My Musical Alphabet : E - EUROVISION !

As usual, I do not own the copyright on any of the links in any part of this blog. They will be removed if required. Or they might just vanish in their own right as the owners ask Youtube to pull them. You can, of course, go looking on YouTube, or its foreign variants, for copies.

We have now reached the second vowel of the alphabet, the Es.

Well, the Es must start with Eurovision, that excellent, longest running, annual song contest. It's even older than I am. Where to begin: With ABBA or with the nul points-ers? I could easily make several blogs with the material. But I won't, there is so much to cram in.

I'll start with my earliest Eurovision memory which, coincidentally, was the winner in 1965. Luxembourg won with the song "Poupee de cire, poupee de son", performed by France Gall. This clip shows the old contest, when a live orchestra was used:

I agree that most of Eurovision is forgettable but even the mighty Quo have produced some duffers. In any case, I like the spectacle, I like the songs, I like the show. The only thing I have a downer on is the UK commentators. The best show I've seen was when I was in Germany following their win with this: Satellite from Lena, sung with a strange English accent.

Not a UK commentator in sight. Bliss.

Some more Alpine stuff now - Edelweiss but not as you know it, not the one from The Sound of Music but this from Edelweiss, that fine Austrian Electronic/Dance band. Did you know there is a crossover with this lot and Star Trek? Another piece of trivia for you pub quiz aficionados.

The Es wouldn't be complete without the E.L.O. and I have to admit trying to whittle their output to one track wasn't easy. But I've plumped for this one - Hold on tight.

Apologies to all you non-guitar people out there but here is another fine little tune by the title El Negrito.

And so we come to the end (as they said in the closedown of RTL back in the day) and I'll repeat what the guy says in the intro to this - the most beautiful yodel in the world,  Erzherzog Johann Jodler.

Remember, comments are welcome. You disagree with my ESC favourites? You think someone else deserves to be listed? You might even have a suggestion as to who should feature in some upcoming episode?

My A to Z in musical taste: A.

It has been said that my musical taste is "odd", my musical taste is "different", my musical taste "resides in my nether regions", my musical taste is, basically, "crap".

I disagree (at least with the last description)

I have yet to come across anyone who does not like music in some form or other. It unites us at some deep level. Music exists separate to language; we all hum, whistle, tap our fingers and feet to a rhythm. Music gets to us whatever languages we may speak. So whether you get all teary-eyed to "Ode an die Freude" or a "She Done Me Wrong" blues number, I am sure this multipart bit of the blog will not cause you too much grief. Just do not blame me.

The following items aim to show that my musical taste is, indeed, varied. I would not lower myself to call any of it crap as I do not think it is - given that someone, somewhere, has put their heart and soul into producing the piece, that description also rubbishes them.

I have limited myself to only a few items that are associated with each of the letters of the alphabet. No doubt someone will read this and say, WTF! Why is so-and-so not there? How could you miss out what's-their-name? The answer is easy - they did not pop into my head quickly enough.

Also, I am a bit long in the tooth. I heard some of this stuff on the wireless (the what?), have heard it on reel-to-reel, on vinyl, on cassette, on 8-track......I will not buy it on whatever new-fangled format comes along. So if I have not yet got it onto my mp3 library it may not be listed here.

Do not despair though. If ABBA is missing from the A group, they might turn up under F - that is where Agnetha would be.

Anyway, to get started:

A is, indeed, for ABBA - first met in Eurovision 1974 (Hint. Hint. That is under E). The track I have chosen is not the Eurovision winner though. The track I have picked gets the hairs on the back of my neck tingling and has Agnetha on lead vocals, powerful lead vocals at that.

Hank B (probably listed somewhere in an upcoming blog) also covers this track.

Have you heard Waterloo in Swedish?

Or how about German?

No, I thought not, but if you click on the links.......There, isn't that better?

I'd like to point out now that I don't own any copyright on this stuff and if asked to remove it, I will.

In total contrast to ABBA is this fine track from the southern hemisphere:

 

You did turn the volume up for that AC/DC number? I do like a good old 12-bar guitar and, like many things on here, I could have picked out loads from crackly recordings from the days of slate in schools, to the "turn it up to 11" metal offerings.

I blame my Catholic upbringing for the next one, or maybe my dear old mum who was quite taken with the old tenors. It's Ave Maria. I admit I prefer the two ladies singing. The artists here are Mirusia Louwerse, Andrea Bocelli and Helene Fischer:

Again, in total contrast to these wonderful songs is a song in a less sombre vein. A bit of 12-bar punk/new wave. Fusion has a lot to answer for.

The band is Alberto y Los Trios Paranoias, and the song has an equally long title - Heads Down, No Nonsense, Mindless Boogie. A tilt of the head to Quo (see later in the series).

Also in the A's would be some damn fine accordion music that I was bottlefed. This also crossed over to the Tirol/Bavaria, but more of that later. As I am already taking up your own internet time (Good grief, where did that 5 minute browse go....) I won't give you any links for this category but believe me, you just might come across them later on.

I should end this section here and allow you to get your breath back. because, believe me, you'll need it for this final offering. My followers on Facebook and the old Status Quo message board will be familiar with this. It falls into the once seen-never unseen category.

You may be unfamiliar with this fine European outfit. They go by the name Atomik Harmonik and this is one of their best. Another fine song that ticks many of my boxes - you can decide which boxes. I'll let you track down the Nightcore/Extended mixes......

As is usual, feel free to add any comments to this or ask any questions. And a request - if you find any 12-bar, guitar heavy, yodels then please point me in the direction. Ta.

Books

 

This is an interesting book in that it is all about the losers - those that don't have the obscurity of finishing fourth.

"What losers?" I hear you ask.

The last Eurovision Song Contest is a memory now but this book harks back to an earlier time bracketing 1978 in Paris with 2003 in Riga.

My earliest recollection of the ESC is from Naples in 1965 with France Gall singing, "Poupee De Cire, Poupee De Son."

Since then, we have had all manner of wonders: bare footed singers, strange song titles, odd dress sense, hot-pants, cat-suits, tank tops, dungarees, girls getting their skirts ripped off, drag artists - I am sure you add to the list.

But, to the book.

Time Moore travels the continent to visit those unfortunate enough to score the Nul Points of the book's title.

He discusses with them what the contest was like for them, what it felt like to hear all the Douzes as fas as the Uns go to someone else. He finds out what they are all up to now. It is all interspersed with little snippets about the contest such as when the native-language rule was abolished, or when the orchestra was removed, or when the voting rules were amemended, a little bit of Europe's history is also in there.

The blurb on the back says the author is a comic writer - I was not falling down laughing but I did find myself with a fairly permanent, wry smile on my lips each time I picked up the book. I'm tempted to find out if Doctor Who really said "Nul Points!" to the Daleks.

Comments, as always, more than welcome.

Eurovision

 

Not the junior contest or the dance contest but the Daddy - the Eurovision Song Contest!

This upcoming one is to be somewhere in Austria.

On Saturday the 10th May in Copenhagen, we saw a great contest with  Conchita Wurst triumphing with her song, "Rise Like a Phoenix".

Here is my take on the contest as it unfolded on Saturday 10th May.

The show started with a parade of the contestants. This might have been useful to the people in the concert hall who, no doubt, paid a great deal of money to be there but as far as the TV spectacle goes I'm not sure it helped. It is probably difficult to keep the TV audience amused for three hours or so. It might have been better to get right to the songs.

The three hosts this year were fine, pity the UK TV host thought it fun to talk over them, even if they were speaking in English.

The songs were preceded by the contestant making a flag of their country from some odd materials before appearing on stage to sing/perform their song.

From the off the songs this year were really good, I think from the whole final there were only a couple of poor songs. On first listen that is. Maybe on hearing them a few times they will grow.

The crowd seemed to enjoy them all, even with the simmering politics of Russia vs Ukraine, homophobes vs the rest, etc..

My three favourites as of the week before had been whittled down to two, Israel not getting through their semi-final.

The voting went well with douze points being spread around several countries early on. My second favourite, Spain, started to fall by the wayside.

Politics raised its head with the crowd booing when  Russia received maximum points.

It developed into a two horse race between Austria and the Netherlands.

I would have been happy if my favourite lost out to the Dutch entry but Conchita Wurst, representing Austria and singing Rise like a Phoenix, took honours.

Already countries are signing up for next year although as of now it hasn't been confirmed exactly where it will be held. The chatterers are saying either Salzburg or Vienna.

Here's hoping we will be successful in obtaining tickets for a week in May 2015 to see is next year's contest can live up to this one. It was brilliant!

As always, feel free to leave a comment.