Chas Andres' Blog

Last night, I checked my Facebook news feed and noticed that The Arcade Fire’s latest opus had just won the Grammy award for “Best Album.”

This came as a shock because it meant that my favorite album of the year actually WAS the “Best Album” of the year! And this got me thinking – has this ever happened before? Was this the first time in the history of The Grammys that my pick for best album actually won “Best Album?”

Unlike The Oscars, I had very little knowledge about what bands have won Grammy awards in the past. I’ve debated various best picture snubs for hours at a time, but what about best album snubs? I know that most people consider The Grammys to be a joke, but are they? Do they pander to the lowest common denominator? Do they ever get it right?

What follows is part one in a series of posts examining the history of the past 40-50 years of music. For each year, I am going to look at what won the “Best Album” Grammy and see if it lines up with the album I feel should have taken home the trophy. Will the Grammy winners stand the test of time? Will I prove once and for all that my taste in music has never been mainstream? Let’s find out!

Even though the first Grammy awards was in 1959, I am going to start in 1970. Because modern rock music didn’t start until the late sixties, I’m going to leave that era alone for now. Analyzing it will be much harder. The 70s, however, should be fairly straightforward. I mean, EVERYONE can agree on what the good seventies albums are.

Right?

(Please Note: Years have been changed to reflect the years in which the records were released. For example, the ’1970′ category is for albums that were released in 1970, even though the year the Grammy was given out in 1971.)

 

1970

Winner: Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel

Should Have Won: American Beauty by The Grateful Dead

Bridge Over Troubled Water is a superlative album, and I certainly can’t argue with this pick. Of course, 1970 was a hard year to get wrong. After the Gold Rush, Led Zeppelin III, Deja Vu, Moondance, Loaded, Let it Be, Layla and other Assorted Love Songs, Bitches Brew, and Tea for the Tillerman were all released that year, too.

There were many good Simon and Garfunkel albums by this point, though, and my nod for best album of 1970 goes to American Beauty. It is the Grateful Dead’s best studio album, and arguably the only record of theirs that attempts to draw in listeners who are otherwise be put off by the band’s usual 20 minute jams. I love the production values on this one, too -  it’s not studio spotless, instead feeling like a warm, intimate concert in someone’s living room. The Grateful Dead were also one of the most influential bands of all time, spawning an entire genre of music by themselves.

 

1971

Winner: Tapestry by Carole King

Should Have Won: Blue by Joni Mitchell.

Tapestry is probably a pretty good album, but I’ll admit to having not heard of it until making this list. I’ve always relegated Carole King’s music to the “reasonable artist, but fairly bland” category, which is why I was stunned to learn that Carole holds the record for longest time at #1 and longest time on the billboard charts by a woman – both for this album.

People REALLY liked Tapestry in 1971.

Of course, 1971 was one of the most loaded years in music history. You had Led Zeppelin IV, Who’s Next, Hunky Dory, Sticky Fingers, Blue, Imagine, Meddle, Aqualung, and The Yes Album, NONE of which received nomination. It is nearly impossible to choose a winner from that group. David Bowie’s best album is up against one of Zeppelin’s best, one of The Who’s best, and my favorite Rolling Stones record. I have to choose, though, and I’m going to give the nod to Joni Mitchell’s generation-defining Blue.

Start to finish, Blue is one of the rawest, most emotional listening experiences out there. Joni deftly captured many of life’s nearly inexpressible feelings on this record, and did it in such a way that it is universally relate-able. Blue is rock poetry at its finest, and each time I listen to it I understand a little more of what she was trying to express just by the virtue of having lived a fuller life. It is as real now as it was when it was first pressed in 1971.

 

1972

Winner: The Concert for Bangladesh by George Harrison (feat. Bob Dylan)

Should Have Won: Harvest by Neil Young

Long before Live Aid, long, long before Live 8, there was George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh.

It was a pioneering event, paving the way for the benefit-concert-palooza of the mid-to-late 1980s. It helped get a reclusive Eric Clapton and an even more reclusive Bob Dylan out of hiding, and there are some pretty great live versions of good songs on this record.

I can’t see, however, how a live album can ever be the best album of the year.

Looking over the track list, I see a lot of songs I recognize from other great albums. Here Comes the Sun, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Mr. Tambourine Man…all great music, but all previously known bu practically everyone. (And Abbey Road lost ‘best album’ to Blood, Sweat, and freaking Tears three years earlier!)

And if you don’t own The Concert for Bangladesh, have you ever heard any of these versions of those songs? I highly doubt it.

To me, the three clear standouts of 1972 are Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars, Exile on Main St, and Harvest. All three are arguably the best albums by some of the biggest names in rock history.

I’m going to give the nod to Harvest, but it is close. I think that Ziggy is only Bowie’s second best album, while Harvest stands alone atop Neil Young’s catalog. Exile, meanwhile, was considered one of the Stones’ great critical failures for years before people actually gave the album a second listen. It is certainly one of their least accessible records, but many musicians and music lovers consider it one of the two or three greatest recordings of all time. I know several members of Phish consider it their favorite album ever.

Harvest, on the other hand, is a more intimate record. I’ve chosen a lot of quieter, poetic music for the early 70s, which I feel is a stark contrast from the frenetic experimentation of the late 60′s and the “fuck it, let’s dance” fun of the 80s. In many ways, the early 70s represented an emotional crisis for the generation of musicians that invented rock & roll. The world had steadfastly refused to change based on the hopes and dreams of the Woodstock age, more kids were dying in Vietnam than ever, and most of these artists were old enough now to realize that it was time to examine their lives in a very real way. That’s what the best music of this era was about – growing up.

 

1973

Winner: Innervisions by Stevie Wonder

Should Have Won: Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd

I have nothing against Stevie Wonder. And this is probably a pretty good record. I don’t know any of the songs from it, I don’t think I’ve ever heard it…heck, I don’t think I’ve ever even seen it. Or heard of it. And this was a #1 record? Really?

Oh – and the album that it beat out? THE BEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME. EVER. BY ANYONE.

And also Quadrophenia.

 

1974

Winner: Fullfillingness’ First Finale by Stevie Wonder

Should Have Won: Pretzel Logic by Steely Dan

The winner that year was another Stevie Wonder record I haven’t listened to. It was probably pretty good. Did it deserve to win best album? Maybe. I mean, not too many good records came out that year. After nearly a decade of absurdly good music years, 1974 was almost empty. When talking about ’73, I didn’t even mention Alladin Sane, or Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, or Houses of the Holy, or Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. In ’74, though, the best record was…Court and Spark? Diamond Dogs? Queen II? Apostrophe? Pretzel Logic? The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway?

Damn you Blood on the Tracks for not getting released until January 1975!

In the end, my gut tells me that it’s a two-way race between Lamb, which is considered one of the greatest albums ever by music snobs but which I don’t particularly like, and Pretzel Logic, which is one of Steely Dan’s many good albums (but not their best) in their most fertile period.

I decided that a good tiebreaker would be to go with the album that I actually enjoyed listening to the most.

Steely Dan, congratulations on your Best Album win for Pretzel Logic. I hope you enjoy it, because I doubt you’re going to get to keep your win for Two Against Nature once we get to 1999….

 

1975

Winner: Still Crazy after All These Years by Paul Simon

Should Have Won: Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd

1974 was a poop year for music, but 1975 was utterly fantastic. You had Bob Dylan making the first of many comebacks with Blood on the Tracks, my favorite album of his. Then you had Bruce Springsteen taking his music into the stratosphere with Born to Run, which I think is his best ever. You had Queen’s best effort (A Night at the Opera), another classic Led Zeppelin record (Physical Graffitti), Neil Young’s raw and underrated Tonight’s the Night, and Patti Smith ushering in punk with Horses. And I’m not even getting to some great records by Aerosmith, The Who, and Jeff Beck. Heck, even Steely Dan’s ’75 album (Katy Lied) was arguably better than the one I just called the best record of 1974!

The album of the year, though, goes to Pink Floyd with their outstanding follow-up to Dark Side. I don’t even have words for how great Wish You Were Here is, other than to say that Pink Floyd’s classic albums shouldn’t even be allowed to compete in this contest. They’re just another level better than anything else ever produced by anyone else ever.

Oh, and Paul Simon’s album? It’s fine. I own it and like it. But compared to his earlier work in Simon and Garfunkel and his later work in the mid-80s, this one is kind of a snoozer.

 

1976

Winner: Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder

Should Have Won: Boston by Boston.

This is honestly the first truly deserved winner, though Bridge over Troubled Water was too close to really argue about.

Only six years in, too. Good work, Grammys!

Other choices in this weak year for music include the Ramones’ debut album, which is the one with all the songs you know by them. Then you had The Eagles’ Hotel California,  which means that Hotel California is now stuck in your head. Ha-haw! (Now Nelson Muntz’ laugh is stuck in your head too.)

There was also some other stuff, including another decent Dylan album and the first good ELO record.

My personal favorite of ’76, though, is the debut album from Boston. We shouldn’t hold it against them that they never again made a record even 1/100th as good – this one’ll still blow the socks off you, and may be the best debut album by any band ever. Every last song on this record still gets radioplay, and I still love most of them despite hearing them over and over and over again on classic rock radio. Now that’s staying power!

 

1977

Winner: Rumors by Fleetwood Mac

Should Have Won: Animals by Pink Floyd

Again, the even/odd thing bears out. 1977 was another monster year, and there are tons of good choices. Nevermind the Bollocks changed the face of music forever. Rumors made Fleetwood Mac an international sensation. The Clash released their first disc, and Elvis Costello’s My Aim Is True is maybe the hardest snub I’ve had to make yet. And then there’s Aja. And the awesomely fun Bat out of Hell. And Kraftwerk, and the first great Billy Joel record, and the first Talking Heads record,  and on and on and on.

In many ways, 1977 was a sea change in rock music. Punk was here, and it wasn’t going away. (Until like a year and a half later…) Many of the great artists of the next decade put out their first record this year, and the different genres of ‘rock’ were beginning to splinter fast. There were so many good albums this year that could have won the award.

If, you know, Pink Floyd weren’t still making records.

I remember reading a baseball preview column back in 2000 that was attempting to guess the Cy Young (best pitcher) award winners for that season. In the American League, the prediction wasn’t “who will be the best pitcher this year?”. It was “Who will be the best pitcher this year other than Pedro Martinez?” Pink Floyd in this era is like Pedro was around the millennium. A once-in-a-generation talent that was just heads and shoulders above everyone else. If the actual Grammys can hand out three awards to Stevie in the 70s, I can give three to Pink Floyd.

 

1978

Winner: Saturday Night Fever Movie Soundtrack by A bunch of shitty disco bands but mostly the Bee Gees

Should Have Won: Darkness on the Edge of Town by Bruce Springsteen

Yet again, an even year doesn’t provide us with too many options. Darkness on the Edge of Town is a good record, but it’s probably only Bruce’s third or fourth best. Blondie had a decent album, as did Elvis Costello. Van Halen debuted this year, but I’ve never been the biggest fan of them. The Rolling Stones entered their disco phase, which I feel was an unfortunate career decision that I still pay for every time I hear “Shattered” on the radio.

The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack was an unforgivable win. If this award didn’t go to Bruce, it should have gone to The Cars for their first album. Or at least Van Halen.

Anyone but the freaking Bee Gees.

 

1979

Winner: 52nd Street by Billy Joel

Should Have Won: The Wall by Pink Floyd

This exercise ended up a little lopsided, considering Floyd’s four best albums were all released within the 10-year window I decided to examine. I wanted to avoid the Beatles’ dominance over the late 1960′s, and instead wound up getting blindsided by Pink Floyd’s dominance of the 1970′s.

Of course, this is the last Floyd album to get my vote, so if I ever continue on to the 80′s there will be other artists mixed in too. I promise!

At any rate, 1979 was another great ‘odd’ year for music. The runner-up to Floyd is The Clash’s outstanding London Calling, which may be the best punk album of all time. Michael Jackson first appears in 1979, too, as do post-punk darlings Joy Division. There’s also a great Tom Petty album, a great Police album, a great Frank Zappa album, the B-52′s best album, Supertramp’s best album, and Gary Numan’s legendary Pleasure Principle.

Billy Joel’s 52nd Street, 1979′s actual winner, was released in 1978. This marks the beginning of a long and storied tradition of the Grammys nominating albums for ‘album of the year’ in years other than the ones when they were released.

 

That’s all for now! Join me next time (perhaps) when I start to wade into the 1980s.