My Thoughts on the BreXIt Tracks

My thoughts on BreXIt tracks:

(I tried typing these in as a comment, but somehow they were too lengthy to be admissible)

OK - my thoughts on the tracks ...

Rule Britannia - I could go on about this at length. Basically, I am proud (mostly) of my country, but don't go in for the Jingoistic fervour that is associated with Last Night Of The Proms so shy away from this on those grounds.

Rome Wasn't Built In A Day - Good solid song (1 point)

Strasbourg - Having recently visited, love the city. Simple but effective (2 points)

Budapest - Familiar through the kids' CDs - very melodic and catchy. I love his voice (wouldn't want to listen to too much). I love the little guitar riff in the background (3 points - maybe a bit low).

Spanish Caravan - Well this has long been a personal favourite and I have contributed it myself to a CD in the past. I was therefore obliged to give it (12 points)

Amsterdam - I love the album this is taken from (but much less so their follow-up album) (10 points)

Holland, 1945 - this grew on me (not sure why I didn't like it at first, maybe a bit too distorted) (7 points)

Radio Free Europe - good song which maybe didn't get any points from me because of over-familiarity.

Fell In Love With A Girl - I'm not quite there with The White Stripes - some I like quite a lot, but this is probably a bit too loud.

Norgaard - I've put a Vaccines track on before - this one was chosen because it filled up my time allocation nicely and is about a female from Europe - it is also one of the more catchy Vaccines tracks.

That's Me - Well, despite having this on my Abba Gold CD, I'm not familiar with it at all and quite like it - I feel some regret that I wasn't able to give it any points. Definitely deserves a place on a 'Europe' CD.

Penny Lover - I can't believe that so few people thought that this was Jasper's track, and I'm very amused at Neil's attempt at fitting it in with the 'Europe' theme - penny lover, prefers Sterling to the Euro! Nil points from everybody. It's not a dislikeable song though, I must say.

Cake To Bake - What to say? This song was a bit of a revelation. At first I didn't give it the respect it deserved. BUT, Pete didn't trawl through many Eurovision CDs for nothing. Strangely, this great song didn't even make it to the finals. Very catchy, amusing lyrics (reinforcing what we already suspected about the link between food and comedy) and it makes me smile each time I hear it. (7 points).

Jungle Drum – I love this. I had never heard it before. (8 points).

One – How to be kind? I’m not a Metallica fan – it’s his voice more than anything. Some very pleasant guitar in it though.

Borders – I didn’t give this any points! How did that happen? A good song. Right on topic.

Completely new to me. I think there were others that I seemed to enjoy more, but this deserves points. Thankfully others did think it worthy of points and it scored a very creditable 67 in total.

Making Plans for Nigel – Ah! I think I can see what’s happened here. Whilst I like this song, and admire the brilliance in fitting the song to the theme, I don’t think I would have awarded it 6 points. I think my 6 points for this were intended for ‘Borders’ … which luckily would have placed it one point behind the gold medal position and hence doesn’t affect the overall winner. (This never happens to Neil.) (6 points).

Split (Pt. 2) – Yep, I really liked this, especially after the first couple of listens. And a non-blues track (OK – so there are bluesy bits in it) from Mick surely deserves some points. (4 points)

When The Lights Go Out All Over Europe – I have been holding back from putting on a Divine Comedy track for ages, but there were so many that were contenders for this CD (I wonder if Neil Hannon is a Europhile). I chose this one because the title seemed appropriate, with the nod to former troubled times. I do however love the line ‘Twilight turns from amethyst to deep and deeper blue’.

Breaking Glass – I’m not a Bowie fan, this one is OK though – but I still couldn’t bring myself to give it any points.

I Predict A Riot – I love the song, and we play it in our band, but over-familiarity probably kept it from scoring any points in this instance.

Anarchy In The UK – Another strong song which I really like, but not enough to have given any points to.