Super Eurobeat 181

Wataru Akiyama · Post by **Wataru Akiyama** » 16 Sep 2007, 10:51

FaXMactor wrote:
Wataru Akiyama wrote:
Sadie wrote: Oh wow...
Seriously. I'd toss aside my wife if I was married and Mr. Zanini strolled into the church.
Don't get married without confessing that to your bride

ROFL, I laughed so much

The man-love I have for Ennio is matched only by the adoration Nine has for domino. Seriously.

cigy41987 · Post by **cigy41987** » 16 Sep 2007, 11:20

I was at Super Euro Night at Neo in Osaka last night and they taught Blood On Fire.

Not only is the dance hot, the song is really good

181 is gonna be hot, if only for this song.

Jay · Post by **Jay** » 16 Sep 2007, 11:46

#Infinity wrote:The album starts off with some very strong performances by Go 2 & Christine (they turned out to be quite an effective force in BLOOD on FIRE, which is by far the best track on here), Jeff Driller, Daniel (weird hearing him do a more eurodancy theme after his first few releases), Cherry, and even Jay Lehr, whose new track sounds a lot better than Mystic Love. But during the second half, most of these songs were boring, some of them really letting me down big time.

Of the 3 Elena Ferretti tracks (what), Love Desire 2007 actually sounded promising, but her other 2 performances were completely unnotable, as was the Chris Stanton track. It makes me sad to see TIME regress from their excellent state on 179 back to their dull mush that makes me sick and wishing they'd be taken off of Super Eurobeat. As if TIME wasn't bad enough, A-Beat C also blew it again big time. Nuage's track is likely her worst to date, the performances by Annalise and King & Queen did virtually nothing to interest me, and not even Mega NRG Man could improve matters. The album finally picked up the pace again with Matt Land's new song, and it only got better with the excellent Gas Gas Gas. Go 2's NRG was also solid, but I don't think it's their best or most effective creation to date.

Avex seems to place the weaker productions in the middle of the CD purposely. I've stood by this during the 170s, and now SEB 181 couldn't prove me wrong either.

I tend to enjoy the majority of the tracks near the start or end, say from 1-6 and 13-18. From a fairly unbiased perspective, even if I do find some of the middle tracks catchy, they're often just boring or lacking something pretty significant in comparison to both extreme ends of the CD. Just take a look at the tracklist for 177, 178 and 179. The middle tracks suck when pitted against the rest of the CD.

There are of course exceptions to this theorem (most would agree that Bad Bad Bad is an excellent production sample, despite being track 10 on 175), but more than often, Avex seems to use tracks 7-12 as a balancing mechanism to ensure they don't create a CD with entirely awesome tracks, and then another CD with completely deplorable ones. Understandable if you think about it - they'll lose much needed revenue if this evident paradox ceased to exist, since nobody wants to buy a CD inundated with farce tracks that Avex needs to dispose of.

If you've ever taken psychology and know what the 'serial position', 'primacy' and 'recency' effects are, you'll know what I'm getting at. In short: items at the beginning or end of the list are usually placed at a higher importance than the middle, and therefore can be honoured much more effectively.

Just my own perspective on the matter of track placement.

DJ Mike TJG · Post by **DJ Mike TJG** » 16 Sep 2007, 19:56

Jay wrote:Avex seems to place the weaker productions in the middle of the CD purposely. I've stood by this during the 170s, and now SEB 181 couldn't prove me wrong either.

To be honest, I've never found any particular pattern to song placement for the stuff I really like on any given SEB album. As it happens, SEB 171 had three songs in the middle portion of the album that I really liked, while in the opening line-up we had Dance Dance Monsteru... ugh. And then there's SEB 174, with that atrocious Make Up Your Mind cover that I'd just as soon forget all about as soon as possible!

zoupzuop2 · Post by **zoupzuop2** » 16 Sep 2007, 21:07

DJ Mike TJG wrote:
Jay wrote:Avex seems to place the weaker productions in the middle of the CD purposely. I've stood by this during the 170s, and now SEB 181 couldn't prove me wrong either.
To be honest, I've never found any particular pattern to song placement for the stuff I really like on any given SEB album. As it happens, SEB 171 had three songs in the middle portion of the album that I really liked, while in the opening line-up we had Dance Dance Monsteru... ugh. And then there's SEB 174, with that atrocious Make Up Your Mind cover that I'd just as soon forget all about as soon as possible!

Huh. I didn't mind Dave's take on it at all. :3

Actually, that's usually the structure of darn near ANY OR EVERY ALBUM ever produced. They start with the heavy-hitters to lure you in, play some of the weaker tunes now that you're in, and finish up with more heavy hitters. Everyone from Alicia Keys to Mark Farina to Snoop Dogg to Oingo Boingo has done this on an album to some effect. And, just as often, there'll be exceptions. Usually, though, tracks are organized by the "heavy-hitters first and last" theorem.

#Infinity · Post by **#Infinity** » 16 Sep 2007, 21:49

If AVEX puts the less notable songs in the middle, they should still ensure that they're good. Based on the SEB 181 samples, there's not only too much filler, but also really boring filler as well. Sometimes the middle of the album can be solid - I actually liked Lucya's Follow The Rainbow on 179 for example because it was pulled off excellently for what it was, and SEB 172 offered quite a few awesome tracks halfway through such as Dark In Bright, Every Night, and Keep On Loving You. On 181 however, everything from tracks 7-15, minus Lovers In The Night and I'm Alive, was just boring beyond words, even compared to the worst tracks we've had on the most recent SEB compilations. If this album were released during the 170's, at least 3 of them would've made my bottom 5 list.

In short, I completely agree with your theory, but SEB 181's lesser tracks are even worse than usual from my perspective.

drnrg · Post by **drnrg** » 17 Sep 2007, 02:13

That theory doesn't work for me at all. I usually like the trax in the middle better. Unless the cd starts and ends with TIME or HRG Attack, I usaully skip right to my favs ,then return to others. 179 had Toby Vale right smack in the middle of CD and that's my fav song since TIME Force- Love Me...., So while your theories do usually apply to the magoraty of genres, I tend to break away form the norm.

Shawaazu · Post by **Shawaazu** » 17 Sep 2007, 11:10

Love Desire sounds a bit almost the same as the original. I have no idea why they needed to change the artist name since it's still Elena Feretti singing. But, what a weird choice for a remake as it was pretty much forgotten (SEB wise) after 1997. But then, I guess it might be because MAX did a cover...

Blood On Fire sounds really cool

And then there's SEB 174, with that atrocious Make Up Your Mind cover that I'd just as soon forget all about as soon as possible!

Y'know, since it was the first song on a SEB, it has a very good chance of being on Best 2007

Last.fm · Post by **Bore** » 25 Sep 2007, 08:55

Hmm got my 181 from the post today already, was quite surprised considering it's the 25th here today...
Oh well no complaints on my behalf.

And yes, Gas Gas Gas is the only Go Go's Music song sadly...

Lovers In The Night is one of the better HRG performances in a while again, really simple yet catchy. Otherwise first impression is so-so with the album, nothing bad over all, some nice peaks here and there but not the most unique start for 180s imo.

What is the biggest crushing blow from 181 is that King & Queen is frigging Annerley Gordon *cry* /stab /stab /stab
Guess I should have listened to the previews and I wouldn't have been as disappointed in the end.

(Disclaimer's notice: No offence towards Annerley but Elena Gobbi > Her 100 vs 0)

valiant · Post by **valiant** » 25 Sep 2007, 15:35

Hm of the Mega NRG Man and Matt Land's tracks are not GGM, at least I can hope that Abeat has some quality for their tracks (judging by the demos

). Strange, I thought Abeat ditched Matt Land

...though now it makes sense how Matt Land's track sounded much like Night Flight to Tokyo

Last.fm · Post by **Bore** » 25 Sep 2007, 16:00

valiant wrote:Hm of the Mega NRG Man and Matt Land's tracks are not GGM, at least I can hope that Abeat has some quality for their tracks (judging by the demos ). Strange, I thought Abeat ditched Matt Land ...though now it makes sense how Matt Land's track sounded much like Night Flight to Tokyo

I at least enjoyed Gunfire, it's somewhat strange at points (yet unique) which does make it somewhat two barreled. The Mega NRG Man song isn't exactly as high quality as his few super performances but it ain't bad either.

The other A-Beat C songs on the other hand

Nine · Post by **Nine** » 25 Sep 2007, 18:33

When I got home from work today I saw a package from CDJapan, and I was like "what?" ...apparently I pre-ordered 181 and I totally didn't realize it! hahaha.

Anyway, here's a mini-review...

1. Jungle Fever - Marko Polo (4/5)
2. "BLOOD on FIRE" - GO2 & Christine (5/5)
Note: Every GO2 song should have Christine in it.
3. My Heart Radio - Daniel (1/5)
4. Love Desire 2007 - Linda (5/5)
Note: Where is my Sugar Baby 2007? :C
5. Back In Danger - Jeff Driller (0.5/5)
6. Abracadabra - Cherry (4.5/5)
7. Beautiful - Alexis (2/5)
8. Lovers In The Night - Maddy Layne (5/5)
9. Take A Frame - Chris Stanton (1/5)
10. I'm Alive - Jay Lehr (3/5)
11. My Blue Sky - Nuage (0/5)
Note: The chanting in the beginning is the creepiest thing I've EVER heard.
12. True Colour - Annalise (0/5)
13. Over The Sky - Rose (0/5)
14. Catch My Fire - Mega NRG Man (2/5)
Note: Stick to GGM... :C
15. Dance - King & Queen (3/5)
Note: It's a bit screamy, I like that. haha
16. Gunfire - Matt Land (2/5)
17. Gas Gas Gas - Manuel (4.5/5)
18. NRG - GO2 (2/5)
Note: Like I said, every GO2 song should have Christine in it. hahaha

Top 5:
BLOOD on FIRE (5)
Love Desire 2007 (5)
Lovers In The Night (5)
Abracadabra (4.5)
Gas Gas Gas (4.5)

Bottom 5:
My Blue Sky (0)
True Colour (0)
Over The Sky (0)
Back In Danger (0.5)
My Heart Radio (1)

beat freak · Post by **beat freak** » 25 Sep 2007, 21:55

If nine doesn't like them then I know I will love them.

#Infinity · Post by **#Infinity** » 25 Sep 2007, 22:25

Bore wrote:I at least enjoyed Gunfire, it's somewhat strange at points (yet unique) which does make it somewhat two barreled.

Is Gunfire at least better than Pamela, which, according to your previous SEB reviews, is your least favorite Matt Land song?

Last.fm · Post by **Bore** » 26 Sep 2007, 02:20

Oh the weirdness of Gunfire isn't all that bad, the only thing about the song that bugs me is that the lyrics just feel out of place most of the time and don't really go along with the melody half the times and it just makes it sound somewhat odd at points.
Otherwise the song is quite good, probably by time I'll grow to like it even more. And his voice is still super sexy

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