1995 EUROVISION
SONG CONTEST - DUBLIN
These are my highly
valued opinions of the songs of the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest held in
Dublin's Point Theatre on May 13, 1995 and won by Norwegian group Secret Garden
with 'Nocturne'. I watched this concert when it was on television, but I didn't
record it. If anyone would like to sell me a copy of the video, please e-mail
me at inxia@yahoo.com and you will have a
sale.
1. POLAND - Sama -
Justyna Stechkowska ****
This is a strange song. I'm still trying to
decide whether the recorders at the opening of the song are deliberately
dissonant and too loud or whether the players just can't play for shit.
However, the song really kicks into form around the one-and-a-half minute mark
with the call and response between the male and female vocalists and Justyna's
voice floating wonderfully over the top. Overall, it's a little disjointed, trying
to combine soaring vocals and recorders with a rock beat and a heavy bass, but
it's worth the listen just for the section just mentioned.
2. IRELAND -
Dreamin' - Eddie Friel ****
This song has a real country 'ridin' off into the sunset' feel and is one
of my favourite Irish entries. The accordion solo in the middle is delightful
and Eddie's raspy vocals carry the song beautifully. Actually, by Eurovision
standards, the lyrics to this song are quite brilliant. It's a very gentle song
and added great variety to this contest. I wish that that was the
priority of Eurovision entries, rather than just winning.
3. GERMANY -
Verliebt in Dich - Stone & Stone ***
Och aye! Hootenanny! Germany goes Scottish. The
song opens with a rapid vocal over a string drone, followed by a bagpipe solo,
followed by Scottish/pop chorus. Thankfully, the song, while maintaining its
feel, gets vastly less tacky as it goes on and turns out to be quite a
delightful mid-tempo rock tune. So, when listening to this, resist the
temptation to double-up laughing at the first minute or so and you should get a
pleasant surprise.
4.
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA - Dvadeset Prvi Vijek - Davorin Popovic ***
Due to atrocities of war in Bosnia, no records
have arrived in the country since 1974, which is when this song sounds like it
came from. Not that it's not a pleasant song, mind you, it's just a little
dated. It's what we in Australia call 'easy listening'. Perhaps Davorin Popovic
is the Bosnian Englebert Humperdinck. It's the sort of song you can imagine
being used in a TV commercial for a new housing estate. Give it a few listens
and then do the vacuuming to it.
5. NORWAY - Nocturne - Secret Garden *****
For those of you not familiar with this
Eurovision classic, there is one verse sung at either end of this song which
envelopes an instrumental depiction of a night pastoral scene using strings,
harps and pipes. The decision to use this song at the contest was a brave one
and proved that originality and Eurovision could mix after all. It was this
song, and not the Irish entries (although the Secret Garden violinist is Irish)
that was responsible for the folk sounds of the 1996 and 1997 contests, and for
that reason, I would class this song as the most important in Eurovision
history.
6. RUSSIA -
Kolibelnaja Dlya Volkanu - Phillipe Kirkorow *
This song is a slow power ballad. Do I need
to say any more? Play it until you are sick of it and that shouldn't take long.
The electric guitar solo is in perfect keeping with the style of the song. It
seems that Russia was suffering from the same absence of recent music as Bosnia
in 1995. Anyway, if you like slow soaring power ballads, you'll enjoy this. I
don't.
7. ICELAND - Núna -
Bo Halldórsson *
Gee, we haven't heard a slow power ballad
for a while! Perhaps one the reasons Norway won this contest is because two
really dull songs played after it. Basically, as with Russia, if you like slow
power ballads, you'll like this. (For Brisbane readers, if you listen to 4KQ or
4BH a lot, you'll like this.)
8. AUSTRIA - Die
Welt Dreht Sich Verkehrt - Stella Jones ***
Get down and get funky! This song has a bit
of a Stevie Wonder influence, and it has to be said that Stella's voice is not
entirely suitable for this type of song, although there are some good moments.
It's the sort of song that, to work properly, needs a more soulful vocal, and
another three minutes of instrumental improvisations. Still, it's a good
attempt at something different and deserves a few listens.
9. SPAIN - Vuelve
Conmigo - Anabel Conde ***
This is a frustrating song because
throughout the song it continually promises to reach some great heights and
then it never gets there. This is a mid-tempo pop tune and, if you use your
imagination, sounds a bit like a show-style tune. I don't think that this ever
really makes it's mind up about what it is exactly, and as a result it sounds
disjointed. The verse builds up one type of feel and then the chorus provides
another, and Anabel's powerful high notes preceding the choruses and during the
chorus repeats lead the listener to believe that something really powerful is
coming, and then it doesn't. It's a frustrating song.
10. TURKEY - Sev -
Arcu Ece ***
It's another power ballad, but I think this
one has a bit more listenability than some of the others. The timpani at the
end of the a capella introduction is slightly misleading in that it makes you
think for a moment that the song is really going to kick into gear when, in
fact, it's just settling in, but the music does build quite nicely in this
song, and it doesn't overdose on the power element. Even though it is fairly
formulaic, I would still give this song a few listens.
11. CROATIA -
Nostagija - Magazin & Lidija **
This song sounds like a really good folk
tune that someone decided to turn into a really bad pop tune. The gypsy violin
intro and the semi-operatic voices sound promising, and the verses aren't
actually too bad, but the chorus sounds like one of those ridiculous attempts
to modernise church music by setting hymns to rock beats. The chorus probably
works as a gentle folk-tune, but definitely not as a power rock tune in 6/8.
12. FRANCE - Il Me
Donne Rendez-Vous - Nathalie Santamaria *
There have been several Eurovisions where
the only good song has been the French entry. France obviously decided, in the
wake of several quality entries in 1995, to take a year off. This song, which
I'll describe as a dance tune to a shuffle beat, just doesn't work at all. The
tune of the chorus sounds like a bad kids' song, Nathalie's voice is wrong for
this song, and, I hate to tell you this guys, but people stopped believing that
those synthesizer sounds sounded realistic in about 1983. Still, it's good to
see Casio keyboards getting some sales. Give this one a miss if you like, there
are many other quality French entries.
13. HUNGARY - Ůj Név
a Régi Ház Falán - Csaba Szigetj **
This song starts off as a dirge (which is
not a bad thing in itself) and then becomes a power ballad. It's a unique
combination but it still doesn't work. Basically, the song is just uncreative.
It contains no emotion whatsoever and sounds as though it was just created by
sitting at a keyboard and churning something out. Csaba's voice doesn't seem
quite able to handle the vocal range either. This song isn't horrible, it's
just dull.
14. BELGIUM - La
Voix est Libre - Frédéric Etherlinck *
Well, why not have another power ballad?
Actually, this song reminds me of one often sung at Christmas called "When
a Child is Born". I'm sure this song has a wonderful personal message for
all of our hearts, but it's still dull. The thing about the Eurovision draw is
that if you are performing an unoriginal song, you have to get in early before
everyone is sick of the style. If you listen to these songs in order, you will
groan when you hear this song's intro before rapidly falling asleep.
15. UNITED KINGDOM -
Love City Groove - Love City Groove ***
This is a rap song set to a mid-tempo funk
beat, rather like a slow version of Jamiroquai or Galliano. On that basis, this
is a rather revolutionary move from the UK here to submit this kind of song to
Eurovision, and without being a rap connoisseur, it seems to have a fair degree
of street cred about it, (that is, we're not talking about Vanilla Ice-wannabes
here). If you don't listen to any kind of rap at all, skip this song, but for
those of you who like it, or can listen to it if the music is half-decent, give
this a listen, it's really not too bad, particularly in the light of the last
four songs.
16. PORTUGAL - Baunilha
e Chocolate - Tó Cruz ****
God bless the Hammond organ. The music here
has a bit of a Marvin Gaye feel to it, and even though Tó doesn't sound a bit
like Marvin, it still works with the song fairly well. Without having read the
lyrics, there’s a nostalgic feel here, like the sort of song that a couple who
have been married for fifteen years would kick back to and say "Honey,
they're playing our song". It's a very relaxing song, another one for the
4KQ listeners. (Daniel would like to point out that he does not listen to 4KQ
at all!)
17. CYPRUS - Sti
Fotia - Alex Panayi *****
Listen to this song! It has a wonderful dark
feel in the verses, which Alex's voice does not quite pull off, but he makes up
for that in the chorus where the song becomes a lively, dramatic statement with
a wonderful Mediterranean atmosphere. Amazingly, this feel is achieved without
the aid of any specifically folk instruments; rather, it is achieved through a
superb orchestral and vocal arrangement which lifts the song at just the right
moments. The composer can take a bow. Bravo!
This is a gentle ballad, which contrasts
nicely with the several power ballads that have gone before it, although it
does try a bit too hard to turn on the power towards the end of the song. It
has the sort of feel as though it was written as the love theme for a Hollywood
movie. Jan's voice is appropriate without being anything special. Nothing to
get excited about, but it's a pleasant enough song.
19. DENMARK - Fra Mols til Skagen - Aud Wilken *****
This feel of this song is reminiscent of an
evening on a Caribbean island, which for a Dane is pretty impressive! It's the
sort of song that you could slow-dance to barefoot with your lady on the
balcony of a beach house. Aud's voice is dreamy and strong at just the right
moments; it's probably the most impressive vocal performance of the 1995
contest. I could listen to this song for a very long time indeed.
20. SLOVENIA -
Prisluhni Mi - Darja Svajger ***
Oh, just for a change, let's have a power
ballad! (Fuckin' hell, what's the deal here?) It must be said that this is one
of the better power ballads of the contest featuring a confident vocal
performance from Darja and a strong orchestral arrangement. The song builds
quite nicely and achieves the feel it set out to create, which is probably the
point of a song like this. Not an original idea but performed quite nicely.
21. ISRAEL - Amen -
Liora **
O.K., get your fucking candles out and sway
them in time to this one. If this song was in English, you couldn't have a
schmaltzy Carols by Candlelight Christmas concert in Australia without it. This
song is what's commonly called a 'peace anthem'. Listen to the first minute of
this song and you'll know what sort of song I'm talking about. This wins the
schmaltz award for Eurovision '95 hands down. Listen to this song once every
five years, any more will make you sick.
22. MALTA - Keep me
in Mind - Mike Spiteri ***
This song is best described in the words of
those two great music critics, Beavis and Butthead, who said, "Sometimes
kick-ass bands have to sing wussy songs to get the chicks." That's what
this sounds like, a hard-rock singer singing a wussy song. To Australian ears,
it's very reminiscent of Noiseworks, to American ears, think Whiteheart (I'd be
grateful if someone could help me out with a European analogy). I'm trying to
get through this review without saying 'power ballad', but it's probably not
quite in that category. No, it's definitely in the "macho singer sings
wussy song to get the chicks" category.
23. GREECE - Pia
Prossefchi - Elina Konstantopoulou ****
Another song with an unashamedly
Mediterranean feel, and Elina's voice is superb, if slightly stereotypical of
Greek female voices. The bouzouki's are in evidence here once again, and the
more I think about it, the more I think that this is a fairly unoriginal Greek
song. Who cares? I love it! Greek Eurovision entries invariably sound very
Greek, and I think that there's a lot to be encouraged about that sort of
thinking. Anyway, not a lot to set the world on fire here, but if you like
Greek songs, listen to this until your heart is content.
In summary, the
standouts for me were the entries from Norway, Cyprus and Denmark (I don't care
about the order), with Poland, Ireland, Germany, United Kingdom, Portugal and
Greece on the rung below that. To make up the top ten, I would probably pick
Turkey or Slovenia. This was a very good Eurovision with quite a lot of good
songs. The dominant musical form was, of course, the power ballad, which
Ireland had won with in 1992 and 1993. The flop of the night for me was the
French entry, but perhaps that is because I had come to expect so much from
French entries.
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