Best Musical Show Album Grammy Nominees- Page 2

[Amalia Balash]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 4:03am

I have a soft spot for Ain't Misbehavin' so I didn't mind being surprised at that nomination. I think Hair's a lock to win, but then I thought N2N and Road Show were locks for nominations.

[FeelingElectric]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 6:16am

As far as I'm concerned, this category can be called Best Musical Show Album not named Next To Normal Original Broadway Cast Recording!


That being said, I hope Hair gets the Grammy for Best Musical Show Album not named Next To Normal Original Broadway Cast Recording.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 7:18am

I am with husk here. I strongly dislike the Next to Normal recording. The score is excellent, but the quality of the recording isn't very good.

Also, a lot of people on here don't like 9 to 5, but the music was clearly it's strongest point, and the recording of it is excellent. I think that its nomination is well deserved. In fact, I think the 9 to 5 recording is better quality than Liza, Shrek, and West Side Story (I haven't heard Ain't Misbehavin' yet). But 9 to 5's nomination was well deserved. I expect Hair to win, but I wouldn't be at all surprised by 9 to 5 winning either.

[sipos]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 7:55am

Hooray for all the shows! Happy to see 9 to 5 there. I agree about Next to Normal. Great show but not the BEST album out there.

[Stage Door Sally]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 8:22am

I'l say it, you'll groan, that's okay. Rock of Ages had a very fresh OBCR. There was communication to the "home listener," a fair amount of funny dialogue to provide context for the songs, a bonus track that was deliberately hidden as a little extra...plus very good vocals, especially from Constantine Maroulis. It was very entertaining and deserved a nod over 9 to 5.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 8:48am

The Rock of Ages cast album is better than 9 to5, Shrek, and West Side Story.

I'm not that upset, given how meaningless an award this is, it's just infinitely amusing that the Tony winner for Best Score is not among the Grammy's choices for Best Show Album.

[FeelingElectric]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 9:14am

"I'm not that upset, given how meaningless an award this is, it's just infinitely amusing that the Tony winner for Best Score is not among the Grammy's choices for Best Show Album. "

Best Score AND Best Orchestrations(w/Billy Elliott). It won both awards for it's musical merit, and it didn't get nominated for the Grammy. That's what's really crazy.

[snarkywannabedreamer]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 9:18am

The Grammys show us every year their complete irrelevance and ignorance of what is really great in music so it should be no surprise that they came up with a completely f#%&ked list for this category. Both the "Rock Of Ages" and "Next To Normal" OCRs were heads and tails above all of these nominees (Okay, "Hair" deserves to be there. They got one right. congrats.) Fact is, the Grammys are a joke. Always have been, always will be.

[homeimp]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 10:24am

Maybe this answer is in the thread somewhere, but what exactly are the criteria for nomination? Is it strictly technical, the sound of the recording? Or does the quality of the material and the performances enter into it as well? If it's sound quality that they're looking for, I'm no judge, but if the material and the performances enter into play, I think both N2N and (yes, let me be the lone supporter) "13" should have been included. Both are finer musical scores than "9 To 5" and "Shrek"; well, in my opinion.

[fgreene1938]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 11:10am

That list is an embarassment. SHREK and 9 TO 5 are dreadful, HAIR is an overrated camp-fest, and while I personally like the WSS recording it's not held in high regard. The lackluster past season on BW can be blamed for this and N2N, which I found terribly boring, is no less deserving of a nomination than any of the other disasters. The Grammy awards are irrelevant anyway.

[sipos]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 11:33am

Shrek and 9 to 5 are not dreadful albums. Maybe the productions aren't adored across the boards, but those recordings are great. Rock of Ages is a great album too. I think it should have been among the nominees at least.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 11:35am

Exactly sipos. The 9 to 5 album is a better quality recording than both West Side Story and Hair in my opinion (though I expect Hair to win). Just because people don't think the material is as good doesn't mean the actual album is bad.

[Brick]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 11:37am

It's not only shocking NEXT TO NORMAL didn't get a nod because Best Score usually does, but because it seems to be the type of score the Grammy's have loved in the past.

[binau]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 4:15pm

Such a redundant post (mine, I mean), but I have to add I'm also shocked (well very surprised) that N2N didn't get a nomination, since I expected it to win.

[Gobstopper]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 4:30pm

Hair has it in the bag.

I know EVERYBODY has said this already, but how did N2N get snubbed?

[Pgenre]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 4:39pm

I think Grammy looks at NEXT TO NORMAL as a joke the way that they would have looked at RENT had it not had Larson's death/Pulitzer/cultural phenomenon attached to it. It's poor man's rock, at least to them. And it sounds incredibly dated (late 80s). As someone said, the majority of the Grammy committee would have found this score cliche 15 or 20 years ago.

Truth be told, N2N takes on the same genre of music as ROCK OF AGES in many instances and yet ROA ends up sounding like the more authentic show because, after all, those are actual rock songs performed by people who can sing them. The score to N2N is somewhere between rock and theatre and Grammy loves its genre-fication.

And Grammy hates overly affected, melodramatic vocal-cords-in-shreds under the guise of Broadway Leading Lady "singers" like Alice Ripley. HATES. I wouldn't be surprised to see Liza snubbed come the February ceremony for the same reason.

I don't necessarily agree with all of this, but this maybe will give some of you an idea why what has happened has happened.

P

P.S. Sheik and Townshend are "real" rockers as far as Grammy is concerned so none of the above applies to them. Updated On: 12/3/09 at 04:39 PM

[tazber]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 5:01pm

I believe ROA missed the cut off date for this list or else I'm sure it would have been nominated.

As far as N2N goes, I presume the voters heard it but didn't care for the quality. It was on the same label as HAIR so the theory that Ghostlight is not big enough to compete isn't necessarily true.

Shrek was produced very well and sounds great regardless of your
feelings about the score.

Ain't Misbehavin has 2 AI alumni so it probably earned points for that, especially since Studard has been a nominee in other categories before.

9-5 has Dolly. 'Nuff said.

WSS sounds great, and it's a classic score with what the Grammy voters probably consider a cool new hook. Whether the Spanish worked in the actual production is irrelevant.

Hair sounds great and has a very high exposure as a show.

I don't think HAIR has it in the bag at all. WSS could easily win, and don't count out Dolly either.

The only ones that I think really aren't in the running are Ain't Misbehavin (b/c it sounds exactly like the original) and Shrek.

Updated On: 12/4/09 at 05:01 PM

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 5:03pm

As a Grammy voter and show music collector, as well as a BWW contributing writer, I would like to say that I am glad to see discussions of this sort taking place! And the discussion thread we held earlier in the fall (when the list of eligible recordings was released) was a great discussion as well.

I would agree that I am somewhat shocked that N2N and ROA are not nominees, though the five that ARE nominated all figured in our earlier discussion.

As for the relevance and/or credibility of this award, I would like to note that the Grammy goes to the reigning Tony Award Best Musical about half the time. When it has not, it usually goes to the show that has the Tony-winning leading lady, and/or the Tony-winning Best Score.

Since none of those options will happen this year, perhaps what we have is actually an interesting horse race, whose outcome is not a foregone conclusion!

And while a connection to the recording industry is certainly a factor in some years, it is certainly understandable. However, in that context, ROA's exclusion is even more puzzling.

[tazber]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 5:05pm

When did ROA come out? Isn't the cut off October 1?

[binau]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 5:05pm

"As far as N2N goes, I presume the voters heard it but didn't care for the quality."

Is this the quality of the recording, or the 'quality' of the show? (i.e. the score, performances etc..)

(I'll add that I am aware this could be a stupid question)

[tazber]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 5:07pm

Strictly the recording. Most of them have probably never even seen the show.

BTW, ROA came out in July, so yea...strange omission.

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 5:17pm

Once the eligibility of recordings is determined for each Grammy category, there are no real voting "criteria," beyond the opinion of the voters who choose to vote in that particular category (you can't vote for all 110 awards).

That said, for this particular category the Grammy goes to the record's producer, and, in the case of a new score (51% new) it also goes to the composer and lyricist. Dolly would share in the 925 award, but Sondheim would not win for WSS.

Stars used to also be considered winners of this award in the early years of the Grammys, but they aren't now. Hope this helps.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 7:37pm

While I love the HAIR cast recording with my entire heart and soul, it did not capture what I saw on stage. However, having heard every single cast recording on this list at some point... HAIR is the strongest.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 12/3/09 at 11:41pm

given the voter's proclivity for rewarding dedicated performers who overcome hardship (read: addiction) Liza could take it too.

Very bold prediction, especially considering Liza was not nominated.

(Her album is up in a different category.)

[tazber]

Posted: 12/4/09 at 6:13am

Thanks Yero, fixed it.