Eurovision Song Contest 2005 [Import]

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 9, 2006)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: EMI Import
• ASIN: B00095MKOK
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #180,346 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. La Mirada Interior

2. Tomorrow I Go

3. Y Asi

4. Call Me

5. Le Grand Soir

6. Lorraine

7. Love Me Tonight

8. Cool Vibes

9. Zauvijek Moja (Forever Mine)

10. Ela Ela (Come Baby)

11. Run & Hide

12. Talking To You

13. Let’S Get Loud

14. BrujerÍA

15. Why

16. Chacun Pense A Soi

17. Touch My Fire

18. My Number One

19. Vukovi Umiro Sami

20. Forogj Vilag

See all 39 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's that time of the year again, May 26, 2005

By 

3rdeadly3rd (Brisbane, Queensland Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eurovision Song Contest 2005 (Audio CD)

Every year, singers throughout Europe get together to perform their songs in the hope of winning the Eurovision Song Contest. They gyrate, they stretch rhymes, they perform ethnic dance and they often make utter fools of themselves. For the uninitiated, the Eurovision Song Contest is intended to find the best song in Europe each year. I say "intended" because the songs which tend to win are often more like the "least worst" song, rather than the "best". One of the most famous winners in the past was Sweden's ABBA, for example.

That said, I must confess to enjoying some of the offerings of Eurovision as a bit of a guilty pleasure. There's something undeniably entertaining about listening to a series of songs which have been translated (in some cases) into English - often with hilarious results - being sung by people with some of the thickest accents and who really, one would hope, should know better. If that's your thing, grab yourself a copy of Eurovision 2005 and enjoy the kitsch. If it sounds like a car crash, look the other way and keep driving.

Eurovision songs tend to fall into three categories. The "reasonably talented" category, the "do not let them near a microphone category" and the "what were they thinking?" category. Thankfully, this year's contest had more of the first and third category than the second one.

One song you can't help but notice is the Norwegian entry "In My Dreams". This song is basically a 3-minute package of everything that made 80s hair-metal good (or bad, depending on where you stand on that issue). For me, this is one of the true standouts of the competition. One thing's for sure, you won't be ambivalent about it.

Another highlight is Moldova's "Boonika Bate Toba", a joyous combination of gypsy drumming, rock and hip-hop. While that sounds pretty impressive to some, words don't actually do the song justice.

Also worth a listen is Sweden's "Las Vegas". This song wasn't performed overly well at the contest, but really stands out on CD. The effect is something along the lines of a James Bond theme with added sleaze and dancing girls.

There's also some competent chick-rock on offer this year. Estonia's Suntribe perform the addictive "Let's Get Loud", complete with turntables and other digital trickery, for example. If that's not quite your thing, try Switzerland's entry "Cool Vibes" (by Estonian band Vanilla Ninja). This is a more straight-ahead rock song, albeit with some mystical lyrics.

The final standout is, of course, the winning entry by Greece (whose performer, Elena Paparitzou, was born in Sweden). The song is "My Number One" and is a surprisingly well-done fusion of Greek music with a club beat.

In the "what were they thinking?" file, there are some notable entries. Austria again demonstrate the proper way to take this contest by entering Global Kryner with their song "Y Asi". This is a song in Spanish and English about dancing and yodelling and is definitely an acquired taste.
Bosnia take a slightly different tack, with their song "Call Me". Intended as a tribute to Eurovision (which turned 50 this year), the song ends up sounding a bit like ABBA performing a radio jingle.

Of course, this leaves out such interesting feats as Denmark's quite credible attempt at reggae, Bulgaria's game of "exactly how many words can we rhyme in the chorus?", Latvia and Finland trying to out-emotion each other with ballads and Russia and Germany doing Shania Twain impressions, all of which are worth the price of admission. As an added bonus, Ukraine's entry of "Razom Nas Baghato" is a slightly tamed (in order to comply with Eurovision rules) version of the popular anthem from last year's Orange Revolution

It's an uneven CD, as various-artist compilations tend to be - particularly in this sort of situation. But it's also undeniably fun. For the Eurovision neophyte, this is probably as good a place as any to start following the contest, bearing in mind that more than half the fun is watching the contest and many songs lose their significance without it. Give it a listen and remember that under Eurovision rules, each song can't be longer than 3 minutes - so if you hate one performer, you'll get a new song soon enough.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ESC: THE GREATEST MUSICAL VOCAL COMPETITION, May 24, 2005

By 

Glockinspiel "Glockinspiel" (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eurovision Song Contest 2005 (Audio CD)

Eurovision kicks off 2005 with 39 different songs from 39 (mostly) European nations. The contest took place in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and there were several shocking results. This year has one of the most diverse varieties of music in the history of Eurovision. Combining elements of music such as traditional folk, Latin rhythms, polka, rock & roll, Mediterranean beats, and many others makes this CD one of the best that ESC has had to offer for a long time. I recommend this CD to all those out there who are looking for a compilation of upbeat, inspiring, diverse music. So expand your musical horizons and purchase Eurovision 2005: Kyiv!!

5.0 out of 5 stars The Orange Song Contest Revolution, June 2, 2011

By 

Ashtar Command "Seeker" (Stockholm, Sweden) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eurovision Song Contest 2005 (Audio CD)

The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was definitely one of the better years in the topsy-turvy history of this more and more unwiedly TV show.

Organized in Kiev, it was most notable for all the political scandals. The Ukraine had just been rocked by the "orange revolution", and the political situation was still highly unstable. The concert area was guarded by hundreds of riot police, since an even larger contingent of dissaffected crypto-Communists wanted to storm it! The new Ukrainian president, Yushchenko, wanted to give a political speech to the ESC audience, but since this is against the rules, he had to rest contended awarding the price. The Ukrainian entry was a political song in favour of the orange revolution, but the band had to rewrite the lyrics, since the ESC is supposed to be non-political. Yet, the Norwegian band Wig Wam was allowed to use orange flags on stage...

That's not political?

As for the actual songs, they are (as usual) of very varied quality and represent a bewildering array of different styles. Some work pretty well on the album, but were badly performed live. Others have to be seen to be believed, such as the Moldovan entry, featuring a - wait for it - very old lady with a drum. Another low point was the Irish entry. Why didn't Riverdance sue them? The Irish song may actually have been the worst ever in ESC history (worse than Dustin the Turkey).

The best entries were probably Switzerland, Serbia-Montenegro, Estonia, Hungary, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania and (of course) Greece. The Swedish-Greek singer Elena Paparizou won the contest with relative ease, but personally I don't like her anti-feminist, "bimbo" attitude. I would have preferred another winner, say Hungary with their mysterious folk dance-inspired show.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 has aged with grace, and lives on. The orange revolution, on the other hand, has fallen on very hard times. But that is another story...