(San Jose Mercury News) - 2015 Grammys: Newcomer Sam Smith nearly sweeps top awards

Sam Smith completely ruled the Grammy Awards on Sunday night. Almost.

Only Beck's startling upset victory in the top category album of the year, for "Morning Phase," stopped Smith from becoming just the second act in history to win all four of Grammy's general field awards in a single year. The one artist to accomplish that feat was Christopher Cross, who ran the table in 1981. And only 10 artists have been nominated in all four categories at once during 57 years of the award show.

Beck accepts the award for album of the year for Morning Phase at the 57th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2015, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP) ( John Shearer )

Still, Smith, the 22-year-old British pop/soul star, won three of the four biggest categories -- record and song of the year, plus best new artist -- at the 57th Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. He took home four awards in all, also capturing best pop vocal album for his smash debut, "In the Lonely Hour," a work fueled by the pain of a failed relationship. Smith tipped his hat to the album's inspiration during one of his trips to the podium.

"Thank you for breaking my heart because you got me four Grammys," he said.

Beck's triumph in the album of the year was a real shocker -- arguably the biggest since Herbie Hancock's unheralded "River: The Joni Letters" defeated heavyweight offerings from Amy Winehouse and Kanye West in 2008. Few would argue that Beck's "Morning Phase" isn't a solid work. Yet, it would be hard to call it one of 2014's defining albums.

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The favorites in the race were clearly Smith's "In the Lonely Hour" and Beyonce's eponymous effort. The announcement was such a surprise Kanye West made a joking move to run up on stage, shades of his infamous tirade at the MTV Music Video Awards a few years back when Taylor Swift won over Beyonce.

Beyonce remains the most nominated woman in Grammy history, but she has never won the award show's most coveted trophy.

Of course, the awards are only a part -- an increasingly small part -- of the Grammy ceremony. Most people seem to be tuning in these days for the all-star collaborations and performances. Grammy organizers realize this and have geared the show in that direction. As such, the televised show featured 23 performances -- compared with just nine awards handed out, with the bulk of the trophies handed out earlier.

Here were some of the most memorable performances:

LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 08: Recording artist Beck performs "Heart Is a Drum" onstage during The 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards at the at the STAPLES Center on February 8, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) ( Kevork Djansezian )

AC/DC kicked off the show in electric fashion, zooming through the title track to the newly released studio album "Rock or Bust" and then following up with the classic-rock radio staple "Highway to Hell." Angus Young, 59, showed up wearing his usual schoolboy garb and cranked the kind of winding leads that have made AC/DC one of the biggest selling bands of all time. It was fascinating to watch the celebrities in the crowd react to the band -- especially Tony Bennett, who really didn't seem to know what to make of the Aussie act.

It's getting increasingly hard to remember when Ariana Grande was best known for appearing on the Nickelodeon TV show "Sam & Cat." All of that is fading into the past, at light speed, as Grande firmly establishes herself as one of pop's top stars. The latest step came at the Grammys as Grande melted hearts with the gorgeous ballad "Just a Little Bit of Your Heart." It was a mature, confident outing, providing further proof that Grande has a real future in this business.

The Grammys closed on a strong note, as Common and John Legend took the stage to perform a lovely version of their Oscar-nominated song "Glory" from the civil rights film "Selma."

The irrepressible West has had a strange -- some might say "strained" -- relationship with the Grammys. He's been nominated a staggering 56 times over the years, but he's famously failed to nab album of the year. Still, he's done some absolutely amazing work onstage at the Grammys. The trend continued on Sunday as he appeared, for the first time in six years, to croon a solo version of the new "Only One." He later returned to join the legendary Sir Paul McCartney and multi-Grammy winner Rihanna for the world debut performance of "FourFiveSeconds." It was the type of all-star performance that keeps us watching the Grammys.

Eric Church, by far the most exciting artist in mainstream country, was robbed at this year's Grammys. He was nominated in all four of the country categories, yet went home empty-handed. But he got a chance his strut his stuff under the bright lights, performing a version of the great "Give Me Back My Hometown" that ranked among the Grammys' most powerful moments.

It's always nice to see something even remotely resembling jazz -- or, really, anything that doesn't feature John Mayer -- at the Grammys. So, here's some applause for Bennett and Lady Gaga's version of "Cheek to Cheek." It was nice, even though there are so many vocalists better suited for standards than Gaga. The pair performs May 28 at the Concord Pavilion.

Rising star Hozier and longtime favorite Annie Lennox -- two powerhouse vocalists born 36 years apart -- brought down the house with their collaboration. It was the rare Grammy performance that didn't feel overly rehearsed. It had real energy, and synergy, as these major talents belted out Hozier's "Take Me to Church" and the Screamin' Jay Hawkins' classic "I Put a Spell on You." Fans can now officially get excited about going to see Hozier, who performs Tuesday at the Fox Theater in Oakland and April 14-16 at the Masonic in San Francisco.

Jeff Lynne might not be a household name anymore. But he's truly a pop genius of the highest order. Just ask McCartney, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban and all the other platinum-selling audience members who were grooving along to Lynne's reunited Electric Light Orchestra at the Grammys. ELO, which had its greatest success in the '70s, sounded as cool as ever as it glided through "Evil Woman" and "Mr. Blue Sky" (with a little help from Ed Sheeran). Hopefully, Lynne will follow up this Grammy triumph with a full-fledged ELO tour.

Follow Jim Harrington at twitter.com/jimthecritic.

FILE - In this Aug. 24, 2014 file photo, Beyonce backstage at the MTV Video Music Awards in Inglewood, Calif. Beyonce is competing against, Sam Smith, Beck, Ed Sheeran, and Pharrell for Album of the Year at this year's Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 8. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File) ( Jordan Strauss )