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".

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....

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

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".

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.

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....

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.

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.

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.

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)

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.

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 :))

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

Jodie! Jodie! Jodie!

So after what feels like an interminable search, the role of Nancy in the latest West End production of "Oliver!" has finally been cast, thanks to BBC-1's "I'd Do Anything". We were quite happy with the final two - Jodie and Jessie - so we weren't too bothered about who would win.

I'm not taking anything away from Jessie as a) she was too young for this part but she will get something out of it; and b) us redheads have to stick together; - but based on our memories of "Oliver!", Nancy was a mature, raw, rough and ready character and IMHO Jodie was so obvious for this role. Despite producer Cameron Mackintosh and "the Lord" Andrew Lloyd-Webber clearly expressing a preference for Jessie prior to the announcement of the final vote, it was Jodie who got the most viewers' votes and won the role of Nancy.

So ALW and CM are apparently none too pleased with the outcome. Well, lads, get over yourselves. The BBC has given you several weeks of free publicity for a show that will inevitably sell tickets regardless of who was chosen as Nancy, or Oliver for that matter. We liked Jessie - a lot - but she is too young for this particular part. If "Any Dream Will Do" taught us anything it was that prime-time Saturday night TV provides an amazing launchpad for theatrical careers and so Jessie will get her day on the big stage, whether as Nancy understudy/replacement or in another (maybe more) illustrious show. In the meantime ...congratulations to Jodie, I'm sure she will do very well. I'm just glad it wasn't Samantha, who left me cold throughout the bits of the series that I watched, and even at the final stages I still wasn't impressed.

Anyway....how good was it seeing Lee Mead and his coat of many colours again tonight???? Lucky old Denise Van Outen!!!

Weight-Watching Update!

Last week: lost 2 lbs (despite eating my way round Riga).

This week: lost 2 lbs.

It's been a hard week, what with injuring my shoulder and my fitness regime/over-enthusiastic gardening sending my body into a state of chronic fatigue, so I was extremely delighted to end the week with that good news.

Woo-hoo!!!!!

This week's playlist: what will be will be

This Is My Life - Euroband: this blog's undisputed favourite Eurovision finals entry of 2008. They were robbed.
Divine - Sebastien Tellier: too good for Eurovision?
Outta My Head - Ashlee Simpson: why isn't this a bigger hit? So catchy.
She's Dangerous - M Pokora: one of the biggest songs on the radio during my Riga holiday - and it looks as if it'll be a big international hit.
If Only You - Danny and Therese: heard this a few times over in Riga too.
Rockin' for Myself - Motiv-8: cracking old dance tune from 1994 or thereabouts which I've rediscovered and can't stop playing.
Who Do You Think You're Foolin'? - Rongedal: follow-up to "Just A Minute". I'll be reviewing their album soon - it's full of ridiculously catchy tunes!
Jennie Let Me Love You - E.M.D.: didn't really like this to begin with, but Rix FM has played it so much that I've been knocked into submission.
Daylight - Kelly Rowland: Easy-going pop-soul number which has grown on me over recent weeks.
Maybe/Thunder Without Rain/Day Before Tomorrow - Brainstorm: I'm still familiarising myself with Prata Vetra's new Latvian-language album - but I'm still loving these classic old English-language songs from them.
21st Century Life/Hot Mess - Sam Sparro: two of the best tracks from his debut album.
Always Always - Zuma: this just gets better and better. It may not have had the ESC impact of "Hold On Be Strong" but presses the right buttons for an old new-romantic fan like me.

Still a long way from normal service being resumed.

OK so my time management is all over the place again this week so "The Riga Diaries" won't be on here till this weekend at least. I will get round to doing them though! What a great holiday that was - at least the weather was good, unlike the torrential rain which soaked me not once, twice but three times today :( Add to that what feels like a dislocated shoulder after being a bit too enthusiastic with my "Edward Scissorhands" impersonation in the garden last night....you can say Wednesday wasn't the best day I ever had. Still, it's almost the weekend!!

On the plus side though I've been checking my site visit stats and I'm absolutely delighted that so many of you have visited this little blog over the past week - possibly more visitors than I've ever had before, so thanks to each and every one of you, you're all welcome and hopefully you enjoyed what you've been reading. Thanks again!!

Album Review: "Sam Sparro" - Sam Sparro

With "Black and Gold" still in the UK top 10 singles chart, and remaining this blogger’s favourite song of 2008 so far, much was expected of the Aussie soul man’s debut album.

And let me tell you, it doesn’t disappoint, although it’s far from perfect.
Sam very smartly blends some old retro soul influences with some very modern production values and the result is a very good (but far from perfect) debut album which has stood up to repeated plays on my CD player over the last three weeks or so. And that’s no mean feat, as I’ve become very hard to please!

"Too Many Questions" may have some predictable rhyming couplets but it’s a good funky starter before the main course - "Black and Gold" of course, which I have to say is still the best track on this album, and still sounds as good today as it did all those months ago when I first heard it. Quite outstanding!

He manages to keep the momentum going with "21st Century Life". If like me you are missing Jamiroquai being around, this will fill the gap. Danceable, funky and radio-friendly, so no surprise then that this is likely to be the next single.

There are little 80s electro/new romantic influences running through "Sick", which I didn’t initially like but it’s a real grower. Likewise the spaced-out "Waiting For Time", in which his vocals remind me of another great recent soul man - Seal.

"Recycle It!", well this is a very topical theme, but could only be described as ‘filler’. "Cottonmouth" is one of the most talked about songs on this album and is also a grower with that "I need some H20 down my throat" hookline towards the end.

"Hot Mess" is one of my favourites and on listening to this you could be forgiven for thinking it was Prince!! I think this could be a future single as it has a really good chorus.

"Pocket" is another favourite of mine - "keep your friends close and your enemies in your pocket". Very catchy electro-pop. I’m not so excited about "Cut Me Loose" which is just a functional funky workout which doesn’t really go anywhere.

"Sally" is rather good though, again relying on those 80s electro-style beats and might just have you breakdancing.

I think "Clingwrap" is a little silly - although still very catchy - so let’s go on to the last track - "Can’t Stop This" which brings the proceedings to a foot-tapping funky end. The hidden track "Still Hungry" has the theme that even if you have it all, something’s still missing. It’s also musically very different as it’s stripped back to voice and piano, rather than the pounding electro beats of the previous 13 tracks.

All in all, this album may not to be everyone’s taste, but I like it - although I’d have hoped for more of the tracks to be up to the standard of "Black and Gold". Still it’s a very good first effort and he can be very proud of this, which will probably turn out to be one of 2008’s best albums.

The Square-Eyed Couch Potato: May 2008

Contenders...ready! Gladiators....ready! Viewers....ready! Yes "Gladiators" (Sky One) is back, and as I previously mentioned on this blog, I am very excited about this indeed. And even after all these years, it still has most of the old magic, even if we still have to get to know the new batch of Gladiators before we decide if they are a match for Wolf, Jet, etc. (Oblivion obviously thinks he's the new Wolf) and there is just something about Atlas (pictured above) even though I'm not usually attracted to muscle-men...! Anyway it's all enjoyable, entertaining panto fun, although it's a bit more low-budget than it used to be.

Excellent documentary series are hard to come by these days on terrestrial TV, but "Russia - A Journey" (BBC2) presented by Jonathan Dimbleby is a slightly more highbrow take on the Michael Palin travelogues of recent years, but has managed to provide several thought-provoking, hard-hitting moments in its three episodes so far - for example, last night focused chillingly on the prison which held a number of political prisoners in the 1970s and 1980s.

In a total contrast I'm back watching "I'd Do Anything" (BBC-1) although my view remains the same, this talent search lacks the sparkle of the Maria/Joseph series of 2006/2007. Jessie, Samantha and Jodie will contest next week's final: initially we supported Jessie, although we now feel she's too young for the part of Nancy. I can't see the appeal of Lloyd Webber favourite Samantha, and we think that Jodie would be the most appropriate choice for Nancy - or are they looking for someone younger/more glamorous?

As I was off on holiday I missed the last episode of "Army Wives" (Living TV) - thank goodness for episode guides! - anyway the good news is that there will be a second series starting on US TV in June, and hopefully we should have it next year. It was lightweight and soapy, but a nice change from all the usual action/sci-fi/paranormal/forensic TV dramas.

I've been going on and on for years about how wonderful and underrated "Boston Legal" (Living TV) is, and even into its fourth season this funny, well-acted (and often surreal) law drama which manages to make many subtle political points through its sharp scriptwriting. The only thing that annoys me is that Crane, Poole and Schmidt never lose a case!

I haven't been following season two of "Heroes" (BBC2) - which may come as a surprise, as I loved season one so much. I can't explain why...I did watch the first episode and thought it was ok. Obviously not ok enough to go back for subsequent episodes...!

A Russian Eurovision win? Not impaa-see-baal.

So Dima did it.

I'm OK with that, maybe it's because that I'm in the advance stages of a bottle of red wine, or maybe it's just because Eurovision these days is a pre-ordained foregone conclusion. When the contest reached the stage that Greece and Armenia became serious contenders, there was no alternative than for this blog to throw it's weight behind Russia.

Yes folks, another Eurovision is over, with yet another predictable result. A Russian win was inevitable - with impressively-placed entries in 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2007, no-one doubted that they would win it one of these days. And so they did. So congratulations anyway to Dima, however we would have liked his song even more if he'd just gone out there to sing, rather than be surrounded by the distraction of a manic violinist and a figure skater.

The United Kingdom inevitably ended up at the bottom of the scoreboard. Now I'm no patriotic Brit by any means, but Andy Abraham did his very best and did not deserve last place. What does this country have to do to get off bottom place on the Eurovision scoreboard?

All in all it was a reasonable enough production by Serbian TV, although the opening act (last year's winner Marija Serifovic) was interminable - I still don't like "Molitva" and her vocals on this and the other song didn't impress me.

Hosts Zeljko and Jovana were ok I guess, although interchangeable from any male-female presenter pairing of recent years.

Here is my review of the songs based on notes jotted down throughout the evening at EuropeCrazy HQ, where as ever me and my mum (both of us hardened Eurovision veterans) took in the evening's entertainment.....

Romania: boring, old fashioned, two people yelling at each other.

United Kingdom: colourful stage set and faultless funky soulful vocals by Andy Abraham.

Albania: another Balkan ballad which I thought would get enough votes to go mid-table, but where was the tune?

Germany: on record this is ok, but messy vocals/harmonies live meant that "it won't get better"....

Armenia: This year's Helena Paparizou/Shakira tribute act. Has no-one told her it's not 2005 anymore?

By this point I was pining for some light relief - even "Leto Svet" would have done nicely :))))

Bosnia: at least this brought a smile to our faces. Highly entertaining, and we liked this more than previously.

Israel: didn't really know what to make of this, it was ok but I expected something more as it was written by Dana International.

Finland: bit of rock which went down well here. Hoo! Ha! We liked this again because it was different.

Croatia: suddenly it all became clear. This is why we watch Eurovision year after year. A geriatric rapper and a tango dancer playing the glasses...that's what it's all about.

Poland: we spent more time discussing her frock, suntan, 'front' and teeth rather than the screechy wailing song, which summed it up.

Iceland: exceptional, didn't put a foot wrong, done themselves proud.

Turkey: decided this was a cross between Calogero, the Stereophonics and Barbados' "Varlden Utanfor" which was good. He was a good singer too.

Portugal: highly regarded after its qualification from the semi-final although its fado feel would never impress the whole of Europe.

Latvia: now I'm just back from that country and so I won't be too unkind to the 'pirates' who were 'robbing you blind' . Good fun.


Sweden: and so after all the build-up, Charlotte still (for me) failed to deliver the knockout performance of "Hero" which we expected.

Denmark: foot-tapper (if eventually irritating) song with a memorable catchy chorus. This is the kind of song that used to do so well.

Georgia: I feared the worst but this wasn't too bad actually.

Ukraine: no complaints regarding the highly professional staging/performance of "Shady Lady" which I viewed as a possible winner.

France: Great stuff. Not really one for Eurovision I know, but I liked everything about this, right down to the backing singers' shades and beards.

Azerbaijan: laugh if you must, but after a couple of listens/viewings "Day After Day" became quite popular at EuropeCrazy HQ. Proof that Terry Wogan's time is up: he couldn't even deliver classic quips about this one.

Greece: Britney Spears meets Helena Paparizou. We decided tonight that we didn't like this at all, and that it was possibly our least favourite of the night.

Spain: By this point I'd consumed so much red wine that I even appreciated this one and even worse, was able to rap with the lyrics. My mum liked this.

Serbia: now if "Beli Jablan" had done it, Serbia would have been in my top 5 on the night. As it is, it was just a Serbian woman wailing in a big frock. Mum wants to hear "Baila El Chiki Chiki" again.

Russia: Dima Bilan's name's been dropped here at EC HQ on many an occasion, so it was inevitable that this would attract our attention. Mum thought he was quite hot too. "You never told me he was good-looking!"

Norway: we were both impressed by Maria's performance of "Hold On Be Strong" and given the draw, thought that it would do rather well.

Interval Act: some Balkan folk thing, dare I say it was interminable again?
Voting: after 6 countries, Russia were in the lead.
10.29 pm: UK received 6 points from San Marino. Best-friends-forever status now guaranteed. Likewise to Ireland, who gave us out only other votes: 8 points.
After 9 countries, Greece in the lead. Speculating on horror of further Greek win.
And the 12 points from Serbia goes to ....Bosnia-Hercegovina!
Stian Barsnes Simonsen was Norwegian voting spokesman, sparking uncontrollable scenes of delight at EuropeCrazy HQ.
Ditto Mikko for Finland :)
"12 points goes to Sweden": possibly the funniest moment of the night as Bjorn Gustafsson delivered the votes for Sweden. Oh, it was 12 for Norway. Quelle surprise.
And so the voting went on and on and on. Here's how it ended:

1. Russia
2. Ukraine
3. Greece
4. Armenia
5. Norway
6. Serbia
7. Turkey
8. Azerbaijan
9. Israel
10. Bosnia & Hercegovina
11. Georgia
12. Latvia
13. Portugal
14. Iceland
15. Denmark
16. Spain
17. Albania
18. Sweden
19. France
20. Romania
21. Croatia
22. Finland
23. Germany
24. Poland
25. United Kingdom

Let the Eurovision-Fence-Sitting-Contest begin!!

For us Librans, "Making Your Mind Up" is not the easiest of tasks.

So do not be surprised that I have not arrived at a winner for tonight's Eurovision final. Instead, I'm predicting that it will be any one of the six on this list:

Iceland (please please please)
Sweden (Charlotte needs to do better than her semi-final performance)
Denmark (if he performs as well as in the semi final, this is dangerous)
Ukraine (professional performance in the semi-final, will do very well)
Russia (foregone conclusion by law of averages, ruined by ludicrous stage act)
Norway (I've always had a feeling about this one: possible best result in years?)

May the best song win, as long as it's "This Is My Life"...

Good luck to Andy Abraham for the UK, he's a good singer but the song is quite weak and (IMHO) wouldn't really appeal to a Eurovision audience. Royaume-Uni has also taken up annual residence near the foot of the scoreboard, so I wouldn't really expect that to change.

I'll be back later tonight with some ramblings. I've got the wine and the Twiglets ready!!

In the meantime, enjoy Eurovision night everyone and may the best song win (although it usually doesn't)!!!

I'm back...

...from a very wonderful five days in the Latvian capital, Riga. We both had a great time, the sun never stopped shining, the scenery was beautiful, and as usual there was lots of good food and drink to be had.

Full review on the way, I've been writing my travel journal and I'll publish little excerpts on here in the next few days.

Call me predictable, but I did my duty and popped into a record shop where I purchased a Prata Vetra CD and live DVD, and a compilation album of recent Latvian pop hits. I've still to listen to these and will review them on here soon.

I'm still coming to terms with the outcome of the two Eurovision semi-finals, (both of which I managed to catch the last 5 minutes of). It's good to see all five Nordic countries through to the final (we anticipate many a comment by Mr Wogan about the Nordic bloc vote) - but on the other hand I'm disappointed that Switzerland and Belarus didn't make it.

Also, I realise that many of my predictions from the other week were way off target! No Malta or FYR Macedonia or Andorra...oh and if we're gonna talk about Croatia, let's just say that I had some nice fillet of computer and keyboard in barbecue sauce :))))))

Riga tomorrow!

The waiting is almost over - I'm off to Riga tomorrow with my man for a few days' holiday and my excitement is getting out of control at the thought of visiting our first ever Baltic capital.
I haven't really had much time to blog over the last three weeks, what with preparing for my Dublin trip and then Riga. All things being well I should be back on the blog on Saturday 24th - Eurovision Day! - and normal service should be resumed again shortly afterwards.

I won't see the Eurovision semi-finals (bad timing for the second year in a row) but hope that justice is done and the right songs qualify to Saturday's final - especially Iceland!!

Anyway I'm off now to finish my packing.

Have a good week everyone - see you on Saturday. Bye!!!!! X

That new Prata Vetra video: Ja tikai uz mani tu paskatītos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5f_8RLvSHM has the lovely Renars and his chums doing what they do best. In Latvian too.

Riga on Monday. Can't wait!!

Retro Saturday: France Gall

Now we all know that Kate Ryan's recorded her version of France Gall's "Ella Elle L'a", (Europe's major summer hit of 2008?) so what better time to check out France Gall's original from 20 years ago? Find it (in all its fabulous 80s-ness) at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQkB-WWzsbg

If you're not into the retro thing and prefer Kate's remake, find it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdJN0ss7jA0

Retro Saturday: New Order

1984: At that point in my life they were just my most favourite band of all ime.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvzI9AqeIog&feature=related : this is a video of "Sooner Than You Think" recorded at BBC Radio 1, in August 1984.

Retro Saturday: Primal Scream

This band had a long, long career but tonight I've chosen to go for "Rocks" which reminds me of some rather happy times, 'back in the day'.

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

OK so let's throw in "Jailbird" as well...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvzI9AqeIog&feature=related

Retro Saturday: Lush

I have a particular fondness for the "shoegazing" era of the early 90s and Lush were one of my favourite bands of that time. I'm featuring "Nothing Natural" tonight - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt6Ubq0gL_w

The chiming guitars on this are amazing. Oh, and speaking as a redhead, Miki Berenyi had that red hair I always wanted.

Retro Saturday: The The

The The - aka Matt Johnson - produced some great and provocative music during the 80s and 90s. His best album (IMHO) was "Infected" which produced the (ahead of its time) "Sweet Bird of Truth" which, British radio being what it is, banned from the airwaves around the time of the first Gulf war. Find it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y64S4hzcejk

Also on "Infected" is his sizzling duet with Neneh Cherry, "Slow Train To Dawn": the video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zU2rG-vrJE&feature=related

The title track, "Infected" also said a lot about the time it was released. Find the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey0eS-Nx6Ks&feature=related

The EuropeCrazy Eurovision 2008 Review: Part 3

Where has this week gone? Apologies for the delay in finishing off my review!!

I've been rather impressed by "Hasta La Vista" by Ruslan Alehno - even with its musical makeover - and can only hope that Belarus has enough friends out there to get them through to the final.

Latvia has given us "Wolves of the Sea" by Pirates of the Sea, which is yet another 'joke' entry (masterminded by Swedes!) but the difference here is that it is soooooo catchy and I think it may have done enough to qualify. I'm in Riga next week too, so I'll keep an ear out for this!

Croatia....they haven't done too well over recent years have they? Are these old blokes (Kraljevi Ulice & 75 Cents) the best they can do? "Romanca" is the song, and if it qualifies, well, I might just eat my computer.

Three cheers for Bulgaria, if only because "DJ Take Me Away" by Deep Zone & Balthazar is different enough to do well. Absolute qualifier. I think.

Since Denmark won in 2000 they haven't exactly set Eurovision on fire, although on hearing "All Night Long" by Simon Mathew I initially envisaged a Jakob Sveistrup-type surprise result. Now I'm not so sure though...

Every year there is an entry which IMHO is cynically fixed to tug at the heartstrings. Enter Georgia with "Peace Will Come" sung by Diana Gurtskaya. Like many of this year's entries, nothing to write home about.

Hungary has gone for a Chiara-type entry this year, "Candlelight" by Csézy, which has a nice old-fashioned touch to it. I've got a feeling this might just make it out of the semi final.

Malta is desperate to win ESC every year, but I don't think "Vodka" by Morena is the one to do it, although it should just get into the final. Just.

Another song, another female brunette. This time, Cyprus. I don't like "Femme Fatale" by Evdokia Kadi as much as last year's "Comme Ci Comme Ca" and that didn't make it out of the semi, so this one shouldn't either.

FYR Macedonia....well the general view, post-"Make My Day" is that they only need to turn up. Their song is "Let Me Love You" by Tamara, Vrčak & Adrian. Inevitably, like most of their entries, it just goes over my head. Sorry.

"Senhora do Mar" is this year's Portuguese entry. I love that country, but I'm never really keen on their entries every year....Vania Fernandes may spring a surprise with a familiar-sounding song though (anyone hear Christina Aguilera's "Hurt" in this??). It's got a little of the 'Molitva' about it and might just get out of the semi-final.

The "Big 4" and the host country

Former X-Factor finalist Andy Abraham has the poisoned chalice/career suicide of representing the United Kingdom this year. He is a good singer, but the problem is that "Even If" isn't such a memorable song. However I am confident that he'll do his best, but the way ESC is going, anything other than bottom 5 on the 24.05.08 scoreboard is unlikely.

Germany are represented this year by No Angels. I like the contemporary style of "Disappear" but like their fellow 'big 4' countries they've now got left behind in this contest and I don't expect them to get out the bottom half of the final scoreboard.

France should always be applauded for trying something daring and different and they've done it again this year with the Beach Boys-meets-Etienne Daho style "Divine" by hairy bloke Sebastien Tellier. Don't expect great results, but this will provide a nice diversion from many of the other bland entries.

Spain is still searching for the magic ESC-winning formula. A joke reggaeton song called "Baila El Chiki Chiki" by Rodolfo Chikilicuatre is not the answer.. I am still pining for D'Nash.

Serbia: if you judge a nation by its ESC entries, you could be forgiven for thinking that host nation Serbia is the land of the dreary ballad (exhibit A: "Lane Moje", exhibit B: "Molitva"), so they are defending their title with exhibit C...a dreary ballad called "Oro" by Jelena Tomasevic. Zzzzz. It could, and should, have been "Beli Jablan"!!

Well, that's all folks. Who knows who'll win the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest? I'll do one of my (usually useless) predictions and say that it will be between any one of the following 7 countries: Russia, Ukraine, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Azerbaijan, or Switzerland. Or maybe somewhere else.

This week's playlist: Bring it on home

Propane Nightmares - Pendulum: I don't know who they are, I don't know anything about them, but this is quite a stunning mix of dance and rock which hit the UK top 40 and made me sit up and take notice.
American Boy - Estelle feat Kanye West: it's old news now, but I think this song is standing up to repeated airplay/iPod rotation.
Black Sun, Black Moon (live) - Salem Al Fakir: still on massive repeat-play at EuropeCrazy HQ.
This Is My Life - Euroband: Icelandic dance-pop-tastic Eurovision entry which must must must qualify for next Saturday's final!
Number One Fan - Dima Bilan: I still think the presentation of "Believe" is overblown and extreme. This on the other hand is just a good r'n'b track.
Bang On The Piano - Jack McManus: major chart scandal of the year - the failure of this song to make the top 10. I am still loving it though!
Do It Yourself - Uniting Nations: in Eurovision week what could be more appropriate than a fab little dance anthem by Mr. Teenage Life himself, Daz Sampson!!
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz: this has great-big-hit written all over it. In Sweden anyway....
The Age of the Understatement - The Last Shadow Puppets: this just grows and grows on me.
Maybe - Brainstorm: rather wonderful English-language old song by Latvia's most famous band, who have just released their latest Latvian-language album. Which I may buy in Riga....

Football song.

I like football, although I choose not to write much about it on here - this will probably change of course with the forthcoming Euro 2008, as I like these international tournaments much more than club football :)

Bit of a change this week though, as the worlds of football, music and Eurovision have collided, so I thought this would be worth a mention. Whilst watching the UK top 40 rundown on The Box last night, the Cardiff City FA cup song came on. Now these football songs are usually an embarrassment, but I was quite impressed by "Bluebirds Flying High", sung by ex Fame Academy and Royaume-Uni Eurovision 2004 entrant James Fox. Of course it wasn't enough to spur his team on to victory at the FA cup final today, but I still think it's rather good for a football song.

(Anyway on a slightly shallow note I used to like him when he was in Fame Academy, so it was a major shock for me was that Mr Fox is now...bald.)

Too busy to blog!!

Apologies for the lack of posts over the last week.

State of mind: muddled, distracted, confused, but also very very excited ...yes of course I'm going on holiday next Monday!!

And when I go on holiday it's like a military operation. Not for me the spontaneous night-before case packing, oh no. Being the control freak that I am, it's list-making and obsessive transport arrangement co-ordination all the way.

Hopefully I should be all sorted and relaxed again by the weekend and will get lots of posting done before heading off to Riga. :)

The EuropeCrazy Eurovision Review 2008: Part 2

Firstly, thanks to Acer Ben for pointing out that I’d left Poland out of my 1st semi-final review. Very sorry about this! However, the bad news is that their entry "For Life" by Isis Gee (after Norway and before Ireland in next Tuesday’s running order) does not really float my boat as it’s a ballad, although admittedly she has a very good voice.

Now on to my first part of my review of the second semi-final, as I haven’t got enough time tonight to review it all.

First on isn’t a good spot in the running order, but Iceland have sent yet another cracker this year: the rather wonderful "This Is My Life" by Euroband, which is a great big slice of Euro-dance, the kind of which always goes down well at EuropeCrazy HQ. One of the year’s best.

Second spot is an even worse place to be so let’s hope that Sweden breaks the curse of the running order and gets through to the final. Charlotte should make a good job of delivering "Hero" however she should ditch those dodgy backing singers/dancers and wear something a bit more "classy" as she’s getting too old for those mini-dresses. :)

Turkey has gone all rock this year, which maybe isn’t a good move for them, but there is something I quite like about "Deli" by Mor Ve Otesi, kinda reminiscent of a Turkish version of Calogero! Diaspora votes guaranteed, blah blah blah.

Guess everyone’s pre-determined this year’s winner then - Ukraine. "Shady Lady" by Ani Lorak is a little similar to "Hero", but she’s younger than Charlotte, hotter than Charlotte and the end result has just that bit more oomph.

Lithuania have thrown their chances away yet again with "Nomads In The Night" sung by Jeronimas Milius, it’s a kind of operatic-musical-theatre number which will probably be propping up the bottom end of the scoreboard.

I’ve only ever loved one entry from Albania - "Zharr e Ftohte" by lovely Luiz Ejlli, which didn’t even make the 2006 final. This year’s song "Zemren e Lame Peng" by Olta Boka is pleasant enough and "Balkan" enough to get a few votes.

I was one of that (very small) minority who liked "Vampires Are Alive" last year and thought Switzerland was robbed. Hopefully justice will be done this year with "Era Stupendo" by Paolo Meneguzzi. It’s good to hear the Italian language at Eurovision again. He looks great and sounds great and hopefully the presentation/staging will not let the song down.

More songs to follow, hopefully same time tomorrow!

The EuropeCrazy Eurovision Review 2008: Part 1

It’s been a strange one this year. For some reason I have deliberately chosen to avoid most of this year’s songs until now, for reasons not even known to myself - am I getting bored with Eurovision? Can that be possible?

So here is the first part of my review of this year’s songs, mostly based only on one or two listens.

1. Montenegro: Not earth-shattering is it? Standard Balkan pop-rock which is ok but nothing more.

2. Israel: It’s not the worst, but it’s not the best either. Rather forgettable.

3. Estonia: Now I generally have great respect for Estonia at ESC but will have to pass this year on this Peter Kay-style joke entry.

4. Moldova: This is probably this year’s "Love or Leave" and as such has virtually no chance, but on the other hand it has a kind of Basia-jazz-vibe which isn’t bad, but overall it’s still lacking a hook and is unmemorable.

5. San Marino: Welcome to a new country...but again it doesn’t excite me. At least it’s a little more contemporary, but won’t qualify.

6. Belgium: what’s with Belgie and these imaginary languages? This (IMHO) is unspeakably bad, but has a good chance of qualifying, in which case then at least I’ve got the toilet break sorted out.

7. Azerbaijan: initially I hated this, but having heard the other songs in this semi-final I’ve decided this screams absolute qualifier (and boy, does it SCREAM!) May just do some serious damage at the final and will be one of the year’s most talked-about entries.

8. Slovenia: they have never bettered Anzej Dejan have they? This might have a good chance of qualifying. Not sure if it will be sung in English or Slovenian?

9. Norway: On the one hand this could do well as it’s in the currently popular contemporary-retro style, but on the other hand it lacks the necessary spark needed for guaranteed qualification, and they might miss out on the final for the second year running.

10. Ireland: the ultimate joke entry which will get so much press attention that qualification for the final is inevitable. That doesn’t make it good though, although some of the lyrics admittedly made me smile. Wouldn’t be the first turkey at Eurovision.....

11. Andorra: oh that would be ex-OT Gisela....a certainty to qualify, and the most schlager-y song in this semi final.

12. Bosnia-Hercegovina: just watched the video of this - has the chicken been replaced by an umbrella-ella-ella? Another absolute qualifier, but it’s absolutely bonkers in any language.

13. Armenia: dare we say Shakira-esque? It has all the relevant ingredients for a qualifier I guess. Is this type of ESC entry not about 3 or 4 years out of date?

14. Netherlands: although this is probably their best entry of the last few years it will suffer from the draw after Armenia and is likely to miss out again.

15. Finland: what I love about the Finns is that they ROCK!!!!!! This has as much chance of qualifying as I have, but at least they try to be different.

16. Romania: one of these years they are going to win this, mark my words. Very smart use of Italian, and very well placed in the draw. In with an extremely good chance of qualifying.

17. Russia: possible foregone conclusion that this will finally be their year, with the "Apologize"-vibe to it.... But this is not a patch on "Never Let You Go", or for that matter, "Number One Fan". However, Russia (and Dima) deserves to win it one of these years, so why not 2008?

18. Greece: absolute qualifier, with all the necessary ingredients to progress to Saturday’s final - notably its draw position in this semi-final.

Expect my review of the songs from the second semi-final in the next few days - I still need to go and listen to all of them. If I can be bothered...

This week's playlist: you left us all too soon

Black Sun, Black Moon (live) - Salem Al Fakir: now, you didn't expect this one, did you...only kidding! A moving ballad with considerable emotional depth. Expect this one on the playlist for the next few weeks at least...
Black and Gold/21st Century Life - Sam Sparro: the current single and the next single from this year's major musical discovery. Album review to follow very soon.
Love Song - Sara Bareilles: remember Daniel Powter's "Bad Day"? This might well be a female version of that, and might just run and run.
Je Realise - Sinik featuring James Blunt: the impossible can happen:Blunt making this playlist. Decent French rap.
Cry for You - September: UK top 10 chart success, no sweat.
Phorever People - The Shamen: I've had a bit of a Shamen revival since a recent Retro Saturday. And why not.
Disappear - No Angels: ooh....two weeks to Eurovision, and I've decided that this is one of my favourites this year.
We Cry - The Script: Sometimes I like this song, sometimes it annoys me. At the moment I like it. I think.
The Age of the Understatement - The Last Shadow Puppets: it's a playlist of surprises this week. Firstly James Blunt, now Alex Turner. You know I can't stomach the Arctic Monkeys, but this retro-flavoured track is rather great.
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz: oh hurry up Britain and make this a hit!
Outta My Head - Ashlee Simpson: I'm not really a fan of hers but I do like this, very catchy, and has eaten its way into my brain.
Dangerous - M Pokora: Another regular fixture of late, and a production from Timbaland - the man who can do no wrong at the minute.
Maybe - Brainstorm: catching up with their back catalogue in preparation for my Riga trip. There is also a nice cover of this by Skamp on YouTube too...

Amanda-mania sweeps Sweden.

The critics love, love, love it, and so (presumably) will the Swedish public. I refer to "Killing My Darlings", the debut album by Swedish Idol runner-up Amanda Jenssen, which was released today. With some of the hottest, hippest Swedish songwriters on board, and her refusal to stick to the accepted Idol-format-debut-album of cover versions and power ballads (yes I mean YOU, Marie Picasso), Amanda is one of the most original and unusual contestants ever to have emerged from that competition. You will recall that I certainly wasn't a fan of hers during the series towards the end of 2007, and couldn't understand what all the fuss was about until the final, when I realised that Amanda had tons of personality and her own distinct style. Going by the short clips I've heard at www.cdon.com, she's produced a quality debut album and is yet further proof that it's better if you don't win Idol.

Talking of ex-Idol contestants, Christoffer Hiding has some songs on his MySpace (www.myspace.com/christofferhiding) which are clearly influenced by soul music old and new. "Marathon" is particularly good. He has a great voice and deserves lots of success too!

This weight loss thing...

...just ain't happening. I've gained 1lb this week :(

13 days to go till Riga and I feel like a female version of a Demis Roussos tribute act (if you're too young to remember him, ask your parents!!).

Where I live, our definition of summer is two dry days in a row. Therefore I am pleased to announce that summer has finally arrived, so I'll work off the flab in the garden tonight!!

Several hours later........

The garden at EuropeCrazy HQ has been overrun by dandelions. I'm sure they must have some redeeming features but right now, they're the most useless thing in the world. Remember when the Smash Hits Poll Winners' Party used to have an award for "most horrible thing", well, can I have a "most useless thing" category, and can dandelions be in it? And wasps?

Album Review: "Ett Hjärta Som Glöder Som En Gång Brann" - Brolle

At this moment in time, Brolle’s profile couldn’t be any higher in his native Sweden. He’s reached the final of "Körslaget" (not without some controversy along the way), and he’s all loved up with fellow Swedish pop star Elin Lanto. He’s even shortened his name - he’s no longer known as Brolle Jr.

A perfect time then to release his comeback album - which is his third (am I right?) and his first in his native language.

The first single "Solo I Stockholm" kicks the album off and has the same ‘dramatic’ feel as his earlier hits.

It always strikes me that Brolle is a singer out of time...as he neither looks nor sounds like anyone else around today. And aren’t we glad. He is a unique performer.

Brolle’s main musical influence is of course Elvis Presley, but the chorus of "Varldens Horn" recalls another singer from that era - Roy Orbison.

There is nothing on here which comes close to dethroning "Playing With Fire" and "Last Night" as my fave Brolle tracks, but having said that there are some good tracks in there - especially "Det Är Hon" which is an obvious future single choice and jumps out as one of the album’s most accessible tracks.

"Tillsammans" is for me another possible single. "Faller Du" (not the Patrik Isaksson song) is another good track and "Vaken Igen" is a particularly nice ballad.

I am impressed that, just like his countryman Martin Stenmarck, Brolle is finally recording in his native language, with good results. Hopefully this album will finally bring him the success he deserves.

Mathieu Johann's finally released an album!

"Le Bonheur, Ça Fait Mal" is its name, it was released in February 2008, and from listening to clips of the tracks it’s a fairly decent collection of guitar-rock-pop tracks with a mixture of modern and classic French influences.

Mathieu was of course a finalist in Star Academy 4, (back in 2004) and was a notorious object of this blogger’s desire back then, and I guess he still is. Prior to going into the chateau he had recorded an album which was then shelved and never released, although at that time there were clips of the songs on the internet and they sounded rather good - correct me if I’m wrong, but only "La Plus Belle Fille du Monde" has survived that period and made it onto this album.

All in all from what I’ve heard, it’s a good debut, although far from outstanding. I’m still deciding whether or not to buy it at a later date.

Nevertheless, it is very good to have him back.

I'm back!

...after a 36 hour adventure involving "planes, trains and automobiles" I'm now back home tired but happy after my brief but busy overnight stay in the suburbs of Dublin with, as ever, my faithful travelling companion.

Before we reached the hotel there was just some time for a brief stop in Dublin city centre and a stroll down O'Connell Street and over the bridge to the other end of town. It was a real trip down memory lane as I hadn't visited Dublin since 1995.

It was very obvious that in the 13 years that have passed, the city has become a truly international tourist destination. It's still as youthful, lively and buzzing as I remember it, and we must go back again - hopefully we won't wait another 13 years!

I am extremely tired though, so no more posts tonight. Normal service will return tomorrow.

Zzzzzzzzz.......