nominated album in 2008: Radiohead - In Rainbows (10/10)

24.

Talvin Singh - OK

winner of the Mercury Prize 1999

This is a really fascinating album, a drum and bass album with elements of Indian classical by experienced tabla player Talvin Singh, who also performed on songs by Björk and Madonna among others, and a certain Ryuichi Sakamoto on flute throughout the album, apparently in an online collaboration in the late 90s. The result is a genre fusion that works better than one should expect, but even then, the album feels a little too stretched out, too monotone to fill an hour. That said, this is an album that is well worth checking out if only for the insane genre mix, y’all should give it a try.

7/10
favorite song: Eclipse
least favorite song: Vikram the Vampire
favorite other nominated album in 1999: Blur - 13 (9/10)

23.

Skepta - Konnichiwa

winner of the Mercury Prize 2016

A solid hip-hop album stacked with bangers that hit hard and quick. Skepta is a confident rapper and his flows are consistently energetic and in your face. So why is this so low? Mainly because of the album's pacing, when everything is this hard, all songs at roughly the same length, nothing ends up really standing out except for the occasionally awkward interludes thrown in at the end of some tracks, and what's left is a block of high energy where the sum of its parts is somehow lesser than the individual parts by themselves due to its insistence on not budging an inch to offer different dynamics.

7/10
favorite song: Shutdown
least favorite song: Detox
favorite other nominated album in 2016: David Bowie - Blackstar (9/10)

22.

Speech Debelle - Speech Therapy

winner of the Mercury Prize 2009

That one kinda hurts to put this low, an album that commercially did really poorly even after winning the Mercury Prize. Specifically claiming to not be "rap" but to be Speech Debelle's therapy, this album is deeply personal and her writing for the most part is self-reflective, emotionally intelligent and witty. The music itself is her reading out her poetry over jazz instrumentals and here is where my issues begin to start because the instrumentals are just not my thing and certain tracks can come off a little tacky because of it. There is a lot of potential on display here that really gets to shine through on the final two tracks that wonderfully conclude all the topics discussed on this album that makes me want to check out her other albums.

7/10
favorite song: Speech Therapy
least favorite song: Spinnin
favorite other nominated album in 2009: Florence + the Machine - Lungs (9/10)

21.

Dave - PSYCHODRAMA

winner of the Mercury Prize 2019

So, this album seems to have been really popular, to the degree where it is one of two albums that would win both the Mercury Prize and the Brit Award for Album of the Year, and I can see why! The album is structured around a therapy session with Dave's clever writing progressively revealing more and more of his traumata regarding racism, social issues, mental health and his relationship struggles. In that sense this album is very similar to Speech Therapy which I just covered, however Dave's writing is much more focused and it shows a clear point to where this is headed from the very beginning. And it really paid off, his writing is riveting, especially on opener Psycho, closer Drama and the orchestrated 11 minute track Lesley which is absolutely harrowing as soon as you can tell where the narrative is headed. So why do I keep it this low on the ranking if I can heap praise on Dave's writing? Well, aside from the aforementioned Lesley all the songs sound practically the same to me, the instrumentals are pretty standard UK hip-hop fare with Dave's flow feeling identical to me on most tracks, making the message of the album as a whole feel weakened through it. Still, an incredibly impressive debut album that deserved to win all awards it did simply because of Dave's amazing writing.

7/10
favorite song: Lesley
least favorite song: Location
favorite other nominated album in 2019: black midi - Schlagenheim (8/10)

20.

Arlo Parks - Collapsed in Sunbeams

winner of the Mercury Prize 2021

As of writing the most recent winner of the Mercury Prize, this is a very nice and pleasant soul album. With this one I do not have to say about, so I will just say I appreciate the Twin Peaks and Thom Yorke namedrops on the album, songwriting is good, but overall it did not end up captivating me very much. It is a nice, smooth album that will go by quickly and doesn't strike me in any negative way, but it also does not strike me in any extremely positive way either.

7/10
favorite song: For Violet
least favorite song: Hope
favorite other nominated album in 2021: Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend (8/10)

19.

Suede - Suede

winner of the Mercury Prize 1993

A solid album by Britpop and alternative rock band Suede, that wears its influences on its sleeves but does well on executing upon these. It is very clearly inspired by glam rock and early post-punk by artists such as David Bowie and The Smiths, giving it a more pop-friendly edge that would be a major factor to the Britpop movement as the 90s would continue. Overall an album that is surprisingly strong, although I do not have much to say about it except for recognizing it definitely was the right album at the right time and it makes perfect sense it won the award considering this role it played in furthering Britpop before Blur and Oasis fully broke through. Also, the album cover showing two people of ambiguous gender kissing is awesome, I feel like I needed to point that out.

8/10
favorite song: Metal Mickey
least favorite song: Sleeping Pills
favorite other nominated album in 1993: PJ Harvey - Rid of Me (9/10)

18.

ANOHNI and the Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now

winner of the Mercury Prize 2005

And another album where I do not feel like I have much of quality to say about. First off, Anohni’s voice is awesome. Second of all, who could have possibly guessed that the person who wrote For Today I Am A Boy would come out as being a trans woman later down the line? Anyways this is a really good chamber pop album with fantastic vocal performances throughout, but instrumentally was not as exciting to me as I wish it was. It is very pretty and overall done well and the instrumentation has plenty of variety, I just kinda wished for something more out there but that is probably on me. Also I am very confused by Free At Last in a very not good way, it interrupts the pacing of the album and feels off in an otherwise very pretty album, luckily that's practically only an interlude at under 2 minutes.

8/10
favorite song: For Today I Am A Boy
least favorite song: Free At Last
favorite other nominated album in 2005: Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (8/10)

17.

Wolf Alice - Visions of a Life

winner of the Mercury Prize 2018

Back in early 2015, I saw alt-J live on tour for their second album This Is All Yours. While this at first may seem like a side note to bring up later down the line for another album in this ranking, it is worth bringing up here, because opening for alt-J was a new young band from the UK called Wolf Alice, a couple of months before their debut album My Love Is Cool released. Despite it still being early in their career, the energy on display was already enough to get me interested and their name has stuck around in my head for a long time despite not having gone to listen to any of their material until roughly a year later, at which point My Love Is Cool has already established the band as one of the hottest newcomers in UK rock at the time with their mix of alternative rock with dream pop and noisier elements, a sound that is not exactly revolutionary but fresh regardless, and this extends to their sophomore album Visions of a Life, which would go on to win the Mercury Prize in 2018, as well. Catchy hooks and Ellie Rowsell’s vocals carry this project in my opinion, however that does not mean the instrumental front is lacking however, like on the 7 minute title track of this album. A very eclectic album, mixing noisier elements like on punk rager Yuk Foo with quieter, more atmospheric dream pop is a mix that seems odd at first, but is weaved together flawlessly and keeps the energy up thanks to its variety. Alas I do not have much more to add to this one, I am not exactly in love with this project, but it is a solid and very good album that continued Wolf Alice’s momentum into becoming one of the most notable indie bands from the UK around at the moment and that in itself is worth acknowledging.

8/10
favorite song: Yuk Foo
least favorite song: Sky Musings
favorite other nominated album in 2018: Everything Everything - A Fever Dream (8/10)

16.

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

winner of the Mercury Prize 2006

Probably the most commercially successful album to ever win the Mercury Prize, the debut album by Arctic Monkeys blew up upon release into a massive smash hit that would be the first of two albums to win both the Mercury Prize and the BRIT Award for Best British Album (the other being Dave’s Psychodrama, covered earlier), as well as win Best Alternative Music Album at the Grammys and several publications awarding it with album of the year. This album was massive, and for good reason! The songs are catchy, the production is slick, the singles, especially standout hit I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor, are bangers that could play at any given party, and the lyrics revolving around several ideas of nightlife only add to that with Alex Turner sounding effortlessly cool delivering his lines. An excellent album that, while not innovative by any means, delivers strong songs throughout and if I had to bring up any gripe I have with this album it is that it kinda lacks in variety in my opinion, which sophomore album Favourite Worst Nightmare would address shortly after.

8/10
favorite song: I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor
least favorite song: Mardy Bum
favorite other nominated album in 2006: Muse - Black Holes & Revelations (10/10)

15.

Michael Kiwanuka - Kiwanuka

winner of the Mercury Prize 2020

What, me, liking psychedelic music, what is going on here? Okay no, but seriously, this album was a huge surprise to me, an energetic soul album full of psychedelic guitar riffs, funky bass lines and electronic quirks that has enough changes of pace to stay engaging, in part thanks to the production of legends Danger Mouse and Inflo. Every sound on this album sounds deliberately laid out and the result is an album that, instrumentally, already sounds immaculate. On top of that, Kiwanuka’s own gentle voice and his background vocalists add a spiritual note to this that flows over really well. A gorgeous yet high energy album that is genuinely excellent and might be one to get me onto more soul.

8/10
favorite song: You Ain't The Problem
least favorite song: Living In Denial
favorite other nominated album in 2020: Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia (9/10)

14.

Young Fathers - Dead

winner of the Mercury Prize 2014

With this one I am not sure how to talk about this. On first listen I was not sure what to think of it at all. First off, this album is really good, but there is a lot going on here and it kinda defies my way of talking about genre so I am kinda stumped here. A fascinating mix of electronica, the songwriting of indie rock and elements of hip hop that combined lead to a very original and creative sounding album that is not running out of ideas over its runtime. The production throughout is excellent and the definite standout quality of the album for me, it can switch between lush and catchy to glitchy and hard hitting in the blink of an eye while the vocals are mostly laid back, almost like a more soulful Massive Attack, except for one certain track that may or may not be my favorite because of the much more aggressive and intense delivery. Overall a really strong and original sounding album that grew on me a lot on second listen.

8/10
favorite song: PAYING
least favorite song: AM I NOT YOUR BOY
favorite other nominated album in 2014: FKA twigs - LP1 (8/10)

13.

Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour of Bewilderbeast

winner of the Mercury Prize 2000

With this album I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this, which brought me to my leading question regarding this album: Why do I like this album so much while a lot of other chamber pop and folk seems to fall flat for me? First, I noticed there being a lot of variety on this album, you got folk songs like The Shining, Fall in a River or Magic in the Air but it gets mixed with occasional alternative and psychedelic rock cuts like Everybody’s Stalking, Another Pearl or Disillusion which are styles I am personally much more comfortable with. Second off, the instrumentation on this album, especially the consistently steady drum rhythms and occasional electric guitars help ease me into the style by letting me focus more on the rhythms. Third, the song writing and structure mostly is pretty conventional with clear verses and choruses and as such is very accessible, which plays nicely with my final point, that being that the album still allows itself to get weird every now and again without getting too overbearing. The hip-hop beat on Bewilderbeast, the breakdown of Cause a Rockslide or just the inclusion of Body Rap on the album shows the willingness to experiment in a way that is reminding me of the folk era of Animal Collective, but to a less extreme degree. As such, it is still somewhat confusing that I enjoy this as much but at this point I do not have a bigger point to make here, it is a really good and interesting album that keeps its ideas fresh even if it drags a little bit at points.

8/10
favorite song: Cause a Rockslide
least favorite song: Pissing in the Wind
favorite other nominated album in 2000: haven't heard any other album here

12.

Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert

winner of the Mercury Prize 2022

This year’s winner is arguably one of the most ambitious album to win the award in a while. With Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, cleverly acronymed to SIMBI, Little Simz’ first name, she provides an album that is full of ideas that string together almost flawlessly and as such delivers an album that feels larger than its individual parts and feels like a standout moment in UK hip-hop that might help push the genre forward for years to come, in no small part thanks to this album bringing international attention to the scene unlike any other. Most songs are some of the best hip-hop I might have ever heard, especially opener Introvert which has one of the most epic intros to any song I might have ever heard, and on the energetic I Love You, I Hate You as well as the gorgeous Standing Ovation. Simbi’s writing is concise and intelligent and, as the album title suggests, introspective, it is a powerful self-expression with my main criticism being that the interludes for the most part feeling a little superfluous which adds to the fact that the album drags a little bit towards the end, still, a spectacular album that by all accounts feels very important for what is happening in UK hip-hop for years to come.

8/10
favorite song: Introvert
least favorite song: Speed
favorite other nominated album in 2022: Nova Twins - Supernova (8/10)

11.

The xx - xx

winner of the Mercury Prize 2010

When The xx came onto the scene it felt like a massive shift was coming up soon. I am pretty certain that the release of this album changed the shape of indie rock and pop for the remainder of the 2010s with its slick and dreamy production, ethereal vocal performances and its lowkey approach to pop and rock which was far from the norm in the late 2000s and early 2010s and quickly became their signature style. Intro and Islands specifically are etched into the cultural zeitgeist ever since, two iconic tracks that seem indicative of a larger movement in hindsight. I have said it several times, but the larger movement of lowkey pop that would follow soon with releases like House of Balloons and Royals seem like they would not have blown up the way they did if it were not for The xx to cover that ground beforehand and for that I have to commend it. By itself the album is also great, it is a relaxed time that still retains a certain darkness and as such is an enticing listen that is well worth it even outside of that context.

9/10
favorite song: Intro
least favorite song: Shelter
favorite other nominated album in 2010: haven't heard any other album here

10.

Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand

winner of the Mercury Prize 2004

The first of three post-punk revival albums to win the Mercury Prize in the span of four years and as such this is an engaging listen. It is incredibly catchy, especially on smash hit Take Me Out, dancy, well paced, energetic and all around very fun. On first listen one reference that was in the back of my head was that it reminds me a lot of the dancier tracks by The Hives, and upon looking it up, none of the producers or engineers worked with The Hives, but I found out they actually went to a studio in Malmö, Sweden to record this album with personnel that worked with a decent variety of pop and rock artists. Overall, I really like this album, it is infectiously catchy and I had some tracks on here stuck in my head for days on end upon listening to this, it is produced very cleanly but as such works in favor of the dance elements on here while adding enough distinct elements to the individual tracks to not get boring. There is a lot of flavor to this album, be it the build-up to Take Me Out, the acoustic intro to Jacqueline or the piano on Auf Achse, all of it helps to keep the album from sounding too one note while still being a cohesive album. Also, considering the band named themselves after the assassinated Archduke of Austria, I appreciate them actually singing in German on Darts of Pleasure, everything else would have been disappointing. /j

9/10
favorite song: Take Me Out
least favorite song: Cheating on You
favorite other nominated album in 2004: Amy Winehouse - Frank (6/10)

9.

James Blake - Overgrown

winner of the Mercury Prize 2013

On the cover to Overgrown, James Blake is wearing a coat among a surreal looking snowy field, a barren tree in the background. This in contrast to the album title gives a good impression of where I feel with this album: The cold and dark electronic production, inspired by classic UK dubstep and garage, is being contrasted by Blake's soulful voice and warm piano playing and the result is an album that is gorgeous and inviting yet distant and at times apocalyptic. As such Overgrown is as varied as it is consistent, in part thanks to guest appearances by RZA and Brian Eno on certain tracks offering some change of pace, definitely check out Retrograde from this album if you have not heard it yet, it is a stunning single.

9/10
favorite song: Retrograde
least favorite song: DLM
favorite other nominated album in 2013: Savages - Silence Yourself (9/10)

8.

Sampha - Process

winner of the Mercury Prize 2017

The first I heard of Sampha was through his feature on the latest Kendrick Lamar album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, on the song Father Time which ended up being one of my personal favorite songs on that album, so seeing Sampha pop up on the list of Mercury Prize winners was a good excuse to check out his own stuff. And here we are, this album is great! An alternative R&B album with focus on mostly electronic production inspired by UK bass and future garage which as a mix gives this album a very unique feel. I know that this might at first sound somewhat similar to what I described with Overgrown however most songs on Process are faster, have a higher amount of energy and Sampha’s vocals are overall even more soulful, which shows on tracks like Blood On Me and (No One Knows Me) Like the Piano. Overall I gotta say, I really love the production on this album for the most part, it sounds excellent throughout and Sampha’s vocals stick out in just the right way. An excellent listen that would get an absolute recommendation without any major complaints.

9/10
favorite song: Blood on Me
least favorite song: Kora Sings
favorite other nominated album in 2017: Kae Tempest - Let Them Eat Chaos (8/10)

7.

Pulp - Different Class

winner of the Mercury Prize 1996

August to October of 1995 seems to be a definitive moment in Britpop. With the battle between Blur’s "Country House" and Oasis’ "Roll With It" for the number one spot in the British single charts in August and the succeeding releases of their respective albums The Great Escape in September and (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? in early October the movement has reached its commercial and popular peak with both albums immediately hitting the number one spot in the British album charts. However, while Blur won the initial battle, Oasis seemed to have won the war, with (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? becoming one of the best selling British albums of all time, going 16x Platinum in the UK and 4x Platinum in the US and now considered one of the greatest albums ever made and the definitive Britpop album. However, slightly dodging this battle, already in May 1995, former art rock band turned Britpop outfit Pulp would release "Common People", the lead single to their next album Different Class.

"Common People" by itself is already a spectacular song, over six minutes the song spins a story about an exchange student at an arts school who comes from a wealthy family but wants to spend her time in Britain living “like the common people” while the song grows bigger and bigger in scale with lead singer and narrator Jarvis Cocker is telling that girl that she will never understand how it feels to be poor because she can just choose to quit wanting to live like this at any point. I cannot stress this enough, Common People is a masterpiece and, in my opinion, the single best Britpop song of all time, the sing-along chorus, the smart yet at points somewhat horny lyrics, the way the instrumental grows in size with more instruments coming in throughout and Jarvis’ singing becoming louder with every repetition of the chorus is glorious and if you have not heard that specific song yet, go and do that now, the rest of this text can wait.

"Common People" would be a major success, reaching number two on the UK singles chart and would be considered one of the essential Britpop songs, and as such would make the perfect setup for the album, Different Class, released on October 30, 1995, just four weeks after (What's The Story) Morning Glory?. The full album would be less anthemic than "Common People" was, but that does not mean the album was not catchy. "Disco 2000", a song about meeting a childhood crush again after years to find out that person now is married and has children while you are still single and the disillusionment that comes with it, an ode to the socially awkward on "Mis-Shapes", the depiction of mundane spaces as places of personal significance in "F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E." are all catchy and sing-along in a more condensed manner than Common People was. On the other hand, the more creepy like the stalkery and overly detailed "I Spy" and "Live Bed Show", which depicts the love life of a woman by describing the noises of her bed over the years add another layer to it that is more built in atmosphere rather than catchiness and accommodates the album well. The writing is clever with a lot of attention to smaller details all revolving around love, sex, life as part of the working class and class divide while musically Different Class also sticks out from its contemporaries through integrating elements of dance, disco, psychedelia and spy music.

All of these elements make the album a truly unique experience that stands on its own in comparison to the other Britpop outlets of the time and, in my opinion, makes Different Class the true winner of the Britpop wars in hindsight even if, or especially because, Pulp never directly participated in them, they were the outcasts, standing by the side, waiting for their time to shine.

9/10
favorite song: Common People
least favorite song: Live Bed Show
favorite other nominated album in 1996: Underworld - Second Toughest in the Infants (9/10)

6.

PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

winner of the Mercury Prize 2011

Polly Jean Harvey could easily be called the queen of the Mercury Prize. The only person to win the award twice as of the time of writing, she kept surprising both audiences and critics with her frequent changes in musical style. Now, Let England Shake does not come from nowhere, as her previous album, 2007's White Chalk, already saw Harvey explore folk music, however her focus changed for this project. While White Chalk was mostly minimalist chamber folk, focused around a small space centered around a piano. And this is the point where Let England Shake differs drastically: Its instrumentation is heavily ramped up to include a lot of different sounds, the palette is increased massively and by extension of that the songs are given more space (literally, the album was now recorded in a church in Dorsey that offered much more room than the usual studio setup) to sprawl and as such can reach a higher amount of energy than anything on the previous album, as the opening title track, The Glorious Land, The Words That Maketh Murder or Bitter Branches show brilliantly. So, musically we got well structured and wonderfully produced (shoutout to Flood on production for this album) folk rock that is not anything particularly daring but nevertheless the surprise that PJ Harvey made this album is enough to carry a sense of importance with it considering her position in British music as one of the most acclaimed songwriters of the 1990s and 2000s. Lyrically, this album shows a significantly more drastic shift though as Harvey explores different facets of war, from the civilians, to the returning, now disillusioned, veterans, up to the leaders who caused the conflict to begin with. Her writing is often blunt and in its bluntness it shines with strong messaging inspired by historical accounts of British warfare in World Wars I and II and modern accounts from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and as such offers a set of protest songs that sound traditional in sound but meant for the modern day.

9/10
favorite song: The Words That Maketh Murder
least favorite song: Hanging In The Wire
favorite other nominated album in 2011: James Blake - James Blake (8/10)

5.

Dizzee Rascal - Boy in da Corner

winner of the Mercury Prize 2003

With this one I have a hard time knowing what to say. I know that this is considered the album where grime basically became what grime is today but I am not very familiar with that scene so I cannot tell if that is accurate as such. What I do know however is that this album hits hard. Bangers are stacked from start to finish, the album's production, also done by Dizzee Rascal himself, is heavily inspired by UK Garage but has a much more abrasive nature than the other albums within or inspired by that genre, making it almost a predecessor to Deconstructed Club more than anything else, with intensely loud pumping basses, unnatural sounding instrumentation and a very chopped up approach to sampling, tracks like lead single I Luv U or opener Sittin’ Here sound like early SOPHIE projects with their distorted bass sound, pumping drums and raw instrumentation that is often built around heavily altered samples. On top of that, the at that point just 18-year-old Dizzee Rascal is able to lyrically mix party-compatible bragging bangers like Fix Up, Look Sharp or Jus’ A Rascal with more serious matters like growing up in a London neighborhood with high crime rates in opener Sittin’ Here, teenage pregnancy on both the personal I Luv U and the more narrative-driven Jezebel or his own grim outlook into the future on Brand New Day. However despite the sometimes pretty steep changes in subject matter are fitting both in tone and music and feels coherent with itself throughout. So, yeah, this hits hard and this album should be seen as a sign to not mess with him, which, considering what he was up to in reality after this, seems accurate I will say that much.

9/10
favorite song: I Luv U
least favorite song: Jezebel
favorite other nominated album in 2003: Radiohead - Hail to the Thief (9/10)

4.

Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future

winner of the Mercury Prize 2007

My favorite new discovery of this project! On this album, Klaxons mix up elements of post-punk revival with synth punk and noise pop for a burst of concentrated energy. The first three tracks of this album illustrate my point very well: Two Receivers is a midtempo dance punk song, revolving around a consistent drum loop, piano chords and an arpeggio that switches instruments partway through the song with the song introducing three different vocal melodies, all equally cryptic lyrically, before layering all of them on top of each other for the final section of the song. It's catchy, interesting, yet consistent with itself and danceable. Which brings us to track 2, Atlantis to Interzone, and this is where the album goes off the rails and shows what makes this standout. The production is loud, chaotic, the siren blasts are loud and distracting, the lyrics are barely coherent with mentions of water damages, rising waters, the myth of Atlantis and an upcoming wasteland. This song is complete sensory overload on first listen, but unveils a greater understanding of hooks and melody on repeated listens. To be clear, I love Atlantis to Interzone and it being so overloaded that it basically becomes noisy just through the amount of layers while remaining a catchy and energetic song that does not completely overpower its mix is a feat in itself and the result is one of the most unique songs I have ever heard. And with track 3 we got the big single, Golden Skans, an excellent indietronica single that is much less chaotic than the previous song, instead focusing on fewer layers and the result is an infectiously catchy song that keeps the energy up while being much smoother than the previous song. The rest of the album would strike a nice balance between these styles, from the chaotic dance-punk on Totem On The Timeline, Magick or Four Horsemen Of 2012 the layered midtempo tracks like Isle of Her or It's Not Over Yet and the catchy singles like Gravity's Rainbow or As Above So Below. The albums remains consistently good, interesting and somewhat confusing while maintaining an incredibly high level of energy throughout that is, once again, infectiously catchy and danceable, a fantastic listen.

9/10
favorite song: Atlantis to Interzone
least favorite song: Forgotten Works
favorite other nominated album in 2007: Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare (8/10)

3.

PJ Harvey - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea

winner of the Mercury Prize 2001

When this album won the Mercury Prize in 2001, PJ Harvey had already been nominated twice before, back in 1993 for Rid of Me and in 1995 for To Bring You My Love, however it would be her musical love letter to New York City that would be her first to actually win, in an almost poetic sense of tragic irony she would win the award on 9/11/2001, with PJ Harvey being on tour in Washington D.C. with a view of the Pentagon from her hotel room from where she gave her acceptance speech, doubly so considering this is probably the first album of hers on which she sounds genuinely happy. Songs like the simple yet passionate This Is Love, the romantic slow burn of Beautiful Feeling or the dreamy closer We Float see her at her most life-affirming yet and probably so far in her career as of now in 2022. As a whole, this album combines a variety of love songs all with the framing of New York City as the backdrop, as that is where PJ Harvey lived for most of the songwriting process and found herself fascinated with the city. Opener Big Exit sees her still back in Britain, longing for more control over her life after the depressive episode that resulted in the abrasive and dark album Is This Desire? just a few years prior and is where she expresses the desire to move to a different country, this song shows PJ Harvey taking back her personal agency and the rest of this album shows her in NYC living life to the fullest. The following track and lead single Good Fortune sees her arriving in town and falling in love, in a similar vein, A Place Called Home and One Line also express young love.

Most of the songs revolve around love and sex, with the centerpiece being the duet This Mess We’re In with special guest Thom Yorke (you may have heard of him), showing a long distance relationship as the one arrives in New York to visit the other, saying that the relationship has no chance of keeping up any longer after their night together, it is a beautiful song that, in my opinion, as a massive PJ Harvey and Radiohead fan, is one of the best pieces either of them was involved with. Topical deviations are The Whores Hustle and The Hustlers Whore about the struggle of sex workers when dealing with their clients, which is not the first time PJ Harvey made songs about this, and Kamikaze with potentially being about an abusive relations [edit 2025-01-14: yes i know now what Kamikaze is about 2022 me wasn't that smart it seems]. However these in my opinion mainly flesh out the album rather than distracting from the otherwise mostly romantic lyrics.

According to interviews in 2000 and 2001, after the explorations of darkness, both musically and emotionally, of her previous album To Bring You My Love and Is This Desire?, Harvey was rejuvenated from her time in New York and wanted Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea to be her “beautiful, sumptuous, lovely piece of work” and all I can say is, that is what she achieved, this album is wonderful, pretty and lush. As such it is all the more tragic that her album about finding love in New York would be awarded with the Mercury Prize on that specific day that would change the face of the city for years to come.

10/10
favorite song: We Float
least favorite song: One Line
favorite other nominated album in 2001: Goldfrapp - Felt Mountain (9/10)

2.

alt-J - An Awesome Wave

winner of the Mercury Prize 2012

Young me around the early 2010s used to listen to the radio much more. I did not use any streaming services yet and I did not have much money to buy myself CDs while music was still widely blocked from YouTube in Germany at the time so my main exposures to music was the Guitar Hero and Rock Band video games and the radio. Even though I used to be much more into rock music as a kid, thanks to my brother, the station focusing on international and independent pop and hip-hop would be one to play a lot at home. This is where I first heard Breezeblocks. While I am not able to tell what younger me saw in that track, it was not a genre I usually enjoyed back then and I was not proficient enough in English to understand the lyrics to any of it well except for the phrase repeated over and over again in the outro: "Please don't go, I'll eat you whole, I love you so", even though I also did not understand the literary reference in that, yet there was something oddly compelling about this track. So I remember, back in 2012, when I was 13 and I just started using iTunes, I got a gift card for the iTunes store and decided to buy a download of An Awesome Wave and it would change and challenge my view of what I loved about music.

This entire album is exciting to listen to despite being thoroughly midtempo thanks to its creative use of instrumentation, engaging drum rhythms courtesy of Thom Green and Joe Newman's distinct vocal style and oddball lyrics referencing movies and literature around every corner, the album title itself already being a quote from Bret Easton Ellis' novel American Psycho. References on this album include a variety of film and literature from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly on Tessellate, Where The Wild Things Are on Breezeblocks, Last Exit Brooklyn on Fitzpleasure and Léon: The Professional on Matilda to name some of the more obvious ones, the result are lyrics that often feel a little disjointed in their amounts of references and thus sometimes miss to have a coherent point. Exceptions are the violent argument depicted in Breezeblocks, the death of a matador in Something Good, Matilda as a whole being a loose retelling of events in Léon: The Professional and a tribute to the WWII photojournalist Gerda Taro on the album closer, aptly named Taro. Musically the album also jumps through various hoops, from the piano roll on Intro, the a capella melody of the first interlude, the mostly straightforward indie pop single Breezeblocks, to the heavy bass of Fitzpleasure, the linear build on Bloodflood and the Bhangra elements on Taro. All those ideas are held together by tight songwriting and structuring, with common elements being the constantly complex and excellently produced drum rhythms and Joe Newman’s love-it-or-hate-it nasal vocal style. Personally, obviously, I very much love this album as this is one I am feeling very nostalgic towards as it was one of the first pop records I really got into and even though I cannot tell you exactly what was this appealing to my younger self, I am glad I did and nowadays, 10 years after release, this album is as engaging and interesting and unique as ever. Now, if the hidden track did not exist /lh

10/10
favorite song: Fitzpleasure
least favorite song: Ms (or Hand-Made counting the hidden track)
favorite other nominated album in 2012: haven't heard any other album here

1.

Portishead - Dummy

winner of the Mercury Prize 1995

Wow who would have seen that coming, me liking Portishead’s debut album Dummy a whole lot to the point of it literally being one of my favorite albums of all time, that was so unexpected and unknown /s

Okay now for the actual bit, this album is stellar and its reputation as a seminal album of the 90s and the definitive trip hop album is well earned. From the opener Mysterons right up to the grand finale that is Glory Box, Dummy is a masterpiece through and through that feels like a timeless record for laid back nights in its own unique way. The samples taken from old jazz and soul records, the hip-hop inspired beats, the very tastefully used record scratching, for which the band even pressed their own samples onto vinyl and damaged these discs purposefully to make them sound more lo-fi, and Beth Gibbons’ wonderful voice weave together beautifully into a coherent experience that is laid back but equally engaging and emotionally driven. This can be seen on tracks like Sour Times or Wandering Star and especially on album highlight Roads with its slow guitars and lush orchestration. And of course, album closer Glory Box which is one of the best songs ever recorded and the fact that Tricky would use the exact same Isaac Hayes sample for Hell Is Around The Corner on his debut solo album just a couple months later (said album was nominated for the Mercury in the same year) shows how much Portishead adds to that sample and how perfectly it all fits together, especially on the instrumental end, the guitar solo and beat switch at the end looping back perfectly into the first verse are beautiful additions to the sample. And again, the production is stellar, the samples chosen give the album a very classy and elegant feel to it that is wonderfully contrasted by the lo-fi recording quality of the turntables and discs used that makes it a perfect album to have on vinyl in itself. Like, I do not know what to tell you here, if you have not heard this album yet I implore you to please do so it is a fantastic listen and really one of the greatest album of all time.

10/10
favorite song: Glory Box
least favorite song: It's a Fire
favorite other nominated album in 1995: PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love (9/10)