EUROMOMENTS

...Just like everybody else does. After the initial furore in the UK press over the sainted Morrissey, we haven't heard a peep out of the Beeb since. While the rest of Europe explodes in an orgasm of song, the UK has fallen silent. One of my favourite Google searches at the moment is typing in the three words 'girls', 'aloud' and 'eurovision', on the off chance that some conspiracy speculation page will provide some thread of hope that I will "get what I want".(please? please?). On my most recent google I came across yet another article about Morrissey (you can read it here ). The most interesting info gleaned however had nothing to do with him. It appears that at least one other person has spotted the achingly obvious answer to who the BBC should approach for Helsinki: the pop perfection song writing machine that is Brian Higgings and Miranda (one of Gina G's Oohh..Ahh 1996 backing dancers) Cooper: Xenomania. Time will tell if anyone with any ...

In response to a comment, Portugal's national selection this year is coming up on 2nd March, and I'll try to offer my impressions then... but I can safely say that the only way is up for Portugal in the contest, after a dismal recent run.

This is going to be relatively quick and painless. I have exposed my ears to the songs in the third semifinal of the Icelandic selection. You can find all the songs here . I have picked two songs that I think are deserving of progression to the final: Ég og heilinn minn - Ragnheiður Eiríksdóttir - After my initial shock that a look-a-likey Carlytime is vying to cross the ESC stage for Iceland, I can report that this is quite a nice, upbeat ditty with a very pleasing melody and a strong chorus. It's not really the kind of thing I would normally go for, having a sort of 60s, Itchykoo Park feeling to it, but somehow it really hooks you in from the start. She's got a kooky little voice in which the Icelandic sounds very charming - I'm reminded of fellow Icelandic band Mum in terms of voice quality despite the big difference in musical style - and I can see this making an impact in Helsinki. Everyone is raving for the return of 2003's Jonsi and I'm really not buying it...

.. what have you done? The three contenders for the guaranteed Grand Final spot in Helsinki have just been published online. You can find the audio files from here , if you dare expose your ears. Basically, these are a sorry disappointment from Germany. Things were really looking up in 2006 with Texas Lightning, who deserved to finish in a much better position in Athens. However, this national selection final looks like a survival of the blandest. Roger Cicero's song, Women rule the world , is a Michael Buble style swing number with an alright melody and an okay orchestration. I haven't quite deciphered the lyrics from the 2 listens I've given it, but I suspect that the content would have feminists all over Europe throwing their rosehip teas at the screen on May 12th - let's just say he's not singing about Kanzler Angela and Condie Rice in this little ditty about sweetness and long legs. Monrose's Even Heaven Cries is about the blandest of the three, but strang...

I have spent some of my happiest moments over a plate of pierogi or a bottle of Zywiec, and so I always reserve a little space in my affections for the Polish national selection. However, my confidence in this loveliest of nations has taken a knock (actually, make that several blows with a sledgehammer) in recent years after a spate of questionable offerings on the ESC stage. I'll acknowledge a certain fondness for the nasal tones and high-kicking raunchiness of Blue Cafe in 2004, but 2005's grease-soaked folk offering was a real "one listen is enough- two means death" special. The 2006 return of Ich Troje was a big disappointment. I knew all was lost when the female lead singer's pregnant belly was violently disrobed as some sort of touching song finale. Anyway, that's all by the by... the very good news is that it is Polish national selection time once again. And, after listening to the ten finalists, I am...wait for it... HOPEFUL. It was a lovely Monday mor...

Firstly, I must say how metropolitan it makes me feel to be considered part of a north london eurovision collective. Since I live the life of a provincial humbug in Cambridge, the title makes me feel like a ryanair airport. The rustlings of pseudonews regarding semi-quarter-pre-pre-prequalifiers announce that the silly season is about to begin. This is generally bad news for my professional life, home life and personal hygiene as what free moments i can muster shall be spent readjusting whatever frame of reference of musical taste that i ever claimed to have had to listen to 150 ukranian qualifiers for the organisers to choose something that wasn't amongst them in the first place. I'm still bitter about that. However, certain early birds have caught even me by surprise. From the brink of allowing loca boca choca the to resound forever in our innocent ears as their second and final contribution to our favourite festival of european haute-culture, imminent withdrawl sudden...

It has often been said that The Corrs were made for Eurovision, but somehow they've resisted. I'm told they're still selling records somewhere, which usually all but disqualifies UK and Ireland acts from participating. However, my suspicions of a 2007 appearance on the ESC stage have been roused by no fewer than THREE playings of Corrs songs in the Rovers Return during the last week. Are we having The Corrs gently massaged into our subconscious by the British media, in preparation for our favourite honorary MBEs to raise the flag for the UK in Helsinki? Or did Steve McDonald pluck the Unplugged album from Woolworths' bargain basket for his mammy's Christmas present? Speaking of The Corrs, my tip to win the first heat of the Icelandic selection is a lovely wee ditty called "Blómabörn" by Bríet Sunna Valdemarsdóttir. Check it out here. Very Corrs-esque, I would say, and reminiscent of Birgitte's "Open Your Heart" of 2003. Not an ESC winner, tho...

So, is Morrissey really what I wanted? The UK National Selection is a topic that has dogged the minds of your bloggers over recent months. Despite a series of disappointing results in the ESC, the majority of the show's UK viewers still comfort themselves that Eurovision is just a chance to have a chuckle at all those silly Europeans anyway ( Dear British citizens: Which continent is the UK in exactly?) . Well, that's all got a bit difficult. There we were in 2003, praising the glorious advent of Turkish ethno-pop, while one half of a little-known Liverpudlian duo strutted around like a faulty Tina Turner robot and made our ears bleed by singing a semitone out the whole way through their aching 3-minute performance. In 2004, a young man in a powder blue suit, who could best be described as dead behind the eyes, encouraged us to "Hold On" . Oh, we tried... and while 2006's Manc in a yellow anorak captured our hearts, a thirty-something rapper with a clutch of Mart...

Let the self indulgence begin...

welcome. i still haven't decided whether having my own blog is no more than a ridiculous self-indulgence that, at best, will end after six months with zero comments and my head in the oven. however, i've convinced myself that i have something to say. after all, there are only about a million other websites that concern themselves with that celebrated grand prix of song and culture that is the Eurovision Song Contest. and, in my opinion, that is one too few. let's just see what happens. happy 2007 - only 127 days to go.