[radio times]

Oh dear. From the symphonic wonders of the '17 show, with only two bum tracks, it's hard for me to find two really good songs this year. Formulaic pap in the majority, it's car crash voyeurism in the main. What can I glean for your eager eyes and ears? I'll give you the Netherlands as best ballad, with Norway, and for death metal with a tuneful counterpoint, Iceland. San Marino, the novelty kings, exhort you to sing na na na in a smoky voice, Australia have a lady doing opera trills, Serbia is just above mediocrity, the 'big five' are pants, the UK effort suggests that the cosmos is 'bigger than us' and I tend to agree. The Hungary guy, who produced a stunner in '17, failed to find his chorus this time around, Spain, bless 'em, do a turbo dance number, and Israel were just about ok. Most of the power ballads sounded the same, the cutsy girl and boy number failed; it is not a vintage year.

So as usual, type in ESC 2019 top 41 and you'l get 15 sec's of each song. Then go to the vids for each song you like,their quite color full. Do the same for '17, that's what I'll be doing. Compare and contrast. I really only do this for a couple of days each year guys...