Best of 2007

The winners are James with 65.7% of the vote

The rest of the results:
Ian Brown - 11.4%
Take That - 10.4%
Cherry Ghost - 9%
Happy Mondays - 2%
Elektrons - 1.5%

____________________________________________________

More about the nominees:

Cherry Ghost

Cherry Ghost

It’s been a while in coming but Simon Aldred finally got his turn to shine in the spotlight. Cherry Ghost’s debut, Thirst For Romance, was every bit as fine as the potential he had shown in the past promised it would be and a plethora of shows from Night and Day to the Ritz underlined his place as an instant addition to the city’s musical glitterati.

Elektrons

Elektrons/Unabombers

What’s in a name? Well, if success is anything to go by, not much, as Justin Cowdrey and Luke Crawford announced their decision to put the Unabombers moniker on the back burner, dump the legendary Electric Chair night and move on to pastures new as Elektrons. After a fair few tears in clubland had been shed, they showed why they’d made the right choice with the release of the brilliant Red Light Don’t Stop album.

The Happy Mondays

Happy Mondays

Shaun’s money matters were finally sorted and, much to the disappointment of tragic wannabes The Twang, the wagon was rolled out again, built around a Mondays core of Ryder, Gaz Whelan and the inimitable Bez – still ready to have a freaky dance despite his greying beard. What followed was much more than nostalgia, as Uncle Dysfunktional turned out to be one of the albums of the year.

Ian Brown (c) Shirlaine Forrest

Ian Brown

In a year that he headlined Versus Cancer, turned in a searing piece of political ranting and finally got a chance to play GMEX, Ian Brown proved yet again that the worst thing that could ever happen to him would be a reformation of the Stone Roses, as a Smith, a Happy Monday, two Sex Pistols and a full orchestra helped him produce his fifth solo outing, the often lush The World Is Yours.

James

James

After a few secret meetings and several back-to-basics rehearsals, James unexpectedly returned with a compilation that reminded everyone why they’d loved them in the first place and a gig at the Arena that invoked all the spirit of their career-defining GMEX shows of 17 years ago. Differences were forgotten, smiles were broadened, collaborations began and a whole new album was announced for the new year.

Take That

Take That

Proving that a ten year hiatus can sometimes be the best thing that can happen to a band, Take That took the nostalgic wave of last year and turned it into a tsunami, taking up residence at the Arena for the majority of December and producing a song that has ever chance of grabbing them a statue when the Oscars are announced next year.

____________________________________________________________

Vote criteria:

- To be eligible for all votes, at least one member of the act must have been born in or reside in Greater Manchester
- Eligible singles and albums must have been released between January 1 and December 31 2007
- Both physical release and downloads are eligible for album and single categories
- Each vote has six choices
- Each vote will run from 4.00pm on Friday 21 December 2007 to 11.55pm Monday 31 December 2007
- Voting is restricted to one vote per person