thornyc wraps up the Progbear Melodi Grand Prix voting:1 point to: Annette Peacock
2 points to: Joy Unlimited
3 points to: 夜来香
4 points to: Suddenly, Tammy!
5 points to: Savage Rose
6 points to: Ruphus
7 points to: Nightwish
8 points to: Renaissance
10 points to: Sally Oldfield
12 points to: Slapp Happy
And the final scoreboard reads as follows:
1. Slapp Happy: 70 points
2. Sally Oldfield: 59 points
3. Nightwish: 42 points
4. Suddenly, Tammy!: 41 points
5. (tie) Renaissance: 36 points
5. (tie) Annette Peacock: 36 points
7. Ie Rai Shan: 34 points
8. Savage Rose: 31 points
9. Ruphus: 29 points
10. Joy Unlimited: 27 points
So, it’s pretty obvious that Dagmar, Peter and Anthony are the clear favourites here! I think “Casablanca Moon” was the only song in every juror’s top three! Both Slapp Happy and second-place finisher Sally Oldfield got two 12’s each, the other three jurors each had a different 12. While they didn’t get a single 12, high scores late in the running were enough to push Finland’s Nightwish to third. Conversely, Suddenly, Tammy! started strong, but later voters seemed lukewarm on what is arguably the most contemporary song in the contest.
Everything else seemed to divide listeners, with some giving low scores to songs others loved.
thornyc’s 8 pushed Renaissance up enough for a fifth place tie. Perhaps it was too low-key for some listeners*. Likewise, Annette Peacock’s philosophical jazz excited some voters (particularly zbear20, who I know is a fan of Ms. Peacock) and left others cold. Japan’s Ie Rai Shan thrilled sultmhoor (who commented on the song’s “lushness”), but it only managed one other top three placing (zurcherart’s 8, though benpanced regaled it with a 7, not to be sneezed at). It netted several ones, perhaps some found the blend of Renaissance and bombastic anime theme music off-putting (particularly with an actual Renaissance tune in the contest)?Savage Rose got no higher than a 7 (twice!). I imagine Annisette’s Ronnie Spector-cum-Janis Joplin voice just came across as too quirky. Ruphus were rather done in by having a more distinctive jazzy number elsewhere in the contest, while Joy Unlimited’s complex jazz/classical aspirations somewhat swamped Joy Fleming’s singing. So sorry, Joy!
*I had originally selected “Forever Changing,” also from the Azure d’Or album, but someone in the last contest had complained that too many of the songs were “melancholic,” and FC has melancholia written all over it!
Again, congratulations to Slapp Happy for their victory, and good luck in the Ursavision contest! And I’ll see my jurors in Hamburg this summer, for ten new songs!
