Summer Rewind: Eurovision 2010

Two months ago, this year’s Eurovision Song Contest took place in Oslo, Norway. I realise that I hadn’t posted a full review - I thought of writing one, but given the time that’s passed since the event I decided instead on an "edited highlights" package of the two semi-finals and final, accompanied by a few pictures courtesy of http://www.eurovision.tv/.

So here, finally, is the EuropeCrazy guide to the good, the bad, the ugly (and the completely bonkers) of Eurovision 2010.

THE GOOD:

Well, how about the winner for starters? In recent years I haven’t always agreed with the winning song, but two months on, "Satellite" still makes perfect sense as the winner. It's such a catchy, contemporary commercial song - written by an American/Danish songwriting team - which still sounds great on the radio, and proof that the Eurovision Song Contest has reinvented itself for the 21st century. Of course I listen to Swedish radio stations, which are not ashamed to play the song. (Unlike British radio. Which is another matter entirely.)

Germany's win was a highly significant one - they're one of the 'Big 4' who haven't always done so well in the televoting era where certain countries have benefitted from the alleged neighbout/diaspora vote. Like last year's "Fairytale", "Satellite" simply appealed to the voters all over Europe. Lena Meyer-Landrut didn't need gimmicks, stupid choreography or novelty clothes - just a young girl in a plain black dress, dancing around in a geeky-charming way :) In other words: the triumph of simplicity over hype, even if the song already had over 3 million views on YouTube prior to the contest.

However, Germany needs to rethink its plan to have Lena defend her title next year - I don't think she should compete again, as the novelty will have long worn off and they will just end up with egg on face :(

After the shrieking screamers we’ve had to put up with in recent years, 2010's presenters Erik Solbakken, Haddy N’jie and Nadia Hasnaoui (pictured below in the semi-final) were calm, capable and professional, Erik, the man with the, um, interesting hair, also proved he had a sense of humour in some of the green room snippets (the Serbian comedy-wig and then on Thursday the Lithuanian glittery pants, for example!); Haddy was an elegant co-host and Nadia brought a sense of authority to the voting.

The postcards were quite nice this year - with the country maps generated over the audience and the flash-mobs in various capitals.

The interval act wasn't the usual band of folk dancers etc but came up with a genuinely new twist - audience participation all over the continent in one of the biggest flash-mob dance routines ever! Of course Madcon's 'Glow' - the song which accompanied the interval act, has become a pan-European hit, outwith our own pathetic ESC-hating country of course.

But what about the songs? Two months on, how many of them am I still listening to? By the way these are in no particular order.

Estonia continues to be one of my favourite ESC countries and you never know what you’re going to get from them from one year to the next. After last year’s spellbinding Urban Symphony, 2010 gave us Malcolm Lincoln with the unique and very un-Eurovision "Siren". We loved it, and I still play it despite its failure to qualify to the final.

In a horrific first semi-final, along came Belgium’s Tom Dice to save the night. "Me and My Guitar" was greeted warmly by the audience both in the semi-final and final; and young Mr Dice came across very well on screen with a charming performance of a nice, straightforward song with no gimmicks, which at least deserved its 6th placing in the final. And he had taken my advice to lose the hat :)

Despite the volcanic ash which sabotaged so many spring holidays this year, Europe didn't punish Iceland, although Hera played a little green-room visual joke! My mum was impressed with Hera’s voice, (even if the tent-styling was, again, not a good look). This may have been one of 2010's more traditional Eurovision entries, but it was also one of the best.

Romania's "Playing With Fire" was a potential winner in my eyes and totally deserved its 3rd place. Paula Seling and Ovi were just great - he's so talented, and she looked amazing in that catsuit!! Love the song - it still gets a lot of play on my iPod.

Turkey may only have to turn up at Eurovision these days for a guaranteed top 5 place, but maNga delivered something completely different from the usual Turkish fare. Could have done without the unnecessary background drilling robot woman and excessive flashing lights though.

What more does Switzerland have to do, to get to a Eurovision final? Golden boy Michael sang a good song well. I could see them withdrawing like their neighbours Austria - that would be a real shame.

I was delighted to see the Cyprus entry reach the final -although it was very unusual this year as they were represented by Jon Lilygreen and the Islanders, a very good young Welsh singer and a group of musicians from, well, all over the place! I'd liked to have seen them do better, but maybe this was cancelled out by the Belgian entry which was in a similar style although a better song.

THE BAD:

The truly horrific entries which didn't make the final - Slovenia's folk/rock hybrid - as the young folks say, OMG, (and indeed, FFS); FYR Macedonia's shockingly sleazy non-song; Poland's dramatic death-by-headlock detracting from a theatrical mess; Latvia’s song - even more horrific than the Finnish drunk-wedding-song which preceded it - sung by Aisha in a dressing gown and high heels, so not a good look. Only Mr God knows why this seriously off-key effort won the Latvian national selection this year. And then there was Sweden.

In semi-final 2, Anna Bergendahl took to the stage dressed up like a 9 year old in a little-princess costume for a fancy dress party, but the party was over. For the first year since Sweden began competing in Eurovision, they did not qualify for the final, and all the audience participation and glowstick-waving in the world couldn’t change that. "This Is My Life" is an incredibly dreary song, and got what it deserved. But will Sweden learn from this? Maybe. Or probably not.

But on the plus side, we got to see Eric Saade giving the Swedish jury vote!

Norway's Didrik Tangent-Thingy impressed in rehearsals but I felt he succumbed to serious nerves during his final performance of "You Raise Me Up", sorry, "My Heart Is Yours" resulting in a very poor final placing for the host country. At this point this is where we say they should have sent (delete as appropriate) A1/Alexander Stenerud/Bjorn Johan Muri...

Ireland: they may have sent previous winner Niamh Kavanagh, a very good singer, but you wait ages for a "You Raise Me Up" and then you get two in the one contest. No that's a lie actually: I wouldn't wait any length of time for a "You Raise Me Up" :)

THE UGLY:

Azerbaijan's 'by any means necessary' campaign to win the contest. That's all very well, but the rather dull song - "Drip Drop" - wasn't worth the trouble. Eliza Doolittle-lookalike Safura ran around in her high heels trying to up the drama, but it was just laughable.

The Azeris' arch-rivals Armenia overloaded their 'song' - a load of tosh about apricot stones - with all sorts of gimmicks going on behind the extraordinarily upholstered Eva Rivas (insert gag here about having a big future ahead of her). Aargh.

Belarus’ 3+2 and their unspeakably dull "Butterflies", accompanied for some strange reason by Swedish music legend, Mr Rhapsody in Rock himself, Robert Wells...and that gimmick of the butterfly wings on the dresses, and it rendered the whole thing a tacky mess.

THE BONKERS:

Jimmy Jump's finest hour, hijacking Spain's Daniel Diges-and-his-wonderful-hair-but-incredibly-annoying-song. Mr Jump subsequently went on to have yet another finest hour, this time after Spain's triumph at the World Cup Final. Here's Daniel and his circus act, sans Jump...

Lithuania's InCulto and their Eastern European Funk. God bless their glittery pants.

Serbia - who I'm enjoying a lot more these days since they dumped the Zeljko-dirges and stopped taking themselves so seriously. Milan Stankovic was hilariously off-key and entertaining, with his blond bowl-cut hair and all-round camp wonderfulness. Not much of a song though, but as a ‘performance’ it worked!

The Netherlands' relentlessly cheerful, defiantly old-fashioned "Shalalie" and their own definition of 'organ donation' :) ....and inevitably another year that they didn’t make it out of the semi final.

Here am I, whoa! Lost and forgotten. So what if Russia’s song was a joke entry, with all that knitwear and snow and throwing the photo to the wind, the EuropeCrazy HQ jury (mum and me) thought Peter Nalitch was extremely charming and the whole thing was very sweet.

And then there was....us.

After being very well-placed (for a change) at Eurovision 2009, the United Kingdom slipped back into more familiar surroundings in the final results table. i.e. bottom of the table. Yes, last again, with only Ireland, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Albania awarding points to this shamefully dated offering. I still refuse to blame Josh Dubovie, the young singer chosen to sing our entry this year. He was a lamb to the Eurovision slaughter, and all the fancy staging and Ani Lorak-style light boxes in the world won't be enough to take away from a very obvious fact.

The. Song. Was. Not. Good. Enough.

The blame must be placed at the door of the BBC, and the Pete Waterman/Mike Stock songwriting partnership. Excuse me, Mr Stock and Mr Waterman, but check your calendars. It's not 1989 anymore, and you're not writing Jason Donovan album-track-filler. And as for the BBC, they still view Eurovision in that 1950s/1960s/1970s bubble, all boom-bang-a-bang and old fashioned countries dressed in old-fashioned clothes, singing old-fashioned songs. They refuse to accept that Europe has moved on and is setting musical trends and embracing all kinds of musical styles. An example which this narrow-minded country would do well to follow.

Apart from that time-warp, it's easy to understand why this country will never do well at Eurovision again...and it is even more apparent, two months down the line. "Satellite" may briefly have graced the Radio 2 playlist, and the song limped in at no. 30 in our own UK top 40, then completely disappeared without a trace. Over in Europe on the other hand, the song either topped the charts or made the top 5 in 15 other countries. As long as this country remains so narrow-minded about Eurovision, and European music in general, Royaume-Uni will always remain at the bottom of the heap.

Album Review: "The Defamation of Strickland Banks" - Plan B

This year, more than ever, I've been turning my back on British music. Having a blog called "EuropeCrazy" might be an indication that this is a deliberate choice, but I can definitely assure you it's not. I want British music to be good, to be great, to be innovative - not for any particularly patriotic reason, but purely because I'm a music fan, and I want to love good music wherever it's from. So I'm particularly delighted with the success of Plan B, who is one of the very few new acts who have broken through this year who are actually worth bothering about.

Versatility is also a talent to be treasured. When Plan B kicked off his music career as a gritty rapper, his music had completely passed me by at that point. The last thing you'd have expected was for his next step to be a retro-soul revelation. Who knew that he had such a fabulous white soul falsetto voice?

My first encounter with Plan B, mk II, was on hearing "Stay Too Long" and it literally stopped me in my tracks. With its Northern Soul-type beat (an immediate winner for me), bursting with urgency, it seemed to perfectly capture the spirit of a 'lads night out'.

The unusually titled album is that very un-2010 concept, a concept album, about an innocent man found guilty of a crime he didn't commit and he's sent down...so hence "Welcome To Hell"...and things get darker for the main protagonist. Yet despite the dark theme, Plan B has taken up residence on many a radio playlist thanks to the massive, catchy hit "She Said" although I prefer the follow-up, "Prayin'" which might I suggest owes a great big debt to "Beggin'" - another song which I completely love, so borrow from the best I say!

Whilst listening to this album I thought of another former favourite of this blog - Daniel Merriweather, whom I had high hopes for but his debut album was an overall disappointment. Dare I suggest that "The Defamation Of Strickland Banks" was the album that Merriweather should have made.

A further indication of Ben Drew's versatility is that he will now turn his back on the retro-soul sound for his third album, "The Ballad of Belmarsh" which will be a hip-hop album. Clearly he doesn't 'stay too long' (groan) with the same musical style!

"The Defamation...." meanwhile accurately captures a 60s soul sound and updates it for the 21st century - and defines 'soul' in the true sense, rather than the soul-less drivel which has hijacked that term in recent years. Well done Plan B.

Allsång på Skansen Week 4: Tuesday 20th July

OK, I'm almost a week late with this review but I'm painting my house at the moment and there's not enough blogging-time so bear with me...

I previously posted about this year's much-maligned summer singalong shows which the Swedish media seem to take great delight in knocking. Yet on the other hand you can't help thinking there's a agenda at work - think of our own British TV shows like X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing which get press coverage on non-stories and rumours about presenter changes and show overhauls, and all that press gets the desired result - more people tune in and watch the show.

With that in mind - the 'any publicity is good publicity' idea - SVT must have been delighted (although probably not) with the hysteria over the idea that they had allegedly approached Måns Zelmerlöw to take over from Anders Lundin. When in fact they had asked MZW if he's be interested (at some point in the future) and MZW replied yes (at some point in the future). But when did the press ever let the facts get in the way of a good story?

Last Tuesday night, 27,000 people turned up at Skansen to watch the show, just falling short of the record 28,000 who watched Lordi's appearance in 2006 (tack, Wikipedia!!) anyway the massive turnout probably had more to do with who was on the bill than a pro-Anders Lundin show of strength.

If last week was "the week that Allsång fought back" then it was important that the evening kicked off on a high. I know just the man for the job....

Salem Al Fakir - who I have been known to mention once or twice in passing - opened the show with a rousing "4 O'Clock" ...


and closed the show with a triumphant "Keep On Walking"...


Interestingly enough he didn't do an Allsång this time, but it didn't really matter as we got "I'm So Happy" in the internet-only extra-show..


It was his second appearance on Allsång; he made his debut in the 2007 season, just a few months after he had shot to fame - but since then he has gone from a reasonably well known artist to superstar status. Allsång with its audience of all ages and musical tastes, was a perfect environment for Salem's music which appeals to everyone.

Salem has many young fans at the moment and the same could be said for his friend and fellow talented artist Oskar Linnros. The crowd went crazy for Oskar and who could blame them? He gave a fabulous and energetic performance of debut hit "Ack, Sundbyberg"...


Oskar followed that up with an Allsang: "Vem Kan Segla Förutan Vind" and if you caught the extra-show on SVT's website then he also performed the excellent "Från Och Med Du" which was co-written with Christian Olsson from Fibes, Oh Fibes! As if Oskar isn't musically talented enough, he collaborates with some other brilliant musical talents as well!!

Allsång being Allsång, it was inevitable that some of it would be hit-and-miss. At one point it appeared that trumpet-playing, bagpipe-blowing multi-instrumentalist Gunhild Carling was monopolising the show and becoming a bit annoying, but I have to admit she is talented even though that's not my kind of music.

The Real Group seem to have been around forever. Back in 1996 on my first trip to Sweden (Gothenburg) I remember going to Liseberg and seeing a sign advertising their concert there. Yes they are still going and still doing the acapella thing, on this occasion a medley of Swedish-written pop hits.

And then there was Thomas DiLeva, who I vaguely remember from a few years ago but couldn't remember what he looked like. EuropeCrazy readers of a certain age may or may not agree, but when I saw Mr DiLeva he reminded me of Doctor, from Doctor and the Medics, y'know "Spirit In the Sky" and all their other hits....umm.....well "Spirit In The Sky" anyway. At least Thomas DiLeva had many many more hits, the one I remember best is "Vi har bara varandra" which he played at Skansen.

And as for Anders Lundin? He seemed to have a little more 'oomph' although I still feel his time is up, but well done to him anyway for rising above all that media pressure.

IMHO we've seen the best show of the series and it'll be downhill all the way, but I'll still be watching regardless...

Summer Rewind: The World Cup

So what will we remember about the 2010 World Cup which took place in South Africa between 11th June and 11th July 2010? The top quality football? The entertaining individual stars? Matches overflowing with goals?

NOPE!! The main thing I'll remember about this year's World Cup is..BZZZZZZZZZZ...the Vuvuzela!! To some it was an instrument of torture, to others it was music to their ears. Me? I loved it!!

South Africa did a fantastic job in staging the 2010 World Cup, despite the prophets of doom having written it off before it even started, with talk of delays and organisational nightmares. What we did see was a colourful and professionally staged event, although only time will tell whether the success of the event will have made any difference to the day to day lives of the real people of South Africa, not the politicians and the dignitaries in attendance at the various games.

As for the actual football, 2010 World Cup was one great big massive let-down. Having said that, I still watched almost all of it, but compared to those tournaments of the past which are still very special to me for various reasons, 2010 just seemed to sum up the state of world football at the moment. That is: full of overpaid prima donnas more interested in their next (obscenely huge)pay cheque than entertaining the world's football fans. I won't name any of them in particular, but those tipped to be the big stars just flopped. Even my team, Argentina, won't escape my criticism - despite Lionel Messi's undisputed talent, a combination of stifling man-marking and off-target shooting meant that he was one of the major disappointments of the tournament.

In fact that was my main criticism of most of the strikers on show - they should have gone to Specsavers as many of them definitely needed an eye test. Never mind introducing equipment to tell whether a ball was over the line or not (!) ...they just need to make the goalposts twice as high and twice as wide. Bigger goalposts = more goals. But even then, they'd still miss :)

Aah yes that brings us to England, tipped as usual by the droning pundit brigade prior to the tournament as potential winners...and in predictable style they failed to deliver. Perhaps the omens were in the World Cup song - 1990 had the best football anthem ever ("World In Motion") whilst 2010 had...."Shout for England" by Dizzee Rascal and the loathsome James Corden. As if this aural torture (gimme a vuvu anyday!) wasn't bad enough, ITV felt the need to give Corden screen time after every live match. A sign, not that we needed one, that Britain's biggest commercial TV channel is well and truly in deep s**t.

It was the year when France and Italy, both recent world-beaters, couldn't beat an egg and couldn't even make the second round. The French team took up the national pastime - going on strike - whilst Italy were sent home to rethink their style of play. Portugal (another one of my faves) also failed to impress me, with star man Cristiano Ronaldo probably off to check his reflection in a passing mirror or something. And as for Brazil - they were just a disgrace to the name.

The lack of goal-averages continued into the knockout stages and my frustration over the poor quality of the games continued...

One of the few teams to impress me though was Germany, who brought a mix of youth and experience to the tournament and by the time of the next World Cup they could be potential world-beaters. I was also impressed by Uruguay, so it was highly appropriate that my favourite match of the whole tournament was the normally meaningless 3rd place playoff between the two sides, which saw Germany triumph.

There were a number of new teams in the tournament, and some who hadn't played in a World Cup for a long time. I wonder what became of the North Korean side after their first round exit???

Before this year's World Cup, Spain were hotly tipped to do what they'd never managed to do before - to actually go on and win the World Cup. Although they had impressed me two years ago at Euro 2008, which they won of course, I was less impressed with their showing in South Africa. It was as if they were doing enough but no more, as if they were holding back, in an automatic-pilot run of victories on their way to the final.

By 11th July the only team that could stop them was Holland, who had enjoyed an unbeaten run and played some rather nice football along the way, even though I never really rated them as highly as the legendary 1974 'total football' side or my particular favourites, the 1988 European Championship winning side.

In this year's World Cup final, Holland abandoned total football for total wipeout, as they tried to take apart the Spain side one by one. In a tournament marked by many a questionable refereeing decision, the busiest man on the park was the ref, who struggled to contain the constant torrent of fouling and brutality by the Dutch team, who were completely unrecognisable from the skilled and promising outfit from earlier matches. Spain, already acclaimed as moral victors, struggled to score and had to wait until the second half of extra time for Andres Iniesta to finally find the net. Spain's lack of goal action was no surprise here, as they had the lowest goalscoring total of any World Cup winners - but the least goals against too. Perhaps that sums up everything that's wrong in the modern game?

However, I was very happy for Spain: they deserved their win as we would all have been pretty disgusted had Holland won, playing like that.

Above: the ref's seeing red. (picture courtesy of http://www.bbc.co.uk/)

Above: Spain celebrate being the world's best football team. (picture courtesy of http://www.bbc.co.uk/)

Only four years to go till the next World Cup!

Album Review: "Night Train" - Keane

The casual radio listeners could be forgiven for thinking that Keane’s recorded output stopped after "This Is The Last Time", as none of their subsequent singles have been a fixture on any radio playlists since then.

So I was pleasantly surprised to hear their most recent single, "Stop For A Minute" getting regular airplay on my local radio station recently. Keane have been away for a while, but they’ve been working hard on new material and been prolific enough to release this mini-album as a stopgap between "Perfect Symmetry" and their fourth full album.

Keane’s critical acclaim for "Perfect Symmetry" didn’t quite translate into commercial success as it seemed the fickle British record buying public had moved on. The band do however have a loyal fanbase who put "Night Train" into the top 10 albums on its release, although the state of the British singles chart suggests that a band like Keane will probably never make the top 20 singles chart again. So it was no surprise that despite the airplay, "Stop For A Minute" failed to chart.

"Night Train" is further proof that Keane are one of this country’s best bands - although remain extremely underrated following the initial hysteria of their debut album "Hopes and Fears" which for me remains their best work. However they continue to musically develop and explore new musical styles.

"Back In Time", which follows a short instrumental intro track, sees Keane in more familiar territory, then the aforementioned "Stop for a Minute" has a guest appearance from rapper K’naan, who’s currently burning up the worldwide charts with that great little World Cup song "Wavin’ Flag".

"Clear Skies" is a more acoustic flavoured song which is well worth a listen.

If a second single is to be released off the album (although I doubt this - I could be wrong though?), "Your Love" would be a great choice. This is a major departure for the band as it features Tim Rice-Oxley on vocals (did I ever tell you that I had a minor crush on Mr Rice-Oxley??) - he’s not just a pretty face but a talented songwriter and rather good singer too. When you have such a great vocalist as Tom Chaplin it could be quite intimidating stepping out into the spotlight, but Tim does it with some style. You can see why there are some well-documented ‘power struggles’ within the band.

"Looking Back" er, ‘borrows’ from the Rocky theme. Another track which features K’naan. I’m not sure if Keane and rapping works, but they seemed to enjoy it. "Ishin Denshin" is a bit strange, and closer "My Shadow" is a U2-style building ballad, but I wouldn’t be too bothered if I heard it again.

"Night Train" may be a little patchy in places, but it proves yet again that Keane have a lot of life left in them yet, and it's enough to keep the fans happy until the next album comes along.

Album Review: "Body Talk Pt 1" - Robyn

With "Body Talk Pt 2" on the way and already causing much excitement I thought I'd better get a move on and get my review of Part 1 out of the way :)

It’s been a long time since Robyn released her hugely successful self-titled album. So it’s about time for another one. Or in Robyn’s case, another three (!) Yes, this is the first part of a trilogy of new albums from ‘the killingest pop star on the planet’. But is this all killer and no filler?

Robyn has her own distinctive musical style which has certainly influenced the recent crop of electro-influenced female singers. It’s clear that she’s not like all the other girls though... Those acts who were last year’s next big thing will fade fast but Robyn will still be around, because she's not a one-dimensional bandwagon jumper: instead she has the talent, the versatility and she does it all on her own terms.

A fact that’s very obvious in the first track on the album, "Don’t F****** Tell Me What To Do". Unfortunately it’s a little repetitive, with the singer rapping about all the things that are ‘killing her’. It’s, um, different I guess, but I don’t think I’d be giving this one repeated listening.

"Fembots" was the first song we heard from the album, and it combines a cute and catchy chorus line with something a little more leftfield, although the rest of the song isn't as good as the chorus.

The album’s high point is "Dancing On My Own". When you hear this winning combination of melancholic lyrics and pulsating electronic beats - a formula which previously worked so well on "With Every Heartbeat" you can see why it was chosen to be the album’s first single. Robyn makes pop music which sounds effortless - "Cry When You Get Older" is a good example of a catchy pop song and if you had any doubt that Robyn could turn her hand to other styles check out "Dancehall Queen" - electro-reggae.

"None of Dem" - a collaboration with Royksopp, with whom she worked on "The Girl and the Robot" isn’t quite as good as that track but it’s a grower as it goes on.

"Hang With Me" is a lovely piano ballad - you get the feeling that Robyn ‘means it’ and that’s what sets her apart from all those other female acts. Of course this track has now been remade in a dance-version and opinions are divided. For what it's worth though, I like both versions - which yet again says a lot about Robyn's talent: the emotional pull of the ballad version and the electro-dance remake both pack a punch.

Finally, Robyn puts her own distinctive stamp on traditional Swedish folk song "Jag Vet En Dejlig Rosa" - I particularly love it when Swedish pop stars sing in their own language!

All in all, "Body Talk Pt 1", on its own may not be an absolutely classic album, but it may just turn out to be an important part of a classic trilogy. Roll on part 2!!

Album Review: "Now 76" - Various Artists

"It's back!!!" as the TV ad used to say. But things have changed. Once upon a time I eagerly awaited the release of Britain's longest-running and most successful chart hits compilation album. But with the British singles chart in steep decline, I inevitably greeted the latest in the series with a weary shrug instead of gleeful enthusiasm.

It's not the fault of the album's compilers as they have so little in the way of chart hits to go on - since the arrival of the download single I had hoped that this would call a halt to the pre-download trend of 'in at no.1 one week, dropped to no. 23 the next' but instead the chart has become so stagnant that you could take a break from looking at the chart for a few weeks and on your return you would still find the same songs.

So as I said they don't have too much selection of hits to choose from, but they manage to get an accurate reflection of the UK Top 40 at present - a mix of American pop, tedious r'n'b/grime, kiddie/X Factor pop and the odd dance track. Highlights are few and far between - only Robyn, Example, Scissor Sisters, K'naan, Swedish House Mafia, Train and David Guetta get the thumbs up from me, otherwise most of it just sounds like the Galaxy Radio playlist, and if you are "lucky" enough to live in a reception area for that station then you'll know that's definitely not a good thing.

If we can be reassured on one thing, it's that pop music goes in cycles, and that this musical hell shouldn't last too much longer. And for everything else, there's the music blogs: where you will discover more good music than you ever thought existed!!

Summer Rewind: the Swedish Royal Wedding

(picture courtesy of Prolineserver 2010, Wikipedia/Wikimedia Commons)

I'm not a royalist by any means, but I've always been fascinated by the Swedish Royal Family for some reason. So needless to say I was very interested in the recent Swedish royal wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling, which took place on 19th June in Stockholm.

In the lead-up to the wedding, the Love Stockholm 2010 festival took place in the Swedish capital, which featured a number of events and free concerts all over the city, featuring some of the country's top musical artists. The event attracted 2 million people and guess whose concert attracted the biggest crowd (10,000)??

Given the country's strong musical heritage, the royal family have always been linked with Swedish music: top Swedish artists appear at the annual Victoriadagen concert every year, for example. On the night before the wedding, a gala concert took place in the Stockholm Konserthuset, attended by all the royalty and dignitaries in Stockholm for the wedding, and the guests of honour were of course Victoria and Daniel themselves. The concert featured Malena Ernman, Magnus Uggla, Helen Sjöholm, Peter Jöback, and a reunited Roxette singing ‘The Look’

But the best thing about it all? This song, specially written and performed for the happy couple...



As for the wedding itself, it was a natural and joyous occasion. Victoria, in a simple but classy dress, was a happy and serene bride, and Daniel had that usual facial mix of admiration and embarrassment going on (!). Unlike many royal weddings, where the spouses are headhunted for the sole purpose of an "heir and a spare" with no consideration whatsoever given to, well, love, at least Victoria dug her heels in and made sure she actually married someone she loved, rather than someone she was told to marry. I hope they have a long and happy married life together.

On a final musical note, two of Sweden's biggest musical stars, past and present - Agnes and Björn Skifs - got together to perform a specially written song at the wedding ceremony. Here's "When You Tell The World You're Mine" which has remained at the top of the Swedish singles chart since the wedding.



SVT has extensive coverage of the wedding which is still available at the following link: http://svt.se/2.125172/det_kungliga_brollopet?lid=index_1165612&lpos=sajt&from=innehall_ao

German Charts Update

World Cup mania in the German singles chart: Shakira’s "Waka Waka", K’naan’s "Wavin’ Flag" and various other football/African themed songs - "Gimme Hope Joachim" by Basta (self-explanatory) and "Helele" by Velile & Safri Duo, which I immediately recognised as "Aie a Mwana" with new lyrics. Once a Bananarama fan, always a Bananarama fan :))

Down in the very lower reaches of the chart there are some old footie-themed songs too - "Zeit, Dass Sich Was Dreht" by Herbert Grönemeyer Feat. Amadou & Mariam, and bizarrely "Three Lions" which has always been popular in Germany of all places!

Although Britain doesn’t seem too interested in OneRepublic anymore, they have been doing well in Europe this year, firstly with "All The Right Moves" (one of my favourite songs of 2010) and now the uptempo "Marchin’ On" which proves that there’s more to the band than just Tedder-ballads.

One of the great things about checking out the European charts is that you occasionally discover some other non-European acts who may have escaped your attention. Robert Francis, climbing the chart with "Junebug", is an American singer who I’d never heard of until now. Musically he’s not reinventing the wheel, but this song was unusual enough to grab my attention. And being totally shallow here, I think I’m just a little bit in love with him. So allow me a completely shallow moment here, and a gratuitous picture of Mr Francis.

Lena-mania seems to have faded a little, as "Satellite" has begun its descent down the chart and her other songs which previously charted around the time of Eurovision are now nowhere to be seen. But it's time for her new single "Touch A New Day", and it will be interesting to see how well that does.

Of course the "summer hit" is alive and well in Germany - in previous years we’ve had Culcha Candela and Marquess bringing some summer musical vibes, this year it’s Der Checker with "Checker Der Vollstrecker" which has the kind of beach-themed video you’d expect from the ragga-style track.

Summer Rewind: The Playlist

All Day Love - Salem Al Fakir: do I really have to say how brilliant this is??
4 O’Clock (Adrian Lux Remix) - Salem Al Fakir: pop perfection reinvented as killer dancefloor anthem.
Skisser för Sommaren - Kent: catchy standout track from a smashing new album.
Love Will Always Find A Way (Damien Adore Remake) - Fibes, Oh Fibes!: great band, great song, and of course great remixer!
Wavin’ Flag - K’naan: A song which goes all the way back to our Bratislava holiday and which I’ll always associate with this year’s World Cup, even if the tournament was dull.
Doot Doot - Freur: a song which was ahead of its time and which I’ve recently rediscovered - it sounds better than ever. And I didn't realise until recently that the people behind this band went on to form Underworld!
Dirty Picture - Taio Cruz featuring Ke$ha: This shouldn't be in my favourites list but it's one of those so-bad-it’s-good songs which somehow managed to become a Friday night EuropeCrazy HQ favourite after a few glasses of wine :)
All Time Low - The Wanted: one of the best pop songs of the year, by a new boyband to get really excited about. Can’t wait to hear their album.
Misery - Maroon 5: trying to capture the glory days of "This Love" and reasonably succeeding. I still like them, even if they are no longer "in vogue" in this country anymore.
Hygiene Squad - The Ark: completely bonkers track from their latest album "In Full Regalia" which still hasn’t grown on me in the way I thought it would. It’s taking its time...

Album Review: "En Plats i Solen" - Kent

It’s been a prolific period for "Sveriges största rockband" Kent. Hardly any time has passed since the release of "Röd" but just a few months later here they are, back again with their latest album. After the cold, stark electronic sound which characterised their last two albums, "En Plats i Solen" sees the band return to more conventional instrumentation and the result is, dare I say it, their most "pop" album yet.

Even the cover is different from the typical, distinctive Kent album sleeve - it looks more like a compilation album of 80s summer love songs, or maybe that’s just my weird take on it :)

Further evidence of this is the appearance of "Skisser för Sommaren" in the top 10 most played tracks on Swedish radio last week - they haven’t had an ‘airplay hit’ since "Ingenting" but I doubt the band will be too troubled about that. "Skisser.." starts off with a ZZ Top-style drumbeat and turns into a very instant song with an anthemic chorus which sounds good on commercial radio.
Damian, in his review of the album at the excellent Swedish Stereo blog (by the way you must check out Swedish Stereo, if you haven’t already done so!), noted the similarities within the album’s opening track, "Glasäpplen" to "Ingenting" and as that’s one of my favourite Kent songs then needless to say I like this one too! "Ismael" sounds as if one of those Swedish radio remixers has been let loose and it’s a very accessible song.

"Ärlighet Respekt Kärlek" has an even more anthemic chorus; "Gamla Ullevi" is one of their most accessible songs of recent years, and I would even dare to describe "Minimalen" as funky and danceable, a description that you wouldn’t normally use to describe Kent! It has a little Empire of the Sun vibe to begin with, and then gives way to a very danceable groove.

Despite its title, "Team Building" is in Swedish, as is all Kent’s recorded output. In the past they tried to break the international market and recorded a couple of albums in English, but then returned to concentrating on what they do best - making music in the Swedish language and concentrating on the Swedish market. If you are a non-Swedish speaker, their official website www.kent.nu has forums in various languages, including English, and that messageboard is well worth a visit.

This is a very good album, from a band who have always maintained a high standard all throughout their musical career. If you haven’t been familiar with Kent’s music then this is a great place to start.

The mystery of Allsång, Lotta, and the missing viewers

It sounds like a TV crime drama....but the drama is being played out in the Swedish media at the moment, as Swedish TV’s two rival singalong programmes continue to lose viewers week by week. Needless to say, the Swedish tabloids take a morbid delight in bashing this great summer tradition, and if Allsång-bashing was an Olympic sport, then certain Swedish newspapers would win a gold medal!

SVT's Allsång på Skansen has been a summer TV tradition since 1979, but three episodes into this year’s run and the series has had its worst ratings in 10 years. And returning to the "crime drama" theme, it was beaten in the ratings by Midsomer Murders, an unfathomably popular and incredibly dull British crime show.

OK I'll agree Allsång's not for everyone, it's distinctively Swedish, it's cheesy and occasionally unwatchable - it really does try to be all things to all people - and the resulting pick'n'mix won't appeal to everyone but I will always check out one or both singalong shows every week as there is usually someone I'm interested in seeing. For example week 1 had The Ark, week 2 Eric Saade, and then Darin on week 3.

Why the drop in viewers? Well, I don’t live in Sweden but even I know that the country has been enjoying one of its hottest summers in years. And when it’s hot, people don’t want to watch television! And then there was the World Cup. And when the excuses run out there’s always that old favourite....’Anders Lundin must go!"

One of the columnists in Aftonbladet the other day suggested that Lundin’s time is up - and that he should be replaced by none other than Måns Zelmerlöw. And I completely agree: he would be a perfect candidate - a great singer and entertainer with mass appeal to both young and old alike. If Måns continues to put his music career on hold, and concentrate on musicals/TV presenting, then SVT could do a lot worse than approaching him to host next year: especially after his successful efforts at presenting Melodifestivalen. Maybe SVT needs to let acts promote their new singles, rather than have them performing an old/recent hit, which would give artists even more incentive to appear and there would be something fresh for the viewers too.

EDIT 19.07.10: in an exclusive interview with Aftonbladet today, MZW revealed that he has been asked by SVT if he'd like to present the show sometime in the future...http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/article7488188.ab

As for the "new kid on the block", TV4's Monday night singalong Lotta på Liseberg, returned for a second season this summer, despite being tipped for the axe after being panned by the critics last year. It has half the viewing figures of Allsång, and seemingly half their guests too, as some Swedish stars are appearing on both shows this summer. Maybe the allsång-concept is spreading itself too thinly? I guess that if one of the shows was to be axed, it would be Lotta's, as SVT's Allsång is far too established to drop.

It may be trendy and fashionable to knock Allsång, but there's something so reassuring about hearing the opening chords of "Stockholm i mitt hjärta" and realising that summer is here, and wishing I was Swedish :)

Also, when you live in a country where music programmes on television are now almost non-existent apart from the awful talent shows (even Swedish Idol is a million times better than X Factor), then you realise how lucky the Swedish people are to have a variety of musical talent on prime time TV every week. And thanks to the internet, those of us outside Sweden get the chance to see it too.

My interest in Allsång will reach its peak this coming Tuesday as this week's guests include none other than Oskar Linnros and Salem Al Fakir. Prepare for wild enthusiasm on this blog and at Planet Salem in the coming days ;)

Album Review: "Vilja Bli" - Oskar Linnros

Back in this blog’s early days (summer 2007) one of its earliest Swedish musical discoveries was the young rap duo Snook, comprised of Oskar ‘Kihlen’ Linnros and Daniel Adams-Ray. Their "Är" CD became a firm favourite with its mix of sharp lyrics and elaborate musical backdrops. The duo had been critically and commercially successful and I had hoped to hear more music from them, but they stopped making music together: Adams-Ray concentrating on his "Lagom" clothing line and Kihlen working with Maskinen, and his talent as producer coming to the fore on his then girlfriend Veronica Maggio’s Grammis-nominated "Och Vinnaren Är..."

Spring 2010: out with the old rapper Kihlen, and in with Oskar Linnros, solo artist. I welcomed the news of his return, with much celebration and anticipation of his debut solo album which for me would be one of the most eagerly awaited Swedish album releases in a year where there has already been many of them.

And it doesn’t disappoint. Linnros is a revelation, with an intelligent musical heartbeat and quality pop music running through his veins. Some of Snook’s material certainly hinted at that, but here we have a top quality album that sounds like nothing else at the moment.

Like many in a long line of Swedish ‘do-everything’ artists (Salem Al Fakir, Tingsek...) Oskar Linnros is a multi-talented singer, songwriter, musician and producer.

The album starts fabulously with the pounding "Genom Eld" which for about 10 seconds brought Nordman to mind (!), and then turned into a great big life-affirming drum-driven anthem. Total fabulousness indeed.

The retro-flavour which ran through Maggio’s album is a significant feature on "Vilja Bli" - there is an almost Northern Soul-vibe going on in the hugely successful single "Från Och Med Du" and the album’s first single "Ack, Sundbyberg".

There’s a very good production on "Debut" (which makes good use of stereo!). "25" is maybe a little too busy but I can imagine it working well as a live track.

"Annie Hall" starts off with a "My Life Would Suck Without You"-riff but is altogether more chilled and is one of the album’s best tracks.

Reviewer after reviewer cited Oskar as this decade’s successor to the likes of Orup in producing intelligent Swedish-language pop. A lazy comparison maybe, but I can see where they’re coming from. Parts of "Din Mamma" for example scream "Orup!!!" But rather than being the second Orup, Oskar Linnros is....the first Oskar Linnros and we should celebrate the arrival of a bright new talent in Swedish music, and like all the best Swedish musical geniuses (you know who) he takes influences from here and there, past and present, and turns them into something new and completely accessible.

In a recent Aftonbladet interview, http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/article7449539.ab Linnros stated that there is "no love" between himself and Daniel Adams-Ray any more. And what of the other half of Snook? Well he too is now a solo artist: first single "Dum av Dig" (try not singing "Got My Mind Set On You" to it) is out now and his debut album will follow in September 2010. Snook, it would appear, is a million miles away now, but at least we now have two solo artists to get excited about.

Oskar Linnros will appear on SVT's "Allsång på Skansen" on Tuesday 20th July. More information at http://svt.se/2.37615/allsang_pa_skansen?lid=index_2059174&lpos=sajt&from=innehall_ao

Oskar's official website: http://www.oskarlinnros.se/

EuropeCrazy is back!!

Hello again!!

I decided to bring the blog back 24 hours earlier :) with a slight redesign as you will see. Those new Blogger templates are very tempting although I'm keeping it simple for the moment.

Feeling revived and refreshed after this blog's 6 week break. The time has flown in so quickly! At the time I decided to put the blog on hold, it had been a bit of a stressful time which wasn't helped by a bout of nasty back pain which meant that I couldn't do very much apart from sit around watching the World Cup on TV, and catching up with a few outstanding things which needed to be done. Happily I'm now feeling a lot better on all counts!

Over the next few days I'll be running a catch-up of what's been going on over recent weeks. I'm calling it "EuropeCrazy's Summer Rewind" - OK I know that summer isn't over yet, although where I live you could be forgiven for thinking that it was, with all the torrential rain during the past week!!

I'm particularly touched that EuropeCrazy has continued to have visitors during this 'down-time' and I can only thank you all once again for visiting. However I'm well aware that "if you blog it they will come" so I'm hoping to update this blog more regularly now.

19th July...

....this blog will be back. That's the plan anyway :))

Frank Sidebottom R.I.P.

Chris Sievey was a unique comic genius who created one of the most memorable comedy characters of all time: Timperley's very own Frank Sidebottom, the musical genius with the papier mache head, and let's not forget his hand-puppet 'Little Frank' ....

I was very sad to hear that Chris died yesterday, aged 54, but he has left us with a lot of happy musical memories which always raise a smile.

His final public appearance, singing his very own World Cup song "Three Shirts On My Line":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxcS3OUrgUk

There's lots more fabulous Frank clips on YouTube, so check them out.

Unfinished business.

Summer is here, even though today's weather has been non-stop torrential rain. Anyway it's June, and the World Cup is almost here! Which means that I'll be stuck in front of the telly for most of the time watching the footie. And when I'm not doing that, I'll be getting out and about and enjoying the so-called-summertime. Or listening to music, or catching up with some overdue reading. (And that's just in the leisure time - work is also going to be very busy!)

What is this all leading to, I hear you ask? Well I thought it would be as good a time as any to take a little break from posting on this blog and at Random Ramblings, probably for at least the next 4 weeks or so - although during that time I will post that long-overdue Eurovision review, and maybe some other vaguely urgent stuff, who knows?

Planet Salem will continue with tour updates and other news - you don't get rid of me that easily ;))

To all my readers and fellow blogging friends......have a great summer!

The Square-Eyed Couch Potato: May 2010

Bit of a surprise that I actually managed to watch any TV last month, between blogging commitments, ropey health and the small matter of a holiday...anyway here goes.

I always enjoy music documentaries so have been watching "I’M IN A ROCK N’ROLL BAND" (BBC2, Saturdays). Narrated by the ever-wonderful Mark Radcliffe, it doesn’t particularly tell us anything we didn’t know already about being in a band, but it’s still been ok for Saturday night viewing. It’s the usual format of music clips and talking heads, but thankfully this time the Z-list comedians were kept to a minimum. I deliberately missed the final show, which was one of those "who's your favourite" poll-type things...zzz.

During the 1980s, my favourite band of all time (New Order) were renowned for never giving interviews: enigmatic but frustrating. Fast forward to 2010 and you can’t get away from them! Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner and Steven Morris have all turned up in the aforementioned BBC2 documentary, but that’s not all: Bernard recently made an appearance in "SONGBOOK" (Sky Arts). (Confession time here: I very rarely watch Sky Arts, but really should watch it more often). Anyway this was very interesting for fans of all of Bernard’s past musical adventures as he spoke about Joy Division, New Order and Electronic and played a few acoustic versions of old songs with a couple of bandmates from his new venture Bad Lieutenant. Good stuff.

Still enjoying "WALLANDER" (BBC4 Saturdays/Thursdays). I’ve reccorded the last few episodes and still working my way through the backlog. It took me a little while to get used to the programme without Stefan and Linda being there, but it’s still such a top quality show. The Swedish version is a million times better than its British remake: it doesn’t have to spend half the show focusing on angsty close-ups of its lead character. Whilst it’s still Wallander’s show, the other minor characters have an important part to play, although I’d like to see trainee cop Pontus getting some more screen time. For completely shallow reasons :)))

Recently BBC2 had a brief 80s season, which featured the always entertaining ‘Grumpy Old Men’ format tweaked into "THE GRUMPY GUIDE TO THE 80s" which again relied on the talking heads, aiming at very easy and obvious targets, but it was still quite funny.

The centrepiece of this BBC2 season was a new drama "WORRIED ABOUT THE BOY", screened on 16.05.10, and focusing on the early life of Boy George, before he was famous, intercut with scenes from when it all went wrong. This should have been a two or three part series, as it ended just at the point when "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" became their first hit single. The guy in the lead role was very good indeed, and the soundtrack was a total belter. How many years since you’ve heard Soft Cell’s "Memorabilia"??

The "GLEE" (E4, Mondays) juggernaut shows no sign of slowing down, and what was once an inventive and original format is now beginning to become rather predictable, and I’m still tired of all those songs going into the chart every week (even if they’re in the lower reaches of the chart). Sue Sylvester is one of the greatest TV characters of recent times though - bitter and bitchy and fabulous! The show wouldn’t be half as good without her in it. And that's how Laura sees it.

The old saying goes that youth is wasted on the young, but in the case of "JUNIOR APPRENTICE" (BBC1, Wednesdays) it would appear that this particular bunch of young people have skipped youth completely and gone right into the adult world of dog-eat-dog entrepreneurs. Regardless of the contestants’ ages it still remains one of the best TV formats and, IMHO, has never gone stale. Of course we can’t call him ‘Siralan’ anymore as he is now Lord Sugar!!! It finishes this week, I'm not bothered who wins, just as long as it's not hyper-confident Zoe ...and as for 17 year old Tim Ankers (insert Harry Hill sideways-glance here) no-one should have that much facial hair at that age.

TV continues to offer variations on the hugely successful "Come Dine With Me" format. We like "THREE IN A BED" (Channel 4, Wednesdays) which despite the title isn't that kind of programme, but sees three B&B owners host each other and each guest is then asked to pay for what they think their stay was worth. It’s quite fresh and we can see it running for a while, although you can bet that the personalities of the hoteliers will get more extreme and contrasting as time goes on. Hope we get another series.

Couple of films now: We spent a lot of time screaming at a new(ish) horror film on Sky Movies: "DRAG ME TO HELL". The only problem was that we were screaming with laughter. Plot:young woman working in a bank refuses further financial assistance to an old gypsy woman who puts a curse on her, blah blah blah. It was ok though, as modern horror films go, but none of these modern efforts seem to have the tension that a truly great horror film needs.

I was quite disappointed with "THE BOAT THAT ROCKED" (Sky Movies). I’ve always had a great interest in the pirate stations of the 1960s, so I looked forward to seeing this film which focused on "Radio Rock", a fictional station clearly based on Radio Caroline/Radio London. Although its attention to detail had been well thought out, the main problem was that for a film billed as a comedy, it wasn’t actually that funny and would have been better as a straightforward drama. At times it also relied a little too much on smut to get laughs, which is never a good thing. Good soundtrack though, that was the best thing about this film.

Decided to watch "LAKEVIEW TERRACE" (Sky Movies) as its plot reminded me just a little of "Unlawful Entry", one of our favourite films of recent years. Samuel L Jackson was great as the racist cop who went to all lengths to make life very difficult for the young mixed-race couple who moved in next door. It maybe got a little silly towards the end (as most modern films seem to be) but it’s one of the best films I’ve seen recently.

It didn’t get too many good reviews but we also enjoyed "RIGHTEOUS KILL" (Sky Movies) which paired two of our all-time favourite actors Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in the leading roles. They may be old now but they can still act most of their modern counterparts off the screen. A serial killer film with a plot twist at the end. Dark but good film.

Here's one of the reasons I put on so much weight in Bratislava...

Yes, it's that Slovakian gastronomic treat bryndza halusky.....

The Bratislava Diaries: Day 5 - Friday 21st May 2010

And so to the last full day in the "Brat" as we like to call it....

It's like Groundhog Day as we started the day in the Park Inn's very nice Il Gusto restaurant, having buffet breakfast and staring out at the clouds and light rain.

I'd really recommend the Park Inn (above) for a stay in Bratislava, it's a reasonably priced hotel in a city full of rather expensive hotels - well situated, overlooking the Danube and just minutes from the old town.

Anyway the clouds began to disappear and it began to warm up during our relaxing stroll up and around the other end of the Old Town. Lunch in yet another basement cellar restaurant, and then we headed back to the hotel early to drop off our purchases before heading out again to explore Bratislava Castle.

Faithful travelling companion bought a bottle of Kofola, which is Slovakia's answer to Coca-Cola or Pepsi. With some trepidation I had a sip, although let's just say that it's an acquired taste and I didn't invest in my own bottle :)

Bratislava really came alive today when the sun came out - the once-empty pavement cafes filled up with locals and tourists. And the weather stayed warm for the rest of the day.

You'll know already that Bratislava Castle sits up on a hill, which means climbing.....climbing.....climbing....just what someone like me with my dodgy knees and bad back needs, yet I managed it ok. It must be that Slovak air. Then climbed up various sets of stairs (I counted approximately 200 stairs) and each level brought a better view than the last. (The above picture is mid-level) The Slovak Food Festival was on today in the castle grounds. We don't go up to the very top level of the castle though - that's enough stairs for now! After taking in all the fabulous views, we headed back down, checking out the city wall behind the cathedral, and walked down to the main square to resolve some unfinished business.

Having missed out on the Austrian coffee house experience, Bratislava provided a very acceptable substitute: Kaffee Mayer. A little piece of Austria in the centre of Bratislava. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

After coffee and some final souvenir shopping (a fabulous necklace and two bracelets for 7 euros - bargain!) we headed back to get ready for our last night out...another night, another basement restaurant, another big portion and another 3lbs gained ha ha!!

For an established stag-weekend destination I feared the worst about Bratislava on a Friday night. But we needn't have worried. Everyone's out at the bars having fun and drinking copious amounts of beer (quelle surprise..!) but there are no signs of any trouble. Needless to say that after the bar-hopping and beer-sampling we were both a bit merry ourselves - and stayed out till 2am!! A very enjoyable night, to end a very enjoyable holiday.

We went home on Saturday, by which time the heatwave was in full swing. But it didn't matter. For Bratislava is a lovely city in all weathers, and I'd really recommend it as an interesting and affordable short-break destination.

The Bratislava Diaries: Day 4 - Thursday 20th May 2010

In the words of Sahara Hotnights....."heeeeeey, I need a visit to Vienna!"

If you're in Bratislava you can't resist the opportunity to visit the neighbouring capital city just over an hour away. They call Bratislava and Vienna the "twin cities" so it's appropriate that we travelled there on the Twin City Liner - a smooth and speedy hydrofoil which zips up the Danube. Yes it's a bit expensive but it's worth doing.

The first thing that struck us about Vienna was its size. Unlike its small, cosy Slovakian counterpart, Vienna is a more traditional, big, capital city and impossible to negotiate on foot in the five and a half hours we have there. After hunting high and low for a lunch venue which would provide us both with a schnitzel (pork for him, chicken for me), we eventually found somewhere. Vienna seems to offer less options for almost-vegetarians-who-eat-chicken like myself, although maybe if you dig deeper....

Vienna is visually striking and filled with stately grandeur everywhere you look. We took the one-hour Vienna Sightseeing bus tour which left from the opera house and took us round all the major sights.

Here are some pictures from our trip. Warning: may contain chicken schnitzel.

After the small-town atmosphere of Bratislava, I was a bit overwhelmed by the Austrian capital. There were lots of tourists, mixed in with the locals, and it was very busy. My dream of a traditional Viennese coffee-and-cake experience didn't materialise either, due to the coffee houses either being full, or prohibitively unaffordable - one charged 20 euros for a coffee and cake. So we had to settle for an outdoor cappuccino, even though the weather was probably a bit on the cold side. But Cinderella, you shall go to the ball, and you'll get your coffee and cake.....tune in for Day 5 and you'll see what I mean :)))

In our last hour I warmed a bit more to the city, even if I didn't form that immediate bond with it in the way that I had done with Bratislava. Nevertheless I'd like to return some time in the future for a longer stay.

Back to more familiar territory, and another evening meant another meal in another basement cellar restaurant - Bratislava is full of them! This time it was traditional Slovak cuisine (yep - bryndza halusky again - I must post a photo of it on here) accompanied by a nice bottle of Slovak red wine.

As it had been a long day we became party-poopers again and had an early night. We'll make up for it tomorrow!!

The Bratislava Diaries: Day 3 - Wednesday 19th May 2010

Some business to see to first: we headed off to book tickets for a couple of trips on the Danube: this afternoon's trip to Devin Castle, and tomorrow's outing on the Twin City Liner to Vienna. The sun briefly shone before the more familiar clouds descended later this morning. But Bratislava is beautiful in all weathers, and one of its best-known buildings is St Martin's Cathedral, pictured above. This morning we retraced our steps through the old town, bought some souvenirs, and I spotted possibly one of the most gorgeous men I have ever seen - think a 10 times more gorgeous version of Bret from Flight of the Conchords :))) anyway our thoughts soon turned to lunch which involved a variation on bryndza halusky, only with fried onions rather than bacon.

It wasn't long before we were heading off up the Danube to Devin Castle, one of the most significant buildings in Slovak history, dating back to the 8th century. Its position on the Slovak-Austrian border gave it strategic historical significance, and in more recent times the confluence of the Danube and the Moravia rivers formed the Iron Curtain.

After we walked off our lunch on a very high climb, we arrived at the castle ruins in what felt like a Force 10 gale. It may have been freezing cold, but I was so overwhelmed by the surroundings that frostite didn't matter so much :)) The castle overlooks some very picturesque views of the Slovakian and Austrian countryside....

...and here's a part of Devin Castle.

Eventually we had to leave and make our way back down to the bottom of the hill. As we are both fascinated by recent history, we vistied this monument which commemorated all those who had been shot and killed when attempting to cross the river to Austria during the years of Communist rule. (The one thing which has surprised me during our Bratislava trip is that there is very little commemoration or acknowledgement of that era, unlike in Prague or Riga which both have museums dedicated to the subject).

It's a pleasant trip back down the (not blue) Danube back to Bratislava. There's not really much scenery along the way, apart from various little fishing huts. But then you approach the city and you get this view of Bratislava Castle.

Tonight we had dinner at an Argentinian restaurant. Bratislava has such a cosmopolitan choice of eateries. And afterwards we end up at a bar which is full of students and sells bargain-priced beer, and we feel very old!! We have an early night, as there's the small matter of a day trip to another country tomorrow.

The end of an era :(((

My favourite radio show is coming to an end tomorrow night and I'm feeling very sad :(

It's the final "Sounds of Europe" on the University of Surrey's GU2 Radio (www.gu2.co.uk) which will be broadcast as usual between 9.00 - 11.00 pm British time. (If you can't catch it then, there is always the 'Listen Back' feature on the station's website). I've really enjoyed the show over the last couple of years as it's the only programme on any British radio station which plays a great variety of wonderful European music for all tastes.

The show is ending because Keira and Rachel - my two best blogging pals and the dynamic duo responsible for this weekly treat - are leaving their student days behind them, so it will be very emotional for everyone tomorrow night.....

Don't forget to tune in - and girls, good luck with the show!!!

The Bratislava Diaries: Day 2, Tuesday 18th May 2010

Quickly discovered that our hotel room telly (nice flat screen by the way!) has got MTV Germany, so that's the viewing sorted for the rest of the week. First of many screenings of Lena Meyer-Landrut's "Satellite", which would eventually become our holiday anthem, and that was even before a certain song contest of course!

After breakfast we walk down the riverside. Let's get one thing straight: despite what that Strauss bloke says, the Danube is not blue. It's more greeny-brown.

There are a lot of river cruise boats moored at the riverside, and just like the Rhine, the Danube is very much a working river with container boats going up and down all day, along with the boat trips and the hydrofoil to Vienna.

One thing I really love about European cities is squares. Big squares, little squares, I love them all. Bratislava has two, although one of them is actually more of a street than a square: and at the far end there is the Slovak National Theatre, which is such an architectural gem that it stopped me in my tracks. Although they should have ditched that poster at the front which totally spoiled the look. (No offence to Canada)

We continued exploring, stopping off for lunch in the old town at the Presburg restaurant for our first Slovak speciality - the legendary bryndza halusky - potato dumplings smeared in sheep's cheese and topped with bacon. Which is extremely filling and Accompanied, not for the first time, by a beer. Like its neighbouring Czech capital Prague, Bratislava is beer-central. I'm not a beer drinker, but when in Rome (OK, Bratislava then!) it has to be done. I liked this restaurant, because they were playing Slovak music (which I know nothing about) in the background - unlike everywhere else, which has the usual diet of Black Eyed Peas, Taio Cruz and Lady GaGa....

After lunch we go in search of shopping, and find what feels like the world's biggest Tesco, which is so big it's actually its own shopping mall called My Bratislava. Can 'My Rubbishy Small Town' please have one of these???

The main square (pictured below) is called Hlavne Namestie, and like the rest of the city it's small but perfectly formed, and has a number of souvenir stalls which I returned to later in the week to buy some lovely jewellery. We stopped off at 4.00 for coffee at Cafe Grande (the yellow building in the middle of the picture). Throughout the afternoon there was intermittent rain, but not as heavy as last night's downpour.

Although there may not be an obvious 'attraction' in Bratislava, it's the little things which made it special. Like this for example, which shows off the fun side of the city. It's a man peeking out of a manhole, which appears on a lot of the city's souvenirs and it's photographed by everyone who visits Bratislava. It may not be such a welcoming sight if you're staggering along the street late at night after a few beers - watch your step - oooooh! Whoops = too late :D

Being the capital of Slovakia, there are lots of embassies scattered across this compact little city and I had a lot of fun pointing them out. The Austrian embassy was ripe for a photo opportunity, as this was also the place where the 6 year old Mozart played a gig back in the day.

Dinner at the Hacienda Mexicana restaurant (guess what kind of cuisine....). A brief word about the Slovak obsession with food-weights: every menu has the weight of the portion, but even the smallest portion is still too big and difficult to finish! Why are the Slovakian people so slim if they eat all those big dinners?

I did mention that Bratislava was a beautiful city: well it's not just the buildings I'm talking about. For they have a population which is very easy on the eye. Beautiful guys, beautiful girls. Faithful travelling companion even mentioned that his favourite eye-candy city, Riga, is being given a serious run for its money. As far as the male population goes, the one thing I've already noticed is that they have incredibly beautiful dark eyes, and are incredibly attractive even if not always obviously 'good-looking'.

After dinner, we went in search of, well, beer. For research purposes you understand....!