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Reviews: Back to Index
The albums have been graded on the most common grading system used in
Finnish schools. Where 4 is the worst, and 10 is the best. The final score
for the album is most of the times the average for all of the tracks, though it can also change if the reviewer wishes so. The Super Eurobeat Non-Stop albums will be reviewed as full collections, and the individual songs won't be reviewed, unless they are completely new. Though Euromach and JGTC albums for example will have complete song by song reviews.
The grading system simply goes as ie. 4- (3,75), 4 (4), 4+ (4,25) and 4½ (4,5) and the next one again would be 5-. A simple system we have over here in Finland.
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Super Eurobeat 154
1.O-Zone - Dragostea Din Tei (Eurobeat Remix) (Avex, Time)
The song that probably bugged the hell out of most europeans last summer
is now here on Super Eurobeat, why? Who knows. Anyways, it does come as a
bit of a surprise to see such a big scale hit from Europe on a SEB, but
it's all for the best as far as promoting eurobeat goes. The song itself
is irresistible yet really annoying. I always found the song more or less
a love and hate relationship, as it was fun to listen to and yet the same
time I disliked it. The remix by Sergio Dall'Ora, does change the
pace and style of the original song slighty and makes it at least a lot
more appealing than the other remixes I've heard of the same song. Over
all irresistible pop and the song fits the album nicely.
Rating : 8+
2.Manuel - All The Best (A-Beat C)
The pop-py path the Super Eurobeat albums have taken on the 150s just
seems to continue even when the energetic performers like Manuel
start doing slow songs. When I heard the preview clip for this song on
Avex's site I was really preparing for the worst, and I'm determined that
Manuel shouldn't do slower songs, it just doesn't fit him. This
track has a really nice background to it, but it keeps on reminding me of
Norma Sheffield, and that's probably not where I wanna connect him
to. Not a bad song by any means, just not proper eurobeat.
Rating : 8-
3.Queen 26 - Going Crazy (Delta)
Before hearing the album myself I heard a lot of discussion about this
song and how it'd be like Kylie Minogue, and I unfortunately
noticed it myself as well right away. The track reminds me of lifeless
Brittish so called dancemusic, that's popular over there (no offence to
any Brits, but I can't stand any of that). The song has a bigtime disco
feel to it, and if it was up to me (and many others) this kind of music
wouldn't ever again be featured in this series.
Rating : 6-
4.Powerful T. - Original Sin (A-Beat C)
The freaky vocals of Mr. T are back here again, and at least he has kept
his head and still does music the good old way. When the first rhythms hit
the speakers you'll right away realize, that the song is indeed a trip
back to the 120s and 130s, as it reminds a lot of the rock-type of A-Beat
C during those decades. I've liked a lot of Powerful T.'s songs,
but this song manages to leave a big impact yet again, due to the
excellent backgrounds and effective chorus. Nothing very new, but at least
this is eurobeat.
Rating : 9
5.Captain America - Space Fighter (Vibration)
The labels I originally considered as my favorites (HI-NRG Attack and
Vibration) have lately gotten way too repetitive and boring, so quite
frankly I had no expectations for this song at all. When originality is a
topic Vibration generally would win the bet, for being the most different
label, but the problem here is that their productions all sound similar.
Gianni Coraini is the vocalist again, and I didn't really notice
much of a speciality to this song, just a nice fastpaced Vibration song.
Not going to last as my favorite for sure.
Rating : 7+
6.Delta Queens - Blue (Delta)
I wonder why it took so long for Delta Queens to release a song I
really like. I have no clue what the label is doing with this title, as
they seem to hand the b-type songs to the title most of the times, though this time
they made a difference. Blue is a rather fast paced traditional eurobeat song
which is always good, seeing how the 150s have so far been. The song reminds me of the style Delta did a few decades
back with many of their titles. The song is still a breeze of fresh air as
it sounds like the eurobeat Delta used to do, and we haven't had too many
energetic songs from the label in the 150s. A rather repetitive song, but
I'll still give it a good grade due to the fact, that I love the sound of
basic eurobeat so much.
Rating : 8½
7.Van T.K. - Never Gimme Up (SCP)
What the hell is up with Van T.K. now? The time of the boybands is
long over, and I just can't really understand why SCP would put such
general pop out, when they have the talent to do energetic and actual
eurobeat as well. This song is very similar to the previous Van T.K.
song, in fact so much, that as the previous song didn't really stay in my
memory for a long time, I could now easily confuse these two songs anytime.
A big disappointment. Boring, slow, boybandish... Unfortunate, I want my
Kiki & Fancy back already.
Rating : 6
8.Go Go Girls - I Wanna Be Fat (A-Beat C)
Finally some action. I can't emphasize enough how much this song means to
me at the very moment. Eurobeat has been getting boring lately and when
there are such songs as this one, their value exponentially grows. This
song co-written by nobody else than Elena Gobbi herself is a nice
mixture of good old energetic Go Go Girls and new-wave sounds. It's
not too common these days anymore to get songs as catchy and irresistible
as this one is, and the whole lyrical concept about being fat and eating
is just hillarious and fits the mood of the Go Go Girls perfectly (My
Sweet Banana anyone?). The best effort from any label up to this point
in the 150s to do proper eurobeat. A round of applauds to Elena and
let's hope that she'll write more songs in the future.
Rating : 10+++
9.Franz Tornado - One Night With Bazooka Belly Dancers (HI-NRG
Attack)
HI-NRG Attack presented here with a song that was already featured on the
Baby Bazooka solo-album, why? Avex is still a mystery to the fans.
Like I said above about Vibration and HI-NRG Attack losing their
originality, it applies here as well. But at least in comparison to the
previous 3 songs on 153, this track has some distinct sound to it and of
course the extra vocals by Baby Bazooka work marvellously. A catchy,
energetic, speedy song. Like eurobeat should be, and when it's companied
by such song as the Queen 26 song, it just works much better than
it probably would on a more classic SEB.
Rating : 9-
10.Karen - She's The One (A-Beat C)
Karen is one of the long running girls on A-Beat C, and through out
the times she's been really respected for her vocalistic skills and
excellent songs, we all remember Hurricane right? Karen is
definitely one of the most distinctive vocalists in the whole eurobeat
scene and that really sets her apart from the other girlies. Her last
performance on SEB147 was a fun track, but this time we've got much more
of a jewel in our hands. Karen's vocals sound marvellous and the
song also works really nicely, the heavy use of traditional A-Beat C
sounds works perfectly.
Rating : 9
11.Nando - Toyboy (Delta)
When was the last time we heard a really energetic male performance from
Delta? Without going back to check, I can only remember Superbad
and that was quite a while ago... So it's about time that we get some
energy from the label and Mako does his best to put some feeling
into the song. The track sounds really like an old school Niko song
by the sounds, and that's not by any means a bad thing, the only thing I
would critize about the song is the chorus that seems to slow down the
pace a bit, and it feels a bit out of place in contrast to the energetic
verses and c-melody. Yet nice to see that Delta hasn't forgotten that they
can do fast music as well.
Rating : 8½
12.Za-Za - Wanna Be With You (Delta)
I've been missing our fair Za-Za for some time now, so it's good to
hear her back. The first thing that strikes is that it's not anymore the
same vocalist that Za-Za used to be, but Clara Moroni has
replaced the vocalist this time. Anyways, I am not 100% sure, but I have
this feeling that this song would've been in the Delta catalogue for quite
a long time, and the song also sounds like it would've been made in the
140s, as it has same kind of energy and style as Delta had back then. I
had occasional flashback to the awesome Pizza Girl song Bye Bye
Baby while listening to this song, and that's a huge compliment to the
track. Energetic, catchy and the kind of Delta I really have missed, in
fact, I'd go as far as calling this song excellent.
Rating : 9½
13.Symbol - Lonely Boy (Time)
Symbol has become a bit of a novelty hit due to their song
Forever Young which became a huge hit after being featured in Initial
D. I myself never really liked Forever Young, but it had to be
somewhat of a good song when it became as big as it did. Anyways, this
track follows a somewhat similar path, Valeo Simone is doing the
vocals and the same kind of beat as Forever Young is present here
as well. Lonely Boy sounds at first like a really mellow song that
doesn't seem to have any peaks up or down, but little by little it opened
up, and after a few replays it worked much better than it did at first. A
rather nice presentation from Time, and again, this is eurobeat, not like
*cough* 26.
Rating : 8+
14.Leslie Parrish - No Matter What (Delta)
Well as far as titles and expectations go, I was expecting this to be slow
and pretty, and by god did I get exactly what I ordered. Everytime the
chorus started playing I thought about Cherry's One Day Queen
(To Diana) as the song has such a similar sound to it. The track is a
bit too slow for my general taste, but it's also really pretty and
relaxing to listen to. I would've probably loved an another hit alongside
the Za-Za song, but this is also rather entertaining. The extra
guitars and the acoustic elements in the middle parts add in a nice peak
for the song.
Rating : 8
15.Nuage - Still Love (A-Beat C)
Well what would an album these days be without Nuage? Me and a few
other fans have started to get bored with the constant exposure she's
getting, as this and the previous song by her were already featured on her
solo album. So Avex could've at least presented something new or have an
another go at the King & Queen combo. Still Love was
originally featured in Avex's @music service, so it's been quite a while
already since I heard this song and I really did like it at first. The
song is a pretty similar song to I Really Wanna Be Your Magic, and
it has the same traits and flaws as the other Nuage songs: Too
similar to many of her other songs, not very longlasting fun and most of
all it suffers from heavy airplay. All the faults aside, the song is well
produced and really catchy to the ear.
Rating : 7½
16.Ace - My Valentine (SCP)
When Manuel first went slow, good mister Codenotti also
thought he couldn't be left far behind. So now it pretty much means that
all of the big male vocalists have gone from energetic to slow in the
blink of an eye, and I am not at all sure if this is what the fans long
for? I first of all have to admit that I was expecting this song to be
much worse than it actually turned out to be. Where as the Manuel
song was a bit tedious and didn't present his best vocalistic skills,
My Valentine works much better and Ace's vocals sound all
around great. The track has a solid beat to back up the slow melody, and I
have to say that even though I would've wanted an energetic song, I still
loved this one a lot. Actually this is the first Ace song on any of
the Super Eurobeat albums that I really liked. So it's great to hear him
present something original and different, yet he could do an another song
alongside Play The Music, hear my prayer. Either way, a brave move
that worked well.
Rating : 9+
17.Shiela - Na Na Na (The Best Time 4 Love) (Time)
So it's not Sheila after all? Is this yet an another typo from Avex,
or is the artist really supposed to be Shiela. Time seems to be
great due to the fact that they never seem to forget where they came from,
as this song is at the same time a flashback to the past, and something
new and fresh. I think the vocalist here is Elena Ferretti yet
again, and her vocals sound pretty nice this time. The track sounds like
the b-type songs in the late 100s, but for some reason it works now pretty
nicely, as this phase has been lost for some time, as there've been so
many experiements from all of the labels. Nothing phenomenal, but a fun
song to listen to.
Rating : 8-
18.Freddy Rodgers - Dance To The Music (A-Beat C)
So first we heard the offspring of HI-NRG Attack, and now the new
generation at A-Beat C strikes back. What's next?
Kiki & Fancy get a singing dog? This new kid is the son of the two
big names on A-Beat C: Dave Rodgers & Domino. So when you have two
musical parents, there are at least some expectations to the younger
generation as well. The song is a energetic male type of Eurobeat track
which works really nicely. I'm not sure if it's just me but I occasionally
thought there was Nuage backing him up in the vocals, and as
Freddy is only 13-years-old, his voice hasn't yet changed too much and
he sounds a lot like Jackson 5 in their early days. A rather
amusing scene, but I loved it at least. A nice way to end the album, and
let's hope that we'll hear more from this new kiddo in the future.
Rating : 9
Final Words :
I have a bit of a controversial feel to this album. I loved a lot of the
songs on it, as on one hand the album featured a lot of good old basic
eurobeat, but on the other hand it also had a lot of tracks that weren't
even close to eurobeat and were just bad. I loved the latter half of the
album a lot more than the beginning, and I do have to say that as Delta
hasn't been displaying their best in the 150s so far, this time they
present a few killer songs that reminded me why I used to love them a lot
in the past. Also A-Beat C presents some truly stunning material. SCP,
Vibration and HI-NRG Attack all have some punch to their songs, but I know
that the labels can do so much better as well.
As a whole, the album works much better than 153 did, but I still don't
really find this album as anything truly special. The tracks have a nice
variety, but I still had this general feeling of being discontent with it.
Either way Original Sin, I Wanna Be Fat, She's The One, Wanna Be With
You, My Valentine & Dance To The Music all worked magnificently, and I
hope that they'd really abandon this slow mood that many of the artists
seem to be presenting. A basic good eurobeat album, that's still miles
away from the excellency of the 140s.
Final Score : 8+
Reviewed by Bore
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