It is a fact that Prata Vetra are criminally underrated.Sometimes you'd think myself and Europe Crazy were their only fans.You'll probably remember them for the erm,interesting performance at ESC 2000,but there's more to Prata Vetra than cutesy pop songs like My Star- although I love them very much too :) I like the direction the band have been going in of late,and And I Lie is a super song.Normally obvious rhymes make me cringe,but the chorus- "Stop if you're going down/if you wanna take a rest/just for a while/leave the town/you are strong/the road is long/carry on carry on/we can't go wrong,no we can't go wrong" is just a lovely sentiment I think.
Wow,look,I managed to a whole post about Prata Vetra without mentioning how cute Renars is! Oh...
Late as usual,I've just discovered And I Lie by Prata Vetra,and I think it's rather good.I can't say I like Baltic music much,and I think the main reason I love PV is that they're not your average Baltic band,and they've tried a few different genres in their time.And I Lie however,sounds to me quite like typical Latvian/Lithuanian pop-rock,but it's great.
Ja tikai uz mani tu paskatītos (If only you would look at me) is very funky too,and from the same album released this year.I could see an English version of this in the UK charts actually.
Today I thought it was about time I wrote about one of my favourite bands of the past 6 years or so,and my favourite Latvian band ever- Prata Vetra.Or Brainstorm,whichever you prefer.If you already know them,it's probably because of their...interesting performance on Eurovision 2000.They must have done something right though,seeing as they came 3rd and everything.Actually,My Star is a nice pop song.Probably very typically Eurovision though,I can't imagine it actually being played on the radio anywhere.
As for the rest of Prata Vetra's songs,it's quite hard knowing where to start in terms of what videos to post.They've been around since 1989,which is an insanely long time,and have released a very impressive 15 albums.It seems that most of my favourite ones (Issavienojums,French Cartoon,Heart's Desire,Puse No Sirds,Es Varetu Iet Lidz etc etc)were either not released as singles,or just don't have videos on youtube.So I've chosen 3 of my other favourites that do.
Thunder Without Rain comes from the latest album- Four Shores.I love the intro to this song,and although I don't really know what it's all about,I can't help but sing along to it whenever it comes on.
Tu Izvēlējies Palikt (You Chose To Stay) is from the 1999/2000(?) album Among the Suns and is the Latvian version of Welcome to My Country.It's a very pretty song,although I'm a bit confused about why it was used in a promo video for the Latvian Tourist Board.The lyrics (to the English version anyway) go 'welcome to my country,but here you don't belong...welcome to my country,here you're bound to fall.'So it seemed like a bit of a strange choice...Anyway,this is a live version from a Latvian festival.
Waterfall is from the 2002 album- Online.Which is actually a pretty good album,that's where Maybe is from too (the video of which I've posted here before).Again,this is nice,happy,inoffensive pop.I like it :)
I've been listening to the ipod even more than normal lately.It's the only company I have when I'm walking (slowly and painfully) around the streets of Medway doing my new job.Nothing seedy by the way,I work in media now.Yes that's right,I distribute little catalogue thingys and leaflets about insurance companies to over a thousand of the luckiest houses in town :) Anyway,so as I was saying,after sorting through the vast amounts of crap on my itunes and putting only the most fabulous 500 songs on the ipod (I only have a rubbish little 2GB Nano :( ),this is what's been coming up regularly that I'm really liking at the minute.
Paolo Meneguzzi- Quel Ti Amo Maledetto
I came across Mr Meneguzzi a while ago when I was in Patriotic Italian mood (although I do believe he's actually Swiss...),because the only Italian music I had was Sere Nere by Tiziano Ferro (I didn't even have Perdono),and I thought that situation needed to change.Anyway,I decided I really like Paolo,he does good pop.I bought his album Lei è,which is full of fabulousness.This however is off a different album,but it's soooooo good.Shamefully,I can't speak Italian,and don't really understand it either :( but either way,this is a sad love song.The video is...well,naff.It consists of Paolo looking pensive and reminiscent whilst playing the guitar,interspersed with shots of him packing his ex-girlfriend's stuff into a box,and also some naff shots of how great their relationship used to be.Awwww.
Prata Vetra- Maybe
Eurovision 2000 is the only one in the past 14 years that I've missed.So I'm not quite sure where I first found out about Prata Vetra.(Yeah I know they're called Brainstorm really,but being a linguist,I like to call them by their Latvian name :) )But anyway,when I did hear about them,I thought they were fabulous.I once bonded with a Latvian man who came into Tescos when I worked there over Prata Vetra and how good they are...I love pretty much all of their songs actually,(I'm really into French Cartoon at the minute,Renars sounds verrrrrrry sexy on that one,but I don't think there's a video to it so I couldn't put it up),and this is one of my favourites.It's also a very pleasant video.Although Renars could make any video look pleasant I think :)
Marie Serneholt- I Need A House
There are not enough superlatives in the English language for me to describe just how much I love Marie Serneholt.She's gorgeous,she's Swedish and she's 150% fabulous.I was never really into A Teens *shock*,but I bought Marie's album Enjoy The Ride last year,and I must say,it's my favourite album ever.It's so happy!And it brings back many fantastic memories of my trip to Oslo last year.I was so excited when That's The Way My Heart Goes came on in McDonalds on Pløens Gate that I couldn't help but sing along quite loudly :/.But anyway,this is also a super cool song.I love it!
