Good songs, decimated dynamics
Maestro Y | 05/24/2009
(2 out of 5 stars)
"I've had a chance to hear this thing more than once. Eurovision 2009 was a great event with many great new songs. Unfortunately, few of them are enjoyable when heard on this album. This compilation has become another victim of the loudness race, trying to sound as loud as possible without making you turn the volume knob. As a result, some of the best and most loved songs sound flat and fatiguging. Perhaps the greatest victim of this merciless mastering has been the competition-winning Rybak's Fairy Tale. The song's greatest strength is its pure, fun yet expressive accoustic arrangement, the swelling of the violins, the piano-driven beat - all of that has been squished into an ear-pounding mush that conveys very little of the feeling that won Rybak his first place.
Songs with a more dance/techno beat haven't been as tragically destroyed. The version of Ernman's La Voix here is better than during either round of the competition. But if, like me, you found yourself enjoying the ballads such "What if We" (Malta) and Lloyd Webber's "It's My Time" (UK) during the competition, stay away from this album. Try to procure the DVD of the final and rip them from there instead."
The best and worst of Euro-trash
Ashtar Command | Stockholm, Sweden | 05/24/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Can Americans ever understand the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC)? Probably not. But don't worry. We Europeans don't understand it either! And yet, the contest has been organized annually since 1956. Some nations are more obsessed with it than others. Indeed, Sweden has long been superobsessed with the ESC. Everyone in Sweden quite literally grew up with the ESC and the Swedish qualifying contest, known as Melodifestivalen.
Sweden has managed to win the ESC four times, most famously in 1974 with ABBA's song "Waterloo". Incidentally, ABBA seems to be the only band that ever became internationally famous due to an ESC victory. Celine Dion won the contest in 1988, but she didn't become a star until a few years later, and by then, everyone had forgot about her ESC win. (Celine's winning song isn't even included on her greatest hit collections.)
For years, the ESC was a *very* quaint contest. Each song had to be performed live by a symphony orchestra, including the rock and synthesizer songs! Can you imagine a rock song performed by a symphony orchestra? Then you can imagine Ryder's "Runner in the night", representing Britain in 1985. Actually, you can't. Each year, the winner was selected by jury voting, and since the jury groups were dominated by elderly people, old fashioned French and German songs were sure winners most of the time. About ten years ago, the contest was modernized, but the new system didn't work very well either. The contest was now decided by a phone vote, with neighbouring nations constantly voting for each other. For years, another problem have been "freak songs" (songs that are deliberately frivolous) or artists who really can't sing, and who should have entered Amateur Night Arkansas instead. The moderators, who often act like they are high on something, are another low point of this quixotic show.
And know what? We love every minute of it!!!
In fact, the main reasons for watching the ESC are precisely the strange rules, the moderators who desperately try to crack jokes in very bad English, the impossible costumes of the singers, the terrible camera angles, and - of course - the exciting phone vote (or jury vote) which often ends in quite unexpected ways. Even better, the ESC goes on for three non-consecutive evenings, making it an excellent excuse to consume snacks and candy all week long!
Frankly, we are living the high life up here. First, a month or so with Melodifestivalen. Then a week with the ESC. And then, off to the local record store to buy this year's ESC album.
Which finally brings me to this product: The Eurovision Song Contest, Moscow 2009. (Yes, the whole show was in Russia this year.) Overall, this year's contest featured surprisingly good songs, including the entries from Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Belarus, Switzerland, Germany, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Montenegro and Iceland. The album naturally also contain the zany winner from Norway, and all the low points (Cyprus, Serbia, Latvia, etc). Sweden was represented by an interesting but obviously doomed combination of disco and opera. And yes, it was sung by an opera singer! One of my personal favourites is the Belgian song, performed by a Elvis Presley look-alike, who claims that he's the original, and Elvis is the copycat. I tried to post the lyrics on an Elvis product page here at Amazon, but the moderators stopped me, LOL.
Apart from this CD, there is also a DVD from the 2009 contest. However, I haven't seen it. If it contains the actual contest, please note that some of the songs are better live on stage, while others are tolerable on the album, but quite worthless live (Finland,Sweden and Belgium!).
I'm not sure if somebody who grew up with MTV and American chart music can ever understand the Eurovision Song Contest. But if you want to hear the best and worst of European and Southwest Asian pop music, this is an excellent buy. Beware of the earlier vintages, however. They are often much, much worse! We are talking Euro-trash.
PS. I bought this CD for my parents (who are quite old). They play it on a loud volume all day long!
"
Track Listings (21) - Disc #1