Release news: O Vento Mudou - Ricardo Oliveira

Portugal decided to stay home for the Malmö contest. Sad of course, but they can make it up to us by sending Ricardo Oliveira when they return in 2014. All he needs is someone to write a classy tune and record it with the orchestra as featured in the videoclip above.

The clip, O Vento Mudou (The wind changes) is a coverversion of the Portuguese 1967 entry originally by Eduardo Nascimento (12th place).

The song (released as digital single) is taken from the album which also bears the title O Vento Mudou which was released in Februari. 

I'm loving it, Oliveira's great voice and fab orchestra give the song a new lease of life, very different from the (also amazing) original.

Eurovision related tracks:
The album includes 12 reworkings of milestones in Portuguese music history and two Eurovision songs are included.

Next to the 1967 entry there's Sol De Inverno (Winter sun) originally performed by Simone de Oliveira in the 1965 contest.

Another Eurovision related cover on O Vento Mudou is Flor Sem Tempo (Timeless flower) by Paulo De Carvalho. The song finished 2nd 1971 Portuguese national final.
From the 1976 Festival is No Teu Poema a song that ended third in the final with all songs by Carlos Do Carmo.

There's also 20 Anos, a song made famous by José Cid (ESC 1980),  Adeus Tristeza by Fernando Tordo (ESC 1973) and Pensando Em Ti, a 1978 hit for Gemini who entered Eurovision in the same year with Dai Li Dou.

2004 debut album

From Idols to The Voice
Ricardo participated in A Voz De Portugal (The Voice Of Portugal). He finished second, but it enabled him to record this album, 10 years after his first record* and his lauch at Ídolos, Portugese Idols (where he also finished second). (2003).
In the Idols final one of the songs he performed was Chamar A Musica, the 1994 Portuguese entry by Sara Tavares. At the final of A Voz Sara and Ricardo performed a duet: Bom Feeling.

*Pic from debut album nicked from e-bay.

Special thanks to José Antonio!

Ricardo Oliveira Facebook

Full tracklist and a downloadable medley to sample the album are here at Universal Portugal

I don't know about the availablity of the album worldwide, but the CD is available at FNAC Portugal and the digital is at iTunes Portugal. 
For the Netherlands Ricardo's digital releases are available at MegaMedia. Germany: Amazon

O Vento Mudou, the 1967 EP sleeve

O Vento Mudou releases and coverversions.

Eduardo Nascimento released O Vento Mudou on an EP (Decca PEP 1193). He also released an English version Listen, released on a Decca promo EP with a front sleeve identical to the original EP.

Here’s a list of coverversions of O Vento Mudou that I know of and that have been officially released. If you know more, please let me know.

Nicolau Breyner

- on EP Livre (Tecla records TE 1016), re-issued on 1998 CD (Movieplay)

António Calvário (Eurovision 1964)
- on 7" and EP (EP: Spain Belter 51.791)

Da Vinci (Eurovision 1989)

- on CD Oicam (1995)

Delfins

- on 7" and 12", see this Eurocovers post

María de Fátima (NL based fado singer)

- on CD O Vento Mudou (Silvox 2012)

Adelaide Ferreira (Eurovision 1985)

- on CD Sentidos (BMG 2000)

Artur García

- On EP Porta Secreta (5th in NF 67, Marfer MEL 2-056)

Rádio Clube Nora

- on CD Ver Sons (Arte2, 2006)

Maria de Lourdes Resende

- on EP (Alvorada AEP 60904)

Ricardo Oliveira

- on CD O Vento Mudou (Universal 2013)

UHF

- on CD Porqué ? (Columbia 2010)

Grande Orquestra De Luís Gomes

- Instrumental on CD Portugal Deluxe - Volume 2 - Um Cocktail Swingante (1998)

Thee Chargers

- Surf guitar Instrumental on CD The Mansion Of The Doomed (2009), listen here

Umidaxon

Here's a sweet video from Uzbekistan. Umidaxon's Dema Dema is a coverversion of Show Me Your Love by Tina Karol. (7th place for Ukraine in the 2006 Athens Eurovision)

Sugarfree version of Bucks Fizz hit

Here's Belgian duo Sugarfree with their version of the 1981 Eurovision winner Making Your Mind Up by Bucks Fizz.
Sugarfree (Gildy Florus and Nathalie Prins) already released a few radio hits in Belgium and hopefully they will break through in the charts with this one.

Geef Er Een Lap Op (Go for it, liberally translator ed.) is available through digital sources but also out on a one track cdsingle (CNR Damaro).
Digital at amazon, iTunes, Megamedia (NL)

Also check out the Sugarfree website (in Dutch)

U.K. winner Making Your Mind Up by Bucks Fizz may be remembered of the skirt ripping gimmick, but the chirpy Eurovision jive also has proven itself as a true Eurovision classic.
The band went on to have an impressive string of hits including the magnificent My Camera Never Lies and the useful for Christmas hit The Land Of Make Believe, which was another international #1 for the band.
Two years ago the Fizz celebrated the 30th anniversary of the song by releasing a new version. (CD Up Until Now (The 30th Anniversary Hits Collection)).

Special thanks to JB!!!!

Let's get loud!

Found a coverversion of the 2013 Swedish entry on the tube. The band are Outtrigger (no, me neither) and their version of Robin Stjernbergs You is destined for the highly coveted interval spot of Melodifestivalen 2014. Great stuff.

Find out more about You by Robin Stjernberg and Melodifestivalen 2013 here at the Malmö Collection.

Beam Me Up Bonnie!

With Bonnie Tyler being the U.K. singer for Malmö it's a good moment to take a look at this one, where things boldly go in ways unexpected.
Lin Yu Chun from Taiwan duets with the one and only William Shatner, Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise. The clip is from the Lopez Tonight show, a U.S. late night show hosted by George Lopez (TBS).

Total Eclipse Of The Heart written by is a classic and Bonnie's biggest hit to date.
The song is written by Jim Steinman, the man who made Meatloaf the 80's staple diet and who gave Celine Dion It's All Coming Back To Me Now.

I love Startrek and William performing as a "singer" is one of those Space Oddities that make the universe such an exiting place to be part of.

Lin Yu Chun (林育羣) is no stranger to Eurocovers. The Taiwanese One Million Stars talent show sensation recorded a coverversion of the U.K. 2009 entry It's My Time (Jade Ewen).
More about that one here at Eurocovers.

Bonnie Tyler will represent the United Kingdom with Believe In Me from her new album Rocks And Honey.
Bits about Bonnie 2013 here at the Malmö Collection

Some more interesting Eclipses: One Direction, Josh Groban and Ellen Degeneres, Lucy Lawless (Xena) with Bonnie Tyler, 2000 Eurovision star Nicki French and even Metallica.

David Sancho - Estando Contigo!!

Nice to see the old classics aren't forgotten.
Here's Spain's very first entry Estando Contigo (Conchita Bautista) in a new version by David Sancho. It is taken from the album Sancho and Swing from 2011.

Sancho first performed Estando Contigo in the Spanish casting pre-selection thingy to find the 2011 Eurovision artist, but he was axed at an early stage.

Sancho and Swing Website
Special thanks to José Antonio.
More Estando Contigo at Eurocovers

The Road To Malmö - The Bandaloop - Waterloo

The Bandaloop are in the race to become Austria's next Eurovision stars. Their song Back To Fantasy is one of the five songs competing in the Austrian National Final on Februari 15.
And Eurocovers is pleased to inform you all that the band have recorded ABBA's Waterloo after a 'meeting' with the Legendary Swedish band and made it available for you here, Yay! (more people should do that).

Credits: photo (c) Norbert Ivanek, wax figures (c) Madame Tussauds Wien

"Waterloo" is an exclusive gift for all the fans of The Bandaloop and is available until the 28th of February as free download here:
Download "Waterloo"  Hope you didn't miss it.

"Back To Fantasy" can be downloaded on iTunes:
"Back To Fantasy" on iTunes

The Bandaloop website, Also check out the Austria page at the Malmö Collection.

from their press message:
"Since this year's ESC finals will take place in Malmo, Sweden, the members of The Bandaloop - Barca Baxant, Justin Case and Mike Blitz - tried to gain some inspiration from the legendary Swedish band ABBA. Fortunately, they could easily "get in touch" with the most popular Swedish band in Vienna - for they are currently part of the exhibition at Madame Tussauds Wien, as a wax figure".

"ABBA used to give me a lot of inspiration when I was young. I was a huge fan of them!" so Barca Baxant, singer of The Bandaloop. Being able to represent Austria at the ESC, just like ABBA for Sweden did, is her greatest ambition for this Friday: "in 2013, we would like to reach what ABBA with 'Waterloo' did in 1974: the European crown of pop music!" Justin Case, bassist of The Bandaloop and king of the keyboards, loopers and all other electronic instruments in this project, spent the last few days working on their extraordinary cover version of the ABBA-hit: "with 'Waterloo', ABBA made Song Contest history at that time. On the one hand, it was an honour to work on our own interpretation of this song, and on the other hand, it was of course huge fun as well!" Finally, as Mike Blitz, drummer of The Bandaloop adds: "once we have performed our own version of 'Waterloo' this Friday and done our best at it, we hope to gain the sympathy of the audience. The song fits our style perfectly: electronic music with a touch of pop from the '70s and '80s, glowing in a new, fancy light!"

Special thanks to Marco

女 Yan Kee - Puppet On A String

Bought A 4th Chinese version of 1967 Eurovision winner Puppet On A String by Sandie Shaw.
I'm a bit clueless here.  The girl is called Rose (something) (玫瑰 = Rose) and the song seems to be titled 女 Yan Kee (Nu Yan Kee). I haven't been able to find any info on the net searching by record label and all that and off course I'm rubbish at Chinese characters. And is it Mandarin, Cantonese or another Chinese language?.

Po-Lo records MEP 3070. Please E-mail me for ♫ or if you can help.

Post with the other Chinese puppets:
Lara Tan's Emotional man.

Betty Chung - Is that a big string in your hand or....

Sakura Teng and the Quests

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Zoller Zsolt - Szerelem miért múlsz

Here's a Hungarian bloke in his basement recording a coverversion of Szerelem Miért Múlsz (What about my dreams), in a Mike 'I play all the instruments myself' Oldfield way.

The track is a rock version of Kati Wolfs Eurovision entry in 2011. 

The clip just struck me for its passion and professionality (and the loud shirt) and is well worth checking out.

Zoller Zsolt website

It's Anita Skorgan Day!

Sadly it's not a new national holiday for the the Norwegians (although it should be). Norwegian TV2 has started their second season of Hver gang vi møtes (Every time we meet), a TV series where seven artists sing each others songs.

The first week of season 2 starts with Anita Skorgan Day and it is filled with Eurovision goodies.

Anita Skorgan entered the contest three times as a singer plus twice as songwriter. Her three Eurovision songs are featured in this episode. 

Digital release artwork

The songs from this episode have been released through iTunes and other sources, it features all studio recordings. A CD will be released on februari 4 on EMI Norway. This will include 25 tracks from seven episodes, so I don't know yet which tracks from the Anita Skorgans Dag EP will be on it.
Update: The CD Hver Gang Vi Møtes, Sesong 2 has been released. It includes three tracks from Anita Skorgans day (marked * below).

The following tracks are on the digital EP, not sure if it's sold outside Norway yet.

Marion Ravn - Casanova*

- Casanova was Anita Skorgans first Eurovision entry (1977). It ended only 15th but was a #4 hit in Norway. Marion was a member of duo M2M who scored an international hit in 1999 with Don't Say You Love Me, a theme song from the first Pokemon movie.

Magnus Grønneberg - Hvor Er Du Nå

- Hvor Er Du Nå is a Skorgan song from 1981 originally released on the album Pastell.
Grønneberg is known as the lead singer of CC Cowboys (no, me neither....) and has released two solo albums in the early 00's.

Ole Paus - For Vår Jord*

- For Vår Jord, Norways 1988 entry was performed by Karoline Krüger and ended 5th in the contest. The song is written by Anita Skorgan who recorded a version of the song herself in 2009 for her compilation album Hele Veien - 47 Utvalgte Sanger. Anita also featured as a backing vocalist for Krüger at the contest.
Ole Paus is a celebrated singer-songwriter who has released 30 albums since 1970.

Lene Marlin - Is It True

- Is It True was originally released in 2008 on Anita Skorgans Christmas album Julenatt. Lene Marlin is best known for her hit Sitting Down Here.
-

Kurt Nilsen - Adieu*

- Adieu from 1982 was a duet with legendary Norwegian Eurovision star Jahn Teigen. It ended 12th in 1982 and became a #3 hit (and a classic).

Kurt Nilsen, remember him? He was the winner of the one-off world wide talent show World Idol, where eleven local Idols winners battled it out for this prestigious title that (rightfully) never was to be repeated again.
He scored an international hit with She’s So High and made a nice living for himself in Norway scoring several #1 hits and five very successful albums.

At the time of writing Nilsens Adieu is #1 in the iTunes charts.
A new album Inni En God Periode will be released this week, (but Adieu is not on the tracklist)

Morten Abel - Oliver

- Oliver, Anita’s second effort in 1979 did a bit better than her first: 11th place. And a #6 hit. Morten Abel is a succesful singer in Norway where he scored six top 10 albums (incl 3 #1's)

Anita Skorgans Hele Veien compilation album is available at BeaRecords. All songs mentioned above are included on the 2CD in their original versions, except For Vår Jord, which is a re-recording by Anita Skorgan.

Hver gang vi møtes is the Norwegian version of De beste zangers van Nederland (The best singers of...) a Dutch concept which also runs in Sweden, Finland, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Spain.


And don't forget to check out The Malmö Collection, collecting all details on the releases of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest.

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