2004 Grammy Nominees

With Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl strip-tease setting tongues wagging across the globe, it was nearly enough to overshadow the recent announcement of the 2004 winners of Grammy awards — the American Recording Academy’s annual awards for the brightest stars of the global music industry.

Although I’m not usually a big fan of compilation albums, the incredible range and quality of music that competed for recognition this year made the 2004 Grammy Nominees CD a regular feature in my car over the last few weeks. And evidently the clever people who decided on the track listing had a pretty good feel for who were the sure fire winners of the year, with many of the nominees featured on the album going on to win a coveted gong at the glitzy award ceremony on February 8.

Record of the Year, the most prestigious award of the Grammy ceremony, went quite deservedly to the current kings of Brit-rock, Coldplay, the third year in a row that lead singer Chris Martin has collected a golden gong to decorate the mantelpiece back home in Devon. Taken from their multi-award winning album 'A Rush Of Blood To The Head', 'Clocks' catchy U2-esque chorus makes it a worthy winner of the most celebrated music award of the year.

Other big winners who feature on the Nominees compilation include Outkast (who needed a whole block of homeys to help them carry their collection of gongs) with 'The Way You Move', Christina Aguilera ('Beautiful' won her Best Female Pop Vocal Performance), Evanescence with 'Going Under' (deserving winners of Best Newcomer) and Justin Timberlake’s 'Cry Me A River' (he walked off with two awards).

Although I can’t claim to be a big Luther Vandross fan, the fact that he garnered four awards must count for something. 'Dance with my Father' missed out on Song of the Year, but it did secure him Best Male R&B Vocal Performance as well as Best R&B Album for the album to which it gave its name.

One of the greatest injustices of this year’s Grammy’s must be the fact that the exceptionally talented Black Eyed Peas left the ceremony empty-handed, even after 'Where Is The Love' (their fantastic collaboration with Justin Timberlake) set world charts alight. Evidently the judges were too busy examining the contents of their goodie bags just then, but thankfully the track appears on the Nominees compilation for you to enjoy on repeat for years to come. Eminem’s 'Lose Yourself' manages to replace the Peas' peace-loving feeling with some good angry hip-hop, which will be sure to keep the tracksuit-hooded 14-year-olds happy.

There is a definite slant towards the pop and R 'n B genres on the compilation, and a few hit rock songs are notable by their absence. Although 'Seven Nation Army' by The White Stripes took Best Rock Song, and the band collected Best Alternative Music Album for 'Elephant', not one track from their hit album features on the compilation.

But there are after all only 74 minutes of space on a CD, I suppose, so you can’t have everything. All in all, 2004 Grammy Nominees is an excellent compilation showcasing a wide range of the sounds that were likely to, and in most cases did, walk away with what has to be the most sought after miniature golden record player in the world.