I'll be the first to put out a semi-detailed review this time based on the youtube versions I heard so far, as I'll be busy with work in the weeks to come.
P.S. Still no iTunes release!
1. Inside My Soul / Ace & Pamsy
Track has all sorts of potential to be a really good track, too bad it didn't quite impressed me. I, for one, find that the melody is too 'easy' for an SCP duet. Thus, the weight of the song almost solely relies on the two vocalists, whom while performed admirably, ultimately wasn't able to save the track from overwhelming 'plain-ness'. I can't bring myself to fail this track though, because after all, it's a duet between two great SCP vocalists.
Grade : 2.5/5
2. Music In Action / Bon
Bonini has great songs, but none of his Sinclaire Style tracks truly stood out as a deal breaker. 'Pull The Trigger' came close but it cannot hope to hold a candle to most of his other tracks on Delta and it's impossible not to make comparisons. While on Delta, even his worst tracks had a strong beat to it ('
Dark & Bright' anyone?) but something changed after his return to Sinclaire Style, it's like his songs just began to 'sissy' out and took on a more 'family friendly' melody that overall, just sounds 'weak'. I'd try to elaborate more, but it's hard to put it into words. I'd still rate it above 'Toy For Love', as that is one of the worst Sinclaire Style tracks ever made, but it's not up there with 'Pull The Trigger', that track retained a modicum of 'strength' which this track could only hope to have. I doubt I will be liking any of 'Bon's' tracks at this rate.
Grade: 1.5/5
3. Wanna Be My Geisha? / Manuel
I may not always be the most ardent supporter of Manuel's tracks, but since his return on 225, his songs just continuously gets better and better with 'Tiger' being one of the best things GGM has ever put out. What I like is that his tracks nowadays have a lot of the elements I like the most in my eurobeat (Epic sounding intro, clever inserts/instruments to 'enhance' the song's impact on the listener and a well played guitar solo in a powerful song is basically my 'weak point'). Not only that, he has his own brand of 'unpredictability' and 'wild-ness' to his melodies that is uniquely his, and I like that. This track has all of that and I totally love the way he sings the last chorus "Do you wanna beeee ... MY GEISHA!". It's not as epic as 'Tiger' per say, but I find myself listening to this track quite a lot. I get excited just thinking what else he has in store for us in future!
Grade : 5/5
4. Just A Love Story / Mela
The melody to this track is simply put : TOO GOOD FOR WORDS! Too bad though, because some schmuckhead apparently decided to fuck it all up by putting in vocaloids or altering the vocalist's vocals to sound like a chipmunk. Damn you Saifam! You ruined what could have been your best female track in a long while!
Grade : 3.5/5
5. The Prey (Crazy Lover) / Daniel & Cherry
Slightly better than Ace & Pamsy's duet, but suffers from exactly the same troubles. I liked the pairing of Rancati and Clara, as they are responsible for singing one of Delta's best duet yet ('Bach Is Back' on 179), but to put this track next to it is incomprehensible. Delta is one of the labels that has the most danger of sounding generic, and they unfortunately did it this time, on a duet no less. I do like the vocal melody, the break at 3:00 onwards, the chorus especially the way Rancati sings "The night, TONIGHT!" at the end of the chorus. I'm passing this as well, because it's Daniel & Cherry but also because it has some decent elements in the track that I like.
Grade : 2.75/5
6. Joker Face / Lucky Boy
Opening of the track sounds like 'Born To Be Wild In My Car'. The good thing about Hi-NRG is that the label has some interesting melodies on this album, some have said that it is 'trance-inspired' or what not. I personally don't know what they're talking about, but I do know that this style of theirs works wonders to my ears. The result is a highly energetic and engaging melody that is both frantic but not totally out of whack like their previous tracks. That being said, I am still not totally sold on F. Malvicino's vocals, with a possibility that it might never happen at all. That being said, I still have to credit the label for being very innovative with their tracks all the time. They deserve a thumbs up just for that.
Grade : 3.75/5
7. Para Para Cannibal (Platinum Mix) / Vicky Vale
This track is easily one, or if not, the most infectious track on the album. Anyone whose heart isn't cold will find it nearly impossible to NOT (or at least have the urge) to sing/move along with this track. I know I am one of those, and one of my favourite 'groove parts' is the synth inserts after every verse ("Para Para Maniac's in me" -dum DUMM, dum DUMM, dum DUMM, dum DUMM-), I may not be a dancer myself but I could imagine inserting many cool moves along with that insert section. The chorus does a good job at climaxing the track (like I said, it's not humanly possible NOT to get the urge to sing along "Para para cannibal this is what i'm looking like, Never full or tired" with the song.). Amidst all this positives, of course, there are flaws, and for me, the synth choice is what I have always been complaining in a Sinclaire Style track, I just ain't the biggest fan of it. I also have a slight gripe with how the song just seems to go completely ape shit with it's sounds from the 3:00 mark, not bad, but it just throws you off a little after you have been swept nicely in the first half of the track. To sum it all up, this is an old track with some minor flaws, but GOOD GOD is it fucking infectious as hell! Someone get it out of my head please!
Grade : 4.75/5
8. With A Little Bit Of True Love / David Dima
Someone's been listening to alot of EDM lately. This track, is simply put, Dima's answer to anyone who has been complaining over the label's lack of inspiration/sounding samey etc. The track seemingly derives heavily from the 'euro' genres floating out there. With a sentimental feel, but never compromising on Dima's trademark strong sound. Autotune is used, and the break is really europop influenced which is even more evidence that that this has a crap ton of 'euro' in it, but it's not a disadvantage. The melody is engaging, energetic and one will definitely fall in love with the seemingly never ending riff. Dima is here to stay guys, and tracks like this is a good showing that he still has what it takes to make memorable eurobeat no matter what his detractors say. In short, I fucking love this track. Go Dima!
Grade : 5/5
9. Baby You'll Be My Lover / Norma Sheffield
The usual stuff from the Aishu queen of eurobeat, not a single dime less, not a single dime more. Nasally sung, heavily accented and treading with a dark and brooding melody about 'her baby' and love etc etc. The Sun Fire style of songmaking is usually the deciding factor, and you either love it or hate it. I am personally am okay but not loving of this track as there's nothing else I said about other Sun Fire Norma track that can't be applied here.
Grade : 3.5/5
10. Hot Milk / Nikita Jr
The track that is currently the hype due to it's 'suggestive' content depending on how you view it. Putting that crap aside, I said in the 'Joker Face' review that the label went and got a slight paint job for their tracks, which to me, is an advantage because suddenly, all of their tracks sound really good with the so called 'trance-stab'. The whole point of this track is that bubbly, upbeat riff that completely overshadows everything else about this track. The spoken intro also deserves small brownie points as well. Everything else like the vocals and vocal melody is unmistakably Hi-NRG, which usually doesn't get me too excited but this one's actually pretty catchy overall!
Grade : 4/5
11. Full Desire / Rich Hard
'On Your Wings' part two? I'd actually prefer something like 'Fight' though but I am not complaining. First off, I've probably said this like a million times now, but the opening to Sun Fire's male tracks are something I greatly look forward to, and so far, they have yet to disappoint. The opening to this track has some sort of a James Bond feel to it, dark and a good prelude to what's coming up. The melody has been described by many as 'random', 'lacking direction' or 'anti-melodic', but for me, Rich's track has always had some forms of eccentricities in them, and, you could say that I 'enjoy eating bad food' because I genuinely enjoy hearing this track in all of it's 'randomness' and what not. I remember hearing the same kind of complaints when 'Louder & Faster' on 206 was released and I was one of the few people who highly enjoyed the song. Different taste I guess. What I like most about this track are the 'FULL DESIRE!' shout outs during the riffs and the verses especially the part where Rich sings "Don't let me be misunderstood, I'm not a liar!". Overall, this is a really cool sounding track for me.
Grade : 5/5
12. Hey Chicken / Jeff Driller
Nice sounding riff, but I would never have thought I would hear so much cluckings in a single song ever in my life, hurray eurobeat and Hi-NRG. Like 'Joker Face', I don't really like Franz on vocals. Actually, I don't have a high opinion of most of their vocalists except Laura Vox, who has seemingly disappeared. Good melody nonetheless, if Hi-NRG decides to stick with this style of music without the nonsensical themes of drills, chickens and cats (not going to happen I know and frankly, I don't want them to deviate out either as there are people who love that wacky style), I could be one happy Hi-NRG camper.
Grade : 2/5
13. Let Me In / Leslie Parrish
Oh great, this is great! Not too long ago, we got the mind blowingly good 'King Of The Century' and it's so amazing to see that Leslie is back ... with a really boring track. Seriously, I have no idea what else to say, this track is just so ... ugh, I don't know what else to say but I feel like falling asleep everytime I listen to this track. I think I'll go ahead and give 'King Of The Century' a couple more spins before moving on to Ana's track. How did we get here again?
Grade : 1.5/5
14. Bye Bye Love Night / Ana
The feeling of hearing a good spoken intro is really, for the lack of a better, otherwordly. The moment I hear Ana's 'Woahhhh-woah-woah', I immediately have high hopes for this track. In the same Sinclaire Style fashion that I've mentioned a million times before, the only gripe I have is the choice of synth that he uses, but it's not really his fault since that's the label's style, it just means I am not completely a match to his style. Yet, his songwriting skills cannot be discredited as the guy can *mostly* make some really, really memorable melodies. The riff is insane/chaotic and energetic, and I like it. The vocal melodies are great, and Ana sounds like a veteran vocalist but I'm not going to go into a guessing game. Bottomline, I'll probably keep repeating this for every Sinclaire female track, but I question his synth choices but LOVE his melodies and songwriting skills.
Grade : 4.75/5
15. Get Yourself The Real Thing / Lou Master
Good vibrations
Give the right sensations now
This line perfectly sums up every feeling this track will give the listener.
Get yourself the real thing
Can't you see i'm your man, i'm a real thing
Get yourself the real thing
More in heaven
If you replace the word 'man' with 'song', it'd be like the song itself talking to you, and you would be very impressed by it, because it totally fits the bill. This is a REAL DEAL of an eurobeat track, so what took it so long for it to get released? This is a classical example of a 'power' style testoterone filled male SCP eurobeat track. Blasting this track aloud on a busy street will turn everyone into a dancing machine, if you haven't already attracted the cops that is, but then even the cops will dance to this, because it's so bloody infectious. The melody is extremely catchy, and has a really strong beat. It's also so in your face full of 'masculine energy' that it's hard to stop the momentum after you start listening to it. Lou's vocals are dearly missed as he fits this track so well (more of this and less of 'Boys' please). In short, this is a song that you won't be able to stop listening after only once, you will keep on wanting to hear it more and more, till it consumes your mind and your day will be nothing but thoughts about this track. I highly recommend not listening if your attention needs to be on work or you're driving on a busy street!
Grade : 5/5
Top three (First two are a tie) :
1. With A Little Bit Of True Love / David Dima
2. Get Yourself The Real Thing / Lou Master
3. Full Desire / Rich Hard
Honorable Mention(s) :
1. Wanna Be My Geisha? / Manuel
2. Bye Bye Love Night / Ana
3. Para Para Cannibal (Platinum Mix) / Vicky Vale (I cannot exclude this, I just can't
)
4. Hi-NRG Attack for their interesting melodies this time round!
Bottom three :
1. Let Me In / Leslie Parrish
2. Music In Action / Bon
3. Hey Chicken! / Jeff Driller
