On this basis, the academy continues to maintain that Grammys are awarded for “artistic or technical achievement, not sales or chart positions.”Īlthough it is likely to be concealed from the Grammy viewing audience, the recording industry is passing through a severe crisis brought on by the digitization of the recording and musical content distribution process. The awards process-entry, screening and categorization, nomination and final award selection-is conducted entirely by members of the academy. Still, the Grammy Awards are given to the year’s best based on the judgment of those within the industry itself. As with the recording industry as a whole, the Grammys have taken advantage of the fantastic achievements in audio technologies-supplemented with MTV-style video imagery-to boost glamour over talent and, in more than one instance, substitute outright charlatanry for musicianship. Over the years, the Grammy Awards ceremony has become an event in which musical creativity and artistic expression are increasingly overwhelmed by commercialism and self-promotion. This year’s ceremony will present Grammys in 105 categories and be broadcast by CBS to a potential television audience of 650 million people. The event-like the Academy Awards for motion pictures-is a ceremony of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in which artists and technicians are recognized by their peers for their work over the previous year. Zevon's disks remain superb ones, and if the second sells well, perhaps we can look forward to seeing him under more favorable circumstances soon.The 46th Annual Grammy Awards will take place Sunday, February 8, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. But sometimes: they can be daunting, too. These tension‐ridden Bottomi Line showcase performances sometimes inspire performers to a maximum effort-one only has to think back to Bruce Springsteen in. The songs kick forward with visceral excitement‐yet they., are never mindless. repressed wildness into an extremely effective rock‐and‐roll: package. Zevon blends mordant humor, sophisticated sentiment and a barely. Some of the ‘political statements in songs he co‐wrote seem a little simplistic.īut at his frequent best Mr. case he simply shouldn't sing’ when he's having as many vocal difficulties as he was on Sunday). Some of the ballads slip into the soupily sentimental (particularly “Hasten Down the Wind,” which in any. Zevon writes some of the most compelling songs of the day. That all said, the show remained an interesting one, for Mr. Zevon gave signs of loosening up, and songs such as “'Lawyers, Guns ana Money” and “I'll Sleep When I'm Dead” came off wonderfully well -which suggested in.turn that,the band's approach might work when the” singer was feeling more relaxed. Toward the latter part of the show, however, Mr. And during most of the set it didn't so much toughen the harder rockers as deaden them. For softer songs, such as “Accidentally Like a Martyr,” the heaviness was downright destructive. Zevon on Sunday), and Rick Marotta, drummer-approached most of the material in a leaden, overemphatic manner. Perhaps in part to compensate, his excellent band-which included Waddy Wachtel, his guitarist and producer (along with Jackson Browne, who introduced Mr. Whatever the reason, he held himself back, muting the personality he must exude to compensate for his warmly husky but other‐wise undistinguished singing voice. He also complained at the beginning about the flu. Worse - although understandably, given the celebrity‐studded, music‐business‐clogged nature of the audience-he appeared extremely nervous. This time he spent most of his time hunched behind a grand piano, on the side of the stage. If memory serves, he spent a good deal of his time playing guitar, and he moved around the stage with a swaggering authority. In that heady context, his first show on Sunday was a disappointment. Zevon being hailed as the latest great hope of American rock‐and‐roll. The new record, “Excitable Boy,” has been greeted with unusual warmth by the nation's rock critics and FM programmers, with Mr. Zevon returned to the club, as part of a promotional tour to support his followup disk. Whereas the record had seemed interesting but a little murky (it seems stronger in retrospect), his live show was surprisingly tough and rocking. Warren Zevon's last previous appearance at the Bottom Line, in 1976, came after the release of his first record‐on Asylum.
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