3 Cheers for Carlos; Well, Maybe Just 2

Excuse me.

Are the Grammy parties over yet?

I don’t want to step on anyone’s confetti, but can we get back to reality?

Before everyone is carried away with Santana’s sweep, shouldn’t someone point out that “Supernatural” wasn’t the best album of 1999, much less the best one in the 42-year history of the Grammys?

That may sound mean-spirited given the feel-good exuberance of Carlos Santana and longtime patron Clive Davis’ basking in the spotlight at the end of Wednesday’s telecast, but it’s only fair to remind ourselves these awards are supposed to be about honoring excellence, not simply creating drama.

There are reasons why Santana won eight Grammys--tying a record for the most ever in a single night--and they don’t have to do only with artistic excellence.

For one thing, there are many more categories today than there were in the early years of the Grammys, which means Santana has more chances to be nominated. When the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” won for best album in 1967, there were only 48 Grammy categories. When Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” won for best album in 1983, there were 67. Today, there are nearly 100.

The biggest edge for Santana and his “Supernatural,” however, was the fact that the album was released in a year when the level of artistic accomplishment in the commercial mainstream was lower than at any time in memory--a point made clear by some of the evening’s dreadful performances.

Indeed, one of the biggest reasons to cheer Santana’s victories in the best album and best record categories was that they kept far less worthy recordings by the Backstreet Boys, Cher and Ricky Martin from being honored.

“Supernatural” is certainly a classy record, chiefly because of Santana’s consistently graceful and inspiring guitar work. But the series of collaborations with contemporary pop-rock figures, including Dave Matthews and Matchbox 20’s Rob Thomas, were more good than excellent--a distinction Grammy voters often miss.

A notable exception is Santana’s teaming with folk-rapper Everlast on “Put Your Lights On,” an album track that was a welcome winner in the best duo or group rock performance category.

In the new Village Voice poll of U.S. pop critics, “Supernatural” didn’t finish among the Top 30 collections. Only 18 critics even put it in their Top 10 lists--as opposed to 134 who voted for Moby’s “Play,” which finished first in the poll.

Of the five nominees for best album, TLC’s “FanMail” finished highest in the critics’ poll, at No. 31, followed by “Supernatural” at No. 40 and the Dixie Chicks’ “Fly” at No. 41. The other two nominees--the Backstreet Boys’s “Millennium” and Diana Krall’s “When I Look in Your Eyes,” finished No. 133 and No. 265, respectively.

Grammy voters have such a blind spot for maverick, cutting-edge forces that they not only failed to put “Play” in the best album category, but they also didn’t even choose it to win in the less prestigious alternative music category. “Play,” a dance-rock work that examined commitment and faith, lost to a lesser work by the better-known Beck in that category.

Despite it all, however, there were rewarding moments buried in the three-hour telecast. It was encouraging to see voters recognize a quality veteran, Sting, even when he was pitted against far bigger 1999 mainstream bestsellers, and it was even more pleasing to see the voters acknowledge with two Grammys that Eminem is not just a controversial rapper, but also an exceptionally talented one.

Above all, it was good to see Santana and Davis walk hand in hand to the microphone to accept the Grammy for best album.

It was possible Wednesday to set aside feelings about who should have won the major awards and still celebrate the emotion of the evening. This was a victory for two veteran warriors--one (Santana) who, at 52, had been pretty much written off by the record industry in recent years, and another (Davis) who, at 66, has been in danger of being ousted from power at Arista Records, the label he founded in the ‘70s.

Santana and Davis may not have given us the best album of the year, but they clung to their mutual vision in an unwavering manner that should be an inspiration to anyone struggling to be heard in the music business.

And that’s a lesson we can all celebrate.