‘The Ultimate Grammy Box’ Falls Short of Its Potential

Few album titles are more likely to give hard-core pop fans pause than “The Ultimate Grammy Box.”

Ultimate?

That sounds good--suggesting something comprehensive and complete, perhaps the best.

But Grammy?

Now there’s a standard of excellence that has proved wobbly over the last 40 years.

The tendency of Grammy voters to lean toward mainstream bestsellers rather than challenging, daring or innovative forces is well-documented.

Things have improved since the voting procedure was changed a few years ago to establish a committee to screen out embarrassing choices in key categories. But some clunkers still slip through, leaving the lesson of the Grammys: Anything is possible when you have 10,000 people involved in the voting process.

Even Michael Greene, president-CEO of the sponsoring National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, acknowledges he has winced over the years at some of the Grammy choices.

At the same time, the Grammys have honored some of the most compelling artists of the modern era. The promise of the boxed set, which was released this week by the academy in association with Columbia/Legacy, was in the chance to bring together the best of those artists--artists who either won Grammys or whose recordings have been declared Hall of Fame works by the academy.

The four-disc set doesn’t live up to the promise.

For one thing, the set--a portion of whose proceeds will be donated to MusiCares, an academy charity--is scandalously narrow in its perspective.

The promotional material for the album stresses that this boxed set represents the widest imaginable range of “pop, rock, metal, soul, R&B;, rap, Latin, jazz, blues, folk, country, classical--even polka!”

In fact, the selections are heavily weighted toward the commercial mainstream. Of the 73 selections, more than 50 are from pop, rock, country and R&B.; Jazz receives eight slots, but classical only three. Folk, gospel, blues and Latin music, among others, receive one or two. Another problem is that licensing restrictions prevented recordings by some seminal figures, notably Frank Sinatra and the Beatles, from being included.

The result is an album that is as frustrating as it is invigorating.

Things start off well in Disc 1 with the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations,” Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” and Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.” Among other standouts on Disc 1: Willie Nelson’s “Always on My Mind,” the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s “Purple Haze,” Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child” and Duke Ellington’s “Take the ‘A’ Train.” Even Vladimir Horowitz is represented.

The problems begin surfacing on Disc 2 in the form of undistinguished works by Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Toto and Gloria Estefan. As we proceed, truly noteworthy selections--think Miles Davis’ “Blues for Pablo” and Beck’s “Where It’s At”--are placed alongside such lightweight ones as Domenico Modungo’s “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)” and M.C. Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This.”

Instead of giving us a genuine sample of the most important music of our time, “The Ultimate Grammy Box” merely reminds us how flawed the Grammy Awards have been over the years.

There may, however, be better offerings ahead.

Greene said he would have liked to have other fields represented more fully, but the package was limited to four discs to keep the price around $50, and the idea was to make it appeal to the broadest audience. He hopes future collections will be able to focus on individual genres. In addition, he said, the academy is looking into a boxed set that would be drawn from the more than 500 Hall of Fame recordings.