#PlatVnyl3 - Album of The Year

The Album of The Year is given to the album which shone above all others. While all the winners of the Platinum Vinyl Awards contain a certain "wow factor", the Album of the Year, well, does the Big O mean anything to you? Every one of the 10 nominated albums was given a Perfect 5 Emerald Ranking.

• Arise : The Live Worship Experience, William McDowell
• Current , Sarah Macintosh
• Evanescence , Evanescence
• Feel The Power , Blessed By A Broken Heart
• Hats Off To The Bull , Chevelle
• Make It Right , Abel
• Overcome , Lara Landon
• Remembering You , Poema
• True Defiance , Demon Hunter
• Wait for the Siren , Project 86

There was no "first entry bias" as the nominees came from all 4 Quarters in a 3-2-2-3 fashion. Hard Rock had 3 nominees, Rock and Alternative each contributed 2, and Gospel, Pop and Adult Contemporary each contributed a single nominee. Also only three of the entries won their genre. These 10 would be battling to join last years inaugural winner, Barton Hollow by The Civil Wars. That's some big shoes to fill.

The first round of voting knocked out four of the contenders, and two genres. Gone was the sister act Poema and Gospel's McDowell. Hard Rock was reduced to one as both Demon Hunter and the boss's favorite, 80's Hare Metal Band Blessed by a Broken Heart. Did I ever tell you how much I love the 80's?

Destiny would not be with Demon Hunter, but it did wash over the category like a flood. A comeback album, the first release in five years. Songs that touch our darkest moments, vocals which chill spine and soul. The true Revenge of The Fallen. The Winner of This Years Platinum Vinyl Award for Album of The Year is EVANESCENCE.

#PlatVnyl3 - Video of The Year

A category having its debut this year, Video of The Year honors the Music Video, once responsible for launching two cable networks (VH1 and MTV), now it is the red headed stepchild of the industry.

Judging in this category skews heavily to the visual element. The song could be simply average, yet when combined with the video it becomes unforgettable. Of course, both parts could be equally strong. A weak video and a strong song would not be considered, however.

Due to the visual element, the nominees for the video categories were reduced from the usual seven to five.

• Black Heart Hearse, White Collar Sideshow
• Carry You, Close Your Eyes
• Poison and Wine (The Civil Wars Cover), Satellites and Sirens
• The Proof Of Your Love, For King and Country
• Timing is Everything, Lights

Each of the nominated videos is a striking visual image in itself. From the Flashdance inspired Timing is Everything where Lights proves the truism that "something red always draws the eye" to the dystopian nightmare that is "The Proof of Your Love". In retrospect, perhaps Valerie (Lights) should have drenched herself with water (a la Jennifer Beals), because the judges went with the St. James Gang instead of her (For King and Country is Joel and Luke Smallbone, brothers to Rebecca St. James). Also on to the next round was a tale of Life, Love and Death that would impress even Evanescence. Carry You by Close Your Eyes.

When the smoke cleared, however, Walt Disney carried the day. Well, Pixar at least. Satellites and Sirens made an album of cover songs and then created a music video for each of them. They were all good, some silly, and a few notable. Among the latter category was a cover of The Civil Wars Poison and Wine. They used a montage of images from Pixar's UP, and it is a real tear-jerker.

Yes, the judges wept. If you don't while watching, then perhaps you need a hearse for your black heart. Just a few more to go. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

#PlatVnyl3 - Song of The Year

Song Of The Year. The name screams "Big". You may more properly name this the Anthem of The Year, as that is the type of song that lends itself to this award. Ballads need not apply, usually. Some things are expected of the winner. It must have a certain in your face attitude. It must be an earworm song, in a good way (Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen need never apply). It must have awesome Orchestration. Strings are always welcome. Soaring Vocals Too. In a phrase, the song must be bigger than life.

Six songs made the initial pool. Five genres were represented

• Blush , Pilgrims and Prodigals, Annie Moses Band
• Fire Walk With Me, Make it Right, Abel
• Lord of Patience, The Attributes of God, Shai Linne
• Lost in Paradise, Evanescence, Evanescence
• My Heart is Broken, Evanescence, Evanescence
• Our God is Coming, Center of it All, Desperation Band

The race to succeed "Manifesto" by The City Harmonic was on.

The first round of voting reduced six songs to four. My Heart is Broken had its heart broken by being deemed the weakest of the two Evanescence nominees. Joining the ranks of the broken hearted was Lord of Patience, the rap entry.

The second round of voting took the lush pop ballad Blush by Chamber Pop group Annie Moses Band and Middle Eastern Twinged Modern Worship Song Our God is Coming out. AMB pretty much had the ballad hopes wrapped up. The final round showdown was on. In this corner, Fire Walk With Me by Abel. In the other corner Lost in Paradise by Evanescence. The former is a classic sing along song, complete with chorus "Oh, the devil wants to drag my soul, drag my soul, down to the lake of fire." The latter is much more difficult to sing along with. It is hard to disagree, however, that the girl can make pain beautiful.

And when you have 12 nominations, the odds are in your favor that you are going to win some. No one expected 11 wins (2 nominations in Song of Year, only 1 Award). But the Big ones are the ones that count. The Platinum Vinyl Award for Song of The Year goes to Evanescence for Lost in Paradise. Just a few more posts to do. Do me a big favor. Click on the Links, Download the Song. Support The Night Beat. I am Awaiting Your Reply.

#PlatVnyl3 - Female Vocalist of The Year

Though the same rules apply to the Female Vocalist as the Male Vocalist, the fact is that the shenanigans are not as present here. Usually because most of the ladies record under their own names and not under a band. That is changing though: (i.e. Amy Lee of Evanescence; Hayley Williams of Paramore, etc), so shenanigans may abound in the future.

Since there are more ladies recording under their own name, that usually means there will be a bigger nominee pool for FVY. There were, but we managed to narrow it to 7.

• Audrey Assad
• Sara Groves
• Lara Landon
• Sarah Macintosh
• Lindsay McCaul
• Moriah Peters
• Beckah Shae

Both McCaul and Peters would be classified as New Artists as well, so you can't accuse us of holding out until someone "proves themselves". We recognize talent up front.

Of course, one can't help it when the judges almost literally "fall in love" with an artist. And who can disagree anyhow? A "voice" that can carry off any style of music they choose, soar above the loudest instruments or whisper with a sultry style that best is described as "torch singer." That combination carried her above the unique Macintosh, the Powerful Peters, the powerful vocals of Assad. Their time will come. This year, however, the Female Vocalist of The Year in the Platinum Vinyl Awards goes to Lara Landon.

I have a few more wrap-up posts to go. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

#PlatVnyl3 - Male Vocalist of The Year

We try to keep things honest here at PVA Central (I know, that sounds like a home improvement store). The Male and Female Vocalists of the Year are the place where shenanigans take place, usually in the form of having a band front man (i.e. John Cooper of Skillet) nominated as a Male Vocalist. Because of things like that, our rule is that any nominated vocalist must have released an album under his own name during the year of eligibility. There were 5 nominated vocalists.

• Chris August
• Lecrae
• Andrew Peterson
• Mac Powell
• Phil Wickham

I can hear the objection as I write. "Mac Powell, he's the Lead Vocalist for Third Day". Yes, that's true. Third Day released Miracle back in November, and that will be considered for the 4th Platinum Vinyl Awards. However, way back in August Mac released a self titled album in time for these 3rd Awards.

A funny thing happened on the way to the voting. People with me from the start know I have a distaste for Country Music. Since Mac publicized his album as Country, one would think that would have knocked him out of the running. Well it didn't. Mac wisely didn't stray too far from Third Day and it was more Southern than their usual Southern Rock, but it was rock enough. Mac's got a great drawly rock voice which makes him instantly recognizable and puts him apart from the crowd. It also means that Mac Powell is the Platinum Vinyl Award winner for Male Vocalist of The Year. 

That concludes our first wrap up post. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

#PlatVnyl3 - The Pre-Show Album Awards

Welcome to the first ever Pre-Show Award Post in Night Beat History. I'm trying to simplify things around here, and one way to do it is to break up the awards into Show and Pre-Show, just like the big guys do. (Yes, Yes, and look where it took them. I know, we'll cross that bridge if we come to it.

The first thing up will be the minor album of the year awards. There are four of them this time. First is Live Recorded Album of The Year. After listening to the nominees again and again the judges agree. The Winner of the Third Platinum Vinyl Awards for Live Recorded Album of The Year is Dead & Alive (CD+DVD) by +The Devil Wears Prada.

The non-genre specific albums may or may not be in the awards from year to year. I mean, not everyone will do a live album. There should always be at least one compilation album, and in that light this year we will be awarding the Multiple Artist Compilation of The Year to Jesus Music Anthology: The 70's

Children's Music Album of The Year was a tough one. Not many entries for this category or the next. The winner of this years award was A Little Heart Like You by Martha's Trouble.

The final album in the Pre-Show is Folk/Folk Rock Album of the Year, and when this years winner came out, it became fairly obvious to all the judges that the bar had been set. Not to say that the category was rigged, but sometimes the cream does rise. The winner of the Folk/Folk Rock Album of The Year is The Fourth Wall by The Vespers..

When the opportunity has afforded it, I have included the new Auto Rip link for my Amazon Associate. It gives you a 2-for. You can get the download for yourself and pass along the CD as a gift. Or keep a backup for yourself. We'll be doing Song and Video Awards next time. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

#PlatVnyl3 - The Award Show Survivor

The music industry is changing, and the industry, to be civil, is clueless. I took time to vent at the industry this winter, so I wont repeat myself here. It is safe to say that a mantra of the industry is that iTunes saved the music business, but that is only partially true. The industry may still die.

• Crowdsourcing: Kickstarter and others have weakened the position of the labels, so they no longer have the upper hand in the negotiations. If tensions arise between Label and Artist, the artist leaves, starts a kickstarter campaign, and is usually the better for it. Talk about taking the bull by the horns.
• iTunes and Amazon Music are, in some cases, the only avenues an artist takes. I have noticed a "download only" option for as much as a year before a physical CD is released
• Youtube had De-commercialized the Music Video, though the labels are desperately trying to control that medium by pulling down videos.

The latest changes are in the award show industry. Surprisingly, the changes seem to favor the little guy. The Platinum Vinyl Awards hasn't, as of yet, been able to get into the "Swag Stream" to obtain free CD's to review. Our decisions are based upon purchases, free album streams, and song samples. That being said, we at Night Beat HQ haven't had any shortage of material to review. Funny the big boys can't find it. The Gospel section of the Grammy Awards is officially a joke. Three awards this year. And the Dove Awards skipped their spot in the rotation in April, and will be going from April 2012 to October 15, 2013. Now that pushes them past #PlatVnyl3 and into the beginning of the nomination pool for #PlatVnyl5. They will have missed a whole year of entries.

I will be posting results as they come in on the Award Page, and will be doing blog posts as I can. Keep with me, share the results and make your comments below, or use #PlatVnyl3 on Twitter. I am trying to get some buzz going. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply. Now, about that swag...