00:08Hi, I'm Alan Jones, the editor of Uncut Magazine, and we're here today for the final judging session of the
00:16third Uncut Music Award.
00:20This year we're joined by three judges who have been on our panel before.
00:24Tony Wadsworth, chair of the BMI, formerly head of EMI.
00:30Danny Kelly, broadcaster, former editor of NME, rejoins us.
00:35And we have Mark Cooper, who is the head of music at the BBC, responsible for the launch of Later
00:41with Jules Holland,
00:42and some quite remarkable documentaries for BBC4.
00:46We also have Hayden from Wild Beasts, Phil Manzanera from Roxy Music,
00:52the first time he's joined us, so we're looking forward to his views.
00:59I think what you always look for in a record is great tunes, great imagination, something that you can love.
01:06I think you've got to look for vision and audacity, but also, you know, just, you want people to be
01:14true, you want them to be believable.
01:16That just sets new standards, that shows a level of ambition that is matched also by quality.
01:24It's alright being ambitious, but you've got to be ambitious and you've got to be great.
01:27I really want something that I can just put on and will stay with me for quite a few years,
01:34really.
01:35My own personal choice for album of the year was the Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach, and I think the reasons
01:44for that, I just felt that it had everything.
01:46It had musical ambition, it had a concept, it had an eclectic musicality.
01:53The Chorals record is beautiful, but all their records are beautiful. The Gaslight Anthem record is made beautiful by its
01:58attempt to be something that people won't just shout at them.
02:02I thought the Nationals album was great, actually, as well. Maybe not the sort of huge band music I'd normally
02:09listen to, but it's just really true in its intentions.
02:18Well, finally, after two and a half, nearly three hours of deliberation, some very amusing, entertaining and heated discussions.
02:28I can say it was virtually unanimous that the award should go to Paul Weller.
02:32In the previous two years, I don't think a single album has elicited such an enthusiastic response.
02:39Who knew that we would live so long that we would come back round to Paul Weller.
02:43But Wake the Nation is a brilliant record of songs, and more importantly, it works as a piece.
02:48It had a real urgency about it, it had a real rawness about it, to the point where you might
02:53sort of want it to be a little bit more developed than it actually is, but it's just got a
03:00fire to it.
03:01There's a tremendous sense of urgency to the record, almost as if, well, I couldn't get it down on tape
03:07quick enough.
03:09I think he's one of our greatest artists, and has been since he started off. I think Paul has the
03:16sacred fire. Sometimes it flickers, sometimes it burns bright.
03:23I guess the Uncut Awards are different because it takes absolutely no concern of commercial success or the business.
03:30I think it would pride itself on not getting wrapped up in hype or being sort of very now.
03:36I think the Uncut Album Award is great because I think the people involved in doing it all seem to
03:40love music and care about it and want to talk about it, and it's a great joy to come into
03:45a room and talk about music.
03:47Okay, so that's it for another year. It's been quite a long afternoon, but very, very entertaining. So we're just
03:55looking forward to next year.
03:57Enjoy.
03:58See you next week.
03:58Yeah, you are we're not going to be on new.
04:00We are not going to be on this tour.
04:00Yeah, you are not.
04:02Come in.
04:02Here we go.
04:02Show us.
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