Super Eurobeat 197

[Densetsu13]

Hopefully DJ Boss will be sensible and give all the new songs longer track times XD

Christ I hate it when they make a track that's appearing for the first time short compared to something that's overplayed D8

It's disappointing that more people can't be excited about this SEB due to it's format. For one I don't care for extendeds unless it's of tracks that I REALLY enjoy. Secondly, I've grown enjoy nonstops. Thirdly it's meeting the requirement I had mentioned previously. As long as these nonstops have the current usual new track amount of 13, I couldn't care less about the format.

I admit however that the amount of nonstops planned for the forseeable future is quite ridiculous.

[zoupzuop2]

By the way, Niko and SAIFAM don't have the only "Super Eurobeat" titled songs. Check out Live Music Studio's catalog.

Perhaps building up to 200? Theme goin' on there?

[Jay]

There is nothing wrong with non-stops per se, but they should stay away from the main SEB series (except 1x0 albums). By releasing four non-stop SEBs in quick succession, in addition to Super GT and Speed & Power Style, really kills the novelty value of non-stops. The Japanese may enjoy them to a great extent, sure, but releasing so many of them in a short amount of time will really test just HOW much the Japs enjoy them. I'd say not that much; it's a very poor marketing strategy.

I was highly skeptical about 7A from the moment I heard she'd be taking charge of the series. She needs the boot before it's too late to save this dying series... And what I find even more horrifying is half of you are more than willing to continue supporting and funnelling your money into the wallets of these xenophobic clowns. How amazing.

[Bore]

I'm also one of the people who wonder what the whole uprising concerning nonstop albums is about. I quite frankly don't mind the nonstops at all especially since the amount of songs I even end up wanting as full is quite small. It's just a result of my own deduction that the songs that end up on nonstop (sebs in particular) are better off in that form than as extendeds.

There were quite a few old hits that I loved on nonstops but after hearing the full versions the whole magic was gone. Stuff Like That, Electric Woman and Into The Fire as examples. Plus well... album with only male content, doubt I'll be too thrilled with it either way, the female version might be a different matter... Kiki & Fancy still have yet to make their appereance in the 190s...

[#Infinity]

There were quite a few old hits that I loved on nonstops but after hearing the full versions the whole magic was gone. Stuff Like That, Electric Woman and Into The Fire as examples.

I see what you mean there. I actually only particularly enjoy the Euromach 5 version of Wow Tokyo for example. The extra boost given by the speedy mixing makes the melody stand out more, and the fact that it follows the awesome Spacelove on that album only adds to it; the extended version just sounds unusually dull and unexciting compared to its fast, aggressive counterpart on Euromach 5. And don't even get me started on how much I prefer Velfarre 2000 on Euromach 3 than I do on Oldies Goldies Vol. 2 or SEB 184's bonus disc.

However, as it stands, I still strongly prefer extended format over nonstop. Nonstop albums not only don't present the albums in full, but also start to sound really stale to my ears quickly due to the lack of breaks in between and variety contained within each track. Plus, it's overall a pretty bad thing when you only want to listen to a few songs from the album at at time.

[drnrg]

Mixing is cool when you know you have the extended version. Heck I was a dee jay for many years, but the way japanese mixers mix is a crime to the songs. They don't do smooth transitions with breaks and intros and for the most part they just cut song to song, Plus the speed is faster, which I don't really care for. Last, but not least try putting on your player songs from different Euromachs one after another. It just sounds awefull how they cut with no real intro nor endings.

Nope, I'm against nonstops

[wolftickets1969]

Yeah, the nonstop versions of songs usually have major parts missing, as do Avex's butchered radio edits. And worse, there's a ton of songs we'll probably never hear in full/unmixed form(ie not even released on vinyl). I hope Avex hasn't permanently given up on the Special Collection albums(at least internationally). Example of butchered edit of song never released in full: Go Go Girls - I Wanna Be Fat(awkward intro, anticlimactic ending, there's supposed to be a third verse according to the lyrics), and Music is Love on EM 14 lacks the full second verse(uses the percussion drop/breakdown in its place).
The extended version of Cindy - Sex on the Beach actually has the "missing" second verse that was written in the liner notes, although it doesn't appear until late in the song, after the breakdown section, which is not in the edit either. Seems like they simply chopped the song in half when they cut it down.
And sometimes they were released by Avex in extended form, but not the original extended, for example a certain Giorgia Barrows song.

[Ricfiam]

Yeah nonstop is acceptable only if i had the extended before! What if I really love a song and I can listen only 1-2 minutes of it??? I hate that. I still think avex is crap, and don`t give a shit for the fans.
Drnrg, did you sent your comments to some producer?

[DJ Mike TJG]

I should point out that I never had a problem with the megamixes back when they were the norm every 3-4 albums, because they were megamixes of already-released songs.

Heck, what about the fuss that Go Go Girls / Stuff Like That continued to cause because only a 1.5 minute megamix version had ever been released?! (I grant you that you can obtain an extended if you go the Japanese download route now).

And now they're going to do that for not 1, not 2, but 13 songs!!

I have no problem with the concept of megamixes - I really enjoy them when they're done well (although they've left a lot to be desired in recent years). But having NO CHOICE about extended or megamix is where my beef lies!

I don't care if you prefer megamixes to extendeds. Megamix junkies will get the best songs in megamix anyway, if the gazillion releases that Avex does outside of SEB (Super GT, Best Of SEB, Initial D, decade releases, etc.) have anything to say about it.

But for the rest of us, we've always had the choice to listen to extendeds if we want to (and many of us do).

Now we're back to the Euromach era, when many of the best songs ever made were only released in sometimes criminally-short versions. People are STILL complaining about this, even after all these years, because they were denied the choice back then.

So if you support these megamix-only releases, you're supporting a lack of choice. I'm not spending £20+ an album for DJ Boss and associates' rubbish mixing (above all else, I loathe what most of the Avex DJs do with Eurobeat nowadays).

And I'm not spending MORE than the price of a normal album for what is LESS material.

Because that's what they've done - SEB 197 costs MORE than 196, has the SAME number of new songs, but has LESS playtime for each!

That, my fellow EB listeners, is what we call a RIP-OFF!

[Ricfiam]

Amen.

[MesdoramElmdor]

I don't know about everyone else, but personally I'm just grateful to get ANY new material!

As long as they keep putting out new material on album, nonstop or extended, I will be purchasing them.

I enjoy the music and respect it enough to want to contribute towards the genre no matter what format the album is.

I think you guys are overreacting and should be happy the series is still alive and that we're getting new material at all, imo....

[DJ Mike TJG]

I don't know about everyone else, but personally I'm just grateful to get ANY new material!

As long as they keep putting out new material on album, nonstop or extended, I will be purchasing them.

I enjoy the music and respect it enough to want to contribute towards the genre no matter what format the album is.

I think you guys are overreacting and should be happy the series is still alive and that we're getting new material at all, imo....

Suit yourself.

I'd sooner see no new releases at all than see producers' new material butchered by Avex's DJs, as the only available option.

Moreover I'm not paying for Avex to do that to my favourite music genre.

So you can pay for your mutilated music, but you'll excuse me if I think it disrespectful.

[MesdoramElmdor]

I'm not doing it to support Avex, but to support the artists that work hard everyday to make this genre I love. Avex provides them with a paycheck. Without that, they're done.

I don't know about you, but I want my favorite producers to get what they deserve for continuing to put out new tracks.

[Lebon14]

Myself, I don't hate the fact that they do a megamix once in a while (except XX0 albums). It's the fact that they plan to release 3 in a row AND not make the extended (in respectable quality (aka MP3 192kbps and more) and DRM-less) available to non-japs. That makes megamixes VERY unenjoyable. Also, we also got 13 new songs... that could have made a nice extended CD but no, instead, we get them in a nonstop format.

As for the quality of megamixing, I gotta agree that it's really not great. They put some skipping (a lot!) inside the song themselves. But, I wouldn't mind in-between the songs because Eurobeat is very hard to mix well. I know because I've already made tons megamixes using Eurobeat. On top of all, I've mixed Eurobeat with almost no material (sound effects, acappelas, instrumentals, etc) and that makes things even harder.

For the price, for obvious reasons, it's more expansive, compared to the price we got since SEB 187, because there is more songs. The meaning of more songs... I'll leave the meaning to you guys. But, I agree that it's a crime to offer so small airplay to 13 new songs. I highly prefer extended because we can enjoy the full thing! I think I wouldn't have enjoy "Don't Belong" and "Ultra Mi-Ha Deluxe" as much if it would have been a megamix.

Who have the power to change this?
Those people :
- Japanese fans
- Labels

I've pre-ordered this album. I kinda took a bluff on this one. I'll tell you how the mix is.

EDIT

I'm not doing it to support Avex, but to support the artists that work hard everyday to make this genre I love. Avex provides them with a paycheck. Without that, they're done.

That is my reason to buy the albums. Avex can get my feet in their balls. I'm doing it, even if it's not a lot of money, for the labels that makes the songs that we enjoy listening.

[MAtRiCks]

SEB 200 is coming really fast. Avex seem to be doing all they can to emphasize on that fact. I don't think SEB 200, a single album, can truly recap almost 20 years of Super Eurobeat!

Those forthcoming non-stops are evidently Avex's way to celebrate some of the great material that has been brought to us since SEB 01 but forgotten by many of us, and I think that's an good idea.

Heck, they're still giving us the same amount of new material, and who knows if they're not gonna be releasing it in Extended format as bonus material after SEB 200?

This whole boycott idea seems really far fetched, to me at least.