No geek
is an island

A while ago I was tagged by Millennium Elephant to take part in the seven songs meme, the rules of which are:

“List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.”

Spring had already passed by the time Millennium named me amongst his seven, so these are rather more summery than springy. And much as men like making lists, mine are usually very transitory, so I would probably have picked a different seven yesterday. But here are today’s seven, complete with videos from YouTube.

Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt - We Are Scientists

I Love You ‘Cause I Have To - Dogs Die in Hot Cars

I Will Survive - Cake

Ain’t Going to Goa - Alabama 3

I’ve recently been familiarising myself with Alabama 3’s first album, Exile on Coldharbour Lane, which is great fun. The track I’ve picked is a single I’ve owned since 1997ish.

Repeated Offender - The Rifles

Very pleased to find The Rifles, via my brother. This song, from 2006, is one of many good tracks on their No Love Lost album.

Tickle Me Pink - Johnny Flynn

Each week the iTunes store offers a Single of the Week free download. I discovered this when it was Single of the Week a month or two back.

The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song - The Flaming Lips

A highlight of the London Lovebox festival a couple of weekends ago was the Flaming Lips headline set on the Sunday night. That was the first time I heard this and it was amongst several Flaming Lips tracks I bought when I got home. The video, it turns out, is as weird as their stage show.

It’s that time again: tonight is the final of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest.

I missed both semi-finals and haven’t had time to listen to the contenders, so I’ll be watching tonight (at the local LibDems’ annual Eurovision party) with an open mind.

One of my two predictions for the contest has already come true: Ireland’s abysmal entry by Dustin the Turkey was knocked out in its semi-final. My other prediction is to disagree with the BBC’s tiny and unrepresentative Eurovision panel that Sweden will win. Although Charlotte Perrelli has won before, her entry this year, Hero is - based on the short clip I’ve heard - nowhere near as good as her 1999 winner Take Me to Your Heaven.

In lieu of my usual reviews, you can get a rundown of tonight’s songs from Liberal Revolution, and a quick guide from Mike.

I’ll probably live Twitter the show. You can find what will no doubt be pearls of wisdom (”What *is* she wearing?!” will be par for the course) at twitter.com/willhowells or by texting follow willhowells to 07624 801423.

It’s Eurovision time again - hurrah!

This May there will be not one but two semi-finals - that’s three Eurovision TV shows in one week. My my. The UK, of course, goes straight through to the final, regardless of how badly we did last year.

But before we can do that, we need a song, and tonight’s the night we get to decide who will represent us in Serbia. Not for the first time, I won’t have a chance to vote in the selection, but it’s a sacrifice I’m prepared to make.

Once again, the singers include a healthy share of has-beens, but this year reality TV shows are represented in even more abundance than before - and the format positively encourages it.

There are six contestants, divided into three pairs: solo acts, groups, and, ahem, Joseph versus Maria. A studio jury, headed by Terry Wogan, will choose one act from each pairing to face the public phone vote, along with one of the remaining three. Then, in a second show tonight, the two acts receiving the highest share of the vote will sing again before one of them is chosen as our entry, again by public vote.

So who are these audacious songsters?

The solo acts are X-Factor loser Andy Abraham with the passable Even If and former EastEnder Michelle Gayle with Woo (U Got Me). Michelle Gayle has had the most previous success of all the acts, although the only time I’ve seen her was a couple of years ago and she was doing a PA in a club in Blackpool.

Even If is pleasant enough background music, but there’s nothing special about it (a statement that can be applied to most of the entrants). Woo (U Got Me), as it’s slightly silly name suggests, is more fun and, were I part of Terry’s team, I’d probably put it through ahead of Even If.

The two groups acts are both all girl groups. LoveShy (they didn’t learn from Hear’Say, did they?) have a reality TV provenance, but I’m not familiar with them so I’ll let Pop Unlimited explain:

Popstars: The Rivals rejects Emma Beard and Aimee Kearsley still haven’t taken the hint. Refugees from Clea, who miraculously managed to release three albums, the new duo LoveShy are in the running with Mr Gorgeous. [...] I’m not sure they’ll really cut it live.

The other group is trio The Revelations with a track called It’s You. Group member Annika is from Sweden, which can only help.

Mr Gorgeous is, to my surprise, quite catchy, contemporary pop with something of a Girls Aloud sound. It’s You has a very sixties feel to it, which apparently is the group’s style. Either could probably be an OK Eurovision entrant.

Which leaves us with Any Dream Will Do failure Rob McVeigh with I Owe It All To You and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? failure Simona Armstrong with Changes.

I Owe It All To You begins like a million Shayne Ward/Westlife/Steve Brookstein written-for-male-reality-TV-show-winner snoozefests (that’s an actual genre). It comes slighly to life about 60% of the way in, but that’s one-and-a-half minutes too late. Missed opportunity for a Eurovision key change towards the end too.

Changes is marginally better but nothing exciting. I’d probably choose it ahead of IOWATY, but I wouldn’t let either of these anywhere near Belgrade. My only advice to voters: pick one of the other four.

You can listen to clips of all six songs on the BBC’s Eurovision website. Eurovision: Your Decision, with Sir Terry Wogan and Sir Claudia Winkleman, is at 7pm tonight, with the results show at 9.30pm. Happy voting!

Not this one - this one.

And probably not. But still…

My highlight of the blogging year is back.

As I’ve plugged in previous years, Mike at Troubled Diva has been conducting an annual assessment of the last fifty years of pop music. Which Decade Is Top For Pops? reaches its sixth year this week with the first daily instalment, today featuring the single at Number Ten in the charts this week (Goldfrapp’s A&E) and its precessors from 1968, 1978, 1988 and 1998.

Head on over to Mike’s to hear today’s five tracks and to cast your votes.

Gosh, last night was surprising. Switzerland out, Andorra out, Norway out, Israel out, and, er, all three acts I’ve featured this week - Norway, Estonia and Belgium - out.

Which big-hitters does that leave then? With a string of Eastern European countries qualifying from the semi-final, the chances to be leaning their way. The odds will be shortening on Serbia’s powerful ballad. Belarus’s catchy number - which actually came across better live than on the video - must stand a good chance. Qualifying puts both Latvia’s Il Divo knock-off and Georgia’s upbeat wailing in good positions, while early tips Russia and Germany still look strong. The BBC reports that Sweden - with their glam rock number - are third favourites, and that Ukraine are favourites to win. Sigh.

But that’s not until tomorrow. Today, it’s back to “Then and Now”, and the country currently fifth favourite at the bookies’: Greece.

Greece won with their 2005 entry, so last year’s competition was based in Athens, co-hosted by Sakis Rouvas. Two year’s earlier, Sakis was Greece’s entrant, finishing third with a dramatic bodice-ripping performance of Shake It!:

(Anyone else think Sakis has something of the Stephen Talls about him?)

This year’s contender from Greece is London ex-pat Sarbel, who already has a successful Hellenic pop career. His catchy, English language song, which should have an energetic live performance in the Sakis mould, is Yassou Maria: