Israel

[kompressaur]

[engineer]

Poor entry...
Expected much better one from the Israelians.

[Beanie]

He'd have to sing this note perfect to do well and it sounds tricky, but I don't mind the song. Interesting voice on the video anyway, a nice little understated entry. Not sure about the switch to English every now and again tho.

Its Israel tho, not the most popular of countries I dont think.

[kompressaur]

some strings and trance....gonna have no stage pressence. I dont eeven want to wath the rest of this but i shall. Holy hell this is awfull the boy cant play guitar nor sing. lol he's went a bit 'oaisisy'

80/1 and as low as 33/1

[FC Basher]

I like it,eurovision wont

[kompressaur]

This is really boring me this. Nope i can discount.

[DAN DAN]

I quite liked that but not for Eurovision.

[Beanie]

First set of rehearsals, and wow, this was the one that grew on me most.

I still have my reservations about it being Israel, and I think the song gets a bit lost at the end, but I love the beginning and he sounded fantastic.

[MickeyPaul]

Just heard this for the first time and one of my favourites. Well it is my fav I think. I've only heard about 10 though. It's different enough and seems to have alot more quality and effort put into it. I don't think this would have any probs being in contention if it was any other country. That is a worry.

I give this one the thumbs up.

[Beanie]

I'll look into it tomorrow but there's more than a few things in this one's favour. First off Israel qualified a few years ago from the semi final despite a horrible draw(number 7 I think) - I'll have to look at what song that was, but it got votes all the same.

Second, it is unique, like you say - if this were the Turkish entry or something then it would be a favourite. I said he'd have to sing it note perfect to pull it off, but he sounds more than capable and the live version is much better than the recording. It's a year of what seem to be decent live vocalists but his voice is a little different and that's enough to stand out.

Third, I don't think its starting slot for the semi is that bad(number 2.) Going second is never usually a positive, but its got a pretty dreadful song from Montenegro beforehand so it should be the first one to stick in the mind.

All that and its odds against to qualify

[MickeyPaul]

Odds against to qualify you say? Gee whizz! I'd be extremely shocked if this didn't qualify. Based on the merits of the song and performance that is. Plenty of fine crap about too to make this appear even better.

I'm having something on that. I think that's a decent bet, Beanster. I also quite liked your lay of Ireland to qualify seeing as that is by far my least favourite. Even outdoing Spain and the Pirate fellas for me.

[MickeyPaul]

Ay carrumba. Just listened to your 2nd video, Beanie and normally I'd be scribbling this baby down as one of my contenders to win but all your politcal voting analysis has corrupted my Eurovision innocence. I don't care. I think this has decent goose bumpibility and will capture the imagination of many. It's balanced really well - emotional, powerful, stands out enough from what is a fair bit of garbage... terrific vocals. And it looks perfect for appealing to all ages.

If this doesn't qualify there's no justice, man.

edit: And just noticed Komp hates it. That was the final positive I was looking for.

[Beanie]

I'll be placing my first Eurovision 2008 punts tomorrow(today) - this one and the lay of Ireland as good as definites.

This really is a corker. Its 180 to win, that's massive. It was trading at about 80-90 until the draw for the semi came out, but I think there's a little too much importance attached to the bad draw.

It's number 2, and Numbers 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are probably the weakest in the whole semi, so I really don't see much of a disadvantage. It'll stick out like a sore thumb in the middle of some real dross.

The only question mark beyond that is that it's Israel, but as we say it's a bit different, and on a musical level has quite a bit of appeal - it's almost a Muslim type sound, popular in Turkey and the South East European countries perhaps(and there are a lot of them)?

Yes I'm mightily excited about this one now Mick - let's whip each other into a mad frenzy about it over the next 10 days until we're convinced it's gonna hose up.

[MickeyPaul]

The vocals are the key for me. He's done a brilliant job in the 2nd video as you said and it's pretty powerful stuff. And I don't think there should be concerns that this isn't 'Eurovisiony' enough. I'd say that was a positive in fact. We've seen many songs last few years doing well without a disco beat and dressing up. Loads. And he seems a nice chap in the wee interview snippets.

I still need to listen to all the entries but I can't see this not being on my 'to do well' list. I'll be raging is this doesn't qualify, honestly.

[MickeyPaul]

He's not so good in this one though (gulp)



Around the 2:30 mark - he stands in front of the bongo guys and looks like a tiny little midget. Or they might be giants.

This comment on youtube at the end of the 2nd video in this thread:

what a wonderful song! should win , if not ireland, armenia, sweden, or spain which are the best so far!

ffs.