Dave’s Music Database Hall of Fame: Album Inductees (Nov. 2019)

Originally posted 11/22/2019. January 22, 2019 marked the 10-year anniversary of the DMDB blog. To honor that, Dave’s Music Database announced its own Hall of Fame. This month marks the fourth batch of album inductees. Only 11 albums have achieved the trifecta of winning the Grammy for Album of the Year, being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and being named to the National Recording Registry. Two of these have already been inducted into the Dave’s Music Database Hall of Fame – The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Michael Jackson Thriller (1982). A third album, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart is not eligible as it is a comedy album, not a music album. That leaves eight albums to be inducted this month. See the full list of album inductees here.

Fleetwood Mac Rumours (1977) Inducted November 2019 for “The Trifecta: Grammy for Album of the Year, Grammy Hall of Fame, National Recording Registry.”

“Intense, internal drama always adds a kick to a final piece of work…[and] few bands can equal Fleetwood Mac…[for] their angst.” DV “Keyboardist Christine McVie sparred with husband/bassist John, and singer Stevie Nicks scrapped with boyfriend/guitarist Lindsay Buckingham.” CDU “The resulting romantic pressure-cooker” AZ produced “a tour de force” BN which made Rumours “the ultimate hangover album for the lovestruck.” DV and “an album that defined a decade.” DV Read more.

Judy Garland Judy at Carnegie Hall (1961) Inducted November 2019 for “The Trifecta: Grammy for Album of the Year, Grammy Hall of Fame, National Recording Registry.”

Judy Garland became Hollywood royalty, thanks to performances in classics like The Wizard of Oz, but struggled personally and professionally in the late ‘50s. “This live recording…would (rightfully) bring the legendary icon back into the spotlight.” AZ “This is easily one of pop music’s greatest live recordings and a fine testament to Garland’s recorded legacy.” AZ “With relentless verve, Garland takes on her entire musical catalogue with astonishing aplomb. There is little sign of the decades of self-abuse which had left her frail by the early ‘60s.” AMG Read more.

Carole King Tapestry (1971) Inducted November 2019 for “The Trifecta: Grammy for Album of the Year, Grammy Hall of Fame, National Recording Registry.”

Carole King made a name herself in the 1960s as a songwriter with her husband Gerry Goffin, but on Tapestry “reaches even greater heights as a performer.” AMG She “created the archetype of the female singer-songwriter” TL by insisting she be heard as “human, with all the cracks and imperfections that implies.” RC “The music is loose, earthy, L.A. session-pop” AZ delivered “with a sharpness worthy of a Brooklyn girl.” RC Read more.

Henry Mancini Music from Peter Gunn (1959) Inducted November 2019 for “The Trifecta: Grammy for Album of the Year, Grammy Hall of Fame, National Recording Registry.”

In 1958, “Peter Gunn was one of the unexpected hits of the new television season, capturing the imagination of millions of viewers by mixing private eye action with a jazz setting. Composer Henry Mancini was more than fluent in jazz, and his music nailed down the popularity of the series.” AMG He created “a key piece of jazz and pop music history” AMG that is a “ valuable addition to any jazz or soundtrack collection of the era.” AMG Read more.

Paul Simon Graceland (1986) Inducted November 2019 for “The Trifecta: Grammy for Album of the Year, Grammy Hall of Fame, National Recording Registry.”

In 1984, Paul Simon was inspired by a bootleg tape of South African music and, despite the United States’ economic sanctions against the country because of its apartheid government, he arranged a visit. He threw “his ears open to a host of new players and singers” TL and created “exotically fanciful collaborations” UT with Ladysmith Black Mambazo and others. The resulting introduction of world music into a pop arena gave listeners “that magical combination: something they’d never heard before that nevertheless sounded familiar.” AMG Read more.

U2 The Joshua Tree (1987) Inducted November 2019 for “The Trifecta: Grammy for Album of the Year, Grammy Hall of Fame, National Recording Registry.”

In the early 1980s, U2 built a following first with college radio and then album rock. By the mid-‘80s, they were “spending more and more time with rock legends like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan” QM and were, as Rolling Stone magazine declared, “a band utterly determined to be Important.” RS With its “inspirational, larger-than-life gestures...that’s precisely what [The Joshua Tree] sounds like.” RS It wasn’t just the band’s blockbuster, but its “most varied, subtle and accessible album.” RS Read more.

Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life (1976) Inducted November 2019 for “The Trifecta: Grammy for Album of the Year, Grammy Hall of Fame, National Recording Registry.”

After securing an unprecedented $13 million contract with Motown, Stevie Wonder took two years – “an eternity in R&B” TL – to write his “longest, most ambitious collection of songs.” AMG His “Grand Artistic Statement” EK “featured more true classics than even most great artists write in a lifetime.” TL It is “like stumbling into a cave full of treasure” JM and not knowing “which piece of gold to stuff into [one’s] pocket first.” JM It “touched on nearly every issue under the sun, and did it all with ambitious (even for him), wide-ranging arrangements and some of the best performances of Wonder’s career.” AMG Read more.

Various Artists (including the Bee Gees) Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (1977) Inducted November 2019 for “The Trifecta: Grammy for Album of the Year, Grammy Hall of Fame, National Recording Registry.”

“Every so often, a piece of music comes along that defines a moment in popular culture history;” AMG The disco soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever epitomized the latter half of the 1970s and made the Bee Gees the biggest group since the Beatles. They had “been exploring disco and funk rhythms on two albums before this one.” TM However, “the disco boom had seemingly run its course, primarily in Europe, and was confined mostly to Black culture and the gay underground in America.” AMG “The soundtrack “made disco explode into mainstream…with new immediacy and urgency.” AMG Read more.