Lopez Blogs

Well I could moan on and on about what a crappy pile of steaming poo the past two days have been. How I’ve been all over the country visiting offices thanks to my selfless spirit of pitching in during work related crisis. Or how I had to stop in the worst hotel ever (with no internet connection ~ primitive!) and got no sleep due to Freshers Week going on outside my window. Or fielding a million and one phone calls from the parental and not being able to help cos I was all over the country. Or getting really ill during my travels and spending most of the time shivering and coping with my aching body that could barely push the clutch down in my car. Or getting home Thursday afternoon to have a quick nap and bloody sleeping for ages, ergo totally missing the Darren Hayes concert. Or waking up at 5.45am this morning to drive to more offices, and having only one speaker in the car work (it makes a HUGE difference!) Or the fact that I’m getting a cold sore. Yes I could moan on and on about all of that, but I clearly am a glass half full person (!) and prefer to focus on the positive things of the past few days such as:

• Getting the inside scoop that Deborah Gibson has finished her first studio of all new material since 2001, has a video done for the first single and has a worldwide distribution deal! How exciting!!
• Buying a first edition of the British release of Son Of A Witch by Gregory Maguire. It looks lovely next to my various other copies of that and Wicked!
• I may have fallen in love with yet to air tv show Pushing Daisies. The pilot is so magical and fairy tale like that I actually think it will break my heart if it gets cancelled…
• After the disasterous second album, I may be a little bit interested in Keane again thanks to gorgeous new single The Night Sky and faithful cover of Under Pressure. I love how “popjustice” the listeners of Jo “smug” Wiley’s show are who proclaimed the single “amazing”, “amazing” and “totally amazing” Oh my!
• Coffee Date ~ the movie with an f-bomb dropping Deborah Gibson ~ was released on DVD and my copy was waiting for my aching shivering body when I got home today!! Woohoo!
• About 90% of my comments have disappeared somewhere from the site L My pub community memories have been pillaged. Boo you whores. I remain surprisingly zen and calm about it (it’s the flu medication!)…
• The Tudors comes to British tv and is on the cover of Radio Times. Yay, although now I won’t be able to feel smug about having seen it already.
• Finished Intimate Adventures of a Call Girl (such filth, so many good ideas) just in time to be one of the 1.8 million who tuned into the Billie Piper adaptation (that’s good US people!). The british love their whores…

Focusing on P3's "Digilistan" this week which seems to vary a bit from the sales charts. As predicted, Kent's brilliant "Ingenting" has gone straight in at no.1, whilst Kate Ryan's latest cover of a French-language pop classic "Voyage Voyage" is a high climber at no. 16. Danny and Therese's "If Only You" is still in the top 5, yet another good pop single. Martin Stenmarck's "100 Är Från Nu (Blundar)" is also still in the top 10. Very good.

Meanwhile over at P3's Tracks chart, Kent are also no. 1, other Swedish acts in the top 10 include Sahara Hotnights "Visit To Vienna" and the return of The Hives with "Tick Tick Boom", there is also a new entry at no. 13 for our faves Moneybrother with "Guess Who's Gonna Get Some Tonight". Hooray!

Today was a very special day for the main 4 BBC radio networks in the UK as they celebrated their 40th birthday (they're just a little bit younger than me!). Radio 1's top 40 chart show revealed that the most played record of all time on Radio 1 was Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" although you wouldn't have much chance of hearing it on the station these days as they're trying too hard to be "cutting edge of new music", and many of us of a certain age seem to be migrating over to Radio 2 for a little bit more diversity.

On the whole I'm still unhappy with British radio at the moment, and the narrow playlists with the same 6 songs being repeated over and over again. Thank goodness for the internet and the opportunity to listen to European radio stations. Although many of these also have very tight playlists, there is still a refreshing and diverse selection to be found if you look for it. I'm particularly impressed with Sveriges Radio P3 which mixes the current chart hits, cheesy pop, album tracks and more obscure/alternative sounds. Check out their daily playlists over at http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/p3/tabla/latlista.asp. The kind of radio station I would like to listen to if such a thing existed over here.

See, because it's my birthday today I reckon that Blogger should finally acknowledge my efforts and give me a mention in Blogs of Note.

Over the past few weeks I've noticed that many of the said Blogs of Note include photographs of food, so here's mine.

Over to you, Blogs of Note.

I'm off to bed early tonight for a change.

It's going to be a very special day on the blog tomorrow, as it's my birthday and as someone once said, I'm gonna party like it's my birthday :-) !!!!

Arguably one of the best songs of all time. Ambitious, big, and clever. No-one these days has the talent/would dare to make anything so epic. Incredible record, even almost 20 years later.

I might have said this before but I'll say it again. Jay Kay is one of this country's most underrated musical geniuses. I would hope that one day he'll make more records, but even if he doesn't, then at least the recorded back catalogue of Jamiroquai would put that of almost any other act to shame. Utterly fantastic.

This song had a major effect on me, I can't believe it's 7 years old. Absolutely wonderful song, which managed to resurrect his career and introduce new fans like myself to his music. It's about time he had more new music out as it's 3 years since his last album.

"People have tried to change me, over and over again....."

OK this isn't retro, it's current, but like much of his material has a real retro feel to it. Just thought I would throw in something from my most favourite singer right now. The idea of this video is that you should just be who you are, rather than something you're not. Like the way that the psychiatrist smiles when she sees the "real" Salem, pullover and all, although I like him in whatever disguise...!

Ooh this is just one of my most favourite French songs ever....well it's more of a multi-lingual effort actually as Laurent sings in French, English and Spanish. If music could convey a season, this would be the brightest, sunniest, hottest summer ever. The video is suitably exotic as well. Think I'll do something on this blog about Laurent Voulzy at some point, as he is one of French music's most enduring and enjoyable singer-songwriters.

He is loved and hated in equal amounts, but I was always in the "loved" camp. "Just Nu" brought him to a much wider European audience, so I thought I'd take the opportunity once more to watch his ESC 1980 performance of this. I remember at the time I was well impressed with the leather suit!

I was always different.

Whilst my chums were debating who's best - the Rollers or the Osmonds - there was only one early 70s band for me - the mighty Mud!

Yes they were terminally un-hip, and let's face it Les Gray just wanted to be Elvis, but I defy anyone of a certain age not to do the dance to "Tiger Feet" when it gets played at a party.

Thanks to YouTube I am now able to relive my Mud-obsession - they've got "The Cat Crept In", "Dyna-Mite", "Rocket" and best of all, my other favourite Mud song, "Shake It Down" which came out in 1976 and reached no.12, was a break from their usual style and was more disco-flavoured.

Rob Davis, the guitarist with the big, big earrings, went on to become a top pop songwriter of course, with hits including Spiller's "Groovejet" and Kylie's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" and "Come Into My World".

No 80s night or recent retro, but rather....some random stuff.

I don't know a word of Icelandic, but I know that this is rather lovely and Jonsi is also rather lovely too, even if him and his backing singers' styling at the Songvakeppni semi left more than a lot to be desired. I did play this song a lot at the time and it remains one of my favourite European songs of this year.

Tonight saw the final of "The World's Greatest Elvis" (BBC-1) after last week's line-up was narrowed down to five Elvii.

Firstly, Kavan, rock n'roll Elvis from Ohio, gave us his take on "Blue Suede Shoes" however marks deducted for singing "don't step on the blue suede shoe". Tut tut.

Next up was Canadian GI-Elvis Gino Monopoli, who failed to impress us at EuropeCrazy HQ because of his posh phrasing on "It's Now Or Never". And he missed the high bit at the end. Our least favourite so far.

Norge-Elvis from the comeback era, Kjell Bjoernestad a.k.a Kjell Elvis, did spookily resemble The King and (if the internet is to be believed) may have had a wee bit of help in this department. Unfortunately his "If I Can Dream" was beyone overcooked and someone really needed to cut off his windmill-arms.

We had been impressed by Britain's very own Lee "Memphis" King last week. Again this week, vocally, he was on the mark more than any other competitor in the contest, as he delivered "Way Down".

As in any contest, there's a big advantage going on last and America's Shawn Klush was in the fortunate position as pre-contest favourite as he had impressed so much last week. He did very well with "The Wonder of You".
We thought that the two finalists in the sing-off would be Lee and Shawn - but we were wrong, as the judges selected Shawn and .....Gino? Posh-Elvis? Surely some mistake.

After all the recent phone-vote scandals, there was not a phone vote in sight for this one and instead, the final decision was left to the studio audience, "Stars in their Eyes"-style, to choose their winner. Inevitably and correctly, they chose Shawn, although on the night we preferred Lee. Oh well, there you go. The TV critics may have savaged this over the past week, but we thought it was a good bit of harmless telly fun for a Saturday night, especially if you like Elvis, which we do. Uh-huh-huh. Thank you very much.

Thought I'd post about Peter Bjorn and John (and Victoria) on Jonathan Ross's show last night. Weren't they weird or what? So uncool they're cool, so cool they were ice cold. Unlike anything I've seen for a long while, but not really in a good way, although I like the song. A surreal experience to be sure, and they even had a bearded old hippy bloke, playing bongos. Odd!

It's been confirmed that there will be two semi finals in next year's Eurovision Song Contest. What this now means is that it's back to square one for every country (well, every country except the hosts and the "Big 4" - the UK, France, Germany and Spain).

Rumours - these are only rumours at this stage - that there is the possibility of either the return of a full jury vote or a split between televoting and back-up jury in order to reduce the ridiculous neighbour voting, which in our view is killing the contest.

Anyway, nine countries will qualify from each semi final and there will also be a wildcard entrant chosen from each semi.

I'm not sure if this will make the contest any better, but I suppose it can't get any worse than it is at the moment.

Spider Pig - Homer Simpson: I'm driving everyone in my life to distraction with this at the moment.
Ingenting - Kent: Magnificent trailer for the Swedish band's forthcoming album. Excellent track which I've played more than any other this week.
Come Marry Me - Miss Platnum: Officially our "holiday song" from our recent Berlin trip, this is catchy, funny and irresistible.
Wanna Love U Girl - Robin Thicke: Ooh who'd have thought it? A Robin Thicke song which I actually quite like.
White Lies - Paul van Dyk featuring Jessica: very good dance tune from the German DJ.
Dream Girl/Good Song/It's True/Bright Side of Life - Salem Al Fakir: the latter is on iTunes and is a cheery reggae-flavoured slice of sunshine. And the rest ... fantastic timeless pop music.
The Way I Are - Timbaland: Another regular on this playlist and a cert for my end of year top 10.
Stronger - Kanye West: ditto.
Down at the R/Guess Who's Gonna Get Some Tonight/Just Another Summer/It Is Time For Falling Apart - Moneybrother: Good-time rockin' party music.
The Pretender - Foo Fighters: another one of my holiday favourites.

Rather ironic (don't you think) that I went to Germany and ended up coming home with a Swedish CD. Turns out that Anders Wendin and his merry men had a lot of success in Germany in 2005 and continue to be very popular there. This is Moneybrother's 3rd English-language CD and if it ain't broke don't fix it. You know that you're not going to get techno, or r'n'b, or bland acoustic ballads. No no no. Moneybrother's formula is melodic uptempo rock filled with fire, urgency and intensity. Think Springsteen's "Born To Run" with a bit of The Clash thrown in and you're almost there.

"Guess Who's Gonna Get Some Tonight" kicks the album off with typical urgency and fighting talk - a very good start, leading into "Down At The R" which has a bit of a David Bowie/Abba(!) 70s vibe about it. "Just Another Summer" was the first Moneybrother song I heard and it's still great. Other tracks I'd recommend here are "It Is Time For Falling Apart", "Any Other Heart" and "Will There Be Music". You could argue that most of the time, Moneybrother's songs are variations on the same musical theme, but I really don't mind when it's this good, melodic, memorable and nostalgic in a really good way. It doesn't scream "2007" but who would want it to? Would we really want Moneybrother to start playing Blunt-style dreary-pop, or start rapping? Frankly, no.

According to Anders Wendin, "Mount Pleasure" was inspired by a particularly good time in his life: and the feelgood factor is certainly alive and well on this album.

After a couple of years out of the limelight, Jenifer Bartoli has broken her silence and given an exclusive interview to Paris Match magazine.

During the interview, the singer revealed that she has spent the past couple of years at home in Corsica with her partner Maxim Nucci and son Aaron, working on new songs. She has also been involved in charity work in Nepal.

One of the new songs allegedly refers to her brief separation from Maxim, however she didn't want to discuss this subject as both are now back together and very happy - but she certainly did confirm that contrary to rumours this summer (which we foolishly thought might be true) that she and Maxim wouldn't be getting married any time soon.

Jenifer also said that people might be surprised by her new musical direction (we certainly were!) and that she would like to continue to evolve as an artist.

Looking forward to hearing her new album which is out in November. Jenifer will also begin a tour on 10.04.08.

Ok, I have yet to watch (deep breath) Private Practice, DirtySexyMoney; Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Smallville or The Office. Am sure I will get through some of them shortly and will check back in with you next Wednesday. Here are my thoughts on the few that aired up to Weds this week…

Gossip Girl ~ I know ModFab said he didn’t know anyone who read these books, but tragically I have and the show did a fairly good job of bringing the story to life. It’s very OC, but then it would be wouldn’t it? It’s nice to have ‘Veronica Mars’ voice still on the CW, but with sub VM ratings, I’m not sure it was a worthy replacement. Still I’ll stick with it for a while. Strange that the hottest boy in it is the one meant to be a dork (the lovely Penn Badgley as Dan Humphreys)…

Heroes ~ A rather unassuming premiere, but one that was jam packed with info and hints for the upcoming season. After all the death defying stunts Claire pulled in the first episode of the first season, it was a nice juxtaposition to have her trying to contain that aspect of her, which put me on edge. I kept expecting some horrible accident to befall her in front of everyone. Oh! Her new male bff? Not a patch on Thomas Dekker! The new South American “heroes” were interesting, although it meant more subtitles! And nekkid Peter Petrelli chained up? Woo hoo! Nice to see coming back from the dead sorted out his hair…

Dexter ~ 2 pre-air episodes of season 2 are doing the rounds before it’s return to tv this Sunday. I don’t want to give too much away, but the first episode shook things up a little bit and certainly focused on the threads left by the excellent finale last year. Dexter is having all sorts of problems as is his sister and the end of episode one changes the show totally, while having it be exactly the same! It’s a great twist and one that leads to some funny moments in episode 2, particularly where Rita incorrectly guesses Dexter’s secret and he goes along with it! I’m surprised at how much I have fallen for this show…

Prison Break ~ now this will sound hypocritical coming from someone who gave up 24 for it’s constant inconsistencies and bad plotting, but I really like Prison Break. And I much prefer Lincoln over Michael. Michael would be too caring and understanding in bed. Lincoln would rattle your teeth with a good pounding :P In fact I think I was randomly thinking about this when listening to the Hairspray soundtrack (again!) t’other day and shocked myself by singing “Link you’ve got to break out so that I can get my c**k in you” :O Anyway, it’s back to Prison for Prison Break with another escape plot that will last god knows how long, and while it’s slowly being explained, it’s still ridiculous. I love it. And I don’t know why. Somebody stop me for my own good…

Pushing Daisies ~ As I said in my pre-amble, this show has completely enchanted me already. It’s just so lovely and delicious and Kristin Chenowitzy. It’s a complete fairy story with a beautiful colourful set, an adorable cast, tender touching moments of cause and effect as well as some quite funny aspects to the show. Oh, it’s all just so wonderfully kooky, warmly written and like a big hug from the tv. Sigh. Seriously, I will need counselling if this gem of a show isn’t a huge huge hit…

I happened to mention Neverstore last night at home and got the reply "Never-who?"

I rest my case.

Hopefully some special things happening on the blog this weekend. Definitely promise a couple of album reviews and I'm also hoping to finally get my "10 Things To Love About Berlin" feature posted.

Marie Lindberg, the bespectacled singing schoolteacher who shot to fame on this year's Melodifestivalen, has posted a nice message on Salem's MySpace. Hooray! I once read on Sarah Dawn Finer's site that she liked Salem's music, so three cheers for her as well! Nice to know he's got some celebrity fans.

Still no news so decided to go in search of some pics which I hadn't seen yet, found a couple and thought I'd post them here.

First one's from March 2007:

Also found another one from the Astrid Lindgren prize ceremony at which he performed earlier this year:

Älska hans musik! Underbara begåvade snygga man! (Aren't online translation sites utterly fab!!)

THE LIST:

Remember that episode of friends, where the guys had a list of 5 celebrities they are allowed to “do” if they ever met, even when they are with a partner? Well, Darren and I were talking abou that the other day, and while Darren is still thinking about who his five would be, I had immense trouble narrowing mine down to just five :P But here they are. Judge not!!!

5 ~ Ben Barnes

4 ~ Patrick Dempsey

3 ~ Shayne Ward

2 ~ Jake Gyllenhall

Koxie still no.1 with "Garcon", and new entries in the top 20 include Akon's "Sorry, Blame It On Me" and Amy Winehouse's "Rehab" about a year after it was out over here. Lucky Twice's "Lucky" is the highest new entry at no.8.

Whilst on the subject I'm getting a bit worried about my ability to spot a surefire hit record, as "Lucky" has completely flopped in the UK despite a good bit of airplay on the music video channels.

There is a special French adaptation of Timbaland's "The Way I Are" with the female vocal part being done by Tyssem.

Mika is also taking over the top 20 - he now has 2 singles in the countdown - "Love Today" and "Relax, Take It Easy".

....when will it get a full single release in the UK? Please please please?

Been over to http://www.stureplan.se/ which documents which hip hangouts the beautiful people of Stockholm have been, er, hip-ly hanging out in.

There's a picture of Salem there, looking very nice, although I could have done without the other bloke in the picture trying to out-grin him. (Nobody out-grins him, do you hear me?). I went to another blog which raised some concern that Salem, nice, grounded, non-showbizzy, lovely down to earth person that he is, could now be getting caught up in the whole Stureplan scene.

Anyway to get to the point: WHAT'S WITH THE FACIAL HAIR, MARTIN STENMARCK? At least he's also growing some hair on his head, but he doesn't need to grow it on his face as well.

That aside, I'm quite excited at the prospect of a new album from Martin and it should be good if the single (now no.1 in Sweden, I believe?) is anything to go by.

OK so I know we're getting a bit ridiculous here, but in the absence of any news items I thought I'd mention that our main man has got himself a new colour scheme on his MySpace page. Out goes the black, in comes light blue and grey. Nice!

This is the last in our series of Holiday Hit Lists - the last anyway until our holiday next spring. Where will that be? In the words of the great philosopher Alex Gaudino, “Destination unknown”!

Anyway here’s a list of the songs which will always remind me of Berlin 2007.

“Come Marry Me” - Miss Platnum. Crazy and catchy, think Bollywood rhythms colliding with r’n’b and the result is irresistible.

“Big Girls Don’t Cry” - Fergie. One of the most played songs and videos of the week.

“Umbrella”/”Don’t Stop The Music” - Rihanna. Yep it’s her again. Every time we go on holiday she’ll be there. Not literally you understand, although the idea of this would appeal to my faithful travelling companion. (!)

“The Pretender” - Foo Fighters. Travelling companion initially thought this was Nickelback. Must be all that facial hair. A song which I ended up liking a lot after the numerous plays during the holiday.

“Junge” - Die Arzte. Premiered on MTV that week, new song by very popular and enduring German rock band.

“The Way I Are” - Timbaland/”Stronger” - Kanye West: both of which were among my most played songs before I went to Berlin, and equally among the most played when I was there.

“Ein Neuer Tag” - Juli. Latest video by popular and very good German pop/rock outfit.

“Te Busque” - Nelly Furtado and Juanes. Very nice. Sadly not released in the UK because of this country’s aversion to anything in a foreign language.

“Little Wonders” - Rob Thomas. Been a big hit lately, and quite unusual to hear him doing this kind of ballad.

“Hamma!” - Culcha Candela. The kind of song which always reminds you of a holiday. Infuriatingly catchy slice of German reggaeton.

“Silencio” - David Bisbal. Great to see him doing well in Germany - he’s one of the best Spanish language pop artists of recent years.

“Lovestoned” - Justin Timberlake. There is no escape from him, anywhere in the world at this moment in time. And why not? We like him.

Oops. Might have been a bit rash in my dismissal of Jenifer's new song "Tourner Ma Page". Have heard it another couple of times since and am about to revise my judgement. It's not "Au Soleil" or " Ma Revolution" or "Donne-Moi Le Temps", I have to accept that and move on. (I'm having to accept a lot and doing a lot of moving on today !!) It's a new style for her, and her album will be called "Lunatic" which sounds promising.

Sorry I've not been as positive as usual today, but I'm off to bed now and will end the day on a positive note and say that I like Jenifer's song. And I've just watched Salem singing "Good Song" live at Skansen. Utterly perfect, and now everything in the world is fine again.

Anyway I managed to check out Neverstore and they would appear to be one of those Fall Out Boy/Blink 182/My Chemical Romance emo-punky-rocky bands, which is all good and well - BUT - and I mean no offence to the band, but there are enough of these types of band around at the moment.

That was why I wanted Salem Al Fakir to win the Swedish New Sounds of Europe (NSOE) heat, purely because he is an absolutely original talent. But he didn't win, so I now have to accept that and move on. But he could at least have been included in the nominations for Best Swedish act - after all the aforementioned Neverstore were nominated in both categories. Hmm.

I've therefore decided to check out some of the other NSOE semi finalists.

Italy - Zero Assoluto. They are a duo who seem to do some nice pop with an r'n'b edge to it.

Spain - Jaula de Grillos. I'm a bit out of touch with Spanish pop of late so I hadn't heard of him either. Commercial pop/rock.

Turkey - Yakup. Rock with some Jimi Hendrix influences. Very surprised to hear this type of thing from Turkey (again my knowledge of Turkish music is very limited to the likes of Tarkan and the annual Eurovision entrants!!)

Norway - Aleksander With. First read about him over at Work Your Magic so I knew the name already. He's young and has a very good voice. Good pop star.

Now it's lunchtime.

Back to these MTV EMA nominations and notice that Tokio Hotel are nominated in Band of 2007 and International Act categories.

Can we also have a Best Eyeliner wearer category? We could have Tokio-Bill along with My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy etc etc!

Lots of nominations for Justin and Rihanna-anna-anna-ay-ay-ay.

Have brought myself to look at the other New Sounds of Europe semi finalists, at least Christophe Willem is through to represent France, and I suppose I'm quite happy with James Morrison for the UK, purely for the reason that he's not Kate Nash, that is good reason enough.

Sunrise Avenue for Finland - I do like that "Fairytale Gone Bad" song, so glad that they're through.

Will do another post later about the Best Regional Act nominees, as I should have worked up enough enthusiasm by then - after all we are EuropeCrazy and welcome the opportunity to have some more European music to go crazy about.

Firstly I'm back at work. :-(

Then as if that wasn't enough I finally got my hands on the list of the MTV EMA award nominees, with particular interest in the New Sounds of Europe category, to find that the Swedish winner going through to the semi-final is.....Neverstore?????? Now I don't mean any offence to Neverstore, as I've never heard any of their music and they might be absolutely wonderful, but in my currently Salem-focused universe that's just not right.

Presumably Salem isn't "MTV enough" as a look at the list of nominees for best Swedish act proves - he's not included in the list. (Laakso, Neverstore, The Ark, Those Dancing Days, Timo Raisanen).

More ramblings later today about the EMAs, if I have any enthusiasm left.

Take That, Rule The World:

After the tragedy that was choosing I’d Wait For Life as their last single (which I completely ignored and pretended that the much lovelier If I Never Loved You At All was the single), I was hoping that the that would release something more ace like Hold On or even anything from Mark Owen’s last album (except slightly dull Hail Mary). Then news surfaced that they had recorded a brand new track for the movie Stardust. The movie came out stateside (don’t ask how I saw it then, then you can plead the 5^th) but the powers that be decided to sit on the track until the UK release. And finally it’s here. The song is as reflective of the movie as it could be ~ a song filled with yearning, desire, hope and powerful emotion. Much more collaborative than their last single choice, the song is drenched in sumptuous orchestration, paired with Gary’s smooth earnest voice and the band providing some lovely harmonies. As mid-tempo ballads go, this one is a corker. Westlife would give their back teeth (another weird expression) to come up with something like this…

Yes, this great single by Swedish band Peter Bjorn and John is a new entry in this week's UK singles chart at no.13. That whistling hookline is very catchy indeed and it's great to see yet another Swedish act make it in this country. Well done to the band, who were also recently nominated for an MTV award in the USA.

I am now once again listening to "This Is Who I Am" on a daily basis and I reckon that I must have played it about seventeen million times since the beginning of July. Almost as many times as my mum has watched Johnny Depp's "Secret Window".

Currently playing: "Tell Me". Next: "Count Me Out".

Heard a couple of new songs today: "Rule The World" by Take That and "Tourner Ma Page" by Jenifer.

Firstly, can I just say: Take That are one of my favourite pop bands ever. Their comeback was brilliant. So why is "Rule The World" so ordinary? It's from a film, and is therefore the-big-film-ballad by numbers, and I've forgotten it already. Hopefully I'll change my mind about it after 'a million listens later' but I'm not too sure.

Now, to the comeback single from Star Academy 1 winner Jenifer. Let's just say "Tourner Ma Page" is a definite change of style, kind of reggae-ish, but it's all a bit strange and disappointing on first hearing. Again I would hope that I get to
like it eventually.

Should I get to like both songs I will blog a retraction!!

Jumping up and down with excitement at the news that on 12.10.07 SVT will be broadcasting Salem's February 2007 gig from Malmo. Fingers crossed that they put it on SVT Play so I will be able to watch it over and over and over and over again!!!!

It’s rather fitting that I write about Travis today (it wasn’t planned, generally these blogs are just thrown together, much like Sharon’s X Factor outfits) as it was their radical interpretation of Baby, One More Time that kickstarted my obsession with Live Lounge. More recently Dermot O Lovely has gotten in on the act too and current chart stars are practically falling over themselves to cover something or other in the chart. Here are the latest crop from the last few months ranging from the awful (Editors doing Acceptable In The 80s) to those that make a song interesting for me (Athlete doing Robyn) to the quite good actually (James Blunt) . Enjoy my little lovelies and let me know what you think…

MP3: James Blunt – Young Folk (Peter Bjorn & John Cover)

MP3: KT Tunstall – The Prayer (Bloc Party Cover)

MP3: James Morrison – It Stoned Me (Bob Dylan Cover)

MP3: Editors – Acceptable In The 80s (Calvin Harris Cover)

MP3: Athlete – With Every Heartbeat (Robyn Cover)

Haven't forgotten about the Hall of Fame - but it's getting near the end of the month already so better get cracking with my Clouseau playlist!
Daar Gaat Ze: One of their early legendary ballads which also got them known in the Netherlands.
Louise: live version of crowd-pleasing anthem.
Gefluister en Geschreeuw: nice cover of Elvis Costello's "From a Whisper to a Scream".
Find them on: "Het Beste van Clouseau" (1990)

Geef Het Op: Belgium's 1991 Eurovision Song Contest entry, and deserved a better placing than 18th out of 22.

Live Like Kings: Clouseau released two English-language albums in an unsuccessful attempt to break the international market. This is a good uptempo pop/rock tune.
Find it on: "In Every Small Town" (1993)

Voorbij/Swentibold/Waterdrager/Keer Op Keer/Cara Lucia: "Oker" was for me their defining album, and they have never made a better one. Grown-up, commercial and although it was made 12 years ago, it has worn very well.
Find them on "Oker" (1995)

Nobelprijs/Je Bent Niets: By this time Clouseau for me were in "ballad hell" but these were the two best ones from an otherwise disappointing follow-up to "Oker".
Find them on "Adrenaline" (1996)

Heb Ik Ooit Gezegt/Zo Mooi/Ik, Jij, Hij of Zij: "In Stereo" provided a welcome return to form, led by their excellent cover of Van Morrison's "Have I Told You Lately".
Find them on "In Stereo" (1999)

Ik Geef Me Over/En Dans/Brandend Avontuur: First single from this album was a cover of an obscure Robbie Williams track from his 'Supreme' CD-single; the "En Dans" album was proof that Clouseau were back, back, back.
Find them on "En Dans" (2001)

OK so I'm really bored now with "The X Factor", it's got nothing new to offer but I watch it anyway.

Liked "The World's Greatest Elvis". It will probably be slaughtered by the TV critics but it was a fun way to spend a Saturday night if you're a fan of the King (which we at EuropeCrazy are of course, uh-huh-huh) and we eagerly await next week's grand final.
"Strictly Come Dancing" - our most favourite guiltiest pleasure of the winter months - starts in a fortnight. Yay!!!! Will have to go a long way to beat Mark Ramprakash though. That man certainly brightened up our dark autumn/winter evenings last year....! And I'm not even a fan of cricket.

Tonight I'm not doing any 80s night or 'Recent Retro' or watching any videos. No, instead I'm doing something I haven't done for a fortnight - listened to "This Is Who I Am" and do you know what? It's wonderful.

Do I like it? Ummm......yes of course. I absolutely love "Max 500" and on first listen it doesn't come close, but need to put that aside and judge it on its own merits.

So! "Ingenting" has a pounding beat driving the song, and Mr Berg's vocals are always distinctive. My overall first impression is that since the dark and brooding (but rather great) "Du & Jag Döden", someone has opened up the blinds and let in a great deal of daylight. Very good record. The album "Tillbaka Till Samtiden" is released next month, and I'm looking forward to this very much indeed.

Initially I really liked him, but he's beginning to irritate me now, although I've still got a lot of time for his album and can understand why he's so popular now all over Europe.

Anyway the reason for my rant tonight is that yet again "Relax, Take It Easy" has been passed over for a UK single release, in favour of "Happy Ending". Is this supposed to be the obligatory-ballad-release? IMHO it's much inferior and rather .....ordinary. And that's the problem you see, because love him or hate him you can't really call Mika ordinary. Or maybe this is just an attempt to win over some new fans in the 'hate' camp?

We at EuropeCrazy still love "Relax, Take It Easy" and think it's his best song, but that's record companies for you - they wouldn't know an obvious single if it hit them over the head with a wet fish. As someone close to the heart of this blogger once sang..."How many days will it take for you to understand?"

According to Aftonbladet, it seems that one of this year's Idol-finalists, Marie Picasso - tipped as a possible favourite to win - turns out to be an ex-employee of TV4, the channel which broadcasts the contest. It will be interesting to see how far she goes in the contest.

Just discovered that all those lucky people living in Oslo will get the chance to see Salem and his wonderful band play live there on Friday 5 October.

Still haven't found any reviews/footage of the Berns Stockholm MTV gig from last night but I'm sure he was wonderful anyway. I read an interview on a website yesterday in which he confirmed that he is going to be launched internationally so that's great news.

Spoilsports of the week

Last night I went over to YouTube to watch Salem's P3 radio session footage only to find the following message:

"This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by EMI Music Sweden AB".

I know it won't be long till Christmas, but it looks as if his record company are already getting in the Scrooge spirit early.

OK then EMI. If you're going to get these videos removed then can you at least give Salem a decent official website and not the apology for one which exists at the moment.

Answer: Polska! Yes, the mighty Måns Zelmerlöw has now set his sights on conquering the Polish music scene. There is a clip on YouTube of his recent appearance in front of 150,000 fans on a big Polish TV pop show, performing "Cara Mia" and "Maniac". He has become a really confident and entertaining performer, and is looking very good too!

Now you know that "Any Dream Will Do" winner Lee Mead has been one of the objects of this blogger's affection over the last 6 months since he first appeared on our tv screens.

Now he is about to be the "butt" of a few jokes as he's been chosen as this year's male winner of the "Rear of the Year". Congratulations to Lee on receiving this "cheeky" award!!

It's been a long time coming, but news finally reaches us that the winner of last year's Star Academy, Cyril Cinelu, is in the studio recording his debut album which will be a mix of 7 original songs and some cover versions by Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Terence Trent D'Arby. Cyril has told the French press that he preferred to take his time to choose his songs for his debut album rather than release an album a couple of months after winning the show.

Even though we didn't agree with the result (Dominique should have won), we applaud Cyril's attitude in doing his own thing and taking his time - a bit like his Nouvelle Star winning counterpart Christophe Willem: if Cyril can produce an album as cracking as Christophe's then he will do very well indeed.

Aftonbladet reports today that the successful British celebrity-reality TV format "Dancing On Ice" will soon be coming to TV4. I have been rather critical of the British version over its two seasons so far, due to its obvious favouritism of certain contestants, and the formula where one of the bottom two couples is saved by the jury - it should be the viewers IMHO who have the final say. Probably the format won't be any different in Sweden, but if good old TV4 puts the clips on the internet, just as they did with "Let's Dance" and currently with "Idol" then you can be sure I'll be watching anyway :-)

It could be argued that the new millennium took Kylie from good popstar to stratospheric megastar. Her PWL success could be put down to the SAW influence (though no one else ~ I think ~ was quite as successful as she was). The 90s saw two experimental album that yielded just one top ten UK hit and were poorly received (sales wise) by the public. So when it was announced Kylie was returning with a disco album, I had everything crossed for something special. I wasn’t disappointed and Light Years still remains my favourite Kylie album of all time. Though I do think she missed a trick not putting Your Disco Needs You out as first single. It leaked in an Almighty mix onto the net around April 2000 and I was a smitten little kitten as soon as I heard it. Oh my days, that song had everything, including a bit of French in it, and it even outgayed Steps. Of course it was released as a single with deliciously camp video in some countries later on, but the world soon tasted the wonder of Spinning Around and the gold hotpants got as much press as the song did, ensuring that the heady concoction of pop, dance, disco and something entirely Kylie resulted in her first number one for ten years. And the hits kept coming in rather rapid succession. On A Night Like This (along with Hand On Your Heart) is my least favourite Kylie single, and I imagine somewhere in Europe is the lass who originally sang it, sitting weeping in a bar with the chick who originally sang Torn knocking back mimosa and wondering what might have been. Kids was more a Robbie release than Kylie, but that was OK, cos I was in full Robert addiction at that time. And while I seem to remember a lot of fans being upset with the choice of Please Stay as a single, I was utterly delighted and would often leap onto pool tables to do perfectly in sync dance moves. Having Santa Baby on the flip was the icing on my kylie flavoured cake. Though again, why Light Years wasn’t released as a single with Physical on the flip side is beyond me. Of course, the new millennium meant it was much easier to get unreleased tracks and bonus songs for other countries, and you can practically fill an album with the off casts, most of which are quite passable, including Paper Dolls and the lovely Password. Simply put, Light Years is one of those career defining albums on which every track could easily have been a single…

~ In Your Eyes ~

And then came Can’t Get You Out Of My Head. Kylie in a car. Kylie is a rather weird metallic looking dress. Kylie in some weird white outfit superglued to her boobs. Kylie getting mashed up with New Order. Kylie getting US acclaim. Kylie getting her own ITV special and duetting with Adam ‘RAR’ Garcia and um, Kermit. There was no doubt the girl was a major star now. She then went all ghetto and street for Darren’s second fave Kylie song In Your Eyes (he just loves doing the bit where she shoves her knuckles into the camera), all sultry and dance for Love at First Sight and multiplied rather ingeniously for the ace Come Into My World. More unreleased tracks surfaced. Tours that were theatrical spectacles ensured. Kylie mania hit full peak. It was xanadu on earth.

~ in that bloody car again for RBW ~

And in true record company style, it all got a bit ballsed up in my opinion on a very weak album Body Language. The singles were easily the best things on there. Slow was an insistent groove with quite a good video. She was back in her car for R’n’B flavoured Red Blooded Woman (which I happen to love) and looking entirely elegant and quite serene in the sensual Chocolate video. But for me the rest of the album was an unmitigated mess. Not her best material by a long shot, and too busy trying to please too many people. I would have struggled to pick a fourth single from there and luckily there wasn’t one, though again a spectacular tour across the world appeased fans. I seem to remember possibly LiMbo (kylie.co.uk) saying that RBW was the first Kylie single they wouldn’t support and it was my first real awareness that collectively fans seem to decide in their groups whether something is good or bad and if you deviate from that, you are not a “true fan”. I would say oy gavoy, if I wasn’t Miss Baltimore Crabs. Luckily the scissor sis collab came along with a somewhat intermittent Kylie collection of hits and what may be the very best concert I’ve been to ~ Kylie: The Showgirl Tour.

Nominations were recently announced for the "Musikforlaggarnas Pris" which we would guess is some important Swedish music industry thing .... and guess who's got the most nominations?

Salem Al Fakir!!!!! He's been nominated in three categories - best songwriter, best newcomer, and best Swedish song of the year ("Good Song" naturally). The winners will be announced on 26 October at Berns Salonger in Stockholm - coincidentally where the great man will be playing his MTV New Sounds of Europe gig tomorrow night. As ever, I wish I was there!

Kanye vs Fiddy: the rap world's answer to Blur vs Oasis, two big hitters releasing a record on the same day. Kanye won the battle of course, hitting the number one spot in the album chart, leaving some significant egg on the face of Mr Cent who in Lisa Scott-Lee style threatened early retirement if his album didn't outsell his rival. We at EuropeCrazy enjoy all this nonsense and hype of course, even if we wouldn't buy any of their albums. However Kanye West would recently be our rapper of choice, only because we like his inventive sampling, particularly the superb use of Daft Punk on "Stronger".

THE HIPSTER NEW ACT:

Despite having a band name that sounds like a themed movie weekend on the sci-fi channel and despite looking like completely unassuming lads dressed in their best Gap outfits, Vampire Weekend are actually a musical casserole of bizarre dance moves, the best elements of pop mixed in with tribal beats and a hushed reverence for new wave music. Currently the toast of trendy hipsters in NYC, their debut EP is full of off kilter tracks performed with genuine exuberance and joy. Songs like Oxford Comma and Mansard Roof take the smart elements of indie-pop, mix in some world beats and some rather bizarre lyrics, all with a heady delirious effect. Listening to them is like taking some giddy glee inducing drug. But legal. Oh dear god, I can only imagine what their live set is like…

LINK: Myspace page

LINK: Purchase the debut ep

OK I'm going to be shallow again....(but I still like his music though)

With the massive success of "Silencio" in Germany, I decided to have a look at the video for this on YouTube to discover that all his lovely curly hair had gone!! He now looks like a member of a boyband. Admittedly still a very good looking one, though.

Yes it is actually news (and not just random rants from me about how wonderful he is...!).

He's playing some live dates before the end of the year in Sweden as follows:

26.11.07 - Gothenburg
27.11.07 - Linkoping
28.11.07 - Vasteras
29.11.07 - Uppsala
07.12.07 - Vara Konserthus (postponed from September 2007)

He's also playing Berns Salonger in Stockholm this Thursday along with Million Stylez and Neverstore, this is a showcase gig for the MTV EMA New Sounds of Europe thing which we're very excited about. How good would it be if he made the final three and then won it? I might just get a bit uncontrollable.....

Don’t they look pretty? All gelled hair and fake tans! While I much prefer their suave grown up wardrobe and hair, there is no denying that before they became the new G4, RyanDan were as cheesy as cheesy can be. They were in a boyband called B4-4 – which was a bit like Bros because there were the twins and one other dude. And really, the music isn’t that bad. It’s not great or even classic boyband, but it’s chirpy enough in a generic sort of way. The singles are the highlights on the album. Get Down is probably a mix between debut album A1 and early Backstreet Boys. Go Go has some mad crazy woman screaming at the start (I think it’s probably RyanDan’s mom screaming at them to ditch the non-twin for more royalties) and it’s very 5ive and quite good in a toe tapping sort of way. It has one of those wave your hands chanty choruses that 3SL did on their debut single before going all r’n’b. Talking of r’n’b, the third single Ball and Chain sees them edging in that direction with mixed results. It’s a mid tempo ballad and a little dull. There are some other highlights on the album that show promise ~ You Really Got To Want It could easily be updated into a nice electro boyband song. It’s pretty much there already, just needs some updating. And a nicely harmonised You’ve Got A Friend is quite lovely. Anyway, as the album is quite hard to find at the moment, I’m going to put it here for download for a limited time only. Let me know what you think!

DOWNLOAD: B4-4 Debut Album

After a successful run of singles with PWL, Kylie quite rightly wanted to stretch her artistic muscle and consolidate her position as the UK and Australia’s top pop princess. She took a break after 1992 to prepare the album that would showcase her range and move her into sleek, media savvy Kylie era. And what a comeback it was ~ Confide In Me was one of the most sensual, hypnotic, polished pop tunes I had heard in a while. Even if it did pretty much rip off the music from Opus 3’s It’s A Fine Day. No matter, flashing images, phone numbers, and sultry lips bewitched the video watchers into calling 1-555-Confide and Kylie got her biggest hit in 3 years. Next single Put Yourself In My Place was a slick mid tempo number giving Kylie a chance to show off her range. The album was packed with songs that easily could’ve been singles. If I Were Your Lover had a stunning musical arrangement, while Surrender was a perfect little slice of pop goodness. The dancetastic Where Is The Feeling features a great Kylie vocal as she flits along to the rhythmic grooves contained within. The standout for me is the lovely ballad Dangerous Game where Kylie is at her most vulnerable yet powerful (if that makes any sense). Also released around this era was the duet with Nick Cave that really showed Kylie off in a totally different light. A goth murder tale, it caused scandal in the papers and consolidated Kylie’s ability to dominate the media in whichever way she wanted.

~ Kylie gets twin peaks on our asses ~

~ taking the piss in Did It Again ~

Taking her time to create an album she would be proud of really paid off next for Kylie – creatively if not commercially. Impossible Princess (to grant it’s original title) was released in 1997 when the British nation was still in mourning for Diana and didn’t appreciate the dark lyrics and vision Kylie presented within. Those that persevered found an album of artistic merit (as opposed to say Body Language – clearly produced with the American market in mind). Indie, dance, pop, poetry and eastern influences all make themselves felt on this diverse collection of tunes. From the outset something was different. Too Far had a minimal beat and electro dance feel, but was made darker from inclusion of a piano backing track. Drunk is Kylie at her most daring – it’s pulsating, it’s overwhelming, it’s fast, it’s compulsive. Breathe and Say Hey (the most Bjork song Kylie ever did) continue the hardcore dance vibe with soft vocals. Did It Again was anti-kylie – guitars, indie-ish vibe, off kilter lyrics and a great self deprecating video made it a hit. Overall a really intriguing experimental album that for the most part pays off despite a couple of bum tracks.

RyanDan ~ Debut:

Ok, it is official. I am as ridiculously obsessed with RyanDan as I was when G4 first came out. Sure it’s an acquired taste, and RyanDan seem slightly more serious than G4, but they both have that gorgeous knack of mixing operatic musical stylings with pop sensibilities and providing gorgeous harmonies. The debut album is exactly what you would expect it to be. The single Like The Sun is a gloriously uplifting love song full of swooning piano, crashing orchestration, lush choirs and RyanDan’s distinctive voices complementing each other perfectly. The big score here is (second single if they have any smarts about them) the Steve Anderson song High. It’s basically Confide In Me part II sung by guys. It’s not quite pop, but it’s a powerful song and has a rather lovely appeal about it. And if you like musicals, you will just get the vapours over a powerful yet surprisingly restrained version of Bring Him Home (Les Mis) where they show they are just as competent with broadway classics as they are with blending their popera style. Not too sure about their way over the top take on Wind Beneath My Wings, but there is enough in here to keep moms and me happy for many months, even if the final track Tears Of An Angel does take on a new poignancy and sadness after the tragic death of their niece. One for when you just want to relax and let something beautiful wash all over you...

Potential singles: Like The Sun, High, Bring Him Home, The Face

Puppini Sisters ~ The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo:

OK, more acquired taste for y’all. Before Christina rouged her knees and rolled her stockings down trying to prove that she was helping out the war movement and could boogie woogie with the best of them, the Pupps were providing soldiers with a much more interesting lip service with their doo-wop take on a range of classic pop songs. Ruby Woo continues that sound and evolves it somewhat. Gorgeous lead off single Spooky has a definite jazz vibe running through it with a persistant drum snare bouncing off the girls beautiful harmonies. Beyonce cover Crazy in Love has never sounded so lucid and joyous (and that’s saying something!) and even adds a touch of guitar to the pupps sound. Old Cape Cod is presented a stunningly beautiful torch song ballad that is the perfect entrance to summer, should we ever have one again and almost makes you want to be a child again and have that freedom of just running around a sandy beach with candy floss. Could It Be Magic is transformed into a languid lazy bluesy tune, while Walk Like An Egyptian takes on a whole new lease of life (with this version vying for most perfect cover of this song this year with The Feeling). It’s difficult to pin how they will have singles chart success with this, but as an album act and live performers they are a pure treat to the ears...

Potential singles: Spooky, Walk Like An Egyptian, Crazy In Love, Old Cape Cod

BWO ~ Fabricator:

When i first started getting into BWO (and I mean really getting into) in late 2004 thanks to their gorgeous song Open Door, I was very excited about the possibilities this meant for the pop world. Sadly this never transpired and while the second album was a thrilling treat, it was pretty much a retread of the first. So is the third much different? Not really, but there is still enough to recommend in there to make it a worthwhile purchase. The quality of the singles are well documented ~ Save Your Pride and Rhythm Drives Me Crazy are this years 16 Tons of Hardware/Chariots of Fire (delete as applicable) while Let It Rain grows more morose and beautiful with each listen. Next single Destiny of Love is a pretty ballad – more We Could Be Heroes than Gone or Open Door. And if you are bored of the ballads, you can get it in a rather funky uptempo pop version. There are other potential singles here though such as abba-esque opening track Last Flight To SanFrancisco, which is pretty much the most pumping thing on the album and whirls you into a world of disco, poppers and lube where you cannot emerge unscathed. Paradise on Mars is another lovely ballad and really, the rest is padded out with much of the same. It’s not that it’s not good, it’s just that it’s been done before. However, when it’s done well, it’s all still rather poptastic, even if one does begin to stifle a yawn by the end of the disc...

Colour me green with excitement today, when two of my favourite things collided. Yes, dreams can come true (look at me baby i got you) ~ little Deborah Gibson has gone and done a pretty live version of the rather lovely I’m Not That Girl from the lovely musical Wicked. It’s a live somewhat bootlegged version, but it’s certainly good enough quality to enjoy and shows that (as I have always known) Deborah is just as comfortable belting out showtunes as she is poptunes. This is probably the most “pop” of the songs from Wicked and works well as a touching ballad. Not sure it would ever be single quality but it would make a lovely album track on someone’s album one day. Sigh. Now if only Simon Curtis would record No Good Deed as an electro stomper, McFly tear through a punkified Popular and The Feeling turn What Is This Feeling into one of their melodic pop anthems, life would just be tickety boo.

MP3: Deborah Gibson ~ I’m Not That Girl

Best in show: