Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?
Yes…
(Though, do these count as “quotes”?)
A problem is an opportunity dressed in work clothes
Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself
Be the change that you wish to see
Eurovision 2024 (ish) – more reviews (ish)
(I had a Spotify playlist with all of the entries on in the background while at work the other day. I didn’t really ‘digest’ a lot of the entries because, background, and I also have this thing where I don’t always concentrate very well if I am listening to music, and girl has gotta pay for that Spotify subscription…)
LITHUANIA
Sounds like: something cool (*snort* I know, I am Gen X but this is cool right? It’s pretty frickin’ cool)
The Lithuanian national selection was really worth a watch.
(And that is only scratching the surface, you know)
I would LOVE for Lithuania to win. I have been fixated with the country since Blog Goddess Aistė sang “Strazdas” so beautifully in 1999. Go on, please give this Goddess the respect she so utterly deserves:
Back to 2024: I like that this song “Luktelk” is in Lithuanian (singing in a native language will always pick up an extra point for me). There is something really intense yet accessible about this song and it is definitely one of my 2024 highlights.
CROATIA
Sounds like: something Dead or Alive would have done in the eighties (talkin’ about Gen X, huh)
ITALY
Sounds like: a perfect Italian pop song
UNITED KINGDOM
Sounds like: “It’s A Sin” by the Pet Shop Boys (I have waffled on about my whole national identity in the past, but come on: GOOD LUCK OLLY!) (Olly is a big name to get, yes? Even I have heard the song “King”, and my Top 40/Radio One listening days are so far in the past you would not believe it #time)
UKRAINE:
Sounds like: again, something very cool. This sounds really creative.
FINLAAAAND:
Sounds like: something from a video game my brother and his friends would have enjoyed in the nineties
NETHERLANDS:
Sounds like: the nineties. Oh, for the halcyon days of this kind of thing…
I actually have a soft spot for “Europapa” after reading the story behind the song. And yeah, there is a ravey bit about halfway through that had me slamming the ‘Like’ button on YouTube.
AUSTRIA
They had me at rave!!!
GERMANY
Germany is an unusual one in that they don’t seem to ‘get’ Eurovision (at least, not in recent years). I don’t know quite what it is. Germany is one of my absolute favourite countries for music and now I am trying to think of German Eurovision entries I have loved. Hmm, I hope to be back.
SWITZERLAND
Sounds like: something range-y and ambitious that is going to slay (sorry) with the right staging.
A lot of the other songs (to be fair, I was familiar with most of the songs featured here) kind of blended together.
Again, I may be back (I am off to think of German Eurovision entries!).
Bis bald!
Pizzaaaah…
What is your favorite restaurant?
I guess it is Pizza Hut: aah! Pizza! Just: give it to me…
(It is my Italian ancestry. Give me all of the pizza…)
Eurovision Song Contest 2024 *clears throat*
(I do that a lot, btw. Damn rhinitis! Hmm, alluring image to cultivate on the Internet right there…)
I PLEDGED (well, sort of) that I would go into this year’s Eurovision cold! (As cold as could be!)
(I am still a little put out at last year’s results. Well, it happened. I would love to be a juror one day. Oh, the POINTS I would give to some of the songs… #Power) (I would probably be a rubbish juror actually. I don’t like the bit at the end when the acts receive their public vote: you can tell it’s tough for many of the contestants. Justice for “Who The Hell Is Edgar?” ETC.)
I have heard some songs in their entirety.
Look, we’ll see how this goes, ok?
If anyone is interested *ahem* I made a playlist with some of the national final songs from this year (Lithuania, Estonia, Goddess Konstrakta from Serbia, RAAVE! from Austria).
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1yjfpUHxRqKf55RU44k6CO?si=6dBzPxkqReum9F_VwpYsMw&pi=e-CP17-xqsQVGi
I have watched Eurovision on and off since the 1980s.
My favourite Eurovision song of all time is this captivating masterpiece.
My favourite songs from the last few years, hmm: Serbia from 2022/2023. Austria from 2023. Anouk (Netherlands). I honestly don’t know! Hold up, is it time for another playlist…
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0g68TA4oT3IJrHAF9Jk5js?si=BtdchOxRSZ6Id5WBjKZ-Yg&pi=e-Jq0QSIXkRJ-e
I like songs to be in native language if possible. I am a middle aged woman whose passport expired. Gimme different cultures, different languages! Give me that flavour, that excitement!
I am aware that I am getting older and some of the factors (things like TikTok integration) mean nothing to me (oh Viennaaaa). I really don’t want to sound like someone shouting at a cloud. I want to get the balance right (oh the title of a Depeche Mode song).
What have I heard so far, then?
Estonia – song with an incredibly long title that I am not going to look up as my cat is on my lap (Eesti, we are cool, right? We have a history!)
SOUNDS LIKE I have no idea
I completely and utterly love this and I am thrilled that this song will be representing Estonia in May. This is why I watch Eurovision! It’s in Estonian, it represents Estonian culture. The package is so fun and charming and clever and infectious. I might have to vote for this, you know. When did I last vote at Eurovision? I don’t always particularly care for the Estonian entries. I used to be a big fan of the Estonian music scene. Tallinn is home to this gem…
https://youtu.be/4j5M4N_NDPg?si=4Hrn_30A9ejbtCOA
(Does the embed work? It is the Depeche Mode bar in Tallinn. GOD. The sweetest perfection indeed.)
Sweden – Impossible
SOUNDS LIKE “Salva Mea” by Faithless (thank you Internet!)
Yes, Sweden has the ‘teacher’s pet’ tag for sure: they are good at what they do and I will always respect a competition like Melfest (they put the work in and it invariably pays off) but, yeah. It can be like eating Pringles (let’s NOT go there) instead of trying a new flavour, something different… I would love to hear Swedish language, for example. (When did Sweden last send a song in Swedish? It is a beautiful language.)
These singers (Marcus and Martinus) are adorable, and it is probably just as well I am not a juror because I don’t like to think of their little faces being disappointed in any way. Eurovision can be ruthless. Of course they will do well because Sweden (and the singers are Norwegian). The song is catchy. Good luck to them.
(I will be back…)
(I love Pringles btw. Way too much. And I always almost eat the original ones.)
Fiontura Highway
You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike?
Ooh!
I think I would go bus, but a nice bus.
Maybe things will change if I pass my driving test…
I love scenery, and I love things like service stations! I also love travelling at night.
Train journeys can be really hit and miss (and unsanitary).
Airplane can be stressful. (My passport is out of date.)
I cannot ride a bike. (A motorbike? Hang ON, lemme pass my driving test first…)
Spotify Wrapped 2023 *the taste just slips away*
Well, I haven’t done this yet… What has been keeping me?
To be honest, I have been pretty down about things. (I am ok, but just feel so tired by a lot of things. And yeah, the usuals: hello, anxiety!) (I have lost confidence, big time. Not that I have much confidence anyway. Gaah, this is cheery reading.)
SPOTIFY! WRAPPED! 2023! Isn’t my taste in music good!
My number one song for 2023 must surely have one of the best intros ever. I almost exploded with excitement when this rocked up on a “Top of the Pops” repeat.
A video of Andy Bell appeared during the Wrapped, thanking we Ride listeners for our support! A nice touch! You are very welcome Mr B. It would have been fun to have this for previous years (dreamy man from Chapterhouse could breathe his appreciation. Ooh, who else has topped my charts over the years? Nick Heyward?).
My numbers two and three are Estonian songs. (Albeit number two has a Japanese singer/title.)
Number four is this drum-tastic number from OMD.
And number five we have Matt Bianco with this classic. (I’m pleased to see this has so many views, as it missed UK Top 40. Was it a hit elsewhere? One for Google.)
The rest? Well… Dance music again features heavily. This song is one big motivating monster of a track.
The excellent new Depeche Mode album features heavily.
I think the list is a fair representation of my 2024 listening habits (it did leave out the music I put on as relaxation for my cat but y’know, maybe that wasn’t eligible).
If you listen to my Spotify Wrapped 2023, please enjoy!
If you have read this entry, thank you!
Merry Christmas to you!
Top of the Pops 1995/1988 (BBC 4 22/09/23) – *Independent Blog Post*
I haven’t written in a while, so why not?
Question, maybe rhetorical: why does 1995 feel like an eternity ago but 1988 less so? Is it because I was a teen in 1995?
I remember this time in 1995 so well. I went on a college trip to Strasbourg/Brussels. I remember the jacket that I wore (a suede jacket from Top Shop). I remember the cassette in my Walkman. (A Prince Greatest Hits compilation.) I remember falling asleep on a coach and waking up to find my fellow travellers laughing at me. (I dread to think what I must have looked like!)
Ooh, the TOTP studio has a swanky new look and a funky new theme! (Vince Clarke was behind this theme? Should I have known this?)
Our 1995 (first episode presenter) *drum roll* Ms Kylie Minogue! Kylie’s longevity takes my breath away. I’m part of the generation that grew up with her. You know, it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if Kylie keeps having hits for the next ten/fifteen years. She’s Kylie Minogue. I’ll admit that I haven’t always been fond of her (I was too cool for her Stock Aitken Waterman stuff nyaaah, and then there was what appeared to be Madonna cosplay in the early nineties) but these days I really, really like her.
Some songs from that episode:
MN8 – New Jack Swing. I get why it caught on (it’s catchy, very appealing to youth). (I am sure that one of the members of this band is/was married to the “Home and Away” actress Laura Vasquez.)
Scarlet – “Independent Love Song”. Oh God, this is so epic. This is how you do a debut single (but then, how do you better something this epic?). It is masterful and transcendent. The singer reminds me a little of the actress Michelle Holmes (“Rita Sue and Bob Too” etc etc).
Ini Kamoze. This song had legs. (Perhaps appropriate, as it comes from a movie about models.) I wouldn’t seek it out but it’s catchy, I don’t mute/skip it.
REM – “Crush With Eyeliner”. One of the (many) interesting things about these repeats is that I get to read the lyrics via the subtitles. I remember liking this at the time, but I never think of listening to REM these days.
Number One – iiiit’s Celine! I still don’t really ‘get’ this song, but of course Ms Dion is a vocalist par excellence. I think this song and the Scarlet song could also have been hits a decade earlier: they have that timeless quality.
Didn’t watch the second 1995 episode. I was back in my groove for the 1988 episode…
Hosts: Nicky Campbell and Andy Crane. I think they worked well together. NC can be a bit of an acquired taste as a TOTP presenter, so I think pairing him with affable Andy was a good move.
What happened in that evening’s “EastEnders” episode?!
Pet Shop Boys – “Domino Dancing”. PSB go freestyle! I really enjoyed this performance (loved the backing singers) but wish there hadn’t been such a buildup to Neil’s vocal at the beginning (it felt a bit awkward waiting for him to start singing).
Womack and Womack – “Teardrops”/Bill Withers – “Lovely Day”
Grouping the above songs together as they are favourites of my Mum, though not this 1988 remix of “Lovely Day”. Again, I wish the production had done something to ease the awkwardness of Mr. Withers, who was not on top miming form.
It’s such a classic, though: you can throw the “ah yeahs” at it but you can’t detract from the nucleus of what is a top quality song. I like to think of how many people got into Bill Withers following this remix, too (but I am with my Mum – of course – we prefer the original!).
Nicky tries to be smart about Rick Astley. No, Nicky: this wasn’t cool. It’s a prime time TV pop show, not some arty review thing on late night Channel Four. Nicky seems to be a really decent guy and I am sure he cringes watching this back. (Hell, if I’d had to introduce some of the stuff on TOTP as a superior younger person I’d have had to keep a lid on some of my feelings. I have just tried to find the clip of Jo Whiley’s utter disdain introducing Vanilla “No Way No Way” from back in the day.)
The playout track was “Riding on a Train” by Pasadenas. This is so perfectly 1988 I love it. How CAN this song be 35 years’ old? Where did the freakin’ time go…
(With that, I bid you goodbye!)
Top of the Pops – BBC Four – Episode 21/08/86 *Girls, Boys and Brother Louie*
Our hosts! Gary Davies and Bruno Brookes!
GD is arguably my favourite presenter from this time (aah, he and Janice Long. Gosh, she is missed). He makes it all look so easy, and I like how he doesn’t present with a supercilious air. This is his job, he’s good at it, he isn’t looking for cool points.
I don’t mind Bruno Brookes at all either. I grew up with him presenting the Top 40 on Radio One. I’ve seen a lot of goodwill towards Mark Goodier from the nineties kids (I guess I am technically a nineties kid as I came of age in that decade but I am so much more of an eighties kid in spirit): perhaps I have such sentiments for Mr. Brookes.
(Why does this text seem so small? Did they have Visionace capsules in 1986?)
(Listing below copied from the Popscene website)
(25) Depeche Mode – “A Question Of Time”
Oh my God, if it isn’t my favourite band! Heart emojis galore! The Mode! From my favourite album ever, “Black Celebration”! Happy Friday!
This song is of course an unadulterated classic (admittedly the lyrics are icky).
How exciting would this have been as a pop fan in 1986 (would I have liked DM in 1986? I was eight, sure, but I would listen religiously to the charts etc. I have no idea what I liked in 1986, really. My earliest faves like Thompson Twins and Nik Kershaw probably weren’t as visible. I don’t know. It was thirty-seven years ago, damn it!).
From the sublime to the…
(11) Prince – “Girls & Boys” (video)
Also sublime! Prince is a genius. He had the confidence and the vision to pull off things – ‘things’, how nebulous – that 99% of his contemporaries wouldn’t/couldn’t have dared. (I remember Justin Timberlake’s “Sexy Back” from back in the day. One needs mammoth quantities of self-confidence to even go there without being an immediate object of ridicule.)
Eighties me would have found this cool I am sure: Prince’s gang, the French lyrics, the charisma, the style.
(23) Bruce Hornsby & The Range – “The Way It Is”
Does Bruce Hornsby look like Hugh Dennis? (What was that about Visionace earlier…)
I have always liked this song. What else did Bruce Hornsby do? As much as I like this song, I have never investigated further. I think I would have to be in a particular mood. Maybe, one day.
(21) Janet Jackson – “When I Think Of You” (breaker)
I think this era of Janet’s is my favourite (the “Control” era). I really enjoy this!
(19) The Human League – “Human” (breaker)
Phil Oakey aah aaah swooooon
(18) Peter Cetera – “Glory Of Love” (breaker)
It’s a power ballad! You know, if I ever get married, I could walk down the aisle to this. Come ON, it’s a statement.
(15) Jermaine Stewart – “We Don’t Have To…” (breaker)
…what? Take Our Clothes Off, you say? Whatta choon!
(This is a great episode!)
(12) Modern Talking – “Brother Louie”
Schlager time! I am guessing this was a big holiday hit (without looking it up).
Did “Cheri Cheri Lady” ever make UK Top 40? That is ein Lied!
(1) Boris Gardiner – “I Want To Wake Up With You” (video)
This is pleasant enough but I wouldn’t seek it out. (Also – not Mr. Gardiner’s fault – he shares a name with a certain British politician, and I will leave it here.)
The model in this video is very pretty.
(28) The Communards – “Don’t Leave Me This Way” (video/credits)
It’s Ian Hislop Jimmy Somerville! Aaah BABY!
I am thinking that I haven’t given 1986 the credit it deserves. This was a storming episode.
I am off to rest my eyes…
Laterz.
In Praise of The Brand New Heavies
Last week I had the office to myself for some of the time. I don’t always like working to music as I find it distracting (do you think I’ll be like this if I pass my driving test? I love the idea of driving down a long stretch of road to something like “Ventura Highway” – oh my God! – but it might just be me and the road, y’know).
I am horrifically indecisive. I pull up my Spotify and wonder what the hell I should listen to. A playlist? What playlist? What if I get a lousy phone call during one of these songs, and a favourite song of mine might be tainted…
I settled upon one of my Daily Mix playlists. This was a playlist with an Acid Jazz slant. I was thus reminded of my love for The Brand New Heavies.
It is early 1990s. These are not good times for young me. I would watch shows like “Dance Energy” on BBC Two (and “Club MTV” on, erm, MTV) with a kind of rapt wonder. These people are so cool! Why can’t I be cool like this?!
I cannot remember when I first heard The Brand New Heavies. I think the sumptuous summer sound of “Never Stop” might have hooked me first. That first album is such a classic: from the slinky sophistication of “Stay This Way” to the rich soul of “Don’t Let It Go To Your Head”. “Got to Get” is a perfectly harmonised duet that closes the album with style. And “Dream Come True”: how joyous, how lovely!
N’Dea Davenport was a superb frontwoman. She had the voice, the looks, the charisma.
The band had such an achingly cool aesthetic too. Was everyone in London so cool, I would wonder? My contemporaries would listen to Take That etc, but they just would not get it! Aah, my musical tastes were so superior! My contemporaries were so small town! Pah! (I was a music snob from a very early age, when I decried my friend’s liking of Kylie Minogue. I wasn’t very nice.) (Ahmm, I hope I am nicer now! I like Kylie now, of course!)
I found the Heavies’ second album “Brother Sister” a little over-produced (while still enjoyable). N’Dea left sometime and I guess I left too. Things like Britpop happened. I became a Depeche Mode megafan.
(I have since read that N’Dea rejoined… Speaking of Ms Davenport, she was once apparently a champion synchronised swimmer! Some people are just so gifted…)
It’s been over 30 years (!!!!) and that album puts me in a place where everything feels bright and positive and possible. Whether it be my teeny self daydreaming about Camden Market, or my office here in Wales.
Thank you, guys!
TOTP 95 (January 95) – BBC 4 (Friday 14th July) *Tell Me When (Will I See Thunder Again)*
1995, eh? How did it happen? It’s 28 years’ ago? (Question mark key: pace yerself, woman.)
I feel more warmly (musically) towards 1995 than 1993 and 1994, for sure. I may not particularly like some of the Britpop oeuvre these days, but songs like “Alright” (Supergrass) and “Girl From Mars” (Ash) underpinned a summer where things really seemed to be more bright and positive in the UK.
(28 years though… He’ll hell hell! Hell! I said HELL!)
I was 16 in January 1995.
Our host (of the first episode) – Mr. Jack Dee.
The Human League – “Tell Me When”. Yay! That caption though (#JusticeForHeartLikeAWheel). Regular *cough* readers may be aware of my crush on Phil Oakey.
It’s not one of my favourite Human League songs (I prefer “Filling Up With Heaven” that came out later in ’95) but it’s always SO good to have them around. (If Phil is reading, of course: every single HL song is outstanding, a truly majestic experience!) The lyrics to this song are quite funky (if Phil wrote them/is reading: give him ALL of the awards, literary genius!). I wouldn’t have paid attention to lyrics at the time (I came of age during nineties rave, y’know).
This is of course from the HL album “Octopus” which features a song called “John Cleese, Is He Funny?” (A 2023 take on that title might be interesting…)
Philllll! Marry me! Sing for me! Philllll…
PJ and Duncan – “Eternal Love”. Now, I was a weird teen. I wouldn’t have given this song the time of DAY as a younger teen, but maybe I was somehow making up for the lost time… I found this quite charming! (I liked it more then than I do now.)
Céline Dion – “Think Twice”. Céline is obviously an awesome singer, but I never really got the popularity of this particular song. It sounds a bit ‘highly regarded album track’ to me. I get the appeal of dramaramic songs like “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now”, and “Because You Loved Me” for the late night radio slot for loved up couples.
Rednex – “Cotton Eye Joe”. Yikes. It’s frenetic? If Céline is a cup of tea with biscuits, Rednex is a sugary canned drink.
Thunder – “Stand Up”. Aah. Teenage me would not like it when the Rock Chart would show up on “The Chart Show”. The Indie Chart would freak me out in earlier years (they are so weeeird, they have weird names like My Bloody Valentine!) and purist me would get cross if they stuck Lisa Stansfield or someone on the Dance Chart. (It’s not really dance!!1) I can’t remember anything about this (sorry) but Thunder rocked up in the 1990 repeat later in the evening.
Ini Kamoze – “Here Comes The Hotstepper”. Nineties model aesthetic! I never go back to listen to this, but tune!
Boyzone – “Love Me For A Reason”. God, Ronan Keating is only a year older than me. He’d have been 17 here. Similar to PJ and Duncan: I remember quite liking this at the time, even though it wouldn’t have been ‘cool’. Watching these boyband performances back as an adult, the whole manipulation of teenage girls for their pocket money is so obvious. You also think that these lads (and young women in girl bands) would have been promised a dream, but they couldn’t be honest about their sexualities/ended up with eating disorders/metetricious scumbags in the industry etc etc. Aren’t I a ray of sunshine this evening?
Stay Now!
Still number one… East 17, “Stay Another Day”! I like the fact that this song was ‘Christmassed Up’. There should be an experiment on other songs. Put some bells on “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers!
I won’t blog the other episode (I’m too tired) but a couple of observations:
I love “Set You Free” by N-Trance/Kelly Llorenna – it’s so joyous!
“Riverdance” was number one in Ireland for EIGHTEEN weeks? How did it take so long to ‘hit’ British charts, as Eurovision took place in May?
I love this song from Eurovision 1994, incidentally. It’s stunning.
Laterz!
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