Super Eurobeat 157

1.Lolita - My Heart Burns Like A Fire (A-Beat C)
Many eurobeat fans already are familiar to this song as Vivace presented their J-Euro version of the same song on JGTC 2004 2nd Round, and it was a mighty fine song even back then but Elena Gobbi brings even more energy into the great song. The track starts with a beautiful intro (although identical to the Vivace version, but none the less) and carries on with energetic melody and Elena's great vocals that give a last punch to the song that the original japanese version missed. A killer chorus in combination with basic good eurobeat sounds works marvellously like Lolita always does.
Rating : 9½

2.Mega NRG Man - Supertonic Lady (A-Beat C)
One of the anticipated songs due to its appereance on Initial D, but is the song any good? If you ask any Initial D fan, they'll say yes, if you ask a random eurobeat listener you'll also get a yes. The song starts off plain marvellously as the energetic melody kicks in and Tomas Martin's punchy vocals give the song some kick-ass edge. Chorus and the perfect c-melody are the best parts for this song, the nice female background vocals add a nice flava to the c-melody in particular. To put it simply : basic eurobeat at its best.
Rating : 10

3.Cherry - She's All Right (Delta)
Clara Moroni is the name that appears on practically every album these days as most of the other Delta vocalists are only in minor roles. If you've heard many of the previous Delta girly songs you can just imagine how this song is, and it came to me as a bit of a surprise as Cherry generally gets the better songs and the other titles the b-type songs, this time it's the other way around. The track is just plain soul-less, there's nothing really going on and it just flows on like the music in elevators. Boring and kinda sad in a way.
Rating : 6

4.Mr. M - No Reason To Cry (Time)
I have to admit that Time has lately been getting a fairly big amount of great songs and I am not sure at all what's behind it. When this track started for the first time I got a Deja Vu feeling and without looking at the artist I thought that it's A-Beat C going on. The intro is a bit distractive as the song does go back a bit to the general Time style but the song is still on a rather high level. The vocals sound rather seductive and I could think of some old blues singer doing this in a foggy bar and that's a first image for any eurobeat song through out the years. So the song has the similar Time style but it's also very distinctive in some ways. Rather striking but nothing ground breaking.
Rating : 8+

5.Nuage - Let's Go Dee Jay (A-Beat C)
Then we have the name that nobody can avoid these days in the eurobeat world and I definitely hope nobody misses this song. Nuage is back after getting her solo-album songs played all around and she carries on with her incredible level. This song starts off with the best intro in ages and when Denise's great vocals start flowing in you'll be definitely pulled in. The song features a very variable soundworld with excellent vinyl scratchings and plain terrific tricks with the synths. The vocals work just magnificently and the chorus is irresistible. I've probably said this before and I'll say it again: Nuage never seizes to amaze me, an all around perfect song on all levels and a definite pick for the Best Of 2005.
Rating : 10+++

6.Leslie Parrish - Falling Free (Delta)
Cherry had a boring song already and the other big girl name from the same label follows the same footpaths, oh what's happening to Delta? Okay rewind back a bit, where as Cherry was plain boring, this song at least has some life in it, but it's kind of transparent at the same time. The verses and c-melody sound nice and at some points even really good, but what stinks here is the chorus... The chorus sounds really out of place as the vocals just go on and have no peaks what so ever. The song moves at a rather calm pace which suits Leslie but I still critize their lack of imagination.
Rating : 7+

7.J. Storm - Vision Of Paradise (A-Beat C)
The name that surprised many by appearing a while ago with Shout is back to bring more energetic male energy to eurobeat listeners around the world. If Shout was catchy then this song brings an even more punching melody for the fans to adore. The typical J. Storm attitude is here and you can probably confuse the song with some of the other tracks he has done, but it doesn't really matter when the level is generally so high. The c-melody is the definite peak for the album and if you won't like the song at the first time, give it a few gos and you'll probably start noticing the different nice aspects about it.
Rating : 8½

8.Elisa - The Way You Love Me (Vibration)
Vibration often puzzles me. Who are all the people, why don't they get any of the publicity the other labels get, why don't we know any of their female vocalists and many other questions still remain in my mind. And the reason for the questions mostly is due to the fact that the label has their unique touch and they stick out from the albums time after time with their one song. They're here now with Elisa who did the plain terrific cover of Poison back on VIP3. The Way You Love Me starts off rather calm but starts speeding up to the general Vibration speed which is always good. The sounds and vocals sound simple yet good, I couldn't really point anything specifically bad or specifically good about the song but I still loved listening to it. A good general Vibration song I guess.
Rating : 8+

9.Priscilla - I Don't Wanna Stop (Delta)
Priscilla is one of the longer running titles on Delta, yet I can't really point out very many tracks by the title which kinda means that the name hasn't managed to amaze me that much. I have this general image of Priscilla in my head as nice Delta-girl title that is fun for a while but gets repetitive after a while. I Don't Wanna Stop starts off rather calmly and flows on sounding plain nice, no real highlights or bad lows on it. A song that fits my image of Priscilla perfectly, nothing special but fun for a while.
Rating : 7½

10.Boogaboo - Bugabuga Chew Chew (HI-NRG Attack)
HI-NRG Attack has been lately very variable by their level. Boogaboo is definitely best remembered by the hit song Beast Girl which still after years works perfectly. The similar energetic mood is naturally here and we get back to the crazy HI-NRG Attack time we got used to during Euromach. The song is fast, has lyrics that make no sense what so ever, has trains in the background going choo-choo and is fun to dance to. It's like a flash back to the past! This song is just like made for Euromach, now it reminds me of the good times and also gives me a very nostalgic feeling. I can't help but love the song even though the chorus does get kinda annoying after a while, but just Believe In Eurobeat!
Rating : 9

11.Overload - Terminator (Time)
A song titled Terminator will definitely rise the expectations for any fan. So I'd suspect that a lot of people will get disappointed with this song. The song starts off with heavy guitars playing in the background and sounding very good but surprisingly when the chorus begins the guitars get pulled onto the background and vocals take control. That's when the song goes totally wrong... the chorus sounds boring and the vocals don't add any kind of edge to the song. The song works pretty nicely on every other field than the chorus, but as that's supposed to be the best part of the song in general, I was pretty disappointed. Time can do better.
Rating : 7

12.Delta Queens - Satisfaction (Delta)
What happened to songs like My Bandido, Dance Around The World or Energy Love? They appeared on multiple albums and became memorable. What will happen to Satisfaction? It will probably appear on max 1 album after this and will be forgotten very fast. Why? Delta stopped putting spirit into their song. And the spirit in eurobeat generally means speed and energetic vocals. Satisfaction doesn't work, period.
Rating : 6

13.Casanova - The Hero (Delta)
Maurizio on an album generally means energy and a highlight for many eurobeat listeners. The Hero will be just a song on Super Eurobeat 157 that many people will skip to hear the better songs. The song follows the same style as Satisfaction, although The Hero sounds slightly better and could actually awake some interest to some listeners. But I'm terribly disappointed again.
Rating : 7-

14.Lisa Lion - Wonderful Feelin' (SCP)
What's the trend lately when SCP always seems to appear mostly at the latter end of the album. Well the position of their songs doesn't really matter, and I'll start this song review by saying : WOW. Lisa appeared a while ago with Lionheart that divided the listeners pretty much, but I suspect that this song is definitely gonna be a big hit. The song starts off with just perfect energy and Lisa's vocals are absolutely breathtaking. The song reminds me of A-Beat C males as it has a similar heavy mood to it and especially the perfect c-melody will please many. The song works on oh so many levels and I can say that I wasn't even expecting to get something this effective, thank you once again SCP.
Rating : 10+++

15.Freddy R. - R U Ready (A-Beat C)
The younger generation of eurobeat is coming and nothing can stop them, so R U Ready? We got the first Freddy song just a while ago and now he's back to make us dance even more. If you were waiting for a song similar to Dance To The Music you'll be in for a surprise. The song has a much heavier tone to it and it reminds a lot of Mega NRG Man. The vocals at first sound kind of ridiculous as it sounds like Federico would be forced to sing and he just doesn't sound at all natural. After a while the vocals stopped bugging me and I grew to like them. A pretty striking song and I can already imagine many people loving it, but also many people complaining about his immature sound.
Rating : 9+

16.Helena - Melodies And Rain (Time)
If people discuss about the different titles that Elena Ferretti has done, it's Helena that mostly appears as the favorite one. Songs like Lonely Night and Ez Do Dance worked just perfectly and I wasn't even preparing for something as big so my general level of expectations pretty much worked here. The song sounds exactly like I could've expected, the speed is just what I thought and the chorus is also what I thought it'd be. So in short: Time.
Rating : 7

17.Dusty - Midnight Lover (SCP)
The 2nd Initial D song to appear on this one album... And what do you know? They actually managed to pick  two great songs to the series this time. We already know that Ennio Zanini doesn't do bad songs, so this song is pretty much like I thought it'd be. Energetic with the typical SCP touch to it. The sounds are variable but you can easily notice similarities to other SCP tracks which doesn't matter much as SCP isn't moving on a similar level to Time.
Rating : 9+

18.Sticky Tricky & Bang - Sticky Tricky & Bang! (SCP)
The weird title that had people guessing what it'd be like. I was expecting for something explosive and fast paced, so this time I was very very surprised. The song reminds me of the bubbly Kiki & Fancy style, just not as hyper. The vocalists seem to be kids, which just fits the forthcoming of the new generation. I could imagine them being the children of some of the eurobeat masters. Or even possibly the real Kiki & Fancy vocals that aren't pitched up? Who knows, but the song is very happy and bubbly, so if you enjoy a fun time you'll also probably like the track. The song doesn't slow at all and is definitely distinctive from the general masses of eurobeat. A good way to end the album.
Rating : 9+

Final Words :
Super Eurobeat carries on with the general level that I've gotten sort of used to already. This album is packed full of both great and both bad songs. The definite highlights are Lolita, Mega NRG Man, Nuage & Lisa Lion. These songs worked just marvellously, plus in addition there were a lot of good songs that I liked a lot. In contrast there was a really crappy level as well, and I have to say it was Delta this time that really blew it. Their 5 songs were all pretty bad in contrast to the level the label used to have. I have had a feeling lately that Andrea Leonardi wouldn't be participating in the productions that much and the slow-pace has been becoming their trademark. The other labels tried going slow, but they started going back to the typical fast level that most eurobeat fans adore. Now all I really wish is that Delta went back to their brilliant style that they had for oh so many decades of Super Eurobeat. Bring back Pizza Girl!
Anyways to sum the album in general. SCP and A-Beat C did magnificent, their songs were all on the better end. The minority labels Vibration & HI-NRG Attack did nicely and Time did alright, nothing horrible but nothing memorable either. A merge of a few of the eurobeat labels around would probably be a good idea as they all have so much talent and when they combine their talents, that's exactly when we get true jewels. I'm still hoping that this slow-period on Delta is just a transition phase and they'll eventually go back to producing what they do so well. Energy Love!

Final Score : 8½

Reviewed by Bore