If the Academy didn’t want to give it to Bonnie Raitt a second time in three years for her excellent Luck of the Draw, then R.E.M.’s Out of Time - the alt-rock paragons’ greatest moment of mainstream exposure, led by the peerless “Losing My Religion” - would’ve been a fine choice. Hard to imagine anyone really needs 73 minutes of Natalie Cole covers of her late father Nat King Cole as anything but the backgroundiest of background music - though the duo’s intermingling on the title track made for a deserved crossover hit, a combination of studio wizardry and unlikely generation-and-realm-crossing magic. The Grammys followed a year of historic, game-changing LP releases by rewarding a predictable collection of pop standards capped by one inspired novelty duet, setting the tone for the award for the rest of its tradition-overwhelmed ’90s. Natalie Cole, Unforgettable… With Love (1992) Not Even Nominated: The Killers’ Hot Fuss, Jay-Z’s The Black Album, Loretta Lynn’s Van Lear RoseĦ0. Should It Have Won? Hard to hold it against the Academy given the circumstances - just a shame that it happened the same year a trio of four-quadrant classics were also nominated: Kanye West’s College Dropout, Green Day’s American Idiot and Usher’s Confessions. But beyond the frisky, Norah Jones-assisted redo of Charles’ “Here We Go Again” that opens the set, most of these renditions run the gamut from inessential to flimsy, with Willie Nelson’s strangely uncommitted appearance on “It Was a Very Good Year” coming off particularly ill-advised. Ray Charles, Genius Loves Company (2005)Īn understandable selection, given both the Recording Academy’s predilection for star-studded collab albums and the outpouring of affection for Charles following his 2004 death - not to mention an overdue apology for the legendary soul and rock innovator never winning in his own lifetime. Not Even Nominated: Elvis Presley’s Blue Hawaii, Peter, Paul & Mary’s Peter, Paul & Mary, Bill Evans’ Sunday at the Village VanguardĦ1. Should It Have Won? Certainly not over Ray Charles’ iconic Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, and Tony Bennett’s I Left My Heart in San Francisco or Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd’s Jazz Samba would also have been far worthier. The set wouldn’t have aged that well anyway, as its jokes are almost all one-note pastiches predicated upon the Kennedys’ level of cultural exposure being pervasive and overwhelming - though the bit with world leaders at a summit placing a deli order for lunch has its charms. 35, which became so instantly dated that December the LP was immediately pulled from shelves.
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Indeed, roughly the 13,000th biggest consequence of that historic calamity was the instant dissolution of Meader’s comedic career, as his runaway recording success ( The First Family reportedly sold a million copies a week at its peak) was entirely based on his impersonation of No. “Boy, is Vaughn Meader fucked,” was Lenny Bruce’s famous comedic opening to his first set following the 1963 assassination of president John F. Not Even Nominated: Fiona Apple’s The Idler Wheel…, Miguel’s Kaleidoscope Dream, Drake’s Take CareĦ2. Should it Have Won? Inevitable that it did, but any of the other four nominees would have been preferable - particularly Frank Ocean’s epochal Channel Orange or fun.’s theater-kid-rock epic Some Nights. By the middle of the second side, the primary stomping you’ll hear is the sound of you kicking in your computer speakers. Here are those 63 albums - hits, misses, and all negotiations in between - and how they stack up against one another, viewed from the year 2021.ĭespite the cacophonous implications of the title, there’s only one musical language being endlessly repeated here: the empty bombast of stadium folk-rock geared for mass (like, 600k first week mass) consumption, with bleated lyrics like “I miss my sanguine eyes” a laughable substitute for genuine sentiment.