Semi 1 - San Marino

Semi 1 - 04

San Marino

Miodio
Comice

Alexander-NL:

I go back and forth on this one! I think with the right staging, lighting and vocal arrangement, I could really turn out to love this. However we’re dealing with a first-timer here and I just doubt everything will come together that well. Right now, it’s an OK song that even though it has grown on me tremendously, somehow is missing something that I can’t quite put my finger on. Not a bad debut, but I don’t see it surviving the semi. 5/10 (25^th)

Ade:
Hardly the most imaginative way to burst onto the Eurovision stage. I
can't think of enough ways to express 'dull', this song does them all. 2/10

Stefan:

Such chickens, the RAI guys. Instead of daring it themselves, they send their colony to be slaughtered on the spot. The entered song is the strongest contender for last place in the semi, why did they bother? 5/10.

Lobo:

Depeche Mode's rejected track from "Exciter". I guess i should more or less liked it, but i don´t. Won´t qualify in one million years.

Tore:
Another tiny little country makes their debut in ESC. San Marino are sending a young male band with an OK, but very forgettable ballad. And being the third slow entry among the first five is a major drawback as long as you don’t deliver a more interesting entry. Chances of qualifying: 5%

Harrow:
Nice debut effort, am delighted it isn't just another Switzerland fanwank 7/10

Frank:

Ah, the sound of sealions mating in the night!

Boog:
Sticks out like a sore thumb for all the right, but unfortunately, also all the wrong , reasons. A laudable debut for La Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino and set to receive a warm welcome. I am biased on a number of levels and I’m sure that won’t surprise you. I find Joy Division heartwarming, just so you know where I’m coming from! I can’t get enough of this morose, atmospheric, self-indulgent whinge, although this certainly isn’t a classic from their repertoire, and oozes more than a little pretention. I also love the Italian language in music, but have to say (whisper it) it’s not suited to this kind of music. It’s rare I ask for a language change in an ESC entry, but I’m doing so this time, for this, and one other song. ( more of which later). Work commitments don’t permit me ever to attend semis, so I’m afraid I’m going to be disappointed that I won’t see this on the big night. My only hope is a groundswell of support for the ‘underdog’. San Marino has nice postage stamps.
Personal score out of ten (7) and Winnschans (0%)

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To contribute to the future reviews, which continue tomorrow with San Marino, email your reviews to escnationblog@gmail.com. Alternatively, feel free to add your review of all the songs already featured so far, with a rating out of 10 as a comment on each of those posts. All rankings out of 10 contributed to semi 1 songs before 20/04/08 will go towards the ESCNation Blog's ESC 2008 Review Poll. For more info see here: http://escnationmbmusic.blogspot.com/2008/03/esc-2008-mbers-reviews.html

Semi 1 - Moldova

Semi 1 - 04

Moldova

A Century Of Love
Geta Burlacu

Lobo:
Not sure, but i think i haven't listened to it.

Ade:
Taken out of context, it isn't that awful, just very unremarkable and verging on pastiche. The overall blandness and lack of hook will surely flow over the heads of the average boozed up televoter, unless they overdo the staging, which given this is Moldova is always a possibility.
Not the sort of song that sets a televoting scoreboard alight. 7/10

Tore:
Oh dear. Pseudo-jazz, not far away from what Lithuania gave us last year. It could perhaps work as background music in some chill-out bar or elevator music in some trendy hotel. In ESC this will be forgotten while listening and hopefully the TV audience won’t die of boredom or change the channel. Chances of qualifying: 20%

Boog:
Smooth late night jazz which soothes the aching ESC head. At least it would if it weren’t for the singer. Why the composer, (God forefend it’s the girl herself) gave this song to someone with a voice less likely to induce relaxation, is anybody’s guess. The only thing which is even more unfathomable is the presentation at the national final. Bubbles and Pairs skating. The one saving grace is , I’ve always wanted in ice skating for the girl to lift the guy, and in this performance she does! What do I know I know about Moldova?..well, over 25% of the population have moved to Romania recently. Personal score out of ten (3) and Winnschans (0%)

Stefan:
Soap bubbles are the one gimmick that hasn't been tried yet, so bring them on! The song is reminiscent of Lithuania last year, and while that didn't do well, I say again what I said then: Either very high or very low place: 7/10.

Alexander-NL:

This made a great first impression on me. A simple, peaceful song and enough visual distraction from the accent. The bubbles or the yarn make no sense but somehow I love it and it adds to some undefined atmosphere of the song. Since my first impression it started to go down however, but that’s probably irrelevant. Prediction-wise it’s a big black question mark to me, I have no clue how it will come across in Belgrade. Yet I look forward to it.

6/10 (21^st)

Harrow:
Love or Leave without the screen! Zzz 1/10

Frank:
What’s that country called, dear? Mood-ova?

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To contribute to the future reviews, which continue tomorrow with San Marino, email your reviews to escnationblog@gmail.com. Alternatively, feel free to add your review of Montenegro, Israel, Estonia and Moldova, with a rating out of 10 as a comment on each of those posts. All rankings out of 10 contributed to semi 1 songs before 20/04/08 will go towards the ESCNation Blog's ESC 2008 Review Poll. For more info see here: http://escnationmbmusic.blogspot.com/2008/03/esc-2008-mbers-reviews.html

Semi 1 - Estonia

Semi 1 - 03

Estonia

Leto Svet
Kreisiraadio

Marianne:

I was in Tallinn to see Eurolaul where this piece of crap was chosen, and it was a huge pre contest fave. Estonians were sulking over the fact that Eurovision has become an event where neighbours are voting each other, and which is ruled by joke entries and half-naked dancing girls. So what was their answer? They chose to send a joke entry featuring half naked dancing girls, with part of lyrics in Finnish to attact neighbourly votes.

Sorry, but this tired joke just does not work for me. Neither does the song. Unfortunately I still can see plenty of my fellow Finns falling for the trap. Luckily we'll be just about the only ones though.

Cal:
I really cannot stand and hear the whole song not even once!!
1/10 for the song
20% to qualify

Frank:
Hi de hi, hi de ho, these ugly men may steal the show!

Harrow:
Not bad for a joke entry, the music is good at least. 5/10

Alexander-NL:

Every year there’s this song that scares me. You know, that song you can’t stand, but there’s this feel about it that could get so many people up looking for their phones. Weirdly enough, out of all the entries that are intended to be funny, this is the only one that comes close to bringing a smile to my face because of the laughing man. But that says more about the others really. I’m not counting on this to make the final, but I’m fearing they could surprise us.

2/10 (41^st)

Stefan:
Universal nonsense has a history of doing well in the contest. So this catchy tune may shock everyone by qualifying, despite the nasty guys performing it - it's so ridiculous, there's no need to understand it. Be afraid. 2/10.

Boog:
Those of you who remember ‘The Banana Bunch’ will remember this tune fondly. Very ‘lad’ish stag night stuff with the guys mucking around having sunk a skinful of beer. Backing girls straight out of a car magazine and there you have it, the straight middle age male vote sewn up. As we all know, this doesn’t constitute much of the audience, and those that are forced to sit in and watch the bl**dy thing by their girlfriends and wives (possibly both if they’re French *wink wink*) aren’t going to be so uncool as to actually pick up a phone and vote, but , if in a drunken haze they decide to do so for a laugh ( oh what a titter!), this is what they’ll go for. Estonia once had a seriously good-looking decathlete.
Personal score out of ten (2) and Winnschans (0%)

Tore:
It’s the first novelty/joke entry in the semi final. Two cousins of Olsen Bros. dance a little and make funny faces to this plain and straight forward eurotrash entry. Surrounded by dancing bikini girls one wonder if this most of all is a tribute to the late Benny Hill. Estonia has failed to reach the final ever since the semi final was introduced. I’m afraid we won’t see them this year either. Chances of qualifying: 20%

Ade:
The only thing worse than a joke entry (apart from colonic irrigation and chatty hairdressers) is an unfunny joke entry. Is this a supposed two fingers held up to Eurovision or a desperate attempt to jump on a soon departing bandwagon? It's tired, like a wedding guest that hangs around for the christening. Possibly the worst on offer this year. 0/10

Lobo:
Listened about 30 sec. Sounded like hell, actually.

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To contribute to the future reviews, which continue tomorrow with Moldova, email your reviews to escnationblog@gmail.com. Alternatively, feel free to add your review of Montenegro, Israel and Estonia, with a rating out of 10 as a comment on each of those posts. All rankings out of 10 contributed to semi 1 songs before 20/04/08 will go towards the ESCNation Blog's ESC 2008 Review Poll. For more info see here: http://escnationmbmusic.blogspot.com/2008/03/esc-2008-mbers-reviews.html

Semi 1 - Israel

Semi 1 - 02

Israel

The Fire In Your Eyes
Boaz Mauda

Tore:
There’s something seriously wrong with this song and that’s sadly the most important part; the chorus. After a very nice and promising opening, a flat and lifeless chorus becomes a huge anti-climax. When sung live the chorus sounds struggled too which makes it sound even worse. It can’t be saved by the much better bridge/middle-act either. Chances of qualifying: 30%

Stefan:
I normally don't like high-pitch male voices, but here it is totally different. The combination vocals/music has a “je ne sais quoi” effect on me and makes it my firm fave for this year: 9/10, and here’s hope for Boaz making the final!

Lobo:
Haven't listened to it.

Harrow:
Lovely song by a girl with a nice voice. Shame they can't put her on stage instead of Boaz miming to her voice! 8/10

Frank:
… And thus He played his trumpet and down came the walls of Jericho

Cal:

I find this song a bit strange... Sometimes i say it is horrible and sometimes that its ok ... Its draw for sure won't help it qualify... god what a bad start for semi 1 with montenegro and israel...

I believe that Israel will fight to qualify ( between 9th-10th position) or maybe the jury will pick it up...

i give 4/10 for the song and 30% to qualify.

Boog:
I’m sure I’m not the only one who marvels at Israeli singers being able to sing in Hebrew at all given that their language requires them to clear their throat from chatarrh every 10 seconds. (We have to do it north of the border here when pronouncing the last syllable of ‘loch’.) One of the schizophrenic songs in the contest, which offer not one, but two songs for the price of one, and you know what?, it just about works. It’s definitely a grower, which is a polite way of saying it has little impact on first hearing, so is ill suited to the immediacy required to attract the attention of hundreds of thousands of drunken revellers. I also can’t see the point of the English bit in the version I have. What can I say about Israel? A jewish friend of mine was once diddled in the Garden of Gethsemane. Personal score out of ten (6) and Winnschans(0%)

Alexander-NL:

I was impartial about this earlier, kind of weirded out about the unknown sex of the singer and the song didn’t hit home immediately either. By now the song has grown on me and it sticks. The awkwardness about the singer actually helps one remember it and it stands out from its draw even though I’m not sure televoters will be convinced. I hope he’ll give it some major welly out there and who knows what could happen.

8/10 (10^th)

Ade:
The language really gets in the way here. The accent is way too strong when he flicks to English, it takes a while to even notice. If you can't do something well, don't do it at all. And where exactly is the hook? It's a song that meanders along. A minor miracle might just lift this from the semi, but to my ears, this is painfully bad. 0/10

To contribute to the future reviews, which continue tomorrow with Estonia, email your reviews to escnationblog@gmail.com. Alternatively, feel free to add your review of Montenegro and Israel with a rating out of 10 as a comment on those posts. All rankings out of 10 contributed to semi 1 songs before 20/04/08 will go towards the ESCNation Blog's ESC 2008 Review Poll. For more info see here: http://escnationmbmusic.blogspot.com/2008/03/esc-2008-mbers-reviews.html

Semi 1 - Montenegro

Semi 1 - 01

Montenegro

Zauvijek volim te
Stefan Filipović

Ade:
Thoroughly unremarkable bit of bland sub Yank power-pop that manages to
be both twee and repulsive at the same time. Truly horrible. 0/10

Alexander-NL:
Not what one would call the most spectacular opening of a contest. My first impression of this was awful, with that video miming without a microphone. They would have looked more professional mouthing into water bottles. Went straight to my bottom. The bottom of my list, I mean. But I must say I have to partly come back to it. The new version is certainly OK, and overall it’s not a bad melody. If he performs it well, who knows, they will still fail miserably!

Boog:
An amateur-looking performance at their national final masks a respectable song, that doesn’t deserve its ‘favouritism to be last’ status. When you hear the song, you imagine an ageing rock band who’ve sold millions of records in the Balkans in the eighties, so the lad’s image ( and his backing singers’ ) is a bit incongruous. (incongruity can work of course, ( in fact I’m a proponent of it) but I doubt it in this case) Bizarrely it shares the Native American drumbeat of the Ukrainian entry, but more of that later. Of course first song on and it will receive a huge welcome. One final point; Montenegro has a very beautiful coastline!
Personal score out of ten (5) and Winnschans (0%)

Harrow:
What is the point of entering? Apart from the douze for Serbia, of course... 2/10

Lobo:
Haven´t listened to it.

Sergio:
So, this is Montenegro's 2nd ever entry and not a great one, I'm afraid. In fact it has similarities with last year's Montenegrin entry, although this one is slightly better. Stefan sings well (despite his very deep voice for someone as young as he is) but this will be a rather uninteresting opener of the 1st semifinal. The song is very late 80's in style, in my opinion. I don't expect it to qualify but points from Bosnia and Slovenia are more or less certain (since the other ex-Yugo countries aren't voting in the same semi). Since there are worse songs than this, I'll give it a 4 out of 10.

Shi:
At first hearing: When the song ended, I remembered that I thought it sounded nice. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember the actual song. At second hearing: I really like it. It's cute and harmless and good-moody, and it has some nice moments of melody, even if it has been written two decades too late, give or take a year. The problem is that while I enjoy the song a lot while listening to it, I still can't hum a single bit of it, and probably wouldn't be able to even if my life depended on it.
Why it should qualify: He's (kind of) cute, he (relatively) can sing live, and as far as we know he has no plans to share the stage with any kind of birds.
Why it shouldn't: Because it's the song that wasn't there.
Wise words: "I'm just wasting time" - It might be three minutes of your life you'll never get back, but that's fine, you won't remember it anyway.
Bottom line: I forgot.
Score: 7/10

Stefan:
If the Montenegrin delegation's teambus took a wrong turn on the way from Podgorica to Belgrade and never arrived, this 80s Jugovizija reject wouldn't be missed. A certain non-qualifier if there ever was one. A generous 3/10.

Tore:
In my book the absolute worst entry in 2007 was Montenegro. I was at therefore hoping for something much better this time around, especially as they had some time to find an entry after selecting the artist. Well they found a better song than the 2007-trash, I’ll give them that, but this is yet again so uninspiring and dull it will be the one certain ex-Yugoslavian country we won’t see in the final. And what a terrible opener of ESC 2008. Chances of qualifying: 10%


To contribute to the future reviews, which continue tomorrow with Israel, email your reviews to escnationblog@gmail.com. Alternatively, feel free to add your review of Montenegro and rating out of 10 as a comment on this post. All rankings out of 10 contributed before 20/04/08 will go towards the ESCNation Blog's ESC 2008 Review Poll. For more info see here: http://escnationmbmusic.blogspot.com/2008/03/esc-2008-mbers-reviews.html