Mercury highlights depth of talent: diverse media puts onus on music-lovers to spread the word about great new artists. (Editorial).

The Mercury Prize is not a list that has always united music fans, or the music business in general. But this year's list runs the risk of being one of the best yet.

Of course, we can all think of albums that should have been on there. Damien Rice's O is one of them, as is Goldfrapp's Black Cherry and Cerys Matthews' Cockahoop--my own favourite of the year so far.

But to complain about the shortlist kind of misses the point. The prize is intended to celebrate and spotlight good music, pure and simple. And it is hard to argue that the artists on it don't all deserve their share of the spotlight, for one reason or another.

What seems to be true, at the moment, though, is that there are more decent albums by British acts around than there are slots on the list.

Music at the moment is, by common consent, more exciting than it has been for many months, maybe even years. And that is a great thing for all of us. It is also the reason why, in this very issue, we highlight some of the reasons why we should all be upbeat about music at the moment (see feature p8&9).

Celebrating the newly breaking hits, highlighting intriguing and exciting new talent and flagging up the stories behind them, is what the ...