Slightly more in-depth thoughts after listening to the samples a few more times:
POWER TWO / HOTBLADE
I actually really like the sound of this one as it has a slightly more retro SCP sound (we're talking around the 160's to 180's period as a wide approximation). The synth accents after every "Power Two" and the overall soundscape make me think of a more classic Ace or Fastway style song, which can only be a good thing.
NO TURNING BACK / TORA
As I've said already, there is a great sense of deja-vu with this track as for me, it borrows heavily and is clearly influenced by recent Irene/Yo Shine tracks from SCP. I keep hearing snippets of Power Of My Love when I hear this vocal melody. I will probably be pleasantly surprised by this one because of the similarities to that style, and it's great to hear Sinclaire letting his female vocalists sound less echoey!
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SKYLIGHT / DAVE RODGERS
Seriously Dave/Sunfire/anyone that will listen - find some better bass sounds!! Again, I am way too distracted by the over-powering tone that it has in comparison to the rest of the song. The melody is nothing spectacular and it ends up sounding like a fairly standard Dave Rodgers effort. Slower than I expected and needs a bit more energy.
MAXIMISIN / ALIX
This one has a really quirky, happy-go-lucky feel to it that grabs me as being fairly unique. The vocals are very youthful and full of life, and I enjoy this new sound. I'm not too sure of the "woooooahh" section - it seems to signal a nosedive in the energy levels, but I'm curious to hear more!
ARE YOU READY TO FLY / DREAM FIGHTERS
These lyrics don't exactly push the boundaries - in fact, they end up sounding quite rushed and arbitrary, like they were an after-thought. I like the tone of the melody, but there is something key missing that I can't quite put my finger on. Hook sounds interesting...
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LOVE IS LIKE A RAIN / DELTA QUEENS feat. PAUL HARRIS
This sounds like a fairly standard aishu ballad, which sadly doesn't exactly excite me. There is no real hook or energetic kick that makes me want to listen again, and it all just sounds "nice". I had hoped for a bit more from these aliases to be honest...
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MECHA FIREBALL / JEFF DRILLER
This is the kind of song that Hi-NRG Attack used to churn out album after album with little to no variation, so it's hard to look at the song objectively without thinking that we are back at square one again after all of the progressive variations in sound since the 200's. I do think this one will be pleasant to listen to, but it will not be the most amazing song the label has ever produced and will probably fade away pretty quickly.
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TIME OF FIGHTERS / LUKE
This one clearly has the epic-o-meter turned up to the max. The melody and delivery is very flamboyant and over-the-top, which can work vocalist and production. But for me, their is a mis-match between the attitude the song is trying to portray (a deeper, raspier tone is required) and the actual sound that is created (which sounds a bit too happy).
I'LL FLY / CANDY MORE
The vocals hear are very-much to the forefront, perhaps a little too much for my ears (they sound a little loud over the track sometimes). Again, Go-Go's try to employ some interesting melodic progressions but I'm not quite feeling that the vocals really captured the spirit as well as Elena Gobbi does. Has potential.
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DANCIN' TOGETHER / CHRISTINE
This sounds a bit old-school from SCP as well, especially that main synth sound that is used. This is a half-way house between Christine's older style tracks (such as "Yeah!") and the more bubblegum style tracks from the likes of Kiki & Fancy. It's no secret that I've never been this vocalists strongest supporter, so I'll need to hear the rest of the song to know if it's a "player" or a "grater".
SHALAKA BOOM / BORIS
Luke has had a few too many vodkas and has taken a surprise trip to Russia! If Hi-NRG Attack invaded Delta's studios for the day, I'm pretty sure that this would be the result. It's silly, but it's catchy and it should be a cool song to play a few times. Lasting appeal? Remains to be seen...
BEAUTIFUL BOY / HEATHER
I hate the vocals. They sound so prissy and not suited to Dima's style at all. The melody doesn't really do very much for me either, and I find myself switching off because of the irritating tone of the vocals about halfway through. The hook showed promise, but a hook is nothing without a good supporting act from a good vocalist.
TOWER OF LOVE / CINDY & CY-RO
The vocal melody in this track sounds a bit like Dave & Nuage's old style to my ears, and it's nice to hear Hi-NRG Attack attempt a duet. I'm not sure that they quite know what to do to pull it off and things come off sounding a little hap-hazard like a "pass-the-microphone" game. Unsure...
SUNRISE (YOU'LL ALWAYS BE ALIVE) / DAVID DIMA
Thank you Dima!! You and Hotblade have rescued this album from a terrible fate of mediocrity!! This track is lyrically and melodically excellent, and seems to be a bit more rocky in the beats and instrumentation. I wanted another track like "Somebody to Love", and Dima may just have delievered something as special in this track. Can't wait to hear it in full!
DOCTOR DOCTOR (Healing) / LISA JOHNSON
Meh, don't really care. The vocals always annoyed me with their "Doctor, Doctor, give me a medi-sign" and once again, it seems the concept of the healing remix is mis-used on a track should never be as slow or chilled.
Overall, a fairly disappointing bunch with only a few stars so far. On the whole, I got the impression that for the majority of the album, the labels were asked to provide "variations on a theme", as so many of these tracks seems to have a similar atmosphere and melodic basis to them. Not many new potential classics from this album from what I can hear in these samples, but I guess we'll see when the full album is released.
Not my favorite sound choice but it's at least CATCHY and still has those 16th notes around~!
If you speed it up manually in Audacity it sounds kinda weird. By the way I was kinda suprised by BEAUTIFUL BOY, I think it's Sarah who is singing this track. It's not Judy Crystal I'm sure of that, she lives quite far away from the studios in Italy so that's not possible.
