After the 50th Annual Grammy Awards broadcast, I ran right out and bought a copy of Herbie Hancock’s “Album Of The Year” – River, The Joni Letters.

OK, technically I may have waited a day or two…

Alright, alright, so it was a week! Who tracks this stuff anyway????

The point is, I picked up what took home the top trophy for best recording last year. And in the process, I believe I discovered a massive Grammy voter conspiracy – they were all kidding!!

Now, I should preface this pending rant with a short comment on how much a fan I am of Mr. Hancock. His last album, Possibilities, was stellar. Astounding. Lush and delightful. This one, the one that won “Album Of The Year”, is not. Not ANY of those things. Frankly, it would have to get jolted with a cattle prod to elevate above “dull as a funeral dirge…”

The album is absolutely lifeless. Everyone sounds like they’ve been hit with elephant tranquilizers. Tina Turner – so understated you’d think she was on sleeping pills, and maybe even sleeping for that matter. Four of the tracks sound exactly the same, like elevator Muzak that’s been harpooned with elephant tranquilizer. Hell, I’d say that a harpooned elephant sounds like it’s sitting on the damn thing…

Even the seductively effervescent and charming Corinne Bailey Rae can’t bring life to the most beautiful song in the world, River, which makes one WANT to be harpooned with elephant tranquilizers…

What a bummer….

Replies to comments will be a bit behind this morning folks – off first thing for my regular quarterly early morning diabetes blood-work. If I need to calm myself down, I’ll pop this CD into my i-Pod…

Chow for now!!