Friday, February 10, 2012

ON MY BIRTHDAY YOU SANG ME "HEART OF GOLD" WITH A GUITAR HUMMING AND NO CLOTHES:  The 54th Grammy Awards are Sunday night, and as Steven Hyden argues today (as I've long maintained) that "the reason why the Grammys are worth watching has nothing to do with awards"; indeed, he says, ignore the awards themselves and just enjoy a "lean, rapidly moving cavalcade of non-stop performances only occasionally broken up by awards."  Indeed, in the course of three hours only ten of the 78 awards will be presented live, leaving much time for such segments as a Beach Boys/Foster the People/Maroon 5 mashup and The Band Perry and Blake Shelton playing with Glen Campbell.

Still, it's Friday.  We do Friday playlists here on occasion. Recommend something among the nominees that we ought to hear.

added trivia: Fifty years ago in the Grammys, Record & Song of the Year both went to "Moon River" (beating, among others, Dave Brubeck's "Take Five"; Philly Pops leader Peter Nero was the Best New Artist; Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall was Album of the Year; and Leonard Bernstein's Peter and the Wolf won Best Children's Recording. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying won Best Cast Album (and it can again in 2012); Nichols and May won for Best Comedy Recording; and there was only one award each in the Country & Western, Rhythm & Blues, and Rock genres, the latter two of which was won by Ray Charles for "Hit the Road Jack," and Chubby Checker for "Let's Twist Again."

31 comments:

  1. Another worthwhile piece is from the Village Voice, which offers cheers to the Grammys for youthening up and jeers for failing to recognize good music made by old people.

    And as cloying and on the nose as the lyric to Taylor Swift's "Mean" can be, the melody is really good and folk-inspired.  And "Brotherhood of Man" is on the Grammy nominated How to Succeed cast album, which gives me an excuse to link to the NBC version.

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  2. Chin Music8:58 AM

    About that on the nose lyric, if it were another artist, wouldn't it have been cheered as being meta?

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  3. Jordan9:07 AM

    You ever hear or see something and wonder why it didn't happen sooner?  T-Bone Burnett producing a Steve Earle album.  It's a fantastic return to form for Earle (and I liked a lot of the heavily produced stuff of the last decade or so).  It's up against some fantastic albums in the Best Folk Album category (Civil Wars/Barton Hollow and Fleet Foxes/Helplessness Blues) that both also deserve a listen or fifty.

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  4. Jordan9:09 AM

    While on that subject (and switching to Americana), The Road off of Emmylou Harris' nominated Hard Bargin makes a fantastic bookend to Boulder to Birmingham.

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  5. victoria9:25 AM

    1.) The Cee-Lo Green cover of Band of Horses' "No One's Gonna Love You" is pretty great.
    2.) The title track of the Fleet Foxes' Helplessness Blues.

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  6. Nothing I listened to was nominated, so no recommendations. For this year, I'm looking forward to new albums by the Muffs, Mynabirds, and if Willy Moon has anything to back up his 2 interesting videos.

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  7. EGOT Watch:

    Joel Grey would only need the E if Anything Goes wins Best Musical Theater Album; if Book of Mormon wins, Parker & Stone just need the elusive O; if How To Succeed ... wins, John Larroquette just needs the O as well.

    Either Betty White or Tina Fey can get halfway to EGOT with Best Spoken Word.

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  8. Tosy and Cosh9:37 AM

    Eddie Vedder's Ukelele Songs is wonderful, full of charming, delicate songs. I'm particularly partial to the mix of ukelele and cello he employs on one song - that's a nice combo.

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  9. bristlesage9:44 AM

    I've touted The Civil Wars here before, but I'll do it again.  Try the title track from Barton Hollow, or their cover of "I Want You Back" below, which turns the song all kinds of wistful.
    http://www.youtube.com/v/BOwWJJijgnk" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170" height="140

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  10. Joseph Finn9:56 AM

    So, there are 78 awards.  68 get presented in a different show entirely, leaving 10 awards over a 3.5 hour broadcast?  THat seems a mite bit excessive.

    That said, the album I loved most last year was the self-titled Wild Flag debut.  


    http://www.youtube.com/v/8J8n9R8rnB8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170" height="140

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  11. I doubt any of you have heard about this "Adele" woman.  You should check her out.  She's pretty good.

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  12. Andrea10:05 AM

    I realized this morning that I had several Grammy nominations on my iPod, yet I had not seen one of the Oscar nominated moview yet.  I am sure I will see some of them before the awards, but I think this speaks to the Village Voice article noted by Matt.  Grammy seems to nominate well.  Do they select the winners as well?  I am not a good judge of their track record.

    As for a recommendation, the Foo Fighters put up a video of These Days, with footage from the New Zealand leg of the tour.  They caused seismic activity during the concert.  (I think I read about this originally here, didn't I?)

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  13. Meghan10:40 AM

    I will forever love Everlong by Foo Fighters. I am also a sucker for Bruno Mars' collabo with the Sesame Street monsters, Don't Give Up. I won't even use my 2-year-old as the reason. I just like it.

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  14. Alex Gordon11:01 AM

    I'm not the first to say it, but "Down By the River" by the Decemberists is the best REM song in 20 years. Also, Steve Martin's bluegrass cover of King Tut is pretty fun.
    http://www.youtube.com/v/PVi-40W8ugM" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170" height="140

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  15. Do the Cast album Grammys go to the performers?  Just wondering.

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  16. They have revised the rule this year so that "principal soloists" also get a Grammy--here, that's Foster/Grey, Rannels/Gad, and Radcliffe/Larroquette.

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  17. isaac_spaceman11:12 AM

    My father had a Peter and the Wolf album -- don't know if it was the Bernstein -- and he played it incessantly for us.  I probably haven't thought about it in 35 years.  I can now see the cover art in my head, Peter and the animals walking single-file through a silhouetted forest under a deep blue night sky, Peter in his hunting cap with his pop-gun, the cork attached to the barrel with a string.  What a nice reminder. 

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  18. I actually love Mean.  A little too on the nose, but a good song.  Ditto for Civil Wars' Barton Hallow.

    A few other thoughts:  Eric Church:  Try Jack Daniels or Springsteen.  Definitely a good nomination for best country album.

    Death Cab for Cutie:  I thought Codes & Keys was a really good album from them.  Stay Young, Go Dancing for happy Death Cab, or St. Peter's Cathedral for atmosphere.

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  19. After reading Isaac's comment, I tried to figure out which version we had in my house.  And came across this.  It's probably old news, but it's pretty awesome, esp. for comic-book lovers:  http://www.coverbrowser.com/

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  20. This is not an original song to love, but I became a Lupe Fiasco fan after hearing his Daydreamin' featuring Jill Scott.

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  21. It's not the song for which they were nominated, but I'll take any opportunity to link to The Civil Wars' cover of "Dance Me to the End of Love"
    http://www.youtube.com/v/W0LZ4wMV3zw" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170" height="140

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  22. Benner12:00 PM

    I have a recording of David Bowie narrating, with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.  This was not the version my parents had, which had Alec Guinness.  You would not believe the way Bowie pronounces "lasso."

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  23. tortoiseshelly2:13 PM

    My favorite on Codes & Keys was Underneath the Sycamore. I must have listened to it about a thousand times.

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  24. tortoiseshelly2:59 PM

    <p><span>Bon Iver – Minnesota, WI and Lump Sum</span>
    </p><p><span>The Black Keys – Things Ain’t Like They Used to Be</span>
    </p><p><span>Blake Shelton – Who Are You When I’m Not Looking</span>
    </p><p><span>Brandon Heath – I’m Not Who I Was</span>
    </p><p><span>Gillian Welch - Revelator</span>
    </p><p><span>Death Cab for Cutie – I Will Possess Your Heart</span></p>

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  25. isaac_spaceman8:28 PM

    Wasn't I Will Possess Your Heart 2009?  Or maybe 2010?  Certainly it could not still be eligible.  

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  26. StvMg9:17 PM

    I'm a big fan of Poison and Wine.

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  27. StvMg9:19 PM

    I was stunned this Christmas season when I learned that my sister wasn't at all familiar with her. We were on a road trip, and I had to play her the NPR Tiny Desk concert she did right before 21 was released. I figured anyone who watched television as regularly as she does couldn't have helped but hear Rolling In The Deep and Someone Like You dozens of times as background music in various scenes.

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  28. Big Joe9:27 PM

    I'll show some love for My Morning Jacket's Circuital.  "Black Metal" gets a lot of hits, but the title cut is one of the best songs of 2011.

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  29. StvMg9:31 PM

    I'll combine two Grammy nominees - and show some Idol appreciation - by showing this video of Kelly Clarkson covering Carrie Underwood's I Know You Won't at a recent concert.


    http://www.youtube.com/v/BAs04fFP5ws" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170" height="140

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  30. The Child listens to Adele, who I find to be competent and boring. Nothing I listened to this year was nominated, so here's my top 5 albums.

    <span><span>Mirah & Thao, Thao & Mirah</span></span>
    <span><span>Jared Mees & the Grown Children, Only Good Thoughts Can Stay</span></span>
    <span><span>Jill Sobule & John Doe, A Day at the Pass</span></span>
    <span><span>Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside, Dirty Radio</span></span>
    <span><span>Mr. Gnome, Madness in Minature</span></span>

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  31. tortoiseshelly8:16 AM

    You're right. I wasn't paying attention and somehow got it in my head that we were recommending songs by the artists nominated, but not necessarily limited to the album, etc., for which they were nominated. Same goes for most of the other songs. 

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