Great news!

Diana "Peace Will Come" Gurtskaya is working on a new English-language album- hurrah!*
Mmm,bit of a slow and boring week for music,I'm thinking.

*More than a hint of sarcasm there

In my mind a dream awakes,and my heart begins to break

What is it with Dima Bilan and Italy?He did O Sole Mio for the soundtrack to that film (Glyanyets was it?),and then he did an absolutely amazing version of Ave Maria (I'm not actually a massive fan of religious music by the way).Thanks to Google Analytics or one of those type efforts anyway,I discovered that Mr B dabbled a bit in opera songs a few years ago- one of these being the Neapolitan delight that is Torna a Surriento (Return to Sorrento).Now,again,I'm not a great fan of old Italian opera songs and the like,but this one is a bit special to me.Although inlaid wooden jewellery boxes are all the rage in Southern Italy,my one (exactly the same as the picture but cream instead) is my most favourite thing that I own.When you open it,it plays Torna a Surriento,which always makes me feel a bit sad,because I haven't had the chance to go back there since I got the box.
But anyway,enough of me lamenting my missing of Southern Italy's fabulous weather,and all the nice scenery and various members of my family- this (apparantly) is Dima singing Torna a Surriento.Although you can't see him.

In the shadow of the love we left behind...

VH1 seems to have been taken over by a plague of power ballad programmes these days.Not that I'm complaining,but seriously,there's only so many times you can listen to the Robin Hood song and that bloody Armageddon one.Someone should send them this- it's clearly up there with the best power ballads and it's what the word "fabulous" was invented for.It also happens to be my song du jour- I can't even begin to work out how many times I've listened to it in the last 3 days...
Miracle is by Marie Picasso- Swedish Idol winner and former Big Brother contestant.If the vile,screeching,wastes of space from our Big Brother were as talented,it might be worth watching.Maybe.

He's got what I need...I believe it too!

He's a provocative little so-and-so is Aleksei Vorobyov.This is Desire/Etoi Nochyu,originally sung by some chap called Darin apparantly.Aleksei's version is miles better though,and this performance contains the most impressive jump I've seen since Ruslan jumped on his balls at Eurovision.



I do feel cheated though- this programme's called Star Striptease.Clearly stripteases are a lot more subdued in Russia.

Close your eyes,what will be will be

Of all the Fabrikants in series 6 of Fabrika Zvezd,Aleksei Hvorostyan is probably one you'd remember least.He left quite early on,and- from what I saw on Po Domam- he was pretty quiet.Anyway,he released his debut album last year- called Padali No Padnimalis.It's very undeserving of the bad reviews I've read of it,because although I can see why it's not to everyone's taste (I don't think it's your typical reality TV star's album),it is very good.Having not seen any of his performances on FZ,I'm not really sure what sort of music I expected from Aleksei,but PNP definitely exceeds expectation.It's high tempo,guitarfull (new word) rock.Sometimes on the pop rock side,sometimes a little bit heavier,but never the kind of moany,self indulgent stuff that's all too common these days.Well,that's what I can gather from the bits I've translated anyway.

The first track is also called Padali No Padnimalis (written by Viktor Drobysh no less).I can't think of a concise way of translating this,but think Chumbawumba "I get knocked down but I get up again" and you're nearly there :) It sets the pace for the rest of the album really- it's fast,punchy and has a great beat to it.Oh,and it's catchy too.With a name like I Get Knocked Down But I Get Up Again (or whatever),it's quite a suitable song for Perviy Kanal's Celebrity boxing programme King of the Ring...



I don't like that video,but it was either that or him duetting with Anastasia Prohodka.And I don't like her.

Track 2 Bitiymi Trevogami (Sound the Alarm) is probably my favourite (that's where the post title comes from).So it's quite annoying that I can't find a video or anything of it.But again,it's fast,it's funky and has some great guitars in it.I could imagine Dima Koldun singing it actually,so it must be good :) Same goes for the next track Ot Posteli Do Posteli really,another good pop-rock song.

After that comes Solnce- Nebo Moyo,which is still rocky,but has an almost disco-like intro and chorus.There's even a bit of vocoder action going on at one point too.Very Krazy Mess Groovers!Here it is,inexplicably combined with footage from Harry Potter.

Halfway through,and V Kapkane Palcev and Povyer (Believe) are the only songs on the album that I don't really like.VKP is a bit too whiny for me,and Povyer- although it's not bad- shows that sometimes Russian has too many syllables to fit in a song and sound nice at the same time :)

The second half is far more moody sounding than the first.It's the heavier kind of rock that I was talking about before,and songs like Levniy Positiv and Padshiy Angel (Fallen Angel) are songs that I could definitely see on music channels like Kerrang if they were in English.Padshiy Angel is quite reminiscent of HIM actually now I think about it.

After all that,Ya Sluzhu Rossii (I serve Russia) seems a strange choice of song to put at the end,especially being a song about the army and everything.Anyway,here's Aleksei singing it at the Zolotoy Gramofon awards last year.



Like I said,Padali No Padnimalis isn't your typical reality TV star's album,but then again,that was one of the great things about Fabrika Zvezd.I miss it already!

Don't play these funny games with me

Since when did my man of the moment,Aleksei Vorobyov change his New Russian Kalinka?We liked the "there's more to Russian music than old folk songs" approach,but now it's all changed and is about some woman.Here's the lovely video that goes with it.The last half a minute is cheesier than very mature Parmeggiano Reggiano,but it's Aleksei,so who cares?It's almost more than a girl can take on a Monday afternoon.

Viva la diva!

So it's all hotting up in Jurmala.I have no idea how New Wave works,but it looks like Georgia- the group from,erm,Georgia- are in the lead (?).Anyway,everyone's favourite Russian diva was on hand too,to entertain the crowd with his version of a certain Israeli Eurovision classic.Here he is doing quite a subdued version,proving he can cope with a key change like the best of them.