Pre-rehearsal ranking

Today is Saturday 28th April and rehearsals for this year's Eurovision start tomorrow - so it was time to get down to brass tacks and nail my colours to the mast!
Using Mr Gerbear's magnificent song sorter I was able to make a reasonable ranking (I had to move one song because it was quite a lot higher than I thought it would be but that was the only noticeable anomaly) My tastes are still changing and I know that once footage comes from rehearsals, tastes - and the songs' chances of winning- will change drastically but this is it for now.

Also, for an interesting comparison, the ranking numbers are highlighted to signify its path to the final:
yellow means the song is in semi final 1, blue means it is in semi final 2 and green means it is automatic qualifier.

As you can see semi final 1 (at least for me) is going to be BRUTAL with most of my personal favourites in that show. But only the top 10 from each semi getting into the Saturday night final, I get the feeling many of my favorites are not going to make it!!!! If you fancy dipping your toes into who this year's eurovision has to offer, have a watch and listen to clips of  all the songs here.

I will predict my semi final qualifiers next weekend!

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SOA 2018 episode 6

We start, unusually, with a discussion about the phenomenon that is… Ross Anthony and whether he is actually as British he purports to be (Google “Ross Anthony British” to see the amazing* music video)

Points of order discussed include:

1 – well dodgy pyramid schemes involving Bobby Davro (or not as it turned out)
2 – needing to be ‘a bit more Sopho’
3 – letting off wind
4 – Runrig – and their apparent lack of successors
5 – Eastern European stage schools

The songs pulled apart on this show are from – in alphabetical order:
Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Germany, Moldova and San Marino

* Sorry,  I lied. Soz.


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or like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ESCarmchair to find get the latest information about blogposts and podcasts or even have a look back at our old ones :o)

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/SOA1806

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SOA 2018 episode 5

Just by chance we have a lovely intro by a local celebrity !

Quite a bit of bickering on today’s episode but mainly about each other – not the songs!

Points of order discussed include:

1 – Let Loose

2 – a weird Apprentice buying task

3 – knowing the cast of BBC’s Fame Academy series 1 without really thinking

4 – the surprise return of the Austrian tourist board

5 – a song with an ironic title

The songs pulled apart on this show are from – in alphabetical order:

Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Lithuania, Norway, Russia and Spain

Follow us on twitter at https://www.twitter.com/ESCarmchair
or like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ESCarmchair to find get the latest information about blogposts and podcasts or even have a look back at our old ones :o)

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/SOA1805

Click here to listen to this podcast in your usual music player (M3U Playlist)

SOA 2018 episode 4

We are more than half way through our Eurovision odyssey and we’re both feeling a bit of cabin fever and what a day to do the longest episode of the run :/

Notes on this episode include:

1 – cost of video production v cost of song production

2 – ginger and proud!

3 – forgetting that you like something

4 – Goodness Gracious Me

5 – getting rid of the band!

The entries looked at on this show are – in alphabetical order:

Australia, Belarus, Denmark, France, Malta, Montenegro, Romania and United Kingdom

Follow us on twitter at https://www.twitter.com/ESCarmchair
or like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ESCarmchair to find get the latest information about blogposts and podcasts or even have a look back at our old ones :o)

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/SOA1804

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SOA 2018 episode 3

The good news is that we are half way through the podcasts.

The bad news is we’re ONLY half way through the podcasts.

On today’s podcast there seems to be a lot to talk about, and most of it leaves us quite puzzled.

1 – accidental Partridge

2 – Andy Day from Cbeebies

3 – sudden cravings for pineapples

4 – frozen food stores of the past and present

5 – Limmy’s Homemade show as seen on Thursday 5^th April BBC 2 Scotland 10pm (or on BBC iPlayer)

The songs pulled apart on show 3 are – in alphabetical order:

Belgium, Cyprus, Iceland Italy, Israel, Netherlands and Serbia

Follow us on twitter at https://www.twitter.com/ESCarmchair
or like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ESCarmchair to find get the latest information about blogposts and podcasts or even have a look back at our old ones :o)

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/SOA1803

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SOA 2018 epsiode 2

We make a lot of sacrifices to create this podcast and we bypassed a major UK cultural event in order to make this for you… not. We didn’t record this anywhere near as late so we were both in a much better mood.

Mentions on the podcast today for:
1 – chicken dancing and chicken noises (and it not even about Netta!)
2 – when videos are better than the song
3 – over-armography
4 – Bohemian Rhapsody
5 – tuning the vertical hold on your telly (you either understand that or you don’t)

The songs discussed on the show are – in alphabetical order:
Georgia, Ireland, Latvia, Macedonia, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden.

Follow us on twitter at https://www.twitter.com/ESCarmchair
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You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/SOA1802

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SOA 2018 episode 1

It's April..... so it's time for SHITE OR ALRGHT!!!!!

It’s the first of 6 review shows with a slight difference in make up but shouldn't affect your enjoyment! 
Due to one reason or another we started recording this faaaaaaaar too late so by about half way through I think I’d actually lost the will to live… Don't worry, as I write this episode 2 has already been recorded and is much, much better - so please come back for more !!!!!

Things to look out for that might (or might not) crop up again: 
1 – too many mentions of pork 
2 – the bullshit bell 
3 – songs that sound like other songs 
4 – singers that look like other singers 
5 – the Austrian tourist board 


The songs analysed on the show are – in alphabetical order –
Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Poland, Switzerland and Ukraine.


Follow us on twitter at https://www.twitter.com/ESCarmchair
or like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ESCarmchair to find get the latest information about blogposts and podcasts or even have a look back at our old ones :o)

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/SOA1801

Click here to listen to this podcast in your usual music player (M3U Playlist)

Semi-final wishlists

Now all the songs are known, the next thing we are awaiting is the semi final draw. We already know which half of which semi the songs are in as well as the voting split for the 6 already in the final but everything is up for grabs. This is not a prediction per se, more my idea of a perfect running order. I have also used ideas about props and prepping time to inform my decisions and I have also had to kind of guess where the 'commercial breaks' might be. So here's what I'd like to see

SEMI FINAL 1
Estonia Elina Nechayeva "La forza"
Belarus         Alekseev "Forever"
Azerbaijan Aisel "X My Heart"
Bulgaria        Equinox "Bones"
Czechia        Mikolas Josef "Lie to Me"
Lithuania      Ieva Zasimauskaitė "When We're Old"
---
Belgium        Sennek "A Matter of Time"
Iceland         Ari Ólafsson "Our Choice"
Albania        Eugent Bushpepa "Mall"
Israel Netta "Toy"
Ireland Ryan O'Shaughnessy "Together"
Croatia Franka "Crazy"
Armenia       Sevak Khanagyan "Qami"
---
Macedonia Eye Cue "Lost and Found"
Cyprus Eleni Foureira "Fuego"
Austria         Cesár Sampson "Nobody but You"
Greece Yianna Terzi "Oneiro mou"
Switzerland Zibbz "Stones"
Finland          Saara Aalto "Monsters"

I think having one of the favourites on first is a bold move but being such a unique song I think it sets a fabulous ambience to the night (and also put some of the ones afterwards to shame). The Czech song is the most obvious to put on first but considering the other songs in this half I don't think it fits. This semi also has very few non-english entries so I have tried to separate them out throughout the show, as well as keeping apart similarly tempoed songs and acts.

SEMI FINAL 2

Moldova            DoReDos "My Lucky Day"

Russia Yulia Samoylova "I Won't Break"

Netherlands Waylon "Outlaw in 'Em"
Serbia Sanja Ilić & Balkanika "Nova deca"

San Marino Jessika feat. Jenifer Brening "Who We Are" 

Denmark           Rasmussen "Higher Ground"

---

Australia          Jessica Mauboy "We Got Love"

Romania          The Humans "Goodbye"

Norway          Alexander Rybak "That's How You Write a Song"

Hungary          AWS "Viszlát nyár"

Slovenia          Lea Sirk "Hvala, ne!"

Ukraine          Mélovin "Under the Ladder"

---

Sweden         Benjamin Ingrosso "Dance You Off"

Latvia Laura Rizzotto "Funny Girl"

Poland Gromee feat. Lukas Meijer "Light Me Up"

Montenegro Vanja Radovanović "Inje"

Malta Christabelle "Taboo"

Georgia         Iriao "For You"

Moldova's uptempo number seems too obvious a choice of opener, but it is an eyectacing song so will demand attention. I could not resist having Alexander Rybak and AWS on after each other - that I gong to be one hell of a contrast -  but I wonder as to whose benefit it might be? Sweden start off the third part mainly due to their bulky staging although if the producers wanted to make it obvious how pro-Sweden they are, it'll be on last. That said, the Georgian lilting choral singing makes for a very peaceful, rousing and suitable full stop. Anything on after this is going to feel like an anti-climax In this semi, non english entries are more prevalent and have tried to split them up but is almost impossible in the second half.

Of course if some entries need more time for staging purposes they may 'demand' to be put on before or after a commercial break or first/last which may affect things. Maybe when the list comes in we can work out who this might be the case for or who the producers are favouring this year.

GEORGIA

The Georgian song was unveiled on March 13^th via the presentation of the official video clip. Back in December the folk-jazz fusion band Iriao had been internally selected and that their entry would be released at a later date. Their song is called “For you”

The accompanying video is very simple taking place in a large empty arena and the five members are stood in different parts of the space. Not very much happens in terms of stagecraft apart from the singers moving to and away from each other when the harmonies come and go. There are also interspersed clips of female dancers dressed in white and with white nets around them. This sort of reaffirms the pure, simple and fluid nature of the song and the performance of the group.

Although the song has an English title, it is entirely in Georgian and is a direct translation of the words "Sheni Gulistvis". There is no verse/chorus structure as such but there are short tunes that repeated throughout but with different lyrics. The song is metaphorically about love using the themes of weather – there are many references to snow and sun, The harmonies are very close and it has a choral, even church like feeling to it and this is juxtaposed with the small yet prominent mechanical beat behind the instrumentation. The build up is very clever and the lack of a proper structure makes it seem much longer than 3 minutes. Around the minute to go mark the song resets slightly and builds up again to a very uplifting finish.

This is a very uplifting song and by the end you cannot help but feel enlightened and filled up by the optimism of the song. I say this knowing nothing about the Georgian language (even before I looked up any translation) you just see and feel it in their singing and the tune. Although the song has no predictable formula parts of the tune are very memorable but I think this is where the song lacks appeal for Eurovision. If there was a little more repetition I feel the song would be seen as more ‘eurovision-y’, especially with the fact that it is not in English. The language sounds so beautiful, ethnic and full of feeling. As beautiful as it is, I have to wonder who this would appeal to and who would actually vote for this. As much as I would love to see this in the final I fear it won’t make it.

ARTIST –  Iriao

SONG – For you

MUSIC - Davit Malazonia

LYRICS - Irina Sanikidze

BULGARIA

The Bulgarian act and song were unveiled on March 12th via the official video release. Although there were constant updates about how the selection process was going, very little was known about the act or song until the reveal date. Going to Lisbon is the group Equinox with the song “Bones”

The video of the song is very minimal in terms of stagecraft and in fact is more of a lyric video than anything to do with performance style. The palate is dark and starry with blurred beams and some refraction of light through the crystals. Although you see the personnel on screen at no point do they actually sing and barely look through the camera lens. The five members are dressed in different ways but all in black. Maybe they are going for as minimal a performance style as possible!

The song begins with an interesting pulsing electro soundscape – it certainly pricks your ears up and take notice. The first verse begins and the vocal sounds very close and breathy, almost like an amplified whisper. More voices come in during the pre chorus before the very sparse chorus which has quite a warbled feel which might be tricky to recreate live. This is followed by the briefest of verses before the whole chorus starts up again however at  just the 2 minute mark this rendition  is going to continue, in one fashion or another, until the end of the song. This feels a little bit too long to be listening to the same thing. There is then a brief punctuation of singing at the end before finishing with the name of the song.

This is a very atmospheric song and the dark electro vibe in certainly interesting to the ear. But here begins the first issue – the singing sounds very very processed and synthesised and at times it feels like there are much more than 5 singers on the track. I also wonder that when all 5 sing together will it feel like they are blending or will it sound more like they are competing? Secondly, with 5 singers on stage - what scope is there for anything more visual? How can they incorporate a space theme if there are do led screens? I feel that in Bulgaria’s modern history in Eurovision is this very disappointing. It almost comes across as a bit highbrow and up itself. I think this will probably qualify although I think for once this isn’t in the running for a win.

ARTIST –  Equinox

SONG –  Bones

MUSIC - Borislav Milanov, Trey Campbell, Joacim Persson, Dag Lundberg

LYRICS - Borislav Milanov, Trey Campbell, Joacim Persson, Dag Lundberg