Even with a sinking economy, whoever wins at the 51st Grammy Awards this Sunday will likely see in spike in album sales or digital downloads on Monday. But when it comes to who will win the “Album of the Year” category, it truly is a tough call thanks to a several deserving projects and a few that sold so many copies, they could take home the prize even if the quality level is up for debate. The nominations list kicks off with Coldplay’s Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends (Capitol), followed by Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III (Universal Motown/Cash Money), Ne-Yo’s Year of the Gentlemen (Def Jam/Compound), Robert Plant & Alison Krauss’ Raising Sand (Rounder) and Radiohead’s independent debut In Rainbows.

Props go to the latter band for coming up with the revolutionary “pay what you want” pricing scale and bucking the major label system, but it’s far the best album in the ethereal rockers’ lauded discography. Lil Wayne and Ne-Yo may have stellar sales on their side, but both projects are distilled versions of rap and R&B watered down to mere pop candy

The true toss up comes between Coldplay and the Plant/Krauss collaboration, if only for landing on so many year end “best of” lists and also earning tremendous commercial fan fare in the process. Chris Martin and company scored some extra ink from the Joe Satriani scandal, but even when the band’s credibility was called into question, it still propelled the contagious title track to additional airplay. Then again, the unlikely tag team between Led Zeppelin’s legendary front man and the queen of modern day bluegrass not only broke all the conventional rules, but was an extraordinary example of two major solo artists stretching themselves towards compelling results.

If the telecast truly rewards the most deserving album, hopefully Plant and Krauss will take the final bow of the evening. Then again, with so many other factors including the political nature of the voting process, it truly is a toss up that fans will have to view for themselves at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

-Andy Argyrakis

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Tags: 51st Grammy Awards, Alison Krauss, Coldplay, Lil Wayne, Ne-Yo, Radiohead, Robert Plant

This entry was posted by Andy Argyrakis on Saturday, February 7th, 2009 at 11:00 am and is filed under Gossip, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.