Monday, June 30, 2008

Ole, ole ole ole

It's all over now, so I suppose it's back to trying to remember what I did with my evenings before Euro 2008 started!

Well done Spain - truly deserved winners of what has been a rather cracking football tournament. Right from the start, Spain were knocking in the goals, but Spain being Spain, i still felt that no matter how good they were, they wouldn't last beyond the second round, even though I wanted them to go further in the tournament.
Thankfully it was out with the old Spain, and in with the new: consistently exciting attacking skilful play, with that added ingredient which had been missing over the years - self-belief. Even the loss of David Villa didn't stop them, and fittingly it was their other star striker Fernando Torres who scored the winner in last night's final against a shellshocked, inferior Germany who (IMHO) didn't deserve to reach the final, so justice was done. Congratulations to Spain, worthy winners of Euro 2008, a tournament which was a victory for good, positive attacking football.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Retro Saturday: Mathilde Santing

It's a strange word-association but for some reason whenever I think of Julia Fordham I think of Mathilde Santing, a very talented Dutch singer from the late 80s so that's a good enough reason to feature her tonight. My favourite song of hers is "I'm Not Mending Broken Hearts": find it as ever at good old YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-slLpMd1_iM

Retro Saturday: Julia Fordham

Watching the Nelson Mandela 90th birthday concert on ITV last night (what did he do to deserve Philip Schofield???) anyway it got me thinking about 1988 - a very very special summer for me, for various reasons - which reminded me of Julia Fordham, who I quite liked at the time. "Happy Ever After" was a big hit for her that year - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9qGur8eTUg&feature=related and also "Love Moves In Mysterious Ways" which (I think) came a bit later on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQsvNucjM6s. Enjoy.

Retro Saturday: The Maisonettes

"Heartache Avenue" - what a tune!!

From 1983, they were one of the ultimate "one hit wonders" and it still sounds great today. This song was sampled by Roll Deep a couple of years ago on "The Avenue". Retro, retro, retro!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgmUwhfoSZs

Retro Saturday: Jakie Quartz

I mentioned this song on here back in August 2007 but thought it deserved another mention. "A La Vie A L'Amour" is a classic slice of 1987 Eurodisco which really should be revived - are you listening Kate Ryan???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOuwSPfmV-w

Jakie's other best-known song is "Mise au Point" from 1983, which is a French-language classic of its time.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mabU531wwDo&feature=related

Retro Saturday: The Auteurs

Was just thinking about this the other day....in late 1993 I was temping in the 'big city' and would listen to Radio 1 on the way to work every day and inevitably, some time between 8.00 am and 8.30 am the breakfast DJ of that era would always play this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gruPFrbP0MA

I don't know anything about them, but what I do know is I always liked this song.

Retro Saturday: Saint Etienne with Etienne Daho

Perfect pop as delivered by one of my early-90s favourites, this time an adaptation of Etienne Daho's classic "Weekend à Rome" with Mr Daho himself delivering some mid-song words: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJTiXmFDhcQ

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Saturday Night....

Tonight it was Boyzone night on Sky One, which meant a (very telling) documentary about the boy band reforming, followed by a live gig from their current tour.

Take That it was not.

Because, unlike the mighty Take That (the BEST-BOYBAND-EVER in this blogger's humble opinion), Boyzone only looked as if they were going through the motions. I mean...a Michael Jackson medley? "Melting Pot"? Oh come on, you can do better than that. Or maybe not. Enough already!

Prior to the Boyzone-fest on Sky One, ITV gave us "Who Dares Sings" - a new karaoke gameshow. Be afraid, be very afraid, it's a new vehicle for Ben ("Mr (no) personality") Shephard and Denise ("what am I gonna do now "I'd Do Anything" is finished?) Van Outen. And some karaoke singers. OK so it wasn't quite as teeth-pullingly-bad as Sky One's "Don't Forget The Lyrics", and it had its moments (that rendition of "I Believe I Can Fly" was TV gold) - in fact it might be so bad that it requires another viewing next week to remind us just how bad it is.

Next Saturday on BBC-1 sees the arrival of the British version of "Körslaget" retitled "Last Choir Standing", which i was looking forward to until they said that Myleene Klass would be presenting this - who said overexposed? (although we do like Nick Knowles) anyway there is a nice clip on the website of a choir doing a Maroon 5 medley and Mmmbop. This show will either be fantastic or extremely bad. Answers next Saturday.

Forget your old lawn, come over to mine (Part 1)

Never was that Salem Al Fakir lyric more appropriate!!

OK I'm going off-topic now, but I have to report that the gardening exploits of your humble blogger have gone onto a new level and my latest mad idea is to plant a lawn on a part of my sprawling back garden. After putting down soil midweek, I then put down the grass seed today and fingers crossed, seven days from now, there will be a lawn where the "no man's land" used to be!!

Fingers crossed that the local ASBO-bird population don't feed on the seeds between now and next weekend.....

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Viva España!!

Well done to Spain for an emphatic victory over a strangely under-par Russia tonight. Now you know what you have to do - get out there and win this tournament, and shed that 'underachievers' tag for ever!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Türkiye....

...you were robbed tonight. And I'm not happy :(((

Nothing personal against Germany, but tonight they were all luck and no skill, and a shadow of their once mighty selves.

Tomorrow: semi-final 2 - Russia vs Spain. Should be a cracker, hopefully: may the best team win - and whatever team that is, that will be the one that I will be supporting in the Euro 2008 final on Sunday.

Allsång på Skansen - Week 1, 24.06.08

"Stockholm i mitt hjärta....." The annual Swedish weekly singalong returned to SVT last night and was the usual mix of the good (Håkan Hellström) the bad (those singing kids) and the just plain weird (Miss Li). Christer Sjögren was there with his dancing girls and sang - what else but - "I Love Yoo-Rup", whilst Arja Saijonmaa was, let's just say, not to my musical taste. Still the good thing about Allsång is that it really does have something for everyone, every week of its summer run. Last night's show also broke viewing figures records for the series, with 2.3 million viewers in Sweden tuning in.


Above: Håkan Hellström wows the Skansen crowd (photos courtesy of Aftonbladet)

This week, for me, Hellström was superb, the show's standout performer and he set the standard for the rest of the series. I've never been been a fan of the Gothenburg singer but I had to acknowledge that he really put on a great show last night.

The real star of Allsång is of course Skansen and Stockholm itself, as the skyline provides a superb backdrop to the show. It's great to have it back again, if only to prove that summer is here - even if, where I live, we have been freezing in unseasonably low temperatures and wonder if it will ever stop raining!!

Next week: Magnus Uggla, Sanna Nielsen, and ....E.M.D. !!!!

Monday, June 23, 2008

New Fibes, Oh Fibes! stuff

Fans of Swedish pop/soul will find much to love in Fibes, Oh Fibes! I've mentioned this band on here before, but I thought it was time to mention them again - because there's a couple of new songs to listen to. Check out www.myspace.com/fibesohfibes for a couple of cracking new demo songs "Silly Lover" and "Love Child" which are very promising indeed - especially the latter, I'd love to see this released as a single. A new album should be on the way: no release date yet, but hopefully we shouldn't have to wait too long.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

German charts update

The latest DSDS winner, Thomas Godoj, has been at no.1 with "Love Is You". He has quite a rocky edge to his voice, which is a nice change for a winner of this type of show, and this is quite a decent song too. It's quite a credible rock ballad, which is change from the usual winner's song formula.

If I thought the Swedish chart had been taken over by football songs, then that was nothing compared to Germany. "Helden 2008" by Revolverheld is at no.3 and will probably climb higher as the Germans progress towards the final of Euro 2008...

Another footie song "Bringt Ihn Heim" by Oliver Pocher is also a top 10 hit. My favourite is "Supa Deutschland" by Mickie Krause, a good old fashioned footie singalong medley which includes the Eurovision theme!

Not to be outdone, the Austrian world cup song "Fieber" by Christina Stürmer is also doing very well in the German charts.

There are about 10 other football songs further down in the lower reaches of the chart, including World Cup 2006 songs from Sportfreunde Stiller and Herbert Grönemeyer.

Monrose are back with "Strike The Match", the chorus of which reminds me of that "Pop The Music" song that was out in France a couple of years ago.

Lastly, one of this blog's big favourites Vincent is at no.42 with "Miss Blue". What only no.42? He should be no.1! Maybe he should have recorded a football song....

Star Academy: whatever happened to...Gael Garcia ?

During the lead-up to the next series of Star Academy I'll be taking an occasional look back at some of the contestants from past years and find out what they're up to now.

I'll start with an old favourite from two years ago. Gael Garcia was the Star Academy 6 student who brought flamenco to the chateau. He also memorably walked off the show that year!

Gael released his debut CD "Barrio Caliente" earlier this year and I've also found a clip on YouTube of him bringing his own flamenco style to "Le Monde est Stone":




I don't have a start date yet for Star Academy 8 - hopefully it will be back to its usual time (beginning of September) and then I can watch it on TF1 whilst I'm in Nice. Auditions are currently in progress. No details have been revealed as to who will replace the profs who won't be returning this year.

As for Quentin Mosimann, his official site reports that his first single, the very jazzy "Cherchez le Garçon" will be released this week.

Nice: building site no more!!

Back in September 2005, during my last summer holiday in Nice, they were tearing up the town and building a tramway. The main shopping street (Avenue Jean Medecin) and the normally lovely Place Massena had turned into a building site - here's my photographic evidence!

Much as I love Nice, I declared back then that I wouldn't return to the city until the tramway was completed.

Well... ta-daah! It's been up and running since the end of last year and looks rather fab. I found this picture on the internet and it shows what Place Massena looks like now, with a very modern tram running through it.
There are a few videos of the tram system on YouTube, and from what I can see it runs all the way up to Place Garibaldi at the top of the old town, where you can find socca. Socca is a chickpea pancake which seems to divide people: some love it, some don't. I happen to love it so much that I took a picture of it during my last holiday:


12 weeks to go till the next one...!

Swedish Charts Update

Euro2008 mania is running riot in the Sverige Topplistan this week: firstly, the reggae-flavoured "Fotbollsfest" by Elias feat Frans who previously gave us that Zlatan song. It is a well known fact that 99.9% of football songs are tripe, and quite frankly I haven’t found that 0.01% this time. "Football Is Our Religion" by Rednex (yes, that Rednex) sounds like a German football song and is just a bit more memorable than the Elias-Frans effort. Ingen sommar utan Markoolio of course: his "Sverige Det Bästa På Vår Jord", is, strictly speaking, incorrect as they are now out of the tournament. Rather catchy song though. Finally, "Heja Sverige" by Camp Sweden featuring Chris Lindh (is that the Barbados guy?) Is the lowest placed of the Euro 2008 songs but it’s a decent enough bit of dansband-schlager.

Great to see "I’m Yours" by Jason Mraz at the top of the singles chart: why is this not massive in the UK? Also, good to see "Feelgood" by Ola climbing the chart too.

Anyway I'm off to bed now but before I go here is (IMHO) the best Swedish football song ever, from 1994, "När Vi Gräver Guld i USA" by (Anders) Glenmark, (Thomas-Orup) Ericsson & (Niklas) Strömstedt which I loved from the first time I heard it, and still love it today. And it obviously had the desired effect, as it spurred them on to a semi-final place at that year's World Cup.

Retro Saturday: Cocteau Twins

The Cocteau Twins' music figured prominently among the music I listened to between 1983 and 1986: then we probably went our separate ways I guess. Here is a video of one of their very rare UK TV appearances, on "The Tube", from 1983, in which Elizabeth Fraser shows off her totally unique, fantastic and incomprehensible vocal style on "Musette and Drums". Incredible, you will agree: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z-TC4DHv30

Retro Saturday: Pale Saints

Bit of shoegazing, anyone...? At the beginning of the 90s the critics hated this kind of music but I couldn't get enough of it so I thought it was about time we had yet another example on Retro Saturday. "Throwing Back The Apple" was the only Pale Saints song I remember, but I loved it at the time and listening again I think it's still rather fab. Typical shoegazing-style video of its time at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L4s00Fa2Hg

Retro Saturday: Dream Academy

When you mention the Dream Academy, most people of a certain age will remember "Life In A Northern Town" (which I always thought was a bit, well, wet) and I thought "The Love Parade", from 1986, was infinitely better. And it's still a lovely little pop song today too. If you don't believe me, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApRLkycJ3ik&feature=related

Retro Saturday: White and Torch

An obscure 80s treat tonight: I'd mentioned them on the playlist before but thought the big widescreen drama of their music deserved its own little Retro Saturday slot. So enjoy the brilliant "Bury My Heart" along with "Don't Be Shot" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-SCpga6WN8

Saturday, June 21, 2008

This week's playlist: that was when I ruled the world

Viva La Vida/42/Cemeteries of London - Coldplay: My most-played album of the year so far, and three of my most played tracks from it. I know it's not the done thing to say you like Coldplay, but this has single-handedly restored my faith in British music. Rant over.
Jennie Let Me Love You - E.M.D.: You know you're listening to too much Rix FM when.....
Ready To Fly - Anders Johansson: You know you're listening to too much Rix FM when...
Feelgood - Ola: You know you're listening to too much Rix FM when...
Tired of Being Sorry - Enrique Iglesias & Nadiya: French chart-topper which still floats my boat.
Shameless/Stragglers Moon - The Fratellis: more consolidation than fantastic leap forward, but the new Fratellis album is well worth a listen.
Curly Sue - Takida: the song that won't go away in Sweden, and one which I still think will eventually go big internationally.
Standing Next To Me - The Last Shadow Puppets: More retro-flavoured fun from (still) an unlikely favourite album from this year.
Cry For You - September: still hammered to death on the radio, but indisputably one of the year's enduring dance tunes. And Swedish too!!

Friday, June 20, 2008

The Square-Eyed Couch Potato: May-June 2008

Thank goodness for Euro 2008: as there has been little else on the box to inspire me over the last four weeks.

And something very strange to start with: why have I inexplicably abandoned two of the series which were once the highlights of my viewing week? I didn’t go back to "Heroes" (BBC-2, Thursdays) after the first episode. Maybe I’ll catch the repeats though.


I still think it may be a series too far for "Doctor Who" (BBC-1, Saturdays). There’s nothing wrong with David Tennant as the Doctor, and I’m sure Catherine Tate will make a feisty and fun assistant, but there’s just something missing.


Two of my new favourite programmes this month are American imports.
"Greek" (BBC-3, Sundays) is a college-based comedy drama about a brother and sister and their respective fraternity/sorority adventures. It’s extremely warm and likeable, and you’ll be rooting for almost everyone...well, except evil Rebecca and cheating Evan!


"Six Degrees" (ITV, Wednesdays) is one of the most engaging and involving new dramas I’ve seen in a long time. It’s not about police/lawyers/doctors/forensic scientists...it’s just about six people, living their lives in New York, and how they are all linked in one way or another. It’s well-acted and watchable - so why was it cancelled after one series?


The recent series of "ER" (More 4, Thursdays) ended with an explosion - why couldn’t there have been a happy ending for once? New, young characters are promised for the next (and final) series: maybe it’s just as well that it’s ending, as it has gone as far as it can go.

I may not always watch it every week, but I still make sure "Gladiators" (Sky One, Sundays) figures in my viewing schedule. Even if the new version isn’t quite hitting the classic heights and lacking the sparkle and personality of the original, it’s still worth watching.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Euro 2008: smells like team spirit

Two weeks into the tournament and Euro 2008 is teaching us one thing: it's all about teamwork, rather than the 'star players'.

The quarter-final stage began tonight. I have always been a big fan of the Portuguese national team, but this time round they were just lacking the "oomph" needed to drive them on in this competition. The problem may have been that it was less Portugal, more "Team Ronaldo" if the TV commentators were anything to go by. Ronaldo is an extremely gifted and talented player, but in this tournament he left me cold. This time his lacklustre performance - well out of proportion to his ego - coupled with "Big Phil" Scolari's ill-timed 'bye bye Portugal, see ya, I'm off to Chelsea' announcement, may ultimately have hastened their demise.

There are some certainties in life: price rises, disappointing second albums and ...Germany will always make the last 8. At least. Again they don't quite play exciting enough football to thrill me, but I get the feeling that we have yet to see the best from them.


I'm ashamed to say this, but I haven't seen Croatia play yet - that will change tomorrow when I give their potentially exciting clash with Turkey my full attention. Turkey are a battling, spirited, never-say-die team and after their performance against the Czechs, we might just expect a further shock result.

No offence to reigning champions Greece, but I'm glad they're gone as they bored me. Ditto Austria, Switzerland, Poland. France...were just shocking. And Sweden...I love your country but this time round, I couldn't say the same for the lifeless performances by the national team. (Apart from the mighty Henrik Larsson, a true legend).

Quite appropriate that the tournament is taking place in (Austria and) Switzerland, as I'm feeling a major sense of neutrality now and can't decide whether to support Holland or Spain, both of whom have played great attacking football. That's what I really wanted from Euro 2008 and it has (mainly) delivered. I'm particularly impressed by Holland, who are playing a delightful passing game, as indeed are Russia - no surprise as they're managed by Guus Hiddink - it's a pity that both will meet as early as Saturday's quarter-final as I'd liked to have seen that tie at a later stage. I've got that feeling that Holland might just do it this year and repeat their triumph of 1988!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Esbjörn Svensson

The Swedish jazz musician Esbjörn Svensson died last Saturday, following a scuba diving accident in Sweden. He was 44 years old.

His band, the Esbjörn Svensson Trio (or E.S.T.), were responsible for bringing jazz to a new audience with their own particular blend of jazz with classical influences and a unique Scandinavian flavour. Esbjörn Svensson came to my attention in 2004 when he featured on Tomas Ledin’s jazz-flavoured album "Med Vidoppna Fonster", marked by his distinctive piano playing style.

Svensson was an innovative performer who will be sadly missed.

The 900th Post!!

Yes folks this is my 900th post on this blog. 900 posts in 15 months....I really should get out more :))

Anyway I'm still having fun posting on here and discovering (thanks to Sitemeter) that there's a truly worldwide audience out there reading my humble ramblings is still very exciting and extremely moving for me. The blog universe is a wonderful place, and it's a joy and a privilege to be part of it. Once again, thanks to all of you for reading, visiting and commenting.

I haven't always been able to post lately, mainly due to lack of time and a bout of chronic fatigue which I'm finally getting over, so the post-count should pick up again soon.

OK I'm off now: bit of a late night tonight, but I'm having a well-earned day off work tomorrow to chill out....and maybe even blog!

Scooter Mania in the UK!


Confession time: I know I'm way too old for this kind of thing, but I like Scooter. There, I've said it.

Can you believe that after all these years, the German rave band are enjoying a revival here in the UK? Their current album "Jumping All Over The World" recently hit no.1 in the album charts - a sure sign of their popularity, particularly with the young "Clubland" folks. The Scooter formula is simple: hardcore-rave beats mixed with sampled old songs and topped with some distinctive shouty rapping by equally distinctive frontman HP Baxxter.

There are many Scooter-haters out there, particularly those music snobs who turn up their noses at this successful formula. Well, you know what? I like it. Scooter might well be one of the guiltiest pleasures, but their music never fails to put a smile on my face and get the old feet tapping. I'm not sure if I could sustain a full album of it, but I do intend to get "Jumping All Over The World" if only for the greatest hits CD which includes some of the band's classics like "Nessaja" and "Jigga Jigga".

Monday, June 16, 2008

The Riga Diaries: Part 5

Day 5: 23.05.08
Sax and the City/Kvass going on here then?

Despite my introduction to Riga Black Balsams last night, I had a good quality sleep which is saying something as I've been at war with a disagreeable pillow all week. "Nyhetsmorgon" is talking about how Charlotte Perrelli is going to win Eurovision. Yeah, yeah, well....they didn't know what was going to happen did they? Radio Skonto provides a retro-cheesy alternative this morning, I have usually either listened to Radio SWH (Ess-Vay-HAAAAA! I love that jingle!) or European Hit Radio, which much to my delight has played M Pokora's "Dangerous" and Danny & Therese's "If Only You" all week.

Riga is, as ever, bathed in clear blue skies and sunlight, but that constant little breeze is never far away. I think it should be nicknamed "The Windy City" if Chicago hadn't already thought of that. Decide that today is even warmer than Wednesday. One thing I've noticed over the week is that almost all of the buskers are saxophonists playing "The Pink Panther" although many of their renditions are decidedly off-colour.

Normally on the last day of our holiday we'd be speeding off at a ridiculously early hour to the airport for a ridiculously early flight home, but not this time as good old Ryanair was taking us home in the evening, for a change. Which gave us a chance to explore Riga one last time. When I go on holiday I turn into an architecture fanatic so the Art Nouveau district was a must-see. I took pictures of two well-known buildings: the Chinese embassy and the distinctive Eisenstein-designed blue and white building at 10b (unfortunately I couldn't fit the whole building in from where I was standing). Note: I haven't been able to upload my pictures due to some internal-error-thing but hope to fix that soon.

Everything in this area appears more affluent: the people, the buildings, the restaurants. The city oozes style, class and sophistication anyway but in this area it's even more apparent. Have decided to reinvent myself as a Riga girl: I'm going to grow my hair long, dye it blonde, lose two stones and learn to walk in high heels over those cobbled streets. Well I think I can manage the hair, but that's all.....!

So it's back to the Old Town for our final meal of the holiday, and we return to the Italian restaurant we visited on our first night. Faithful travelling companion, obsessed with all things Russian at the moment, has developed a taste for kvass, a sweet, treacly soft drink although I didn't really share his enthusiasm and will stick to diet cola!

There is a lovely little canal and surrounding park, a calm little oasis near the Laima clock and Freedom Monument, where we spend some time before heading back to the hotel to collect our luggage and making our way to the airport for our evening flight home.

All in all, a rather fab holiday. Just make sure that you take plenty of spending money with you - and beware of those mobile roaming rates! The verdict: Riga is a lovely, compact and rewarding little city which we're glad we visited and would recommend it as one of the best short break destinations in Europe.

Next stop....Nice! Yes we've booked our flights for our return to the Riviera in September. The countdown starts here....

The 2008-50: halfway there.

Believe it or not we are almost halfway through the year, so just because I couldn't be bothered doing anything else, I thought I’d list all my favourite songs of the year so far, just to see how many I had. I ended up with 37 songs! Of course I’m not going to tell you what they are - you’ll have to wait till my 2008-50 is published in December to see how many of them make the final list, but let's just say that it's going to take something very special to shift a certain Mr Sparro from the top spot....

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Swedish Radio P1's "Sommar" speakers....

So who are the lucky musicians invited to this great summer tradition on Swedish Radio this year then?

28.06.08: Lars Winnerbäck
06.07.08: Peter Lemarc
13.07.08: Björn Ulvaeus
20.07.08: Robyn Carlsson
25.07.08: Måns Zelmerlöw
01.08.08: Annika Norlin

Retro Saturday: Frankie Goes To Hollywood

Can it really be almost 25 years since the Frankies gave the UK music scene a much-needed shake-up? Here's a Top of the Pops performance of my favourite Frankies song, the mighty "Two Tribes" which is as relevant today as it was in 1984, and that Trevor Horn production is still fantastic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic0tVFYvRZ0

Retro Saturday: Orchestral Manoevres In The Dark

We were just discussing earlier at EuropeCrazy HQ about how much I loved "Electricity" and how much my mum loved "Enola Gay" but my thoughts then turned to "Secret" which I thought was rather brilliant too, it's not really one of their better known tracks (from around 1985-ish, if I remember correctly) but I thought it would be good to feature it here tonight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mktqwb89gco

Retro Saturday: Cook Da Books

One band from Liverpool which I thought should have had more success than they did was John Peel favourites Cook Da Books. They used to do sessions for the Peel show and also Janice Long and David 'Kid' Jensen I believe? I remember songs like "I Wouldn't Touch You" and "Caress Me Like A Flower" with great fondness.

But something very strange happened: they ended up unlikely superstars in France, of all places, as their "Your Eyes" was featured on the soundtrack of "La Boum" and became a massive hit. For a long time I hated "Your Eyes", but with the passage of time I appreciate its cheesiness.....! Make your own mind up after you visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW9UO2XE7_E

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Retro Saturday: Echo and The Bunnymen

This evening I was watching a repeat of an old "Rock Family Trees" which was broadcast last week on BBC4, I guess it's part of the BBC's current mini-season related to Liverpool being the European Capital of Culture this year. Suddenly I realised that would also be a very good theme for a Retro Saturday and why not this week!

I credit 1981 with being the year that I realised that there was more music around than what was in the top 40, and began my journey into the 'alternative' music scene.

"Heaven Up Here" by Echo and the Bunnymen was arguably my favourite album of that year, and I played it so much that it is officially worn out. Once more, YouTube never ceases to amaze me: check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i9O2UXbj24&feature=related for a performance of the brilliant "Show Of Strength" from German TV's Rockpalast.

I feel that every band I like (or liked) has that one truly great album in them, and then it's downhill all the way. For me, "Porcupine" and "Ocean Rain" and everything that came after that, couldn't match the brilliance of "Heaven Up Here".

Friday, June 13, 2008

This week's playlist: you got the power to drive me insane

Jumping All Over The World - Scooter: suddenly the UK is in the grip of Scooter-mania! And why not. Those of us over a certain age are having a nostalgia trip here - "Glass of Champagne" by Sailor, anyone?

Let It Shine - Tingsek: after a few weeks' break I've now decided that I can't stop listening to and loving this song again.

The World Begins To Look Her Age - Alan Rankine: I used to love this song years ago and have rediscovered it all over again after a couple of other music-nostalgia blogs had mentioned it. A brilliant, ambitious production from the ex-Associates man.

Bronza - Prata Vetra: It's taking me a while to get into their album, but this is my favourite track from it this week.

You Think I Don't Care - Jack McManus: I'm now a bit worried that if "Bang On The Piano" never made it, then this might not either. Still, another good, radio-friendly song. I like him.

Delirious - David Guetta: When it comes to infectious dance tracks, this man can do no wrong. And here's another one. It takes a while to get going, but it gets there.

Tired of Being Sorry - Enrique Iglesias and Nadiya: French-English reinvention of this track, and it works. And we like Nadiya on this blog, so that's ok.

42/Viva La Vida - Coldplay: two particularly fabulous tracks from their new album, which you will either love or hate.

That new Coldplay album.

At the moment: listening to bits of Coldplay's "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends". This getting-Coldplay-albums-on-their-release-date thing is becoming a bit of a habit for me as I remember getting "X and Y" the day it came out, and playing "White Shadows" and "Talk" almost until the CD wore out.

It's not that I am a big Coldplay fan, not really, but there's something that draws me in and I can't really explain it.

However, I still don't understand what Chris Martin is about though. I was listening to him being interviewed on Radio 4's "Front Row" and he walked out when it all got too much for him. Maybe he prefers to let the music speak for itself, but in that case why do interviews at all?

Anyway this album sounds rather wonderful, the bits I've heard so far. I'm loving "42" and the title track already. Is it just me or is "Violet Hill" one of the weakest songs on the album though?

On first listen, this sounds like a great, epic album and even if you're not a fan then you might still find something on it to love.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

The Riga Diaries: Part 4

Day 4: 22.05.08
That’s Majori / Black Balsams and Brainstorm

Both of us have slightly sore heads this morning...so what better than a trip to the seaside to clear them? It was time to hit the Baltic coast, just 35 minutes by train from Riga. The biggest challenge is actually getting on the train...a very high climb, not good for short-legged people like me! Once you do climb onto the train, you can enjoy the journey through the rural outskirts of Riga, which seems to be covered in forests. Jurmala is our destination - but it’s actually a collection of adjacent villages which line the Baltic coast. We get off at Majori station. Majori is best known for its collection of preserved wooden houses and they are rather stunning. We spend a lot of time strolling down the main street, which is like a real-life version of Skansen in Stockholm.


After lunch we head (via some more delightful wooden houses) to Majori beach (pictured above). We walk across the beach and literally dip our toes in the Baltic. The Baltic air is fresh and salty, and the weather bright and breezy. We may only have been standing on a beach, but it’s quite a moving and exciting experience, because this is The Baltic Coast and never before in my life had I ever imagined that I’d ever do anything like this.

But eventually we have to go back to Riga by train - just how "ex-KGB" was that ticket inspector???!!! Riga Central Station isn’t just a station, but it’s a bit of a shopping mall too! We end up (surprise surprise) in a little record shop where I buy a Now-type compilation of recent Latvian pop, whilst faithful travelling companion invests in a Russian-language album by...a Russian girl band!

Our final night in Riga and our final dinner at a small basement bar/restaurant tucked away in the shadow of Riga Castle. A real "Latvian" night too - food, beer and finally our first taste of the, ‘legendary’ Riga Black Balsams, a unique and potent local spirit. Initially it tastes disgusting, so disgusting that I end up having another one in another bar later in the evening. Extra Latvian-points also to this eatery for playing the complete works of Brainstorm/Prata Vetra tonight!

Our holiday is almost over. Have decided that even if Riga hasn’t ripped out my heart and left a million-pound ransom note, the way that, say, Nice or Paris have, it’s still a cracking little city well worth a visit. I still feel that if you want to see the ‘real’ Riga, go during the week and avoid the stag-hell which I would imagine weekends to be.

Part 5 coming soon....

Monday, June 09, 2008

Paul Steel: it's not good news

Remember I mentioned Paul Steel on here a few times last year and predicted big things for this musical genius? Well, tonight I've just found out that he's been dropped by his record label, Polydor. I know things are tough these days in the music industry, but what chance have we got of things changing for the better when original and outstanding acts like Paul are not being given the opportunity to be heard? I'm really gutted about this, and anyone who has heard and enjoyed his music will no doubt feel the same. (If he's escaped your notice so far, visit www.myspace.com/paulsteel)

Anyway we have to look on the bright side: his epic "Moon Rock" album will get released, someday. Good luck Paul, and hopefully you'll now find a record company that deserves your talents.

Allsång på Skansen 2008

Today the line-up for this year's Allsång på Skansen was announced. As ever, it's an interesting line-up, everything from the cheesiest dansband-schlager to some current hitmakers.

24th June: Håkan Hellström / Arja Saijonmaa / Christer Sjögren / Miss Li /
Bosse Parnevik

1st July: Magnus Uggla / Sanna Nielsen / Peter Jöback / Eva Dahlgren / E.M.D.

8th July: Lasse Stefanz / Amanda Jenssen / Brolle / Maria Haukaas Storeng

15th July: The Poodles / Kingen Karlsson / Rigmor Gustafsson, Kristina Gustafsson / Wei Wei / Owe Thörnqvist

22nd July: Andra Generationen / Veronica Maggio / Peter Harrysson / Beata Harrysson / Vocal Six

29th July: BWO / Abalone Dots / Nina Söderkvist / Michael Bolton

5th August: Benny Anderssons Orkester

I'm looking forward to seeing E.M.D., Amanda Jenssen, Brolle, Maria Haukaas Storeng, Veronica Maggio and BWO.

Sunday, June 08, 2008

The Riga Diaries Part 3

Day 3: 21.06.08
Market forces/Latvia's dark past/Let’s go Russian!

Another bright clear day, but after last night’s cold temperatures I seriously thought about taking my gloves! Thankfully I saw sense because today, summer arrived and even brought sunburn to my faithful travelling companion. :(

We even have a couple of Swedish TV channels in our hotel room. I end up watching TV4's "Nyhetsmorgon" before breakfast! No music channels though, which means I can't do a "Holiday Hit List" this time as I can't really name any of the Latvian songs I've heard this week.

Off this morning to the market, which is one of Riga’s main tourist attractions, and it provides a glimpse of the real Riga, away from the designer stores. Here, inside the five old airship hangars is where you’ll find everyone shopping for their weekly food supply - and this has to be the biggest food market I’ve ever seen. The extensive, endless surrounding area is full of stalls with everything from fruit, plants and flowers to clothing.

We hear lots of Russian spoken in the market, quite fitting as our next destination is the edge of the Russian quarter of Riga, where there are lots of wooden houses and towering above it all (indeed, towering above rather a lot of Riga) is the Academy of Sciences, imagine the Empire State Building reinvented Stalinist-style. Here it is.


Lunch at a pizza restaurant in the Old Town. My hot-guy shortage was considerably boosted during this lunch break, so I have very fond memories of today’s lunch-break!

This afternoon’s destination is the Museum of Latvia’s Occupation. Riga today is a buzzing, modern, Westernised city and if you didn't know better then you would never know that it had ever been anything different. Yet Latvia’s very recent history is tragic and turbulent and this museum tells the story of the 20th century, and the struggle of the Latvian people to overcome the horrors of occupation by various regimes. Many Latvians were sent to labour camps and one particularly heartbreaking aspect of the museum features various articles made by those prisoners, some of whom eventually found freedom but many perished. I wasn’t really aware of Latvia’s history apart from knowing it was once part of the USSR, but this was certainly a thought-provoking experience. If you have to visit one place whilst in Riga, make it this one.

Maybe because of its recent history, the statistics say that more Russians than Latvians live in Riga. Yet I haven’t really seen much evidence of this in Riga - apart, perhaps, from the market and "Little Moscow" this morning, or the Russian-language theatre in the old town. I thought the city would be full of Russian restaurants, but these were surprisingly few. One of them - one of the most upmarket in the city - was our destination tonight for a traditional Russian meal, accompanied by Georgian wine. Dessert ....well, I’ll let the picture below speak for itself. Hey, maybe this might get me onto Blogs of Note :))))


After dinner we headed to an outdoor bar on the square - yes, it’s a lot warmer tonight! - and watched some of the Champions League final before heading home.
Day 4 coming soon...

Is anyone "Keane" on the new "Cleopatre" song?

It would seem that the soundtrack to Kamel Ouali's "Cleopatre" musical - due on the Parisian stage in January 2009 - is full of, dare I say, cheeky little musical nods to other tunes. Firstly, "Femme d'Aujourd'hui" was rather reminiscent of "Umbrella" and now the follow-up song, "Une Autre Vie" by Sofia Essaidi and Florian Etienne, does have a little bit of Keane about that piano line. Charts In France today even goes so far as to name that tune...."Somewhere Only We Know".

Note: All this is a strange coincidence, as I was playing Keane's "Hopes and Fears" album today, which I hadn't played in ages and was commenting on how it was about time they had some new material out. Fingers crossed that it will be a return to form after the disappointing "Under The Iron Sea".

Star Academy 6: the losers take it all?

As I said already, sometimes it's better not to win a reality TV singing talent contest. Back in the day, winning "Star Academy" would automatically turn you into a big star in France. That's not guaranteed any more: series 6 winner Cyril Cinelu flopped big time - he only sold 8,000 copies of his album. That's even less than series 5 flop winner Magalie Vae!

Charts In France reports today that Cyril is now working on a gospel album, and in the meantime Universal is now pinning its hopes on three students from series 6, who will all release new material in the coming months.

First of these is Marina, whose single "Tout Me Revient" is very much in the "New-French-Acoustic" style which made her very popular during that series. They also promise new stuff from Dominique Fidanza (runner-up who should have won!) and Cynthia Brown (profs' favourite) so I'm looking forward to hearing that.

Album Review: "Rongedal" - Rongedal

Who'd have thought that the follically-challenged Swedish singing twins would be responsible for one of the year's most catchy pop albums?

I was previously aware of Magnus & Henrik Rongedal as backing-singers on an old Tomas Ledin album, and then when they appeared on Melodifestivalen as back-up to the Electric Banana Band (yes!!), but it was only when they turned up on this year's MF as artists in their own right with the brilliant "Just A Minute" that I became a fan.

I couldn't wait for their debut album, and I finally have it. The good news is that it's a very impressive debut, packed with a collection of aggressively catchy tunes which you will not be able to remove from your brain. Follow-up single "Who Do You Think You're Foolin'" is currently getting lots of airplay on Rix FM and has falsetto vocals similar to "Just A Minute". If you're expecting an album full of "Just A Minute" clones though, well there are a couple, but you will be surprised as there are also a couple of nice ballads, particularly the closing track "Let Me Carry" which is a little reminiscent of Extreme's "More Than Words".

If there is a problem with Rongedal, it's that they manage to easily mimic many other acts whilst not always finding their own distinctive sound - for example "Stroke Of Luck" could be The Ark, "Get In And Go" could be The Sweet, and "Knock Me Over" could (initially) be McFly. "Hello Euphoria" - which could definitely be a future single - also has a little guitar line which has a cheeky nod to David Bowie's "Space Oddity". They do however use their close harmonies and falsetto to good effect, and most of the tracks on the album will stand up to repeated play (which can't always be said for too many albums these days), and there is very little in the way of "filler".

The verdict: It's a professional, well-performed first effort from yet another of those Swedish acts with a typically effortless Swedish knack for making very catchy and addictive pop.

Melodifestivalen 2008 DVD.

OK so because the last few weeks have been a bit on the hectic side, I never got round to ordering my Melodifestivalen 2008 DVD until last week, and it dropped through the EuropeCrazy HQ letterbox yesterday.

This was the first year that I followed MF from beginning to end, watched it on SVT's internet stream every Saturday night, but I couldn't wait to see it again so I watched some of it this morning...needless to say BWO and Ola were top of my list, but I also loved the Bjorn Gustafsson interval act bits and the "James Bond" sketches with Kristian Luuk which still make me laugh.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Swedish National Day

Given that this blog is obsessed with various Swedish-type things, it's not escaped my notice that tomorrow is Swedish National Day. (At least I'm on time with it this year: last year I was late in mentioning that fact). Anyway have a great time if you're celebrating....enjoy!

I'm going to be quite busy over this coming weekend - no I'm not going off travelling again, just a hectic whirl of dining, shopping and entertaining (!) so I won't be back on here till probably Sunday afternoon at the earliest. See you all soon.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

The Riga Diaries Part 2

Day 2, 20.05.08
Supermodels alert!/It’s Baltic!/Turkey stuffed.

The sky is bright blue, the sun is shining, and there’s a little breeze in the air. The Riga air feels so fresh and clean and invigorating - unlike many cities we’ve visited in the past.

Discovering Riga by day takes us to the other side of the Old Town, to the Powder Tower, the Swedish Gate (one of my favourite little buildings in Riga) and through various beautiful streets which have an unreal, fairytale-like quality to them, down to the River Daugava (pictured below) which is possibly one of the "bluest" rivers I’ve ever seen.
It may not have the prettiest riverside views, but the Daugava is still worth seeing, and will take you right back to the main square and home of one of Riga’s most photographed sights - the House of the Blackheads. It's actually two buildings side by side. Here's one of them...

It wouldn’t be a holiday for me without a trip to at least one record shop. Randoms is a small, Fopp-style store staffed by young emo-trendies and stocking everything from international rock to Russian-language pop (the only one I recognised was Dima Bilan) and everything Latvian. I came in search of Prata Vetra and happily left the store with my two new purchases: their new CD and last live DVD. I couldn’t find any megastore-type record shop, that’s not to say there aren’t any though.

Still in search of some familiar sights, we crossed off the Three Brothers after lunch. These are three adjoining buildings: no.17 (above) dates back to the 1400s and is said to be the oldest building in Latvia.


In Dome Square we saw a fascinating open-air photography exhibition with contrasting images from 1987 and 2007. Of particular interest to me: one photograph of Prata Vetra, and one of a blue cow! Which I liked so much I took a picture of a picture! (above)

Double Coffee is the Latvian equivalent of Costas/Starbucks, only with nicer seats and, on this day, slightly more disinterested staff.

The Russian Orthodox Cathedral (above) is also quite a striking sight and had my camera working overtime. As you can see the sky was still a beautiful blue, and the sun was still shining.

On our first full day in Riga, I’m struck by the classy appearance of this city’s residents. They seem to just ooze class and style, and give the French a run for their money. Most of the young women of Riga look like supermodels, they walk with a catwalk swagger and navigate the cobbled streets in high heels. They also look mostly rather stunning, and my faithful travelling companion spends the rest of his holiday with his head swivelling from one supermodel to another. Great news for him, but not so great news for me as the Riga hot-guy count hasn’t yet made it out of single figures.

Dinner tonight at a Spanish restaurant near the Swedish Gate. How Latvian is that eh!!! Like every other city it seems Tuesday night is rather quiet in Riga and many of the bars are closing earlier. The weather is also - dare I say - "Baltic" tonight, but a brisk walk back to our hotel warms us up.

Back in time for the results of the first Eurovision Song Contest semi-final. The Latvian TV commentator is relentless, and the results are announced. Finalists include Russia, Norway, Finland and the bonkers Azerbaijan song, but there is no room for the likes of Slovenia, the Netherlands or Ireland. For indeed tonight, Dustin the Turkey was well and truly stuffed.

A great day in Riga, and more to come. (Part 3 of The Riga Diaries should appear here on Sunday)

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

The Riga Diaries: Part 1

DAY 1: 19.05.08
Getting in a Baltic state/ET phone home

As the plane makes its descent towards Riga International Airport, I am struck by how flat the Latvian landscape seems, and how there seems to be little in the way of urban sprawl. Arrived in Riga in the evening and located to the arrivals cafeteria for the post-landing-find-a-phone-network ritual. This is normally pretty easy, but every Latvian phone network decides that it hates my three year old, ‘state of the art today, obsolete tomorrow’ phone. Finally, when I press enough buttons, I end up with the world’s most expensive roaming rate. Even ET found it easier to phone home.

The taxi into Riga city doesn’t rip us off, and in minutes provides the views that we came for.

On arrival at our hotel, centrally located on the edge of the Old Town, we are greeted by the world’s most incomprehensible reception guy who proceeds to hand us an "aliens registration form" to complete. ET phone home indeed. Luckily it gets better when we see our hotel room: spacious, airy and very grand. It didn’t cost a fortune either, and it was a good quality base for our Riga adventures.

Later in the evening, but still in daylight, we hit the Old Town, a maze of winding streets. Before that though we caught our first sight of the Laima clock and the Freedom Monument (pictured above), two of Riga’s most famous sites, in close proximity to each other. By day the Freedom Monument is patrolled by two soldiers who do lots of ceremonial soldiery things.

The main street in Riga’s Old Town (well, I called it the main street anyway) is called Kalku Iela and has everything from all day, all night happy hour bars on the square (Livu Laukums) and fast food places, to the classiest restaurants. There is also a theatre which specialises in highbrow Russian-language plays, side by side with the type of nightclubs which have ensured Riga’s top 5 placing in the stag-party hit parade in recent years. Riga is indeed a city of contrasts, and we deliberately avoided a weekend trip as we wanted to see the 'real' Riga, not the stag-party hell that it has become, if reports on various internet forums are anything to go by.

Inevitably we end up at Il Patio, a basement/cellar Italian pizza & pasta restaurant which fulfils our first night food needs. Decided that eating out in Riga is fairly affordable, but drink prices aren’t so cheap as expected. I do try my first Latvian beer of the holiday (an Aldaris) and it's rather good. It's been a long day, so an early night is in order.
Part 2 to follow, either tomorrow night or Thursday night, fingers crossed!!

The party's going on, I guarantee

Just found out that BWO will be releasing "Lay Your Love On Me" in the UK at the end of July.


I'm very excited about this of course, as it's a much better single choice than "Sunshine In The Rain" but I just wonder now if the UK media powers-that-be, (those invisible people who choose radio playlists and decide who gets those vital TV chat show appearances) will ever "get" BWO, who may just be too poptastic and camp for public consumption in the current po-faced UK music scene. Me, well, I just think BWO are ... wonderful.

French Charts Update


Over the last few years many international artists have recorded special versions of their hits for the French-language market. Enrique Iglesias has turned "Tired of Being Sorry" into a duet with Nadiya, and rather good it is too. The French record buyers also agree as it's no.1 in the French singles chart.

"C'est Chelou" by Zaho is yet another of those very-popular-at-the-minute French language r'n'b songs by yet another new female singer. It's ok, but how many of these new acts will have the career longevity of many other French female singers?

One very popular new star of that French r'n'b genre is Sheryfa Luna, and I have rather liked her singles to date. "D'ici et D'ailleurs" is her latest top 20 hit and is quite good, but doesn't look as if it will repeat the no.1 success of her debut.

Is there no end to the horror of French kiddie-pop? Bebe Lilly is back in the top 10 with "Dans L'espace" which is as bad as you would imagine. Dum-dum-dum-dee-dum-dum indeed.

"Je Veux Te Voir" by Yelle sounds as if it could go big outside France, even if that shouty minimalist style reminds me of the (currently big in UK) Ting Tings. Not really my cup of tea though, but it does take a long time for songs to grow on me.

I was beginning to worry that more 'traditional' French music was disappearing from the French chart, but at least Raphael is back with the very nice "Le Vent d'Hiver" which might be one of his best songs yet.

For me, David Guetta made two of the best dance records of recent years - "Love Don't Let Me Go" and "Love Is Gone". His latest French chart hit - "Delirious" isn't as classic as those two, but it's reasonably euphoric and summery once it gets going, but it just takes a bit too long to get going.

Still not enough hours in the day.

Been unable to devote much time to the blog since the beginning of May - the Dublin trip, then preparing for the Riga trip, then the Riga trip, then catching up with lots of other stuff after returning home, then not feeling well last week....but now I'm determined that normal service will be resumed. Parts 1 and 2 of The Riga Diaries should finally be published on here later tonight, and I'm hoping that over the next week I'll get some charts updates and a couple of album reviews done as well.

Oh, and Euro 2008 is on the way. I'm very excited about this, as I just love this tournament, so expect a few football-y type things on here during June.

Monday, June 02, 2008

Don't throw away that turntable just yet...

I'm in "grumpy old woman" mode tonight.

Last week Woolworths announced that they will no longer be selling CD singles. Now I've never been a fan of the CD single - they were far too overpriced and I'd prefer to wait for that artist's album (or the next 'Now'-type compilation). However, there are many people out there who do like them, and once again the humble record buyer is being dictated to by "the market", in the same way that they decided that we should throw away our turntables and vinyl records once the shops became full of CDs, will those same CDs become obsolete now that "downloading is the way to go"? And before you ask, I'm not anti-downloading by any means, far from it, but the customer should be allowed to choose how we want to listen to our music.

But there is some hope. Whilst shopping in "the big city" yesterday, one smaller record store just brought back so many memories. Among the CDs and DVDs, there they were. Vinyl albums. Just like the ones I used to buy all those years ago, before I was dragged kicking and screaming into the compact disc era. I didn't get rid of any of my vinyl though: it's still here at home with me, and I've had the same hi-fi system - with turntable - since 1994.

Whether it's a reaction to downloading, or maybe the arrival of those MP3-turntables, there's a renewed interest in vinyl, and many bands are also choosing to release 7"-only singles.

For a generation (or two) of music fans, this may be a quaint novelty, but for anyone, say, 35 years old or over, "the vinyl years" were very special indeed - a time when buying an album was a very special experience. And can you really say the same about downloading a few songs off the internet to play on your tinny little mobile phone speaker?

Rant over :))

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Retro Saturday: Fluitsma & Van Tijn

My final song tonight is not a Eurovision song, but it was a big favourite of mine in the mid-90s when it was a massive hit in the Netherlands. "15 Miljoen Mensen" was written and performed by the songwriting duo Eric van Tijn and Jochem Fluitsma. It was, like many other hit singles, originally featured in a TV commercial. Find the song at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEzwmEwAPgc

Fluitsma and van Tijn also wrote "Hemel en Aarde", my favourite Dutch Eurovision song ever, which was sung by Edsilia Rombley and did very well in the 1998 contest. Find Edsilia's original Dutch national final performance at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER9kBmmZu2E

Retro Saturday: Clouseau

Clouseau represented Belgium at the 1991 Eurovision Song Contest with the rather fab "Geef Het Op". Watching their final performance now, two things particular strike me: 1) the presence of co-writer and Soulsister legend Jan Leyers; and 2) Koen Wauters' collar, which only makes me think of Harry Hill (!)
Oh, and it was 1991, so that may be a good excuse to chuckle at Kris Wauters' hair (!!)

Koen was rather sweet though :))))) and I still love this song.

Retro Saturday: Tommy Nilsson

It is probably apparent that most of my all-time favourite Eurovision entries come from the Nordic countries.

So here is "En Dag" by Tommy Nilsson which represented Sweden in 1989. If ever a song deserved to win the contest it was this one: good singer, good song, extremely fabulous songwriting pedigree (the legend that is Alexander Bard, along with Ola Håkansson & Tim Norell of Secret Service). And Tommy's big hair just ruled that year.

Find the original MF-winning performance at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnPRuYCtI2w

Retro Saturday: Ketil Stokkan

Having won the 1985 Eurovision Song Contest, Norge sent Ketil Stokkan to defend their title in 1986 with "Romeo" which is still one of my favourite Eurovision entries ever. OK it's dated, but enjoy Ketil and his rolled-up sleeves (soooo 1980s!) at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHxpc4tjpqQ and I defy you not to try out that little routine that goes with the song :))))

Retro Saturday: Ted Gärdestad

In a parallel universe, I imagine myself at a karaoke night singing this in perfect Swedish, even though a) my Swedish is rubbish, and b) I can't sing.

One of the best Swedish Melodifestivalen winners ever, from 1979. It didn't do very well that year at Eurovision - but to me it will always be fabulous.

Find the late great Ted's Melodifestivalen-winning performance at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EePXylI7TPI&feature=related

Retro Saturday: Paul Oscar

Tonight's Retro Saturday is a Eurovision special, in which I share some of my favourite Eurovision Song Contest entries with y'all :)))

FACT: The 1997 Eurovision Song Contest was the only one in my entire life that I didn't watch live (prior social engagement folks!) so on the night I missed out on the utter genius that is "Minn Hinsti Dans" by Paul Oscar.

FACT: "Minn Hinsti Dans" by Paul Oscar, the 1997 Icelandic Eurovision entry, is my most favourite Eurovision Song Contest entry, ever.

Find it (without Wogan's unnecessary mid-song interruption) at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl0gBt-ns_4