thisispop

Hopefully. I'll be back then.

My Rank: 1st Belgium 2nd Greece 3rd Iceland 4th Albania 5th Belarus 6th Serbia 7th Moldavia 8th Slovakia 9th Finland 10th Malta ----------------------------------- 11th Bosnia & Herzegovina 12th FYR Macedonia 13th Portugal 14th Latvia 15th Estonia 16th Russia 17th Poland Of my Top 10 I predict Russia will make it at the expense of Malta. Otherwise the other 9 tracks will make the Final.

17. Iceland: Je ne sais quoi - Hera Björk A Buzzjack favourite me thinks. :lol: I wondered where Michelle McManus got to. :D But this is a good song, well sung, especially over the key change. A great song to end with. Probably the most atypical ESC entry in terms of the British public's perception of this contest. 8.5/10

16. Belarus: Butterflies - 3+2 Gets out imaginary lighter, and moves my head from side to side in time with the anthemic music. I really like this, a shame about the male vocalists. :lol: And :rofl: at the butterfly costume move. Westlife look and learn! 7.0/10

15. FYR Macedonia: Jas ja imam silata - Gjoko Taneski Horrid 1980s hair metal/soft rocker fronted by the current Liverpool manager. Like David Coverdale's Whitesnake gone very wrong. This track needs a power cut. I strangely like that ridiculous rap bit and the Spinal Tap OTT guitar solo. 5.0/10

14. Portugal: Há dias assim - Filipa Azevedo Bland, bland, bland, identikit 4th rate Mariah Whitney Celine cliched ballad from 1994. But the singer is nowhere near that quality. About as much good as Portugal in the 2010 WC without Cristiano Ronaldo. 4.5/10

13. Greece: OPA - George Alkaios & Friends The singer looks like Free/Bad Company/The Firm/Queen+ mainman after getting a boyband makeover. :lol: This is really good. Traditional, ethnic yet very modern. A great performance. 8.5/10

12. Albania: It's all about you - Juliana Pasha Either my music brain is turning to mush ... or the songs are getting better. Sounds like Anastacia (without all the plastic surgery) getting her hands on a Alexandra Burke cast off. 8.0/10

11. Malta: My dream - Thea Garrett This sounds like a piece of cliched cheese that Simon Cowell rejected as the Pop Idol/X-Factor's winning single. Well sung, but way too cliched and arrrgggh at the ending. 5.5/10

10. Belgium: Me and my guitar - Tom Dice About bloody time. A tune and a half. A nice acoustic anthemic ballad. The first song I've heard that could sound like a contender to win the whole thing. It sort of reminds me of Cher's Just Like Jesse James. 9.5/10

8. Bosnia & Herzegovina: Thunder and lightning - Vukašin Brajić Promised much, but a terrible ending. Are there any good songs in this Semi? 5.5/10 9. Poland: Legenda - Marcin Mroziński OMG. Is this taking the mickey or what. Is this a joke or a nightmare. Beyond awful. Hideous mess of a dirge all round. 1.5/10

7. Serbia: Ovo je Balkan - Milan Stanković Doesn't he play football for Inter (Milan)? :lol: The Sia drag act with the Ricky Martin type voice certainly haS a catchy enough tune though. 7.0/10

6. Latvia: What for? - Aisha Somwhere out of that dreadfully slow backing track; the over earnest cat-a-wailing vocals there is a tune trying to escape. Alas it does not stand a chance in this circumstances. 4.0/10

5. Finland: Työlki ellää - Kuunkuiskaajat A Helen Chamberlain (Soccer:AM) and Fay Tozer (Steps) lookalikes romp through a traditional Scandinavian tune. Different enough to make the final .... or perhaps not. 5.5/10

4. Slovakia: Horehronie - Kristina Pelakova Imagine one well not Emilie, obviously! of the Dorothy's from Over The Rainbow doing a mediocre track that sounds like a Shakira cast off. Well this is it. The best thing about it is the singing, the dancing is tepid though. 6.0/10

3. Estonia Siren - Malcolm Lincoln & Manpower 4 Imagine the Norwegian trio a-ha but minus any coherent tune, melody and minimal singing ability.... well this is it. Rubbish 3/10

2. Russia: Lost and forgotten - Peter Nalitch & Friends Morbid, Turgid ballad. Is the the Russian version of the tuneless version of My Lovely Horse? Do I get the feeling Russia don't want to reach the Final this year? 2/10 -xp-ShbrbuY

1. Moldova: Run away - Sunstroke Project & Olia Tira OK, Generic Pop/Dance song. Well presented and performed. Good use of a saxophone break. Not bad, but not brilliant. 6.5/10

OK, bar half a dozen 2010 ESC entries I have not had the time to listen to the remainder. So here I am, to pass my comments on as and when. But I understand that SF1 is far worse from SF2 in terms of song quality according to ESC fans/pundits/experts.

I'm currently listening to Iggy Pop - Nude & Rude - The Best of (from I Wanna Be Your Dog to Wild America).

01. Dizzee Rascal - Dizzee Disco 02. BoB - Nothin' on You 03. Iyaz - Solo 04. Jason Derulo - Ridin' Solo 05. N-Dubz ft Bodyrox - We Dance 06. Edward Maya ft. Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love 07. Roll Deep - Good Times 08. Aggro Santos ft. Kimberley Wyatt - Candy 09. Sean Kingston ft. Justin Bieber - Eenie Meenie 10. Alexandra Burke ft. Pitbull - All Night Long Bonus questions: 1. (for 5 pts) Which song will be # 40 next week? Christina Aguilera - Not Myself Tonight 2. (for 3 pts) How many new/re/chart entries will be altogether in the top 40 next week? 8 3. (for 2 pts) Which album will be higher next week: Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom or Faithless - The Dance? Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom

14 Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart 23 Danielle Hope – Over The Rainbow 01 Dizzee Rascal – Dirtee Disco 10 Eminem – Not Afraid 45 Glee Cast – Dream On 30 Glee Cast – I Dreamed A Dream 61 Hurts – Better Than Love 03 Iyaz – Solo 56 Katie Melua – The Flood 29 Keri Hilson – I Like 18 K’naan – Wavin’ Flag 37 Muse - Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever) 06 N-Dubz ft. Bodyrox – We Dance On 53 Nas & Damian “Jr Gong” Marley – As We Enter Bonus #1: Will Alexandra Burke – All Night Long be higher than Usher ft will.i.am - OMG in the chart? YES Bonus #2: Will Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina – Stereo Love be higher than Sean Kingston & Justin Bieber – Eenie Meanie in the chart? YES Bonus #3: Will The Pretty Reckless - Make Me Wanna Die be higher than The Squad – Three Lions 2010 in the chart? YES

Wow, what a superb episode. PS. On Elaine Paige's Sunday Radio 2 Musical programme she played the Glee version of I Dreamed A Dream and back announced "now that's how that track should sound". Clearly a slightly jealous/catty reference towards SuBo. :lol:

Well at least it guarantees the crew and cast will get paid for two more series even if this does not make it to the end of Series 3.

Excellent. :w00t: Hopefully Daniel Pearce will finally get his first ever #1 hit single on Sunday. EDpQqkY2hR0 :kink: