Grammy Awards Bestowed

From The Times: March 2, 1968

The recording industry looked itself over, played back its 1967 efforts and handed out half a hundred Grammy awards, the vinyl equivalents of Oscars, at the 10th annual meeting of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Thursday evening.

Three songs, two artists and one group — "Up, Up and Away," "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and "Ode to Billy Joe" by the 5th Dimension, Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry, respectively — swept most of the pop categories.

The 5th Dimension's version of "Up, Up and Away" was named record of the year, song of the year, best performance by a vocal group, best contemporary single and best contemporary group performance. A recording of the tune by the Johnny Mann Singers was pronounced best performance by a chorus.

Double Winner

Its author, 21-year-old Jim Webb, also wrote "By the TIme I Get to Phoenix," which won Glen Campbell best male vocal performance and best contemporary male solo vocal performance. Campbell also walked off with awards for the best country and western recording and best country and western male solo vocal performance for "Gentle on My Mind," which gained author John Hartford two Grammies as best country and western song and best folk performance.

Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe" won best female vocal performance, best contemporary female solo vocal performance and best accompaniment arrangement (to arranger Jimmie Haskell). Miss Gentry also was named best new artist.

Brief Respite

The Beatles were not forgotten, though they may have been slighted. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," was proclaimed album of the year and best contemporary album. G.E. Emerick gained a Grammy for his engineering on the LP and Peter Blake and Jann Haworth were cited for their artistry on the cover. None of the Beatles' 1967 singles (which included "Penny Lane" and "All You Need Is Love") was even nominated for an award.

We'll return to the adventures of Chet Atkins, Elvis Presley, Cannonball Adderly, Lalo Schiffrin, Sen. Everett Dirksen (R-Capitol) and Boris Karloff after a brief respite from the tyranny of names and categories.

As must be obvious, there is considerable redundancy within the 48 categories of Grammy nominations particularly in a subsection of five awards with the first names of Contemporary, a catch-all term incorporating rock, pop and various amalgams. Most of the contemporary nominees were duplicated within the initial, non-contemporary-adjectivized categories.

Additionally, some of the nominees (and awardees) were political rather than aesthetic. Nancy and Frank SInatra's "Somethin' Stupid" (which was just that) was certainly not one of the five contenders for record of the year on artistic merit.

Bashful Thanks

Glen Campbell, a studio musician for years before he became a "name," bashfully thanked all the people he had backed up on guitar for their votes in his initial acceptance speech, an observation that had as much truth as humor.

Nominations ignored, among the rock groups, The BeeGees, the Cream, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Donovan and the Buffalo Springfield.