Ed Masley

The Republic | azcentral.com

The Grammy Awards don’t always get it right, often missing the boat on a seminal artist then circling back and bestowing its top prize, Album of the Year, on some clearly inferior late-career effort, effectively snubbing a new generation of seminal artists in the process. That’s how you end up with Ray Charles winning for “Genius Loves Company,” a posthumous duets collection.

But along the way, that Album of the Year award has honored some pretty amazing work, from the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” to last year’s winner, Beck. In fact, they’ve been on something of a winning streak in recent years, with no fewer than four of the five most recent winners landing on our countdown of best Album of the Year recipients.

The year in parentheses is the year the album won the Grammy, not the year it was released.

16. John Lennon & Yoko Ono, “Double Fantasy” (1982)

It's impossible to hear this now outside the context of John Lennon being murdered while the first song he'd released in five years, "(Just Like) Starting Over," was making a run on the charts. But it seems like it's held up surprisingly well (including Yoko's tracks), delivering such highlights as "I'm Losing You" and "Cleanup Time," where Lennon brings the funk like David Bowie's "Young Americans" with a shout-out to "Cry Baby Cry." Did the Grammy win have anything to do with Lennon’s murder? Obviously.

15. Soundtrack, “Saturday Night Fever” (1979)

That’s right, disco. This was disco’s most enduring mainstream moment, a 15-times-platinum soundtrack held together by the genius of the Bee Gees, who sent three singles from the album to the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 — the emotional slow jam “How Deep is Your Love” and two disco tracks, “Stayin’ Alive and “Night Fever.” The album also recycled their earlier dance-floor-packing sensations “Jive Talkin’ “ and “You Should Be Dancing” and sent another single written by the Bee Gees — Yvonne Elliman’s “If I Can’t Have You” — to No. 1.

14. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, “Raising Sand” (2009)

Led Zeppelin’s only Grammy came decades too late in the form of a lifetime achievement award, which makes this feel an awful lot like yet another consolation Grammy. And I do like Plant’s most-recent effort better, but this album definitely makes the most of an inspired pairing, a point made abundantly clear in the opening seconds of the lead-off track, “Rich Woman,” where Krauss’ haunting harmonies complete the eerie film noir vibe. And Plant sounds great throughout, especially getting in touch with his inner rockabilly fan on “Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On).”

13. Adele, “21” (2012)

Much like “19,” Adele’s acclaimed debut, “21” takes its name from the age at which this soulful British singer wrote the songs (a strategy we do not recommend Bob Dylan start employing). There’s nothing especially youthful going on musically, though. Aside from “Rolling in the Deep,” which finds Adele playing to the back pews of a Baptist church while channeling the sound of Moby’s “Play,” it sounds like it could just as easily have won a Grammy in the early ’70s. But in a good way. And then there’s that voice of Adele’s, which puts the soul in the concept of an old soul while lending a powerful sense of gravity and experience beyond her years to the proceedings.

12. Daft Punk, “Random Access Memories” (2014)

House music never would have happened if it hadn’t been for disco. But with “Random Access Memories,” Daft Punk took house music back to its source on an album of songs a DJ could have used to take a crowded dance floor straight from Chic to “Funkytown” in early 1980. And America responded in a big way. Two tracks topped the U.S. dance charts, with “Get Lucky” also hitting No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 on its way to going platinum. If “Get Lucky” sounded like a shameless throwback to the golden age of Chic, it should be noted that Nile Rodgers not only co-wrote but plays on the record. But the album’s most obvious tip of the hat to disco days gone by is “Giorgio by Moroder,” which samples a lengthy monologue by disco’s most adventurous producer talking about how he knew the Moog synthesizer could be the sound of the future. Moroder was right, of course. But this record, as endearing it is, finds the formerly cutting-edge duo repeating the sound of the past.

11. Beck, “Morning Phase” (2015)

Kanye West has made his share of idiotic statements through the years, but few have done more to suggest that the man doesn’t know what he’s talking about than when he badmouthed Beck for winning Album of the Year instead of the multi-platinum superstar he’s become so obsessed with defending against the threat of people liking other stuff, Beyonce. “Beck needs to respect artistry,” West crowed. “He should have given his award to Beyoncé.” Well, as it turns out there’s plenty of artistry to go around on “Morning Phase,” an introspective gem cut from the same majestic cloth as “Mutations” and “Sea Change.” It’s a shame he used the perfect title for this album decades earlier on “Mellow Gold.”

10. Michael Jackson, “Thriller” (1984)

This is the biggest-selling album in the history of biggest-selling albums for a reason, a seamless collection of state-of-the-art R&B for pop kids on the dancefloor whose impact is still being felt (see: The Weeknd). It starts with six minutes of paranoid electro-funk and a sing-along chant on loan from "Soul Makossa" by Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango before making its way through any number of the era’s biggest pop hits, bringing Paul McCartney to the table for “The Girl is Mine” (an admittedly dopey duet) and Eddie Van Halen for “Beat It.” That’s some crossover gold right there. The title track had Vincent Price but I doubt he brought many Vincent Price fans to the dance. And then, of course, there’s “Billie Jean," which even now, remains the song most people think of when they hear the singer’s name (and for good reason). It was Michael's finest hour as the King of Pop, from a hiccupping vocal defending the man against faulty paternity suits to the most insistent bass guitar groove of the decade. It topped the charts for seven weeks and emerged as the moonwalking highlight of "Motown 25."

9. OutKast, “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below” (2004)

Weighing in at 135 minutes with detours strange enough to be mistaken for a self-indulgent mess, this double album splits the greatest hip-hop duo ever down the middle, with Andre 3000 flying the freakiest flag he’d yet unfurled while magically coming away with the album’s big pop moment, “Hey Ya!” That song spent nine weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 while introducing the concept of shaking it like a Polaroid picture to the masses. And it might have spent a 10th week at the top if Andre’s partner, Big Boi, hadn’t finally replaced it with “The Way You Move” after eight weeks in the No. 2 spot.

8. Stevie Wonder, “Songs in the Key of Life” (1977)

This was Wonder's third award for album of the year in four amazing years. His shining moment as a pop phenomenon, this 10-times-platinum double album sent two classic songs — “I Wish” and “Sir Duke” — to the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 while the album as a whole stood as a deeply spiritual reflection on the matters of the day. It also topped the Pazz & Jop poll, Village Voice’s annual survey of the nation’s music critics.

7. Stevie Wonder, “Fulfillingness’ First Finale” (1975)

Wonder’s second album-of-the-year recipient in two years sent two singles to the top of Billboard’s R&B charts — “You Haven’t Done Nothin’” (which also topped the Hot 100) and “Boogie on Reggae Woman.” It may be mellower and less politically intense than “Innervisions,” but it more than holds its own in Wonder’s catalog. And the Jackson 5 sound great on “You Haven’t Done Nothin’.”

6. U2, “The Joshua Tree” (1988)

It’s almost like they dared you not to pay attention, going 10-times-platinum while playing to the back rows of the stadium with real emotion. All wide-open spaces and anthemic choruses, it filtered Bono’s youthful quest for spiritual enlightenment through an obsession with all things American and backed it up with killer tunes. “Where the Streets Have No Name” pulls you in, and they finish you off with two chart-topping singles, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “With or Without You.”

5. Fleetwood Mac, “Rumours” (1978)

This 19-times-platinum effort had put in no fewer than 31 weeks at No. 1 onBillboard’s album chart before it took home album of the year. And that success was fueled by singles as inspired as Lindsey Buckingham’s withering “Go Your Own Way” and the chart-topping “Dreams,” by Buckingham’s ex-lover Stevie Nicks. A classic breakup album, it documents not one but two romantic collapses in the band, effectively forcing the other halves in each relationship to play on songs about the pain they caused (except Christine McVie, whose husband, John, didn’t write any).

4. Arcade Fire, “The Suburbs” (2011)

It’s easy enough to see how someone jonesing for an Arcade Fire backlash would mistake “The Suburbs” for an overreaching, self-important mess. It is a concept album weighing in at more than 60 minutes, after all. And the suburban theme is sure to strike some haters as an easy target that’s been done to death by now. But here’s the thing: They pull it off because they can, at times approaching the emotional intensity (and resonance) of “Funeral,” their undisputed masterpiece, while expanding the scope of their sound yet again.

3. Bob Dylan, “Time Out of Mind” (1998)

It’s kind of funny that the only album-of-the-year award he ever won was in the ’90s — not exactly the first decade people think of when it comes to Dylan. But unlike most consolation Grammys, this one earned it, having ushered in his late-career resurgence with what sounded like a late-night radio transmission from the afterlife. He sets the tone with “Love Sick,” an almost reggae-flavored sleepwalk “through streets that are dead,” and follows through with several of his best recordings since the ’70s, making the most of producer Daniel Lanois’ sense of atmosphere. It’s a shame it was up against Radiohead’s “OK Computer,” though.

2. Stevie Wonder, “Innervisions” (1974)

This was the first of three times Wonder took home album of the year in his ’70s prime, a streak that caused Paul Simon to jokingly end an acceptance speech when he won album of the year with, “Most of all, I’d like to thank Stevie Wonder, who didn’t make an album this year.” It’s a flawless effort that finds him weighing in — with hooks intact — on everything from drug abuse to racism and poverty. Hits include R&B chart-toppers “Higher Ground” and “Living for the City.” On its 30th anniversary, it finished 23rd on a Rolling Stone list of greatest albums ever, Wonder’s highest showing.

1. The Beatles, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band” (1968)

You saw this coming, right? Amazingly enough, this is the only time the Beatles took home album of the year (although it is worth noting that “Revolver” lost the year before to “A Man and His Music,” a Frank Sinatra career retrospective with between-song narration by the Chairman of the Board himself. Narration!) In many ways the Beatles’ most important album, “Sgt. Pepper” isn’t nearly as conceptual as its reputation (or its artwork) would suggest. But it’s a masterpiece regardless, from the time McCartney hits the mike to tell you, “It was 20 years ago today” through “Getting Better” to the album-closing majesty of “A Day in the Life.”

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Twitter/EdMasley