Countries in Review: Austria (part two)

There's a theme with most of the songs in this section of the Austrian Eurovision songs, and it's the fact that Austria seems to have a taste for music that doesn't alway mesh with the rest of Europe.

Ah, the Sacher torte...  How I love you so, you wonderful Viennese invention...

6. "Weil's dr guat got" George Nussbaumer 1996
7. "Heute in Jerusalem" Christina Simon 1979
8. "Sag ihr, ich lass sie grüßen" Udo Jürgens 1965
9. "Weil der Mensch zählt" Alf Poier 2003
10. "All To You" The Rounder Girls 2000
11. "Sonntag" Mess 1982
12. "Reflection" Bobbie Singer 1999
13. "Falter im Wind" Milestones 1972
14. "Kinder dieser Welt" Gary Lux 1985
15. "Die Zeit ist einsam" Timna Brauer 1986
16. "Tausend Fenster" Harry West 1968
17. "Say A Word" Manuel Ortega 2002
18. "Venedig im Regen" Thomas Forstner 1991
19. "Du hast mich so fasziniert" Harry Winter 1960
20. "Sehnsucht" Jimmy Makulis 1961
21. "Die ganze Welt braucht Liebe" Liane Augustin 1958
22. "Nur noch Gefühl" Gary Lux 1987
23. "Nur ein Leid" Thomas Forstner 1989
24. "Keine Mauern mehr" Simone 1990
25. "Maria Magdelena" Tony Wegas 1993

This unique musical taste is really noticable with the songs that come in sixth and seventh on my list:

George Nussbaumer   "Weil's dr guat got"   1996

Christina Simon  "Heute in Jerusalem"   1979

Personally I like the idea of a gospel number and a German cabaret number, but they were out of the box choices to go to Eurovision and were not particularly successful--Nussbaumer coming in 10th and Simon coming in dead last.

Most of the rest of the songs in the rest of ths songs in this section are songs that followed trends that were in pop music at the time:

Manny Ortega  "Say A Word"  2002

Mess   "Sonntag"  1982

Harry Winter  "Du hast mich so fasziniert"  1960

All three are prefectly nice but completely forgettable songs, which seems to be a trend among Austrian Eurovision entrants.

The only song that I feel disappointment in is the following number:

The Rounder Girls  "All For You"  2000

I'm a sucker for Motown songs, and the three ladies in this girl group have great voices, but they were really let down by a bad vocal mix and nerves, which made me rank then tenth--lower that I really wanted to rank them.   Which pretty much translates as "Does anybody have a The Rounder Girls album then can send my way?"

Wait.  They have some albums on Spotify!   I know what's going to be playing on my computer for the next couple of hours.

Tomorrow, my top five Austrian Eurovision songs.

Countries in Review: Austria (part one)

I've been procrastinating posting this installment of my "Countries in Review" series in my blog.  When I started the project  The previous countries were very easy to rank, having entered Eurovision only in the past decade or so. 

Sadly, when people think about Austria, they think about Julie Andrews.

This isn't the case with Austria, which has participated in forty-five contests since their debut.  That means that watching and ranking the songs was more tedious than I thought it would be.
And because there are so many songs, I've decided to split the post into three parts--starting with the bottom twenty in my ranking.


26. "Woki mit Dein Popi"   Trackshittaz   2012
27. "Nur in der Wiener Luft"   Eleonore Schwarz   1962
28. "My Little World"   Waterloo & Robinson   1978
29. "Zusammen geh'n"   Tony Wegas   1992
30. "Mrs. Caroline Robinson"   Springtime   1976
31. "Wenn du da bist"   Marty Brem   1981
32. "Warun nur warum?"   Udo Jürgens   1964
33. "One Step"   Bettina Soriat   1997
34. "Boom Boom Boomerang"   Schmetterlinge   1977
35. "Einfach weg"   Anita   1984
36. "Merci, Chérie"   Udo Jürgens   1966
37.  "Für den Frieden der Welt"   Petra Frey   1994 
38. "Du bist Musik"   Blue Danube   1980
39. "Warum es hunderttausend Sterne gibt"   Peter Horton   1967
40. "Hurricane"   Westend   1983
41. "Lisa Mona Lisa"   Wilfried   1988
42. "Du bist"   Tie Break   2004
43. "Wohin Kleines Pony"   Bob Benny   1957
44. "Der K und K Calypso aus Wein"   Ferry Graf   1959
45. "Get A Life - Get Alive"   Eric Papilaya   2007

There's a lot that I could write about, I think the most obvious is the song I've ranked at 36.

Udo Jürgens   "Merci, Chérie" 1966 

Udo Jürgens won the 1966 contest with this plaintive ballad, one that I personally detest.   I've listened to it once or twice, and when I here it in clips of winning songs, I'm just confused.  It is a song of the time, but for whatever reason, it's always turned me off.

But my own personal distaste,  I have to say that Jürgens is a consummate singer and musician.  He performed the song well, and that's why he won the contest is 1966.  It's just not to my taste, and can't be nowhere near the worst. 

Below Jürgens, most of the songs can be divided into two groups, the weird novelty song (which Austria has a taste for more than most countries) and boy band groups.

The boy band phenomenon is always difficult, because if they're on key and the mikes are balanced, it's really effective, but when it's not, you get something like this.

Westend  "Hurricane"  1983

I still can't understand why this song came in ninth...

And it's rather self evident why a novelty song like "Der K und K Calypso aus Wein" ranked so low.

Ferry Graf     "Der K und K Calypso aus Wein"   1959

Did it get taken seriously back in 1959?  Not really, but now it's unintentionally hilarious.

But in listening to all of the songs, the one that has to rank the lowest is this little number.

Eric Papilaya  "Get A Life - Get Alive"  2007

Austria left the contest for a number of years after this song sank like a stone in Helsinki, getting only four points in the semifinal and convincing the Austrian broadcaster ORF to not participate in the contest for a number of years.   

The song isn't bad, but the staging is completely disastrous.  I am all for AIDS awareness but the fact that weird chicken-people dancers came out of a marabou AIDS ribbon is beyond tacky.  It also contrasted with the sparkly silver hoodie and the filmstrip background. It just didn't congeal in a way that goes beyond tacky and into mild offense. 

It might have been saved had Papilaya had a bit of charisma, but he was completely upstaged by the disaster going on behind him. In my opinion it's the worst song Austria's sent.

And that's it for the bottom twenty...   Stay tuned for songs ranked from 24 to 6 in my next post.

Alaska's Choice: 2012 Baku

Unlike most Eurovision fans, the 2012 Contest ended back on May 26th, when Sweden won for the fifth time with the following song:

Loreen  "Euphoria"

It is a worthy winner and although it's not my favorite, it is a worthy winner.  I still consider it a catchy (albeit somewhat generic) song, and the staging was masterfully done.  Instead of the traditional arena camerawork that typified the other songs, "Euphoria" was shot in closeup. 

With the focus on the closeups, the song felt like a throwback to earlier contests and at the same time seemed extremely fresh.  In other words it was distinct an memorable in a way that the other songs were not.

But like I've been doing with all the other years of the song contest, I decided to ask a group of Alaskans what they think.  It's an excuse for me to throw a party, get together with the people that are important in my life, and share one of my favorite things.  As the lovely Janet S. has said to me, Eurovision is my Super Bowl.

So while chowing down on homemade pizza and a Sacher torte, we decided our winner of this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

Instead of the lovely Loreen, the Alaskan group voted for this song:

Pasha Parfeny   "Lăutar"   Moldova

Moldovan entries always do well with my friends, and this year the combination of attractive singer, quirky song, and dancers in adorable outfits hit the sweet spot with most of the viewers at my party.  I don't blame them; I'm a fan of Moldovan songs as well.  But as you know, it didn't hit my sweet spot. 

I was more surprised by the song that came in second with the voting:

Kurt Calleja   "This Is The Night"  Malta

I think the this rated so well with the jury because of the group's dance moves, which I fully expect to see done by a couple of my friends in a burlesque show in the next couple of months. 

Italy, Sweden and Norway finished off our top five,--five choices that were very different than the rest of Europe.

Sadly, my favorite, Macedonia didn't fare well.  After the rest of the voting came through, Kaliopi came in seventh.    (I'm sad about that, but at least she would have gotten four points from our jury, which isn't something to sneeze at.)

The bottom included some surprises:  Spain, Albania, Denmark, Greece, and last and certainly least, Ireland.  (And I'm happy that the jury can recognize dreck when they see it.)

And now, time to look forward to 2013 and Sweden.

Or maybe December and Rotterdam. 

Alaska's Choice: 1961 Cannes

The Eurovision Song Contest went back to the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France for the 1961 Contest, and pretty much it was a redux of the 1959 contest with the same host on the same stage.  Three countries--Finland, Spain, and Yugoslavia--made their debut and the juries from the 16 participating countries decided that the best song was this song.

Jean-Claude Pascal  "Nous les amoureux"  Luxembourg

"Nous les amoreux" is a prime example of the chanson style that dominated in the early years of the contest and to my ears was nothing special, so I sent this year's contest out to the Alaskan jurors, and they agreed with me.  Pascal came in ninth in the voting. 

So, I sent the songs out to the Alaska Eurovision jury, and or choice was the song that came in a distant second in the voting in 1961.

The Allisons  "Are You Sure?"  the United Kingdom

I can understand why this song topped the vote, because it's recognizably pop and the style of song, doo-wop, was distinctly different than every other song in the contest.

But there are two suprising things that have come out of our voting on 1961.  The first is that this is the first time an English language song topped our voting.  As a bunch of English speakers, I would have figured the the United Kingdom's song would have one sometime before the sixth contest,

The second is that our rankings were wildly different that the voting of the European juries on the night of the contest.  It's best explained by this song:

Lili-Babs  "April, April"  Sweden

On the night of the contest, Lili-Babs got only two points, coming in fourteenth place, while our jury had it coming in second.  I suppose we prefer peppy upbeat numbers.

Sadly, it was a different case for the song we ranked last

Ljiljana Petrović  "Neke davne zvezde"  Yugoslavia

On the night, she came in joint tenth, but her tendency to be off key sadly put her at the bottom of our ranking. 

And that's 1961 in a nutshell.  Stay tuned for 1962...