Eurovision is on, and I am back after a four year hiatus to continue (finally) with this project!
1970. Dana, "All Kinds of Everything" (Ireland)
This was the first of Ireland's record seven wins (as of this writing). The song is a mix of weepy 50's balladry and post-hippie dewy-eyed shlock. France Gall and Serge Gainsbourg won in 1965 and provided Eurovision with more of a pulse, those years of excitement came to a crashing halt. Even the ballads from the mid-to-late 60's, such as Frida Boccara's "Un jour, un enfant" from the previous year, tended to have an operatic fervor that jolted you out of your seat. Dana's performance is perfectly competent but also somnambulantly boring. 4/10.
1971. Severine, "Un Banc, Un Arbre, Un Rue" (Monaco)
This is more Eurovision catnip about growing older and following one's dreams, nearly elevated into something special by Severine's fiercely committed performance. The bombastic arrangement would have made the LA Wrecking Crew proud, although for me the four male backing singers add nothing and even subtract from the performance because their voices don't mesh with Severine's at all. What little they add in harmonic depth is taken away by their distracting presence -- the visual impact of the performance could have been far more powerful by focusing it completely on the soloist. A worthy, but flawed winner. 6/10.
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