The 2010 Grammys are done, and as usual they honored middle-of-the-road music and Big Selling music instead of recognizing artists who push the envelope at least a little bit. It happens every year - I mean the Beatles didn't receive a Grammy for music until Let It Be, which makes that a career award instead of recognition of that particular LP (the same happened with Steely Dan when Two Against Nature beat out Eminem). So here are some High Notes and Sour Notes from this year's event.
Sour Note: Some sharp-eyed music critic who knows way more about Britney Spears than I do (and than he should) noticed that with Neil Young getting a Grammy for design (design!) of his way-ahead-of-its time Archives Volume 1 he is now tied with Spears for Grammys at 1. At the very least the award should have been for the music in the box.
High Note: Beyonce takes over the Staple Center with a dominating, high-energy, and right-on vocal performance of "Halo," though I thought her head was going to come unscrewed in the middle of the song.
High Note: Pink proves there's no reason -- ever -- to lipsynch in a concert as she hits all the right notes in her breathless Cirque du Soleil performance. The lady performs without a net!
Sour Note: Taylor Swift sings "Fearless" instead of either of the two songs that pushed her CD of the same name to the top all year.
Sour Note: She follows that up with a weak duet with former Fleetwood Mac gypsy vixen Stevie Nicks who now needs only a teacup to carry the only two notes she can hit. Swift compounds the Nicks mistake by singing flat for most of "Rhiannon," then carries her flatness through to the two verses she did sing of "You Belong With Me."
High Note: Grammys get it right asking Jeff Beck to honor Les Paul with Paul's signature "How High the Moon," but...
Sour Note: ...What's up with Imelda May on the vocals? Either she was lipsynching or they were tweaking her vocals from the sound trailer. And where was the chorus we heard during the song? Paul's original partner, Mary Ford, would have done a better job...and she's dead.
High Note: While I'm not much for stage versions of rock albums the Grammys did a nice job of offering a sneak peak of the American Idiot show that's going to open on Broadway later this year. "21 Guns" sounded pretty good, even with two women singing it, and the song found its roots when Billy Joe Armstrong and the rest of Green Day took it over midway through.
High Note: Green Day wins rock album of the year. The first four cuts on that CD fit together as well as any four consecutive cuts you can find, and the rest of the CD backs them all up.
Sour Note: Li'l Wayne and his two rapper friends. They were joking, right? I mean, the Grammy awards might be for the industry but the Grammy performances are for the TV audience, and there's no excuse to perform a rap song -- or any song -- that gets censored as much as that one was. There was more silence during that song than there is during a Lovie Smith or Lou Piniella post-game press conference -- and all it did was reinforce the audience view -- the TV audience view -- that rap is ugly, with no meaning, performed by a bunch of thugs. Maybe give them three sour notes.
High Note: Lady Gaga and Elton John. The Grammys do come up with interesting pairings and this was one. Gaga kicked off the show with a lot of energy and smacked upside the head anyone who hasn't been paying attention that there's something new out there -- even if she has taken her cues from style-over-substance Madonna. Still, she had the chops at the piano, and swinging into Elton's "Your Song" was a nice tip of one of her many hats to a showman who could have (and would have..and actually might have) worn her outfits in his heyday. Perfect pairing.
High Note: Kings of Leon gets what they deserve -- and what I figured wouldn't happen -- for Use Somebody.
High Note: Jeff Beck gets recognized for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, tackling and taking down Lennon & McCartney's sacred cow, "A Day in the Life," which until Beck went at it only Neil Young had taken a shot at (as a concert encore).
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Both Kings Of Leon and Green Day both VERY deserving!
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