McCARTNEY AT CAVERN
Beatling back to where it began
THE feud between Liam and Noel Gallagher has taken another twist – thanks to the Hyundai Mercury Prize.
Noel’s High Flying Birds’ experimental third LP Who Killed The Moon? is up for the £25,000 best album prize.
But, despite reaching No1, Liam’s solo debut As You Were was snubbed
Mancunian singer Jonathan Higgs, whose Everything Everything band are also nominated, told me: “I am surprised that they are not both on the shortlist.
“I’ve heard it might be because Liam used a lot of co-writers but that would be a strange reason when so many people use co-writers now.
“The one upside is that Liam might now write a very entertaining tweet about it!”
As well as Noel, big hitters such as Jorja Smith, Arctic Monkeys, Florence + The Machine and Lily Allen are among the 12 shortlisted albums.
Wolf Alice singer Ellie Rowsell, 26, said: “When I was younger, I associated the Mercury with giving exposure to more unknown artists.
“This year’s shortlist has a lot of already famous names which is, er, interesting.”
Ellie is one of five female vocalists on the shortlist. Indie rocker Nadine
Shah, 32, said: “There has always been brilliant female musicians – hopefully it won’t need to be a talking point soon.”
Also aware of the prize’s history is grime star
Novelist, 21, who told me: “Dizzee Rascal winning for Boy In Da Corner in
2003 was huge for people in my area.
“I’d love to say thank you to him for inspiring me.”
The winner will be revealed on September 20 at Hammersmith Eventim Apollo in a bash shown live on BBC Four.