AotYWinners

1969 OMAs: Album of the Year

C. Kennedy

• 2 min read
1969 OMAs: Album of the Year

1969 was a tough year for the Album of the Year nominees...

1969 One Man Academy
Album of the Year
Rule Zero
"If zero albums are up to OMA standards in a given year, none of the albums get an award that year."
OMA Rules of the Road

...but these two albums are totally interesting!

  • Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles
  • Feliciano!, José Feliciano

If you only listen to one song: "Always Something There To Remind Me", José Feliciano

The Beatles

Blowing past The Beatles to invoke Rule Zero feels wrong.

Magical Mystery Tour is a perfectly fine album with a lot of great songs. That said, it's sort of a weird album. It turns a corner halfway through... I found I liked the second half of the album a bit better than the first half, but overall it's not up to OMA's standards.

Other notes:

  • I never knew how much I liked "Strawberry Fields Forever".
  • "Penny Lane" is an amazing song.

José Feliciano

While I recognized the name "José Feliciano" from somewhere, I'm not sure I had high hopes for this album. Turns out I really liked it!

I was also a bit torn to be blowing past Feliciano! to invoke Rule Zero. In the midst of that, I found myself comparing Feliciano! to Magical Mystery Tour: I'd rather listen to Feliciano! but I recognize Magical Mystery Tour is probably a better album.

But if the point of an album is to be listened to, wouldn't Feliciano! be better by definition?

All of which is to say: giving out awards is a weird and tough job sometimes. A lot of obviously incorrect decisions have been made over the years, and those should never be forgiven, but I won't say it's easy.

If I had to award an award in 1969, I'm not sure which of these two albums I would select and I wouldn't be confident in either choice.

Other Notes:

  • Devotees will remember[1] that I'm always a sucker for a Burt Bacharach and Hal Davis tune. I was clearly very excited to hear "Always Something There To Remind Me" on the album.
  • Some Beatles tunes make an appearance, as well as California Dreamin', all of which are great.

The 1969 nominees for Album of the Year

  • Bookends, Simon & Garfunkel
  • By the Time I Get to Phoenix, Glen Campbell
  • Feliciano!, José Feliciano
  • Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles
  • A Tramp Shining, Richard Harris

Featured songs from this post: Spotify

The current One Man Academy (OMA) project is listening to the Grammy's Album of the Year nominees and re-choosing winners, absent of historical context.

All previous OMA Album of the Year Winners

  1. You’re a crook, Captain Hook / Judge, won’t you throw the book at the pirate... ↩︎