Lena Zavaroni - What's Another Year

Here's Lena Zavaroni performing What's Another Year (The Irish 1980 winner), which I think is rather lovely.
Read more about this Lena at http://www.lena-zavaroni.co.uk/

Thin Slices Of Siw Malmkvist (Not Gunther von Hagen related)

It’s been a bit quiet at Eurocovers lately. Too much work, recession depression, some PC problems and all kinds of personal excuses, you know the tune.

But I received a bit of release news from Erik of Sweden I didn’t want to keep from you as it includes the magic words ‘Previously Unreleased’ and ‘Italian Version’.

Siw Malmkvist, Eurovision singer, Swedish National Final repeat offender and beloved Eurocovers artist has given her memoires to the world in a Swedish book called Tunna Skivor Av Mig.
It was written with Carl Magnus Palm who is most known as the best ABBA historicus. (His fantastic ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions (1994) is unrivalled).

Tunna Skivor Av Mig (Thin slices of me) is a take on her 1960 single Tunna Skivor which is a coverversion of Connie Francis’ Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool. Skivor is also Swedish for records.

Siw Malmkvist entered Eurovision in 1960 with Alla Andra Får Varann (for Sweden) and in 1969 with Primaballerina (for Germany) and she recorded coverversions of several Eurovision songs (see * below). This new release adds two more to the list.

Augustin, April April
Siw Malmkvist also entered (and won) the Swedish national selection several times and two of those appearances are linked to the Eurocovers on the Tunna Skivor bonus CD.

In 1959 Siw Malmkvist sang Augustin in the Swedish selection even though it was already known that Brita Borg would represent Sweden at Eurovision.
Siw recorded Augustin in Swedish, German, Danish, Norwegian and Italian and it’s the Italian version that is released here for the first time.

In 1961 Siw won the Swedish selection with April April, but Swedish TV decided that Lill Babs would go to Eurovision because Siws performance wasn’t quite satisfactory. **
April April features on the CD in a previously unreleased Danish version.

The CD included with a limited number of the book includes 17 tracks of which only the last one was previously released. One track is a new recording; Du bist der Anfang und das Ziel, recorded with her son Henrik. The other 15 tracks are mostly different language recordings of well known Siw songs.

Less great news is that the CD is only available with the first 1000 copies of the book, which is of course not a very fan-friendly marketing strategy.
The Tunna Skivor Av Mig edition with the CD is only available at Bokus, who dont ship to everywhere, but to most European countries and some beyond. (Best inquire first to get the right edition)

Tunna Skivor tracklist:
1 Ten Thousand Miles - 1965
2 Am Platz von Tegelbacken - 1964
3 Amore Scusami (German) - 1964
4 Augustin (Italian) - 1959
5 Bring Back My Love - 1965
6 Du spricht immer von Paris - 1959
7 Du är bäst - 1964
8 Frosty der Schneemann - 1964
9 Goodbye Charlie - 1965
10 Hej Mr Banjo - 1955
11 Lejonburen - 1964
12 Någon gång någonstans - 1964
13 Rosorna i Portugal - 1959
14 April april (Danish) - 1961
15 Du bist der Anfang und das Ziel - with Henrik Ohlsson - 2010
16 Introduction recorded in the studio for Vackraste paret i världen
17 Vackraste paret i världen - Duett med Svante Thuresson - 1968

Special thanks to Erik for the news and the pic below.
Other sources: Bokus bookstore and Carl Magnus Palm Website

* Sprattelgumma, Puppet On A String at Eurocovers has a discography of Siws Eurocovers
** I haven’t read the book yet, so I don’t know if there’s anything about this historic Swedish Eurovision debacle in it.

Sunette Bridges - Let The Music Play

Being the offspring of a celebrated superstar must be a daunting job. On the one hand people are interested in you because of your famous parent, on the other hand the press will scrutinize every move you make and compare it to your mom or dad. (and hope you fail...) 

Either if you want to go your own way, or follow in the footsteps of your ancestor, you can never really do it the right way (well, except Enrique maybe). There's always the accusations of capitalizing on the success of the ones that came before you.

Sunette Bridges is no exception. In the past she has been given a hard time in the South African tabloid press, who measured out every move she made, good or bad.

Sunette Bridges has to fill the shoes of her father Bles Bridges (1947-2000), who is one of the great legends in Afrikaans schlager / pop music history.

After an absence of almost six years Sunette is back with a vengeance.

She released her 6th album Let The Music Play and the album was well received by the critics of Afrikaans music.
It's a wonderful collection of songs; coverversions and a few self penned ones, that reflect a coming to terms, a coming of age even, for the South African singer.

Here are the tracks on Let The Music Play.
1. Girl Without Love
The album opens with a version of A Man Without Love. Not the U.K. 1966 Eurovision song, but a cover of the San Remo song Quando m'innamoro from 1968. But most people know it as the Engelbert Humperdinck's world hit.
2. I've Never Been To Me
Remember Charlene? Her original is one of the most unlikely Motown hits ever. It's raunchy and at the same time almost religious and one of the timeless pop classics. Sunette's version is an uptempo affair without losing the essence of the original song.
3. You Are
A duet with Xavier
4. Solitaire
5. Story Of A Life
6. Shallow
Shirley Clamp's Min Kärlek (from Melodifestivalen 2004) in an English version with lyrics written by Sunette herself.
7. Il Mondo
Another Italian classic, performed in Italain by Sunette
8. If I Give My Heart To You
A Petra Frey (Eurovision 1994) Song
You can watch this one at YouTube. With bits from her Let The Music Play Theatre tour.
9. Andante, Andante
Frida sang it on Abba's Super Trouper LP, a timeless song from Abba's 'lighter' collection.
10. Wanted
The Dooley's! remember them,? Wanted was a 1978 hit, #1 in Japan even. Sunette does a delightful pop version and for me one of the top tracks of the album.
11. L'amour Ca Fait Chanter La Vie
The only real Eurocover on this album is the #2 from 1978, Jean Vallée's song is the the typical 70's ballad only to be found at Eurovision. Sunette recorded it in French.
12. You Don't Bring Me Flowers
The Barbra Streisand & Neil Diamond classic in an uptempo version.
13. A Mi Manera
Sinatra's My Way in Spanish and English
14. Mano
One of the hits by Maywood, the Dutch duo who failed to re-ignite their career with a miscalculated Eurovision appearance 10 years after Mano was a hit. Outside the Netherlands Maywood enjoyed some success in Spain, Germany and South Africa and just about every non-anglo country in the music world..
15. Broken Heart
Thomas G:Son written preselection song from Finland song Who Cares About A Broken Heart originally by Johanna.
16. Get The Party Started
At first I though it silly to end an album with a track about getting started, (The 1 Non Blonde Linda Perry penned Pink hit) but I was wrong. After getting all this out in the world, it's the dawning of a new era for Sunette.


Sunette Bridges album discography:
Vrou Alleen (2001)
- This includes the duet with her Father Bles Bridges Glo In Die Lewe, a coverversion of the 1972 Eurovision winner Après Toi. The original Afrikaans version was recorded by Bles Bridges in 1997.
Dit Is My Lewe (Vat Musiek 2001)
- Featuring Siek En Sat, a coverversion of Javiera's Varje Timma Var Minut, a hit from the 2000 Swedish national final. (Melodifestivalen)
Opskop Treffers En Ander (EMI 2003)
Kan Jy dans (EMI Capitol 2003)
Sprokie (Hartman 2004)
Let The Music Play (Markon 2009)

Sunette Bridges has also been working on Afrikaans versions of the Maltese and Albanian 2005 Eurovision entries, but they remain unreleased.

In 2007 Sunette issued the book Gister, Vandag en Môre (Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow) in which she recounts her life story .
How is it to be raised in the a family with a famous father, how she made her choices in life, both bad and good, and how she dealt with the media attention, wanted and unwanted.
The book is in Afrikaans and is still available at graffitibooks.co.za.

Let The Music Play is available at Kalahari who sell internationally.

Elaine Baker, where are you now?

Here's a sweet 'n' lovely version of Sandie Shaw's Puppet On A String. I bought this curiosity via the bay on a whim because it had some strange appeal with hardly anything being known about it.
In my imagination it could have been an undiscovered recording of a mega famous superstar, but I'm not recognizing any pre-fame voice here.

Elaine Baker, who is she? The name is common enough to hit 25.000 at google, and that didn't lead to anything conclusive. There's an opera singer, an actress or radio DJ with the same name here and there, who knows....
The single has no recordcompany label on it. All the label reads is monaural (= mono), the artists name, the composers and some numbers.

So dating the record is up to us. It must be later than 1967, the original puppet year, as the other track My Love, My Love's The Same has a distinctive early disco feel about it. 1972?
The version of Puppet On A String is a bit of an odd blend of romantic Jamaican rhythms and horns with the singer taking a few detours in the original melody and lyrics. Puppet could easily be one of the many versions recorded in Jamaica, but the other track is so un-Jamaican that it makes it a bit doubtful.
Another fact that could point to Jamaica is the misspelling of songwriter Coulter as Coulteer. That occurs on a few other Jamaican coverversions.
The fact that there's no record label is also a point towards Jamaica.
I discarded the possibilty of the record being a cheap pop-tops style copy as the other song is composed by the singer herself and Puppet is far from a plain copy.

A romantic idea that appeals to me is that Elaine Baker just wanted to make a record, spent a few pennies / cents on it and 23 copies were pressed for friends and family. Elvis did it, so why can't Elaine?

All in all, I know nothing, which is great really. So, Elaine Baker, wherever you are, if you read this, just drop us a comment. (anyone else that knows something more is very welcome too)


Puppet On A String was already featured a zillion times at Eurocovers in 2007. If you use this link you get the posts which feature versions from all over the world.

Summertime Bits and pieces part 2.

The Divine Comedy
British band The Divine Comedy released their 10th album Bang Goes The Knighthood two months ago. It's worth checking out the limited edition of the album which includes an extra disc (if you can still find it).
The bonus cd Live at Cité de la Musique, Paris, features nine mostly French tracks.
Next to classics like Brels Amsterdam and Vanessa Paradis' Joe Le Taxi there are two Eurocovers: L'Amour Est Bleu and Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son, both songs need no further explanation methinks.
(Divine Comedy Records DCRL101DCD)

Kirkorov
Russian Eurovision singer and multi Eurocoverer Philippe Kirkorov (Фили́пп Кирко́ров) has recorded a version of the Swedish 2009 entry La Voix (Malena Ernman) He teams up with soprano Anna Netrebko (Анна Нетребко) for the quasi classical pop ditty and if you visit his website the song starts playing.
More Kirkorov Eurocovers in this post.
The russian version is titled Голос, but an English version is also recorded

Portugal Discographies

An highly recommended website for Portugal Eurovision history fans can be found at this Portuguese music history site.
The pages Os Reis Do Vinyl feature several interesting pages.
There are some very extended discographies with delicious picture sleeves including Eurovision legends Madalena Iglesias, António Calvario and Simone De Oliveira.
You will find their Eurovision sleeves and many of their Eurocovers.
You can also read about the Festival Da Canção Portuguesa before the country made its debut at Eurovision in 1964.
Lots of info new to me, there was already talk of a Eurovision appearance since 1961 (They finally made their debut in 1964). Really wonderful browsing.

I used google translate to navigate the site in English, but you'll get some funny translations. Antonio Calvario translates as Butch Moore, Madalena Iglesians becomes Dickie Rock and Maria Marize becomes Queen Mary. But it helps anyway.

Esta Balada Que Te Dou
To stick to the subject of Portugal, here is a great coverversion of the 1983 entry Esta Balada Que Te Dou (Armando Gama) .
This version by Os Pontos Negros was recorded last year for a Radio station and appeared on a compilation issued by Radio Antena 3: 3 pisata vol. 2.
I don't think it was released on a Pontos Negros record. Their 3rd CD Pequeno-Almoço Continental is out on Universal since last April

Esta Balada is a bit alternative (The Pontos are cited to be inspired by The White Stripes) and it's certainly a long way away from the sugar coated original, but it keeps the melancholy madrugada-feeling perfectly in tact.

If you want to hear a version of Esta Balada Que Te Dou a bit closer to Armando Gama's version there's a new recording by Marcelo Costa. His CD Marcelo Costa is out on Sony since april. It's available through most digital outlets. You can listen to Marcelo's Balada at his MySpace playlist.

And here's a bit of interesting trivia for the die hards. Esta Balada Que Te Dou broke the Eurovision rules back in 1983. Armando Gama had already released a version of the song on his 1982 LP Quase Tudo (RT records RT 10021). At the time the rules about songs being previously released were even stricter than today, but it seems nobody noticed and Gama got away with it. Esta Balada was the 5th Portuguese entry to end 13th at the contest.

More Portuguese Eurovision entries are covered on an eponymous album by Sons Do Tejo (Espacial records). The album includes Menina Do Alto da Serra (1970 originally by Tonicha) and Desfolhada Portuguesa (1969 by Simone de Oliveira).
You can listen to Menina at their MySpace along with some other tracks from the CD.
The album is available at most digital outlets. The CD is at CD.GO.



Jørgen Ingmann and poets

Mikael sent me this bit of info on an unusual version of Dansevise, the first Danish Eurovision winner.
The CD Jørgen Ingmann Og Digterne is a collection of tracks by Ingmann on guitar accompanied by poets who recite the lyrics of the songs.
Dansevise is recited by Marianne Gerner over what is probably a 1976 instrumental recording of the song by Ingmann.
The CD comes with a book and is available in the Danish bookshops (Forlaget Vandkunsten ISBN 9788776951092, 2009). Read more (in Danish) at Forlaget Vandkunsten.

Ingmann is of course an acclaimed guitarist with several worldwide solo hits in the 60's (He scored a US #1 with the Shadows Apache). He was joined by his wife Grethe (1939 - 1990) for many singles including their Eurovision win in 1963.
And you can still check out the duo's sensational Winners and Losers coverversions LP feature in the second Eurocovers post ever.

Made In China
A 2009 CD by The Fake Orchestra - Made In China, is actually not fake, and not made in China, but the orchestra is from Slovenia. The jazz album features one Eurocover: Ne Prizigaj Luci V Temi which is a Slovenian version of Ne Pali Svjetla U Sumrak, the Yugoslavian entry from 1962, originally performed by Lola Novaković. The fakers have a MySpace, but sadly it doesn't feature the Eurocover. Excerpts are at Sternsmusic.

Elda Viler
Some more anoraky bits here: Yugoslavia's first two entries (including Ne Pali Svjetla U Sumrak) were actually submitted to the Yugoslavian selection by TV Ljubljana (Slovenian TV), but they had to be performed in Serbo-Croat in the selection and subsequently at Eurovision. The first time an entry sung in Slovenian entered Eurovision was in 1966 (Brez Besed by Berta Ambrož). Of the first ten Yugoslavian entries five were submitted by TV Ljubljana. Of the 17 entries that followed only one came from Slovenia.

Slovenian jazz legend Elda Viler popularized Ne Prizigaj Luci V Temi (in Slovenian) in the 70's. The clip below is a live recording from 2009 with the Goriski Pihalni Orkester (loving the outfits guys).

All In The Family: Lola & Rosario Flores

Here's Julio Iglesias 1970 Eurovision entry Gwendolyne in two versions. First is a sensational version by Spanish Flamenco Legend Lola Flores (also see video below). She recorded the song in 1970 but I only know of a Various artists MC release Exitos Modernos En Flamenco. I don't know if it was released on LP or single. see comments

The second version is by Rosario Flores who is the daughter of Lola and Antonio Gonzalez Flores. She recorded Gwendolyne for the soundtrack of Spanish TV series Cuéntame Cómo Pasó (11th season, 2009).

Below is a fab clip of mama Lola doing Gwendolyne with papa Antonio on guitar.

MoniQue & Snotkop - Ek val vir jou

Here's another cover from South Africa. MoniQue and Snotkop (yep, Snothead) cover the Finnish 2009 entry Lose Control (Waldo's People) as Ek Val Vir Jou (I fall for you) in Afrikaans. You can find the track on MoniQue's album with the same title. The album also includes an English version of the song.
The CD is out now on Select music and is available at Kalahari. It's also digitally available at Rhythm Music Store and some international digital stores.

Summertime bits and pieces part 1.

Eurocovers has not fully collapsed yet under the heat, but lazyness prevents indepth analysis of the high standards you are used to from yours truly. I didn't even tie in with the footie and the vuvuzela madness, for which you probably are thankful
But here's some found food and bits and pieces people have been sending.

Perla
Remember Perla? In this Eurocovers post (UPDATED in 2021) you can read all about the beautiful Brasilian pop singer and her covers of your favorite Eurovision songs. There was one version missing which now can be found in this YouTube. It's the Spanish language version of Mia Martini's 1977 entry Libera.
It's one of 90 Perla songs you can listen to on the Perla Radio Youtube channel. Thank you Perla Radio!

Leon Calvert
Easy listening blog Detour features an LP Captivation by Noel Trevlac including an instrumental version of Puppet On A String. Not only is this a must hear track because it is exceptionally good, it's also interesting because Mr. Trevlac is actually Leon Calvert, acclaimed British jazz trumpeteer who probably didn't want to have his name attached to some cheap covers LP. But the quality of the arrangement and the trumpetering betrays him. Thank You Detour Blog!

South Africa
Music news from South Africa is a bit slow at the moment. Several Eurocovers are on the brink of release (or not, as postponing is the word of the day). You can find one little teaser for a forthcoming release at the Jasmyn website.
You can hear a part of Iemand Soos Jy, a coverversion of the ill fated Barbara Dex song that ended last in 1993. Jasmyn will also have two other Eurocovers on her album, but there's not much info on her website yet.
Another anticipated but overdue album is Die Enigste Manier (The only way) by Lee Scott (of Hi-5). It includes Wonderland, an Afrikaans version of Fairytale, last years winner and Wens Ek Kon (2009 runner up Is It True? from Iceland). You can listen to excerpts from the album tracks including the Eurocovers at the Lee Scott website. update: There's also a cover of Chiara's Malta 2009 song titled Vandag.
Moniqe Foxx tackles the forgotten Malta entry Believe 'n' Peace by Times 3 (1999) as Ek Glo for her new album.(very short clip at the Moniqe Foxx website). The album will also include a version of Secret Combination (Greece 2008). The album will be out on Markon records.
Lea Le Roux covers the luscious Andorran 2009 entry La Teva Decisio (Susanna Georgi) as Ek Es Gereed on her album due in november. (small clip at Rea Le Roux website).

A lot of small excerpts which are of course useless to the Eurovers fan, so I'm pleased to end this shortlist of Afrikaans covers with two full versions:

It's Henk Grimsell with his interpretation of Soraya's La Noche Es Para Mi (Spain 2009). The song is titled Vanaand Is Net Vir My from his new album Dis Tyd (Southern Buzz records). And the girls love him!

South African Bachelor Of The Year Stefan Ludik also has an album out. Burn This Town is out on CD in South Africa and also digitally available at Play.com, We7 and MusicMe. It has one Eurocover, Lose Control, last years clubby Finnish entry by Waldo's People. It's in English and a bit louder than the original.
At MusicMe you can listen to the full tracks of the album.

Totally Off Topic Extra Bit Of Afrikaans Info 
Cooler As Ekke by Jack Sparow is heading for a massive hit in the Netherlands. It's a soft hippy hoppy track of which I don't understand a word (maybe just as well) but it can be considered quite cool in a Borat kind of way. It's the first Afrikaans language hit in the Netherlands since Thembi took a medley of discofied Afrikaans folksongs to the top 10 in 1976. (Take Me Back To The Old Transvaal)

2010 coverversions
Currently at #4 in the German charts is Schland O Schland by Uwu Lena. The football hymne to the tune of Lena's 2010 Eurovision winner Satellite was released on cdsingle after some initial hesitation. The number 4 is a lucky number for the Germans. #1 next week?. (update: erm, no , #5)
There's also a Finnish version of Satellite, it's called Kiertokuu by Charlotte Kero.
Read more about all the Satellite Eurocovers at Lena's page at the Oslo Collection. More news on the Keistad Street Organ CD (with a cover of the Dutch entry) can be found at the Oslo Collection Sieneke page.

More Mostly Off Topic Great News
Samantha 'Touch Me' Fox and Sabrina 'Boys Boys Boys' Salerno have teamed up for an ace coverversion of Blondie's Call Me (Youtube). Welcome back girls, the world just wasn't the same without you.
The cdsingle is only released in Italy so far, but the digital release is widely available. I bought my cdsingle at favorite shop Juno, who also stock a picture disc 12" inch.
Sam Fox's old band Sox once tried to go to Eurovision with Go For The Heart, but they ended 4th and Love City Groove went on to the contest somewhere in Ireland.

O Vento Mudou - UHF
After all that schlager and pop it's time for a bit of Rawk. Portuguese rockers UHF have recorded the Portuguese 1967 entry O Vento Mudou (Eduardo Nascimento) for their new album. And it's great!
You can listen to the song at the UHF MySpace . Thanks Ed!

Perdon Cariño Mio
Two versions of the Italian 1971 entry L'Amore è Un Attimo can be found at the website of Pino Lucciano. One in Spanish (Perdon...) and one in Italian. Eurocovers loves that song, so that's why it's here. There's also a version of Volare if you scroll down a bit on the site.
Another Tex Mex version of the song by Los Reyes Del Camino can be found in this Eurocovers post from 2007.

Spain 2003: Silvia Swart - Laat me Leven

The new single by Dutch singer Silvia Swart, Laat Me Leven (Let me live) is a coverversion of the Spanish Eurovision entry Dime (By Beth who ended 8th in 2003).
http://www.silviaswart.nl/
The cdsingle is now available at BeaRecords. It has the Dutch version plus the karaoke.

Tom Kruse - Wunder gibt es immer wieder ( Der WM Song 2010 )

Another World Cup classic in the making