If I had to name two festival highlights this year, it would be Rage Against The Machine’s angsty performance at Reading and Elbow’s beautiful, soaring epic at Glastonbury where everyone was still chanting their provocative “One Day Like This” long after the final chord and Guy’s last uplifting lyric. Rage were a band I’ve wanted to see since my big brother bought me their debut years ago, but while I’d heard Elbow and some of their tunes, I’d never - prior to this year’s Glasto, owned any of their records or seen them live.

I’m made up that they’ve won the Mercury. They were certainly my winners, and the bookie’s favourites, but I severely doubted they’d come away with the money. Some five-minute wonder would take it, surely? Usually it’s someone I’ve never heard of and don’t particularly want to hear of again (Antony and the Johnsons are a bit like nails on a chalk board as far as I’m concerned). Even better was the fact that I’d just finished watching Rocky II (he wins, too!) and taken the disc out when my TV hit me in the face (not literally) with a very happy Elbow, followed by a rousing rendition of their “The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver”. Brilliant!

Buy their latest album, “The Seldom Seen Kid” here - highly recommended by moi!

You may well remember songs like “Erase and Rewind” and “My Favourite Game” but you should certainly recall “Lovefool” which given the prominent place in ’96’s cinema version of Romeo & Juliet made The Cardigans a big name in pop. If you hear any of their back catalogue you’ll soon realise that there’s much more to the band than the Swedish bubblegum category you may originally have lumped them into. Nina’s lyrics are often intelligent and poignant, while the riffs are unconventional and vibrant. Unlike a lot of best ofs, The Cardigans meticulously chart their career from beginning to present and it is well worth getting hold of the two disc version. The quality of the early/alternate versions and b-sides on the second disc only serves to stress what a great and versatile band they are. From the chirpy, poppy “Rise and Shine” to the far Rockier “Godspell” you can hear the evolution in sound and also in Nina’s voice. CD also comes with an insert explaining all the songs and some of their humour. Highly recommended.

You can visit their website here.