The Musical Box

adele with one of the six grammy awards she won last night in los angeles. photo from getty images.

Let’s see. There was nothing as stunning as when Esperanza Spalding ran away with the Best New Artist trophy or as satisfying as when Arcade Fire took Album of the Year. But that was last year’s Grammy Awards. Last night’s follow-up was a comparative snoozefest. Adele, perhaps deservedly, was the big winner (claiming Album of the Year, Record of the Year and four additional Grammys) against very tepid competition, Bon Iver (Justin Vernon) rightly won this year’s Best New Artist and gave a refreshingly unprepared acceptance speech (it began with “Hi”) and Foo Fighters chalked up multiple wins.

Outside of that, the most prominent Grammy celebrity of the night was the one who wasn’t there – Whitney Houston, who died Saturday afternoon. Host LL Cool J (for once, a star who didn’t feel compelled to continually crack wise) offered a prayer and Jennifer Hudson sang a stoic I Will Always Love You (accompanied only by piano) while presenters and awardees all night set out condolences.

Oh, yeah. And all the really cool minor categories (the ones representing folk, jazz and blues)? Gone, every blessed one of them. They didn’t even rate a scroll across the screen before commercial breaks this year.

Otherwise, this year’s Grammys (like last year’s ceremony) was essentially a music variety hour (well, 3 ½ hours) with a few trophies thrown in.

Here is what this year’s autopsy revealed:

+ Bruce Springsteen: Clarence Clemons was gone. But the Boss rocked out with a string-fortified E Street Band for We Take Care of Our Own.

+ Bruno Mars: The pompadoured soul-pop baron poured on the James Brown moves as well as the Smokey Robinson vocals and urged the crowd to “get up off their rich asses.”

+ Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt: An unlikely pairing offered a fine unaccompanied duet of Sunday Kind of Love in honor of the late Etta James.

+ Foo Fighters: Here was a wise move. Let the kids run amok outside the Staples Center while Grohl and crew cranked out Walk.

+ The Beach Boys: Not a pretty side. A so-called reunion (guys, seriously, nearly half the band is dead) with pitch-deficient assistance by Foster the People and Maroon 5. Ug-ly.

+ Glen Campbell: A fairly limp tribute that boasted the novel idea of inviting the guest of honor (who is suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease) to his own party.

+ Adele: She summoned a no frills pop typhoon during Rolling in the Deep with real live singing and real live musicianship. There’s hope for the new pop world yet.

+ The Civil Wars: The Americana pop duo offered a 60-second “warm-up” snippet of Barton Hollow prior to Taylor Swift’s country corn reading of Mean.

+ Lady Gaga: Nothing. No performance. No awards. No egg. Just last year’s news sitting on the front row with a net over her face.

+ Tony Bennett and Carrie Underwood: Not as bad as it sounds. Bennett is still ageless class personified. Underwood tried too hard to act jazzy. Didn’t work.

+ Nicki Minaj: Great for a laugh. Obviously designed to offend, the exorcism/levitation production number for Roman Holiday was simply sophomoric extravagance.

+ Paul McCartney: An elegant orchestral My Valentine for the occasion and an all-star jam with the second side suite from Abbey Road for a broadcast finale.