Super Eurobeat 214

[the_ditz]

I always find that the albums I get most excited about are the ones that hardly anyone else seems that stoked for. Personally, I think this sounds like the most consistantly high quality release for some time, but there perhaps aren't as many "super-mega" stand-out hits as on previous albums.

I agree but I don't consider this a good thing at all.

What you've just described is exactly the kind of album that nobody will remember in the long term. An album with 15 okay-ish songs and no stand-outs whatsoever may provide short-term satisfaction, but if there's nothing memorable there then there's no reason to come back to the album after the next release. These are the kinds of albums I dislike the most. I'd much prefer an album with 2-3 truly memorable songs and 12-13 garbage ones than an album with 15 "fillers."

I think it's a bit much to say that this album has nothing more than just 15 "fillers" - there are definitely a few tracks that stand out to me as being very big hits ("Because of You", "Together" and "Passport to Dance" being the most instant hits to my ears from the samples). My point was more aimed at the fact that the tracks which probably aren't the big stars of the show still sound like they will provide a very enjoyable listening experience, while even the least impressive "new" track - Pretty Girl Rock - in no way sounds atrociously horrible. I will be looping this whole album when it is released for a long time without the urge to instantly skip the "filler" tracks that you talk of.

But hey, this is just my opinion - I learned a while ago that the general Eurobeat community as a whole rarely agrees fully with my taste, but that's what makes for more interesting discussion on here

[Vadim]

Problem here are not the songs per se, but too many conflicting sound tendencies rammed into the single compilation...

There is only one eurobeat compilation left on this planet...I don't like it when outside things are being pushed down our throats...

Eurobeat can never keep up with contemporary fast food music - it is a stand alone genre which evolved it's own strenghts.
Eurobeat needs to consolidate these strenghts and work on a songwriting, not to be sent into a spin, and then just turned into a junk music.

I liked how 212 was handled. Compilation director did a great job on SEB 211 and 212...It was brilliant to match together old and new tracks in the classic A Beat C female style with Gordon and Gobbi....All music integrated well and fitted well together for the most part...Such ways are creative and support the real eurobeat sound.

Eurobeat can use a great songwriting making a return - but it doesn't need to be forced into being a mutant and be forced into selling out to other genres of contemporary music.

[the_ditz]

Again, I don't hear how these songs have left you with this feeling. Other than the Saifam tracks, which are clearly aimed at the commercial market (being covers of pop tracks by US pop/urban crossover acts), I can hear nothing but pure Eurobeat sounds in the other tracks. From the classic Italo stylings of the Hi-NRG tracks, to the more modern yet still uniquely Eurobeat sounds of the Jager and Scream Team, and the classic Delta sounds...for me, this is an album that showcases the best of the evolution of Eurobeat in the 21st Century. I don't believe a Super Eurobeat album should have a theme per se with each song made to sound like it has to flow from the last one - rather, I prefer each label to showcase what makes them a driving force in the Eurobeat scene today.

[Vadim]

It's fortunate that labels themselves are yet not going too far off, but tendencies towards messing up the music or sound are there...

Yes, these SAIFAM tracks were never made to be on SEB, neither do they belong to eurobeat by any stretch of imagination...

Jagger's song is a literal remix of a well known top 40 US Radio rock/pop tune...

Guitars can overdrive a song and lower *eurobeatness factor" - if used excessively.

Regarding the use of trance sounds - trance is not eurobeat...

Heavy synths on Lolita are inapropriate and unpleasant..

Many tunes on this SEB appear to be excessively cheesy with hints of happy hardcore/eurodance...

April doesn't even have a vocal to speak of...

Actually, I need to hear more to say more - since samples are not good...

[para_rigby]

I pretty much have to go with Ditz on his commentary. The only fault, myself, I find is the incessant remake and covers of songs by Saifam...that got old rather quickly.

Vadim, eurobeat...like any other music will evolve. Complaining about those sounds ain't changing the genre one bit. I actually like that we get so many labels on an album; it provides much more variety than when it was just Delta, Time, and A-Beat C (not saying the songs in those days were bad). I like that SCP is experimenting with more poppy sounds which Delta and Time have done as well. Many people love the quirky, cheesy eurobeat sounds (I know I do!). It's sad to see some people so against the new sounds of eurobeat...that it is commercial, so serving to mainstream sounds. Get over it, really.

Lastly, does anyone else on here hear the line, "eurobeat is original...not like that top 40 crap." Now the sounds are different, but I have the feeling that eurobeat is just like manufactured pop. It has cool roots, but if you ask me, italo disco, eurobeat, etc is as manufactured as any pop out on the radio today.

[drnrg]

para_rigby

Lastly, does anyone else on here hear the line, "eurobeat is original...not like that top 40 crap." Now the sounds are different, but I have the feeling that eurobeat is just like manufactured pop. It has cool roots, but if you ask me, italo disco, eurobeat, etc is as manufactured as any pop out on the radio today.

Since the beginning of TIME ,Italo Disco has been about 50% manufactored. Groups like Bee Gees, Dead Or Alive ect., did perform live, but by the Eurobeat era, it was about 80% studio manufactored. That's ok though, because The Eurobeat magic is in the Synth riff. Radio Top 40; however, is totally shameless,because music now adays is just made to satisfy the masses. It's not even good and it's practically forced down yopur throat. Plus it's all very controled. Look at the current top 10. Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Britney Spears, Ke$ha and some song feat Pit Bull and finally some cover done by Glee. I feel sorely sorry for the youngsters growing up in this era. Back in the day we had a huge variety of genres to choose from. The 80's featuered Rock, New Wave, Disco, Pop ballads, Hi Energy and even a little country. Now adays its all that Urban crap and it all sounds the same. The worst aspect about the music industry is that it seems to exile any act from the 80s and 90s. Especially the English acts. For me it's all a huge conspiracy and I can talk hours on the subject, but I decline to do so on this forum.

I can see were Vadim is comming from. Though for me the only song that really strayed away from Eurobeat was that "Whadya Want From Me" and ,yes it's SCP that someTIMES pushes the envelope. I've learned to ignore certain styles they put out without it totally ruining the SEB experience for me. The Autotune is becomming more obvious than before and that is not a positive thing at all. I will say that no amount of guitar can ruin a Eurobeat song for me. The more Agressive, the better.


My thoughts on Saifam as a whole are that it's a total tragedy what they have resorted themselves to. Once a superb pioneer label of the Eurobeat sound and now I bow my head in shame when I hear thier tracks. The same can be said about Eurogrooves. Healing track after healing track is also a sad way for Dall Ora to exit. DELTA lost thier Mastermind, but somehow still manage to hold thier head above water. Dima, Sinclaire and HRG Attack have rienvented thier sound and seem to have a reborn interest in Eurobeat. SCP and GGMs seem to go through thier typical motions. I either love thier songs or I hate them. That's never gonna change and lastly Sun Fire is ABEATC with the volume turned up to the max. I just hope Pasquinni doesnt soley depend on MAX volume effects to creat good Eurobeat music?.

Damn ,I miss Sergio Dall Ora's style.

[Vadim]

Vadim, eurobeat...like any other music will evolve. Complaining about those sounds ain't changing the genre one bit. I actually like that we get so many labels on an album; it provides much more variety than when it was just Delta, Time, and A-Beat C.

Since the beginning of *Sound Wars* on SEB:

A Beat C and Time are permanently out of the biz...

Eurogrooves - in eternal hiatus... (remixes only)...

Vibration - nowhere to be seen..

SAIFAM - just remixes + licensing contemporary club music..

It may seem that so many labels are listed, but when you really look at the whole picture - it doesn't show for much prosperity...declines in sales do not alone cause such things...there is a lot more going on.......

[the_ditz]

Vadim, eurobeat...like any other music will evolve. Complaining about those sounds ain't changing the genre one bit. I actually like that we get so many labels on an album; it provides much more variety than when it was just Delta, Time, and A-Beat C.

Since the beginning of *Sound Wars* on SEB:

A Beat C and Time are permanently out of the biz...

Eurogrooves - in eternal hiatus... (remixes only)...

Vibration - nowhere to be seen..

SAIFAM - just remixes + licensing contemporary club music..

It may seem that so many labels are listed, but when you really look at the whole picture - it doesn't show for much prosperity...declines in sales do not alone cause such things...there is a lot more going on.......

I understand your theory but...

- A Beat C was closed down and "rebranded" if you like as Sun Fire. So essentially, A-Beat C is still going, just under a different name using a different studio.

- Time morphed in to Eurogrooves at the start of the 190's - granted Eurogrooves aren't really producing any new material now...

- One of Vibration's guiding lights, Dima, now has his own label that is very much at the forefront of the SEB scene.

- SAIFAM is the only label that we seem to agree on. They are simply trying to pass off commercial dance covers as Eurobeat suddenly. I've even noticed that the past couple of releases don't even seem to have ARD (Asia) catalogue numbers in Juno - hope this doesn't mean Asia will be shut down...

As for the argument surrounding commercial music vs. Eurobeat, there's not much more that can be added that hasn't been said before in another thread. I grew up listening to 90's pop/dance music in the UK (which, it has to be said, had a lot more variety than the US scenes) so I can never hate commercial pop music and I can still appreciate the subtle nuances between different producers and artists in the same way I can pick up little differences between the Eurobeat labels. I just wish that people would stop using the "top 40" argument as an excuse for why they don't like the Eurobeat that is currently being produced. Ultimately, regardless of any "outside influences and requests" from higher management (aka Avex), Eurobeat is what it is because it needs to evolved to survive. It happens in every musical genre and you'll never change that.

Anyway, trying to get the topic back on track, I cannot stop playing the sample for "Together" - I just know that I'm going to be obsessed with this track when I get the album next week. I adore the percussion that Hi-NRG Attack are using now, and teamed with the fat guitars it gives such a strong basis for their awesome compositions! I also woke up this morning with the first few lines of "Rhythmysticalicious" in my head

EDIT: Also, here are the track durations taken from tower.jp:

01. JAGER / BECAUSE OF YOU (SEB Version) - 04:05
02. LESLIE PARRISH / SKYLINE (Extended Ver.) - 04:55
03. APRIL / THE MAGIC I FEEL (SEB Version) - 04:08
04. LOLITA / RHYTHMYSTICALICIOUS (Extended Ver.) - 05:11
05. EURODUDES / PASSPORT TO DANCE (Extended Mix) - 04:46
06. DOMINO & SCREAM TEAM - BOOM BOOM SCREAM (SEB Version) - 03:49
07. THE FRISBEES / BABY GO (Extended Ver.) - 04:55
08. NINE9NINE / BLACKOUT (Extended Ver.) - 04:46
09. SPEEDMASTER feat. CINDY / PRETTY GIRL ROCK (The Speed Mix) - 06:31
10. CIAO CIAO / TOGETHER (Extended Ver.) - 05:07
11. MC BOY / JUST A DREAM (Factory Speed Mix) - 05:16
12. MICHELLE ROSE / YOU ARE IN LOVE (Extended Ver.) - 05:44
13. RICH HARD / TAKE MY LIFE (Extended Ver.) - 04:46
14. CHERRY / NO MORE LOVE (Extended Ver.) - 05:00
15. JILLY / DING A LING (Healing Eurogrooves Remix) - 05:53

Gutted that they wasted well over 6 minutes of album space on Pretty Girl Rock

[WNight]

As for the argument surrounding commercial music vs. Eurobeat, there's not much more that can be added that hasn't been said before in another thread. I grew up listening to 90's pop/dance music in the UK (which, it has to be said, had a lot more variety than the US scenes) so I can never hate commercial pop music and I can still appreciate the subtle nuances between different producers and artists in the same way I can pick up little differences between the Eurobeat labels. I just wish that people would stop using the "top 40" argument as an excuse for why they don't like the Eurobeat that is currently being produced. Ultimately, regardless of any "outside influences and requests" from higher management (aka Avex), Eurobeat is what it is because it needs to evolved to survive. It happens in every musical genre and you'll never change that.

Yes yes, so much to be QFT here so ... QFT!

Ok guys, back to topic, I like SEB 214.

[Vadim]

I do still hope real stuff is not as scary as the samples...
..cuz if they wanted to scare me with those - they succeded...))

At this minute, Delta and HRG offerings look worthwhile to acquire...

[drnrg]

the_ditz

01. JAGER / BECAUSE OF YOU (SEB Version) - 04:05
03. APRIL / THE MAGIC I FEEL (SEB Version) - 04:08
06. DOMINO & SCREAM TEAM - BOOM BOOM SCREAM (SEB Version) - 03:49

I seriously wish the peeps at SCP would look up the word extended. I allready got the 6min + extendo heaven of BBS(which should have been showcased on the disc) and I couldn't care less for April, but Jager's song was pretty damn catchy and I wish it was longer.

the_ditz

Gutted that they wasted well over 6 minutes of album space on Pretty Girl Rock

QFT, bro. You add that M.C. Boy crap to that and you got well over 11 minuits of wasted cd space and unless you rip your cd to your p.c you are gonna have to sit through that Speedmaster crap to get to your beloved Ciao Ciao song and don't get me started on Michelle Rose's placement. Wat a shitty way to suffer to hear some HRG Attack.

I'll probobly have to reburn the cd just to get the order of songs I want.

[Gorgia_v]

OMG you gotta get the 8bit funny version of BBS its awesome!! brings back NES memories!!

[Jay]

the_ditz

01. JAGER / BECAUSE OF YOU (SEB Version) - 04:05
03. APRIL / THE MAGIC I FEEL (SEB Version) - 04:08
06. DOMINO & SCREAM TEAM - BOOM BOOM SCREAM (SEB Version) - 03:49

I seriously wish the peeps at SCP would look up the word extended. I allready got the 6min + extendo heaven of BBS(which should have been showcased on the disc) and I couldn't care less for April, but Jager's song was pretty damn catchy and I wish it was longer.

This pisses me off too but I don't think you can blame SCP really... It's most likely a decision made by Avex. If those three songs were all in proper extended format, there would only be enough room for 14 songs on the compilation.

Not that I'd mind, though. If you get rid of one SAIFAM song or that healing track and turn those three into proper extendeds, everybody would be happy. :P

[the_ditz]

To be honest, it's no surprise that length of the SCP tracks as they all have the "SEB Version" tag, which generally means a 4 minute length. I believe that this is the norm for SCP productions nowadays, and even the remixes that they've released on iTunes of their recent SEB tracks have stuck close to the 4 minute mark (apart from the Allinone remix of BBS which is a unqieu case as it's clearly made to be more or a kind of Euromach extended remix).

To be honest, so long as the song sounds complete, it can be any duration at all. I'd hate for an extra minute or two to be added on as a lazy copy-and-paste job just to artificially raise the track time...

[Bore]

Like before, I'm still on the other boat regarding these extendeds. During the past few years there've been only one or two actual 'extended' songs that I considered to be well done. Most of the tracks have totally pointless longitude without actually adding anything special in the mix. The SCP tracks are perfect at that length, with an extra minute of repetition you get nothing very special.

Of course there are exceptions when the extendeds offer something actually new and different into the mix, but honestly those songs are simply too scarse. Bring back the radio edits and 18 tracks per album.