To compare Elbow to Oasis is ridiculous - you may as well say any two bands are similar because they both produce music on instruments
The last Elbow album was fantastic, probably their best yet and a deserving winner. It still puzzles me how this band are so criminally underrated (by the public as the critics all love them) and hopefully winning this prize can finally see them reap some rewards in terms of sales.
The Mercury isn't everyone's cup of tea and there were some glaring omissions this year (no Portishead, WTF?!?
) but it's light-years ahead of other award ceremonies like the Brits or NME awards. And it's also more about exposure for the bands that are shortlisted - historically all the bands who make the shortlist see a big uplift in sales and it's only been a good thing for Burial. Before the nominations were announced he was relatively unheard of in the UK whereas now he's (almost) a household name and has seen a
"huge leap in album sales"
So as the old adage goes, everyone's a winner...