ROBERT HILBURN : A VOICE VOTE MAKES THE GRAMMYS LOOK GOOD

And the winners are:

Prince’s “When Doves Cry,” best single of the year.

Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.,” best album of the year.

No, there hasn’t been a recount of the Grammys.

Prince and Springsteen are the winners of the Village Voice’s national poll of 240 pop and rock music critics from around the country. The annual survey is the closest thing in the pop world to the critical overview given by such groups as the National Society of Film Critics.

So, where did the top Grammy choices--Lionel Richie and Tina Turner--finish?

Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” the record of the year in Tuesday’s Grammy ceremony, finished a respectable third in the critics’ poll. But Richie, whose “Can’t Slow Down” won the best album Grammy, didn’t finish in the Voice poll’s Top 40.

Aha! Another example of just how out of touch the Grammy voters are?

Not this time.

In comparing the Grammys and the Voice poll, it’s important to look at the Grammy nominees , not just the winners. On that basis, the best album competition was the most respectable in years. Three of the five nominees finished in the top five in the Voice poll: “Born in the U.S.A.” first, followed closely by “Purple Rain” and, in fifth place, Tina Turner’s “Private Dancer.” A fourth nominee, Lauper’s “She’s So Unusual,” was 11th.

And you almost have to put an asterisk next to Richie’s failure to finish in the Top 40. Critics are often as guilty of overlooking quality in mainstream albums as Grammy voters are of neglecting outstanding achievement among maverick forces.

Why the more progressive slant in this year’s Grammys?

It was no accident, according to Michael Melvoin, national president of NARAS. He said this week that the organization has launched an aggressive campaign to recruit newer and younger members, who presumably would be more in tune with contemporary attitudes in pop music. In the two years that he has headed NARAS, the group’s membership has increased almost 20% to 6,000.

“The program worked on a local level when I was president of the L.A. chapter,” said Melvoin, a veteran jazz composer and keyboardist. “It seemed to affect the spirit and vitality of the chapter, so I made the campaign my first priority when I stepped up to the national office.

“To me, there may be no more important challenge for our organization than to make sure that young musicians, singers and composers realize that it’s their duty to join the Grammy process. At one time, I think many of these people didn’t care for a lot of the choices that were made each year and adopted a sort of them-versus-us attitude.

“That’s what we’ve tried to combat, and I think the contemporary slant of this year’s awards demonstrates the changes that are possible. There is definitely a new spirit within the Grammys.”

In the Voice poll, critics representing a cross section of magazines and newspapers were asked to divide 100 points among their 10 favorite albums of the year. On my ballot, Springsteen and Prince finished one-two with 30 and 20 points respectively.

The Voice results, including the number of points each album received: Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” (1,757), Prince’s “Purple Rain” (1,687), Los Lobos’ “How Will the Wolf Survive?” (1,123), the Replacements’ “Let It Be” (937), Turner’s “Private Dancer” (808), R.E.M.’s “Reckoning” (793), the Pretenders’ “Learning to Crawl” (702), Husker Du’s “Zen Arcade” (658), Lou Reed’s “New Sensations” (586) and Run-D.M.C.’s “Run-D.M.C.” (523).

Joining Los Lobos in the critics’ Top 40 were three other bands affiliated with the Los Angeles rock scene: the Bangles (a surprisingly strong No. 12), the Minutemen (No. 14) and the Meat Puppets (No. 20). Though the Meat Puppets are based in Arizona, the band plays local clubs regularly and is signed to Torrance-based SST Records. Husker Du and the Minutemen, also on SST, will join the Meat Puppets and some other-label acts tonight in an SST bill at UCLA’s Ackerman Ballroom and Sunday at San Diego’s Carpenters Hall.

In the Voice singles competition, critics simply were asked to vote for their 10 favorites. Prince’s delicate “When Doves Cry” was the easy winner, finishing in the Top 10 on 111 ballots in contrast to only 71 Top 10 citations for Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark.”

The singles Top 10: Prince’s “When Doves Cry” (111 ballots), Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” (71), Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do With It” (61), Husker Du’s “Eight Miles High” (56), Van Halen’s “Jump” (52), Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” (43), Afrika Bambaataa & James Brown’s “Unity” and Run-D.M.C.’s “Rock Box” (39 each), Chaka Khan’s “I Feel for You” (37) and Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and “Time After Time” (34 each).

LIVE ACTION: Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters will make his local solo debut April 4 at the Forum. Tickets go on sale Monday. . . . Chicago will be at the Forum on April 17; tickets on sale Sunday. . . . Tickets also go on sale Sunday for two Universal Amphitheatre attractions: Dan Fogelberg, April 9 and 10, and the Wynton Marsalis Quintet, April 24.