Wikipedia made an understandable mistake there. Stevie's recording of "Living for the City" won the R&B Male Vocal award for 1974. The next year, "Living for the City" won the award again, but it was Ray Charles' record. Chick Corea that year won the first of his boatload of Grammy Awards. They were a little late in recognizing him, perhaps, and have never stopped trying to make up for it. I like that Jaws and The Rockford Files won Grammys for composing and arranging, respectively. A sign that we're in the heart of the '70s: Best Album Package went to The Ohio Players/ Honey, featuring Playboy Playmate Ester Cordet seductively dripping honey into her mouth. Rumors that Ester was stabbed in the studio when she threatened a lawsuit because of skin damage from the burning honey, and that you can hear her screams on "Love Rollercoaster," are as true as the story of Mikey and the Pop Rocks.
I would have given it to Elton John, but BOTW is an excellent winner and I'm delighted that Elton was even one of the nominees. Matter of fact, all the nominees here are worthy.
I like ' Tapestry ' well enough but never understood it's popularity or how big a hit it was. It would have been amazing if Harrison had won but that wasn't going to happen. Me , I'd have voted for ' Jesus Christ Superstar ' --' a terrific album.
Kind of a weak crop this year. But...what choice did they have really besides ' Bangla Desh '? I'd have gone with Nillson' s best album ever but that 's me.
1972 had some amazing albums: David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust, Neil Young's Harvest, Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick, etc.
Side 1 of American pie is brilliant from start to finish. Side 2 is a little more patchy but still good. I would probably have given it the gong. Still it's hard to argue with their choice; the Concert for Bangla Desh was about more than the music. (Which opens up a whole new debate - whether for something like this an album should be judged for the music alone, or should its cultural significance be a consideration.) Both Neil Diamond and Nilsson had made better albums than the ones here; Neil was just on the cusp here of venturing into MOR territory, which he would embrace in full later on. And Nilsson's album contains THAT song, a huge hit for him that he did not even write. Also, and I'll throw this up for discussion: I think Godspell had better songs than J.C. Superstar.
Albuman ! I know it's your thread and you should rock it as you like it but , Jesus ! , I no sooner read your excellent comments about one year's Grammy Awards before you're on to the next year's ! Got a hot date or something?
Sorry. I said before that I had a bunch of these already written when I started the thread. I guess I just wanted to catch up to where I currently am.
Hmmm. It's hard to judge that Stevie Wonder album since it sits so much in the shade of Innervisions. It's pretty good, I guess. My gong would have gone to either Elton or Joni, but would have been quite happy for Paul to win too. I was a fan of John Denver, but not so much that album, where he's sounding a bit too down home country for my liking.
Alright, I'll chime in with my comments on speed of posting. Post one year per day, at the most. Let the thread breathe. Give people time to discuss each year's nominees, and remember that not everyone is on the same time zone.
Picture a world in which the Album of the Year for 1972 goes to Miles Davis/ On the Corner, and the other nominees draw from... Nick Drake/ Pink Moon Donny Hathaway/ Live Curtis Mayfield/ Superfly VA/ The Harder They Come Sndtk. Joni Mitchell/ For the Roses NEU!/ s-t Jimmy Smith/ Root Down! Airto/ Free Big Star/ #1 Record Chick Corea/ Return to Forever Al Green/ I'm Still in Love with You Aretha Franklin/ Young, Gifted and Black or Amazing Grace Herbie Hancock/ Crossings Ahmad Jamal/ Freeflight and Outertimeinnerspace Les McCann/ Invitation to Openness Charles Mingus/ Let My Children Hear Music The Rolling Stones/ Exile on Main St. Stevie Wonder/ Talking Book Syreeta/ s-t David Bowie/ Ziggy Stardust Gary Burton/ Alone at Last Stomu Yamash'ta & Come to the Edge/ Floating Music The Band/ Rock of Ages Randy Newman/ Sail Away Carpenters/ A Song for You And so on.... They're coming to take me away, ha-ha!
As I was reading your list I thought : " Buddy , you're in dream land " Then I read your last sentence...
I haven't heard Janis Ian's album but I regard the Paul Simon record as a bit of a disappointment in comparison with his duo years, and the Elton John record, the least enjoyable of his "classic" period. Don't dislike either, just not quite at the high bar the performers have set for themselves. The Linda Ronstadt record is excellent. Possibly my favourite of hers but, for me, if nobody else, she just gets pipped by Eagles' One Of These Nights. A rare example of a perfect album.
Not much here to detain me though the issue is with my ears rather than your taste. I'd have given it to REO/TWO.
Funny you should say that. One of These Nights is a really good album, but Heart Like a Wheel beats it by a considerable margin in my book.
19th Annual Grammy Awards - February 19, 1977 Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life Peter Frampton, Frampton Comes Alive! Chicago, Chicago X Boz Scaggs, Silk Degrees George Benson, Breezin’ This would be the last ceremony hosted by Andy Williams, probably because he hated that Starland Vocal Band won Best New Artist. It was also the ceremony in which Paul Simon realized he shouldn’t have opened his mouth about Stevie Wonder not releasing an album in 1975. That’s because in 1976, Stevie Wonder came back with an album - a double album, no less. It was called Songs in the Key of Life, and it became Stevie’s highest-selling album. It was number one on the Billboard year-end R&B album chart of 1977. Stevie won three Grammys for the album and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for I Wish, all of which is well-deserved. You know, I’ve actually seen Stevie perform this album in its entirety live. My mom thought he talked too much at the show. I kind of expect that from Stevie; he has a lot to say. Anyway, I personally don’t love the album, but it is really good. Also, Joy Inside My Tears is underrated. And even though I’m not counting the A Something’s Extra EP as part of the album proper, Ebony Eyes and All Day Sucker are also really good. Alright, our first runner up is the Peter Frampton live album Frampton Comes Alive! This was number one on the Billboard year-end album chart in 1976, which is to say it was a huge success. To this day, it remains one of the best-selling live albums of all time. Did it deserve the success or do we have an Ultron on our hands? I’d say it deserved the success, but only slightly. Aside from the songs everyone knows - Show Me The Way and Baby, I Love Your Way - the album is certainly enjoyable. But there’s something keeping it from being great and I can’t put my finger on why. The songs are good, Frampton and the other musicians are good...oh wait, tell a lie, I do know what the problem is. There aren’t enough guitar solos. You see, a great live album should make you want to have been there in the audience. Frampton doesn’t sound like he has the personality or stage presence to make a memorable concert, at least not as a singer. Whenever Frampton plays a guitar solo, he’s fantastic. I’m sure this might be an unfair comparison, but when you’ve seen concerts by acts like Pearl Jam, Paramore and Florence + the Machine, your bar will probably be very high. Having said that, the album has its moments. Frampton plays some amazing solos on Lines on My Face while I Wanna Go to the Sun, (I’ll Give You) Money and the fourteen-minute closer Do You Feel Like We Do are great overall. So while the album has enough going for it to keep it from being an Ultron, I wouldn’t give it a strong recommendation. Next up is Silk Degrees by William Royce "Boz" Scaggs. This is his best selling album, and the song Lowdown won him a Grammy for Best Rhythm & Blues Song. Now that the introduction’s out of the way, I loved this album. I was actually worried going into side B, fearing it would be a disappointment after side A was so great. However, Lowdown started the second half off on a high note and the album never came down from it. Also, remember when I said the writers of a Whitney Houston song “borrowed” from the Shaft soundtrack? I swear the same thing happened with Greatest Love of All “borrowing” from We’re All Alone. But yeah, this album is incredible. Go buy it. Then there’s Breezin’ by jazz/soul guitarist George Benson. This album was a commercial success, topping the pop, jazz, and R&B Billboard charts and spawning two hit singles. He won three Grammys at this ceremony: Best Pop Instrumental Performance, Record of the Year for This Masquerade, and Best R&B Instrumental Performance for a song from a previous album. It’s a pretty good album. I’m not sure whether Best Pop Instrumental Performance was for the title track or the whole record; it was probably just the title track since Benson sings on This Masquerade. Also, his cover of Affirmation by our old friend José Feliciano is amazing, though there was one guitar line that reminded me of another song and it’s frustrating how I can’t place it. Ah well, the album’s still good. Finally, we have Chicago X, Chicago’s eighth studio album. They counted a live album and a compilation album for some reason. But anyway, Chicago X was the band’s first album to be certified platinum and the single If You Leave Me Now was their first to hit number one. The album won Best Album Package and If You Leave Me Now won two Grammys. Speaking of which, if you hate Peter Cetera’s voice as a certain YouTuber does, calling If You Leave Me Now an Ultron would be too merciful. Same goes for Another Rainy Day in New York City, although the reggae vibe makes it sound like a Police song. Wait, The Police didn’t form until the year after this album came out. Did this song inspire The Police?! Dang, Chicago was more influential than I realized. Getting back on track, the rest of the album’s actually great. Songs in the Key of Life is by no means a bad choice for Album of the Year. However, Silk Degrees would be my personal pick to win, though I wouldn’t have complained if Chicago X had won.
I probably would have given the nod to Silk Degrees too. I happen to think his next album, Down Two Then Left, was even better, but of course it did not sell half as well. Those three albums - Songs, Silk Degrees and the Frampton, were ubiquitous that year, so much so that it was very easy to get burned out on them. There are a couple of cringe songs on Stevie's album that I think prevent it from being great. As for George Benson, I really came to hate his brand of smooth soft jazz. The cardigan didn't help either, though I know that should be irrelevant. Can you explain your constant use of the term "Ultron", as though it's something I should know about?
Perhaps it's my fault for posting so frequently, but I explained this in my review of the 13th ceremony:
There were some fantastic albums in 1971... many seemed to miss the cut here. Bridge is brilliant, and a deserving winner, but Elton's self titled album is unlucky to miss out. Another great album
