* * * ½ (3 ½ Stars) […Out Of A Possible 5 Stars…]



The 46TH Annual GRAMMY Awards ceremony, which will air live on CBS at 8 P.M. EST/PST on Sunday February 8TH, is just around the corner. This review here is as much in regards to this year’s nominees in general, as it is to the compilation-album the Recording Academy released this past January 20TH; hence, this is a review of the 2004 GRAMMY Nominees CD & the nominees themselves, all in one!



Briefly recapping last year’s ceremony of The 45TH Annual GRAMMY Awards, which was held live from Madison Square Garden in New York City, “soft-jazzy” newcomer Norah Jones won five GRAMMYs in the categories of BEST NEW ARTIST, BEST FEMALE POP VOCAL PERFORMANCE, BEST POP VOCAL ALBUM, RECORD OF THE YEAR & finally, ALBUM OF THE YEAR for her multi-platinum-selling Come Away With Me. Bruce Springsteen also won big for his album The Rising, winning BEST MALE ROCK VOCAL PERFORMANCE & BEST ROCK SONG for the title-track to the album. He also won the award for BEST ROCK ALBUM! That was last year though, and this is this year, so read on to find out all about the nominees for 2004!!



This CD, appropriately-titled 2004 GRAMMY Nominees, is like the nominees themselves are this year… There’s plenty of good, but there is some not-so-good facets regarding the nominees… Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” Missy’s “Work It,” Beyoncè’s Summer-2003 anthem “Crazy In Love” & Christina Aguilera’s “Beatutiful” are essential here and totally welcomed, while Evanescence’s “Going Under” & OutKast’s “The Way You Move” (featuring Sleepy Brown) are surprising appearances by artists who should definitely be here, but with different songs. OutKast’s “Hey Ya!” was definitely more deserving of a spot and was even nominated individually, while “The Way You Move” was not, as is with Evanescence’s mega-smash-hit “Bring Me To Life,” (featuring Paul McCoy of 12 Stones) which unlike “Going Under,” was also nominated individually. That’s just some of the negativity here… The Eagles’ song off their l atest greatest-hits release, The Very Best Of, “Hole In The World” didn’t deserve a nomination, let alone a place on this CD. This is also the case with Michael McDonald’s remake of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” George Harrison & Warren Zevon’s nominated songs “Any Road” & “Keep Me In Your Heart,” although deserving of true-recognition, shouldn’t be here on this presumably-pop-audience-targeted compilation-album. Over half the album however, could be categorized as [some of] the popular-music we’ve heard this past year, and a lot of the good popular-music at that!



The nominee-list itself this year did hold a few shockers including the fact that Avril Lavigne was nominated even though she didn’t release anything new, and she got three nominations too. One of those nominations for the song which also appears on the nominees-CD, “I’m With You,” is in one of the four major-categories, SONG OF THE YEAR, which makes us wonder and wonder and wonder, but then you realize that at least it isn’t the song “Complicated!” Nickelback getting a BEST ROCK ALBUM nomination was not expected, as was Michael McDonald being nominated for BEST POP VOCAL ALBUM, and Blu Cantrell for BEST R&B ALBUM, even though I don’t think she’s undeserving of it. The Black-Eyed Peas' "Where Is The Love" (featuring Justin Timberlake) would not be nominated at all if it were up to me, but it's alright in the long-run. I'm just not too fond of that song. One of its nominations is in the categ ory of RECORD OF THE YEAR, and I definitely don't think it deserves to be there...



So, who did I feel was missing altogether from the nominee-list this year? Liz Phair! If Michelle Branch & Avril were nominated, she definitely could have been too. There was also British-import Ms. Dynamite, music-extraordinaire behind one of MY favorite albums of 2003, A Little Deeper, who I feel was disagreeably deprived of [at least] a nomination this year. Ms. Dynamite gained much critical-acclaim, but she never quite “made-it” popularity-wise in the United States, so that might be why the Recording Academy overlooked her. The late, great Aaliyah’s apparently last-chance to get a GRAMMY nomination was hindered by the simple fact that she wasn’t nominated this year. She should have been. “Miss You,” one of the previously-unreleased tracks recorded before her death, off her posthumous-album I Care 4 U, was a good song, and was released at the perfect-time for i t helped to provide healing & support for hurting-hearts who had to deal with loved-ones fighting the War In Iraq. Nirvana was, in my opinion, also unfortunately-disregarded from this year's nominees. "You Know You're Right" should have definitely showed-up at least in the category of BEST HARD ROCK PERFORMANCE... Jason Mraz, could've also been nominated, I feel, especially for his motivational hit debut-single "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)!"



So, it would definitely not hurt at all to add this CD to your collection! After all, the GRAMMY Awards are considered “the biggest night in music!” You’ve got songs here chosen by music-professionals, which affected our culture in so many ways this past year, as music does, always has done, and will continue to do in the future… Music can only affect us positively!



Now, here are some of my personal-predictions regarding the 46TH GRAMMYs, and after that there’s a SPECIAL review of Missy Elliot’s ALBUM OF THE YEAR-nominated Under Construction!!…



ALBUM OF THE YEAR

OutKast, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

RECORD OF THE YEAR

Coldplay – “Clocks”

SONG OF THE YEAR

“Keep Me In Your Heart” (Warren Zevon)

BEST NEW ARTIST

Heather Headley

FEMALE POP PERORMANCE

Sarah McLachlan – “Fallen”

MALE POP PERFORMANCE

Justin Timberlake – “Cry Me A River”

POP PERFORMANCE BY DUO OR GROUP

Matchbox Twenty – “Unwell”

BEST POP VOCAL ALBUM

George Harrison, Brainwashed

DANCE RECORDING

Madonna – “Die Another Day”

FEMALE ROCK PERFORMANCE

Michelle Branch – “Are You Happy Now?”

HARD ROCK PERFORMANCE

Evanescence f/ Paul McCoy – “Bring Me To Life”

BEST METAL PERFORMANCE

Metallica – “St. Anger”

BEST ROCK ALBUM

Evanescence, Fallen

URBAN/ALTERNATIVE PERFORMANCE

OutKast – “Hey Ya!”

BEST R&B ALBUM

Luther Vandross, Dance With My Father

BEST CONTEMPORARY R&B ALBUM

Beyoncè, Dangerously In Love

FEMALE RAP PERFORMANCE

Missy Elliot – “Work It”

RAP/SUNG COLLABORATION

Beyoncè f/ Jay-Z – “Crazy In Love”

BEST RAP SONG

“Lose Yourself” (Eminem, artist)

BEST POP/CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL ALBUM

Stacie Orrico, Stacie Orrico

BEST RAGGAE ALBUM

Sean Paul, Dutty Rock

BEST COMPILATION SOUNDTRACK-ALBUM

A Mighty Wind

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR, NON-CLASSICAL

The Neptunes

BEST SHORT-FORM MUSIC VIDEO

“Hurt,” Johnny Cash



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For all other essential-info on this year's nominees, the Recording Academy & this or past years' GRAMMY Awards in general, be sure to visit www.GRAMMY.com!!

...And don't forget to tune into CBS on Sunday, February 8TH, 2004 at 8 P.M. EST/PST (live in the East; tape-delayed in the West), to catch the 46TH GRAMMYs-ceremony unfold from the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles!! The ceremony will presumably last until 11:30 P.M. It's going to be good!!...

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