Super Eurobeat 129

1.Matt Land - Overload (A-Beat C)
Again we get a great album opener as we get the best male vocalist on A-Beat C in action. The powerful and energetic vocals Matt providers suit eurobeat perfectly and it's great when the people at A-Beat C have noticed his talent and he has time after time gotten great songs. Overload is yet another great song that provides a lot of Initial D feelings for eurobeat fans, and I'm just wondering how the song wasn't featured on any of the OSTs as it'd be perfect for them. Energetic, perfect driving music. Great work by A-Beat C.
Rating : 9½

2.Sara - One More Time (Delta)
From the energetic and catchy moods we are transferred into a more upbeat area that is pretty much your typical delta girl eurobeat. Cheery backgrounds and happy vocals make this song a great one for those people enjoy the happier music, though the song itself isn't from the better part of that category. The song has nothing particularly special about it, it's just plain okay and you listen to it without even noticing the choruses change to verses and vice versa. Not bad, nor good.
Rating : 7-

3.Lou Grant - Avalon (Time)
After the mediocore performance by Delta we are treated to a slight surprise by Time. Avalon is a song that has rather variable backgrounds and over all sounds more mature than most of the eurobeat productions. The style we've come to expect from Time is present as the song is your typical eurobeat with some excellent moments and most of all vocals that give the song a lot of boost. In the end the song is not one of the most memorable ones, as the melody isn't very spectacular but at least the sounds offer a lot more than a few general eurobeat songs put together.
Rating : 8-

4.Katchy Core - Crazy For Your Love (A-Beat C)
And back to the A-Beat C territory, this title is one that I never really got into for some reason. I never even remember that is it a female or a male vocalist, well anyways now that I'm doing it I obviously remember we're talking about a female vocalist. The song becomes quickly stuck in your head and I noticed that I was humming the same song when I was listening to some of the latter songs. Nice upbeat song with the eurobeat basics all there.
Rating : 9-

5.Marko Polo - Tokyo Fever (Delta)
The light moods change into something much more energetic as we're treated to the best style Delta has to offer. I always adored Marko Polo and his cool style, this song carries on his high level and it's definitely one of the best songs he has done during his career. The sounds in the intro and the c-melody are pure gold, too bad that the vocals steal the glory in the other parts of the song, but in a way that's not a problem as Marko's vocals are great as always. Energetic, catchy, over all just the kind of eurobeat that I originally fell in love with. The piano in the c-melody adds a nice spice to the song.
Rating : 9+

6.Mary Ann - Sugar Boy (Time)
The albums mood goes back and forth with the upbeat and more serious style, and it seems that when the girls are singing we get the happy-happy gear on, just like now. Time has presented us with a lot of great songs but as well a ton of bad ones, and generally their problem is that the songs are so similar and don't got any huge kick in them anymore, back in the earlier days of SEB they had more style, but now they just seem to be happy with recycling the old songs over and over, for example this song reminded me a lot of some Alexis song from the past. The best part about this song is the excellent c-melody, but aparty from that the song is not very memorable.
Rating : 7

7.Go Go Girls - Your Pussy Cat (A-Beat C)
And then we get the big title that never disappoints, I can almost at this point already quarantee that we're treated to a great song when we see the title Go Go Girls. This is yet another upbeat and energetic track that has a very catchy melody, the occasional cat meows here and there give the song a nice touch. The song itself may not be the most groundbreaking song we've heard but when every element in the song is at the right place I gotta be happy with my pussy cat.
Rating : 10-

8.Mr. M - She's A Devil (Time)
Time seems to have gotten quite a cool range of different styles for this album as they yet again offer a different kind of mood. This time we get a more guitar-based eurobeat song that we learned to love ages ago already, and it's pretty refreshing to hear the guitar as the main element nowa days as well. The song has a decent melody and the vocals are alright, but don't offer anything very special, but where the song really shines is the c-melody and the intro that uses electric guitars awesomely. A nice song in the end, but not one of the better ones on the album.
Rating : 7½

9.The Spiders From Mars - Fragile (A-Beat C)
Knowing the high level of the releases this duo does I already knew I was in for a great song. And it's always nice to be right and have the right kind of expectations for some songs. This is a very energetic and catchy basic eurobeat song that works pretty much due to the excellent melody and the great symphony of vocals that are Dave & Mickey B.. The chorus in the song works marvellously and leaves you wanting more, a very well done song on every area, a round of applauds for A-Beat C yet again.
Rating : 10

10.Vanessa - Memories And Melodies (Time)
When you see the name Vanessa you can already expect something calm and soothing, yet sometimes even she manages to surprise as this song is even more soothing and calm than what she generally does. The intro with pianos sounds like a piece of classical music, but when the eurobeat beat is added on top it just goes somewhat odd. Actually with this song I felt that it doesn't fit the eurobeat scene at all, if the beat wasn't there and they had used only acoustic elements this would've been a magnificent song on a different genre, now as eurobeat it just doesn't work.
Rating : 6+

11.Mike West - Take Me (Time)
Time continues with the same style as they combine some violins with the eurobeat elements. The intro sounds really good, and where as the previous song had trouble mixing the sounds together this time around the song works rather well. The violin adds the song a great tone and the vocals work over all a lot better than with Vanessa. The chorus is overall rather calm but it suits the song and the c-melody boots up the mood a bit, and in the end the song starts sounding quite good once it grows on you.
Rating : 7½

12.Cherry - My Lover Boy (Delta)
And again upbeat, what else can you expect from Cherry? A typical song from Cherry's catalogue that doesn't really have the excellency of for example DJ Baam Baam! Play The Boom! Boom!, and this song doesn't even rise to the level of 95% of the songs she's done. The real problem with the song is that there doesn't even seem to be a chorus included at all, the song just flows pointlessly on without any actual highlights. It's actually very rare that eurobeat offers songs like this, there ain't even a proper c-melody to change the mood for a change. A disappointment really.
Rating : 6-

13.Mega NRG Man - Ready To Go (A-Beat C)
The keyword for this album has been 'similarity' the familiar artists seem to recycle old ideas again and only a few surprises have arisen on the album. Mega NRG Man always sounds like he does, and it's not necessarily a bad thing but I couldn't tell this song from ie.Get Me Power the songs really just need some kind of a jig to make them stick out from the crowd. On the other hand in comparison to the previous performance by Cherry, this song doesn't sound that bad, it just needs more originality.
Rating : 7½

14.Kevin Johnson - Little Crush (Delta)
Kevin Johnson seems to have Clara Moroni backing him up all the time, and that is the case now as well. I haven't been a huge fan of Kevin's and I was pretty surprised when this song turned out as really catchy. The upbeat chorus is very fun to sing to, and once the chorus ends and the c-melody begins you'll definitely start liking the song, it's just so irresistible. Nothing new, or nothing we wouldn't have seen a gazillion times again (so why do I not whine about it like I do with Mega NRG Man, the case is that Kevin Johnson for example does a lot of different styles, NRGie does the same thing over and over), yet a nice song.
Rating : 8+

15.Alexis - Wonderful Night (Time)
Time likes to mess up acoustic elements with eurobeat, and I'm still pretty much against that in the first place, though Mike West displayed that it can also work, but now we're given another example why they won't work. The song starts with a very calm intro that turns into yet another basic eurobeat song that doesn't really give any room for anything but the beat and the vocals. The melody is rather transparent and the vocals are nothing to go yay for, a crappy song, that's it basically.
Rating : 6-

16.Karen - Untouchable Lover (A-Beat C)
Karen seems to be one of the few female vocalist who doesn't stick to the upbeat and typical girl eurobeat, and that's always refreshing. This song is pretty upbeat in a way, but her rather low voice makes the song seem a lot more mature than many of the other vocalists. The track starts off with a cool intro, and seems very good until the chorus starts... The chorus sounds really boring and I found nothing really catchy about it, but fortunately for the song the c-melody backs up a bit what the chorus blew into pieces. The verses work well and sound good, and it feels odd how the chorus itself is so bad in the end. Anyways a rather normal song, that could've been worse and better.
Rating : 7

17.Simon Koh - Come On Come On! (Delta)
Another title that I've been pretty unfamiliar with. And I didn't really know what to expect, and for a change it was nice to be surprised by a rather heavy song (in comparison to general eurobeat that is). The song starts with an excellent intro and when the hyper synth is added in the song gets really awesome, the vocals boost the song perfectly and the chorus is very catchy. This song is a perfect opposite example of the upbeat eurobeat, and as I'm rather open to all of the eurobeat styles I at least loved this a lot, and I guess the people who don't like the upbeat songs will also like this one.
Rating : 9+

18.Dave Rodgers & Kiko Loureiro - Fevernova (A-Beat C)
And naturally the album finishes off with our dear old Davey. As I've slowly began actually liking him I was actually pretty much interested to hear this, and to my surprise he sounds actually really good in the intro when he sings really quietly. After the calm intro the song blast into action I was totally swept away, I might've disliked him for a longtime, but now I can't really seem why, as this song is pure awesome. The vocals work really well and the song itself is just perfect. This'll rise Dave's stocks a lot, nice to be surprised by somebody I didn't even stand a year ago.
Rating : 9½

Bonus Disc - Euro Acoustic Essence

1.Dave & Domino - Shake Your Bell (A-Beat C)
The bonus disc offers older eurobeat songs done in the acoustic way, which is something I didn't really think would work, but partly the labels have done a great work, and partly bad. Anyways we start off with a duet by the two big names on A-Beat C. The original Shake Your Bell was rather calm but in an acoustic form it's even calmer, and where as most eurobeat fans probably won't like this, some people who are into classic might enjoy this a lot. But I'll say, boring.
Rating : 6+

2.Time Acoustic Trio Feat. Helena - Melodies Of Love (Time)
To a no surprise the calm mood continues, and this is yet another boring one that just doesn't fit the theme of the eurobeat albums. I wouldn't listen to these songs freely, and at this point I decided that when I'm giving the final grade for the album I won't incude the bonus disc in it, as my opinion is so based on my own dislike for classical, and calm music in the first place.
Rating : 5+

3.Kevin Johnson - Little Crush (Delta)
A nice to see the song that already appeared on the actual album to appear on the bonus disc as an acoustic version, so it's easy to do comparison between the songs. From the songs so far, this song suddenly turned out as something really nice. The violins and the piano form a rather simple, yet pretty background and Kevin's vocals sound incredible beautiful, and actually now I can for the first time hear how well he sings, a huge plus for the song due to Kevin's voice. The surprise gem of the bonus disc.
Rating : 8½

4.Dave Rodgers & Norma Sheffield - Nothing Changed (A-Beat C)
For some reason everytime this song starts playing I think of Twin Peaks the legendary TV-Show, there's just something similar with the intro and the Twin Peaks theme. Anyways this is yet another piano acoustic song that relies mostly on the vocals. I just praised how good Dave sounded in Fevernova and I have to take a bit of that back, on this song as his voice is the main element in the song, it just can't hold itself up anymore that well, he doesn't sound really bad, but his voice just doesn't fit an acoustic song at all. When Norma takes control the song got a huge boost, as a surprise she sounds really good when there's only her voice and some acoustic elements. A rather interesting experiement, but not a song I'd listen to a lot.
Rating : 8-

Final Words :
Okay, another album that kicks off magnificently, and then we get the typical SEB yo-yo movement as the level of the songs seems to go up and down, and fortunately the good songs are spread around the album, so you don't get the feeling that you wanna change the CD after you're done with the good songs. Anyway the album offers a lot of variety which is a great thing, and the interesting experiement with the bonus disc is a welcome add-on, though I didn't really fancy it that much. A lot of people might like it, but I at least would more gladly take the typical bonus discs we had back on 80-90. Some very memorable moments and a lot of good songs, Matt Land, Dave Rodgers & Kiko Loureiro, The Spiders From Mars and Simon Koh for example present us with killer songs that will earn a lot of airplay for me and also hopefully for other people as well. A good album overall, but alas not the best one we've heard.

Final Score : 8 (7½ with the bonus disc)

Reviewed by Bore