Eurobeat Prime :: Forum

Jay wrote:I think that song would've been better suited for the Kiki & Fancy alias. It's a catchy song, but I really, really don't like the direction Christine is headed in... It's almost as if SCP are treating that alias as a joke now, which is both sad and disconcerting.

Anyway, I found this album to contain far more long-lasting productions than other albums in the 210s so far. 'Power Two', 'Skylight', 'Time Of Fighters' and 'Sunrise' seem to be keepers, and the Alix/Nuage and Dream Fighters songs aren't too bad either. I was extremely disappointed with HRG and the Delta Queens song though ('Love Is Like A Rain' is easily the worst song ever released under that alias), and I've already forgotten what the Heather and Candy More songs sound like.

Aside from Dream Fighters and HRG, you pretty much nailed down the exact same bunch of things I thought about the album, even our opinions on the four "longlasting" tracks and worst of the album are the same. I Lol-ed.

Moving on, Christine should just go back and do those pleasant things like Summer Ski or Wings Into The Sky, I don't even know why Christine is being given these childish presentations right now, SCP has more qualified people to do that.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't most of Christine's earlier songs like Dancin' Together? I'm thinking of Mr. Nice Guy, Heartbeat, Crazy Generation, You & I...pretty much up the same alley as Bigga Boom and Dancin' Together. I think the alias could very much be serious or completely silly. I like her latter myself.

para_rigby wrote:Now correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't most of Christine's earlier songs like Dancin' Together? I'm thinking of Mr. Nice Guy, Heartbeat, Crazy Generation, You & I...pretty much up the same alley as Bigga Boom and Dancin' Together. I think the alias could very much be serious or completely silly. I like her latter myself.

The difference between those songs and what we have now is that Dancin' Together and Bigga Boom are flat-out bubblegum cheese, easily comparable to songs you'd find under the Kiki & Fancy alias, while her Euromach era tracks are a lot more serious in tone and content. Yes, her older songs may be fast and energetic like her latest works, but that does not simply mean they're the same style.

Not gonna review every single songs. But I will categorize them instead.

HOLY SHIT category (OVER 9000!!!!!!!!)
Power Two / Hotblade
Maximisin' / Alix

Both of them are extremely catchy. Keep coming back to them. Maximisin' let it go oh oh oh.

Excellent (9-10)
Mecha Fireball / Jeff Driller
Sunrise ~You'll always be alive~ / David Dima
Shalaka Boom / Boris (I am invincible /reference)

Mecha Fireball is catchy. Voice changing effect is nice. Reminds me of Ike Ike 2009 for that effect. Sunrise has long intro and outro... but very catchy! And has very unique sound to it. Shakalaka Boom, Shakalaka Love... is very neat!

Very Good (8-9)
Time Of Fighters / Luke
No Turning Back / Tora
Skylight / Dave Rodgers

Time Of Fighters is a nice Delta song all around. No Turning Back is very good sinclairestyle. Skylight has its own feel to it. The intro is so zen.

OK (7-8 )
Are You Ready To Fly / Dream Fighters
I'll Fly / Candy More
Dancin' Together / Christine

I thought that Are You Ready To Fly would be better than this but it kind of get of my nerves. I'll Fly is a bit disappointing after the good intro. Dancin' Together is nice but not enough to be "Very Good". Agree on the Kiki & Fancy argument.

Boring (5-7)
Love Is Like A Rain / Delta Queens Feat. Paul Harris
Beautiful Boy / Heather
Doctor Doctor (Eurogrooves Healing Remix) / Lisa Johnson

The healing remix goes for itself. Beautiful Boy is kinda empty. Love Is Like A Rain is... boring.

Ear bleeding (less than 5)
Tower Of Love / Cindy & Cy-ro

God do I need to comment this?

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That is all.

Holy Crap! Not only 215, but also finally got 214; which I will probly finally get around to reviewing.

First impressions is that vol. 215 is one of the best SEBs of the year and fast Eurobeat is alive and well.

As I mentioned when I first heard the clips; I'm liking almost every song. Found it hard to do a top 10, cuz they are all so good, so I do a top 11.

1. Shakalaka Boom (Russian Eurobeat makes a monster comeback and I love his vocals)
2. Sunrise (awesome retro sounding Radiorama riff)
3. Maximizin'(has everything to do with the DOA inspired riff)
4. TIME of Fighters(perfect title for Luke alias and I love his vocals)
5. Mecha Fireball(have a feeling the lowtoned vocals were supposed to sound somewhat like Rimonti.LOL!)
6. Tower Of Love(HRG candy falovoured duet)
7. Are You Ready To Fly(Yes I Am)
8. Power Two(good ol' powerful Euroneat)
9. Skylight(sounds superb on cd format)
10.Love is Like A Rain)Love Paul's vocals)
I actually have a top 11 tied with Candy More and Heather. Both showcast parts of the song that I really like.

The standouts for me were the vocals of the DELTA songs. I forgot how good Paul and Luke sounded

Finally I can do a decent review of 215. Just remember I'm not very good at explaining music terminology so here we go:

Graded on a scale of 1-5, 5 being outstanding...

1. Power Two/ Hotblade (4)
I liked Plastic very much and it was nice injection to SCP's male lineup. The song is a sequel of sorts, in my opinion, with a continuing aggressive sound. Some people have lamented the short "SCP Eurobeat Edits", but the label has pretty much squeezed every ounce of energy into a shorter period of time. The riff and chorus just plain kick ass.

2. No Turning Back/ Tora (5)
Alongside the Classic Mix of King & Queen, this is Sinclaire's best female track to date since his reinvention in the 180s. I don't know if he listened to the complaint about the tunnel singing for the females, but it is gone in this song. Everything from the intro, riff, verses, and chorus just astound me. This is how I feel Sinclaire should produce all of his female tracks. If I could give a 6 for the song's intro alone, I would do that! This definitely could be my favorite female track of the 210s so far (Sex Skiller and Baby Come Back are in some serious competition.

3. Skylight/ Dave Rodgers (4.5)
A Sunfire song I really enjoy?! Yes! I usually am hesitant to listen to a Sunfire song because the synths and productions values seem "amateurish", but this song harkened me back to a personal favourite song of Dave's, "Shake". The background melodies and riff are sharp, fast, yet convey a smooth feeling that matches his vocals. Be proud, Sunfire, that you have a fan with this song.

4. Maximisin'/ A-Lik (5++++)
I love SCP, don't get me wrong, but the female tracks within the past dozen albums or so have been, well....lacking in punch (except for Yo Shine's debut and the magnificent Boom Boom Scream). As others have mentioned, there is a definite hint of pop/dance influences on this track. From the very beginning to the very end, this track oozes a cheesy yet serious tone for me. This is right up my alley. The added vocals that bounce from the foreground to the background right before the sabi is just inventive to me. If the vocalist had a deeper voice and the song slowed down a tad, I could see this being played on a dance radio station.

5. Are You Ready to Fly/ Dream Fighters (2.5)
Nothing terrible about this song, but it sounds like such a generic David Dima track.

6. Love Is Like A Rain/ Delta Queens ft. Paul Harris (3)
First off, I certainly wouldn't use the Delta Queens alias here, but that's just me. This is a more typical aishu sounding eurobeat track. I am a big fan of Luca T. so I'm pretty much happy whenever I get to hear him. Clara, on the other hand, seems to show her age in her vocals. God bless both of them.

7. Mecha Fireball/ Jeff Driller (4)
Yes to HI-NRG ATTACK doing faster songs again. I'm pretty much giving this song a score of 4 because we're getting back to the sounds we loved before this whole "let's slow everything down to 120-140 BPM crap". The vocals are explosive and the synth ridiculous, of course, but isn't that why we love HI-NRG ATTACK?

8. Time of Fighters/ Luke (3)
Luca, why do you sound like a creepy uncle? You sounded great in Love Is Like A Rain, but now it's a much deeper, creepier sound with this. This is a typical Post-Newfield Delta track...not bad, not great. This is such a shame...I know Capaldi can do more imaginative productions.

Tracks 9-12 will be graded when I listen to them more

13. Tower of Love/ Cindy & Cy-Ro (5+++)
Wow. Just f**kin' awesome. I thought I would hate this song when I heard the sample, but samples seem to lie about the true awesomeness of a song. First off, let's talk about the great riff that harkens to the speedier past of HI-NRG ATTACK. Now, I wouldn't have thought these two vocalists together would so great, but it totally works. Cindy somewhat-squeaky vocals and Cy-Ro's unique sound blend in such an odd way. Totally golden. I hope someone from the label realizes how awesome of a track this is. Tora vs. Cindy & Cy-Ro throw down for the best track of the album!!!!!!

Axex needs to click a deal with Wal-Mart so we Americans can get these albums!!!

And totally forget about us Europeans? Thanks, dude. ;|!

Best songs

Dave Rodgers - Skylight.
Reasonably inventive, not that predictable. Pretty impressive, not simplifying things too much so it might become more popular with more listening.

Alix - Maximisin'
Not bad, quite a few musical ideas.

These 2 may have the best chance of becoming classics imo.


falling short slightly........
Heather - Beautiful Boy
Quite catchy, chorus may get annoying though.

I got word that Avex no longer is seeking what they call airy eurobeat (such as Aleky - Eternity, a lot of Pamsy's stuff, the slower epic Dima stuff, Norma style, the slow HRG style, etc.) And have requested from the labels silly kiddy fast stuff. You should see a lot more of the insane HRG soon. It would explain why SCP is doing this style for Christine. Its insane the amount of flip flopping going on. The only label that hasnt been asked to change has been SinclaireStyle. Id expect to see more Bubbles, Kiki & Fancy, Franz Tornado, Go Go Girls, and original Saifam tracks soon.

Top 5:

#1 Dancin' Together

That is the Christine I like, in the style that best suits her vocals and energy! The incredibly catchy chorus makes up for a forgettable a-melo, and the C-melo is the cherry on the sundae, giving the song that an hook to ensure it sticks in your head for good.

#2 Power Two

Everything about this song is well done! Great energy in the vocals, perfect synth line, cool guitar solos and a solid chord progression that brings together some catchy and well thought out hooks.

#3 Beautiful Boy

Gilardi's songs almost always hit the spot for me, and now that he's seemingly being produced and engineered by Dima, his songs will certainly boast more power than ever before. He's even bringing his usual partners in crime Ravenant and Sara with him, giving Dima Music more credibility and diversifying the label's sound. Now, about the song: The synthline is beautiful, the vocals are perfect (yes to Dima's harmonies!) and the chord progression is exactly what you would expect and appreciate from Gilardi's happy side.

#4 Tower Of Love

I find it interesting enough to review this song after Beautiful Boy, because the chord progression and also the synth line are very reminiscent of the kind of material Gilardi himself would write (see Sara - Burning Up For You). I'm always very excited for Eurobeat duets since it's interesting to hear the synergy between two of your favourite vocalists, and it works so well here!

#5 Mecha Fireball

Yes, how I've been craving some great vocal performances from this man! While I really like Festari, you don't beat Franz Tornado himself when it comes to Hi-NRG male power. It's totally the typical sound you'd expect from the label, and nothing here is being taken to another level, but it's good to be reminded of the sound that pretty much dominated the genre at it's peak of popularity (1998-2002) every once in a while.

MKwiakaku wrote:And totally forget about us Europeans? Thanks, dude. ;|!

...Avex can strike a deal with whatever local music store is big in Europe as well. I thought most of the people on here were in Japan besides Matricks since everyone seems to know what's going behind the scenes with Avex. You at least get to walk into your local cd store and get a Happy Hardcore cd. The only dance music Wal-Mart/FYE carries is crappy cds that contain trance mixes of pop songs.

I really wish it were easier for me to buy the new albums again, since right now, my interest in the series has dropped dramatically, even though it was still going strong throughout the 200's, during which I could buy everything from Musico. I've hardly even posted here as of late (well, I guess I've at least done more than I did over the past year, hehehe).

Having not heard this album at all yet and having barely listened to anthing else in the 210's, my musical interests have been more concentrated on SinclaireStyle techno and other non-eurobeat stuff, although I am picking up a major interest in some older eurobeat as well.

thejti

And have requested from the labels silly kiddy fast stuff. You should see a lot more of the insane HRG soon. It would explain why SCP is doing this style for Christine. Its insane the amount of flip flopping going on. The only label that hasnt been asked to change has been SinclaireStyle. Id expect to see more Bubbles, Kiki & Fancy, Franz Tornado, Go Go Girls, and original Saifam tracks soon.

While I do love the HRG chaotic insane songs, I do not like silly kiddy stuff. I think AVEX is keeping the labels purposely dizzy, so they can keep producing different styles. I certainly hope we havn't seen the last of the slower Italo stuff from HRG and Dima.

#Infinity wrote:I really wish it were easier for me to buy the new albums again, since right now, my interest in the series has dropped dramatically, even though it was still going strong throughout the 200's, during which I could buy everything from Musico. I've hardly even posted here as of late (well, I guess I've at least done more than I did over the past year, hehehe).

Having not heard this album at all yet and having barely listened to anthing else in the 210's, my musical interests have been more concentrated on SinclaireStyle techno and other non-eurobeat stuff, although I am picking up a major interest in some older eurobeat as well.

I just got Super Eurobeat vol. 63 over the weekend in the mail, and I love that style at the time.