In just a few days, we'll know the 12 albums under consideration for the 2015 Mercury Prize. The bookies' early frontrunners for the shortlist include Everything Everything, Jamie XX and Florence and the Machine, but whoever makes the cut, it's sure to divide music fans. In past years we've had shock winners (including 2014's victors, Young Fathers); in others we've seen the safest, blandest album on the list somehow coming out on top. On more than one occasion though, truly awful records have triumphed over great ones; and some shortlists have had four or five stone cold classics slogging it out with each other. But will 2015 be another year where a future classic album walks away empty handed on the night? Because it's happened many times before...
