WORD OF MOUTH GETS ACADEMY'S ATTENTION.

Byline: Fred Shuster Music Writer

Star cameos on pop albums are a dime a dozen these days, but there was clearly something special about the success of Carlos Santana's ``Supernatural,'' which swept the Grammy Award nominations Tuesday.

The album enjoyed a unique synergy with a wide range of listeners, many of whom heard the record for the first time over the summer at barbecues and family events before radio of various formats climbed aboard. In addition, the album makers revealed a stroke of genius when they asked savvy singer Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20 to convincingly sing the Latin-flavored smash hit ``Smooth,'' currently the No. 1 pop single in the country.

The difference between ``Supernatural'' and so many similar efforts to rope in a young and diverse audience was the multigenerational choice of guest artists who collaborated with the 52-year-old rock guitarist, whose breakthrough came more than 30 years ago at the Woodstock Festival.

The use of last year's Grammy smash Lauryn Hill, rap-rockers Everlast, rock legend Eric Clapton, the seductively voiced Eagle-Eye Cherry, hip- hopper Wyclef Jean and the widely popular Dave Matthews ensured the record would get noticed. Added to that sort of star power was a selection of top-notch songs, including the irresistible ``Smooth,'' ``Put Your Lights On,'' ``Maria Maria'' and ``Love of My Life.''

Additionally, it's been a long time since record academy voters took the venerable guitarist seriously even though his sweep of the 42nd annual nominations was widely predicted. ``Supernatural'' was a shoo-in precisely because it was designed to appeal to the biggest possible audience, a fact Grammy voters always note.

The concept for the album, which connected Santana - after years of dwindling sales and fusion-tinged New Age noodling - with a new global audience, was conceived by Arista Records chief Clive Davis, who first signed Santana to Columbia in the late '60s when he was president of that label. The Grammy nods were vindication of sorts for Davis, who is currently embroiled in a clash with the president of Arista's parent company over Davis' retirement plans.

``The word of mouth was the No. 1 thing on this album,'' Davis said before the Grammy announcements.

There must've been toasts all around at Santana's San Rafael home, which he shares with his wife and kids.

The Grammy nominations were also notable for one other thing - the nomination of female jazz singer-pianist Diana Krall's ``When I Look in Your Eyes'' for album of the year. Jazz albums by females, which generally sell to a cult audience, rarely get noted in such high-profile categories. However, the youthful Krall, an inventive keyboardist, has had two albums in Billboard's jazz charts for many months.

An unusually heartening category this year was best new artist, which included Van Nuys hip-hop/soul singer Macy Gray, Detroit rap-metal clown Kid Rock and Boston blues diva Susan Tedeschi. All three made well-received albums and put on entertaining local gigs during the past 12 months. Also nominated were teen-pop thrushes Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears.

Although much was made of the Latin-pop explosion, the crossover success of these artists was most evident in the best male pop-vocal performance category, which pits Marc Anthony, Lou Bega, Ricky Martin and Andrea Bocelli against each other and Sting.

The country nods, too, showed promise. Among the five albums nominated were such worthy contenders as the Dixie Chicks' ``Fly,'' George Jones' ``Cold Hard Truth'' and Alison Krauss' ``Forget About It.''

With an unprecedented 98 award categories, however, the Grammy Awards have plainly become unwieldy even though many of the awards are given out before the televised portion of the ceremony. The movie academy, by comparison, hands out just 23 competitive awards, less than a quarter of the statuettes the Grammy people hand out each February.

As a result, it often seems as though the entire music industry is simply waiting to be called to the podium. The feeling at the hours-long event is normally one of jovial backslapping, as if the fix was in long before the limos started arriving and the only suspense is which expensive champagne would be poured at the after-party.

The other complaint heard most often from Grammy watchers is the lack of quality control in the awards. Among the truly memorable albums released each year, very few get noticed by the record academy. Last year, for example, some of the best records included folk-rocker Julie Miller's ``Broken Things,'' Randy Newman's ``Bad Love,'' Basement Jaxx's ``Remedy,'' Beth Orton's ``Central Reservation,'' Keith Jarrett's ``The Melody at Night, With You'' and ``Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons.'' None received nods Tuesday.

Yet the great guitarist Jeff Beck got two nominations, Fatboy Slim's ``Praise You'' was praised, and Beck's ``Mutations'' got a nod, all in lesser categories.

So despite some optimistic moments, the reaction to Tuesday's nominations will probably be ``so what'' in some quarters - but certainly not in San Rafael.

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Photo: Santana album cover (no cutline)