Super Eurobeat 168

1.Asya - A Love At First Sight (Asia/Boom Boom Beat)
Quite a surprising start for the album, a song that doesn't perfectly with the SEB crowd, but is a great album opener with a giddy mood and fast pace. Energetic Saifam speed is present and the girly type bubbliness is present to the maximum. A very effective feel good song that will please half of the eurobeat fans, where as the rest will just end up skipping it due to the highpitched vocals and happy sounds. Works for me either way.
Rating : 9½

2.Lolita - I Wanna Take You Up (A-Beat C)
Wow, this is what I've been waiting for quite a while now... Lolita has been my favorite for so long, but her last performances haven't really been up to the usual level, so it's really about time to get an action packed thrill ride like I Wanna Take You Up. The track is a typical Elena Gobbi faire with happy mood and effective general eurobeat sounds, yet this time around an old classic was used to create an extra edge for the song... Valentina & Mirka - Shake Me Up is a classic many of us still love, and a melody clip from that song is used in this track very effectively which creates a great hook into the chorus. Finally a Lolita song that competes with her previous masterpieces in the late 130s and 140s.
Rating : 10+

3.The Factory Team - Little Don (Asia/Boom Boom Beat)
I really am already getting bored with the Saifam male style we've been getting for only 8 albums, doesn't really promise much for me if they keep having the same amount of songs per album as they've so far had. I remember being excited about getting 3B on SEB when 160s started, but I'm slowly starting to feel that they should at least get the similar minority role as HI-NRG Attack has or just be removed. The tracks just sound too repetitive and start to get on my nerves really fast for some reason, or they could just do more female type tracks like Asya. Either way, Little Don is a HI-NRG Attack-esque boring faire with a russian kinda theme, not much to say, other than the song got on my nerves from the first time I heard it...
Rating : 6-

4.Go 2 - Let It Burn (SCP)
Well quite frankly after the previous slowed down Go 2 song I was expecting them to get better, but well sadly that didn't really happen... Let It Burn might be a rather good example of when a great label produces a track with the exact same ingredients over and over. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike the song totally, but I am just really disappointed how the track turned out: It's way similar to the previous aggressive Go 2 tracks, but without the catchy edge or something unique in it. The first Go 2 track that I really rather would skip instead of listen to it over and over. Either way, if you're an ID fan boy or just a fan of male type eurobeat then this is probably your pick.
Rating : 6-

5.Helena - Lonely Night 2006 (Time)
Helena's Lonely Night would probably be one of my all time Time favorites so I was rather thrilled to hear a remake of it, until I actually heard it... The old energy is no where to be found, the melody is some how hidden with all the new "modern" elements and weird tricks. The great vocals are still present and some sort of edge from the original is still present, but the track just completely spoils the old classic as it is. A really hideous performance that I really would be happier without having. The track still gets a "relatively" high grade due to it being a classic and me being a huge Lonely Night fan boy.
Rating : 6½

6.Nuage - I Love You Forever (A-Beat C)
Tables are turning... When Lolita makes a comeback with a powerful track the current eurobeat fan community favorite Nuage goes deeper down with a track that just doesn't stand a chance with her previous masterpieces. The track starts off with a great intro and marvellous sounds, the clear highlight for the song (+ c-melody), but after that the song just goes faster down hill. The verses and chorus just sound boring without not much of a edge and Denise herself sounds rather bored while singing this testimony of love, not really suitable to my ears.
Rating : 7-

7.Phil - Crazy & Ready (Time)
A Time song that sounds like a Time song and also not like a Time song, guess that's progress. This track doesn't really have a lot of eurobeat elements in it for some reason and it sounds more like generic pop with a hint of R&B in it. Some hip US musicians might enjoy this track as it has this rather special feel to it, but I just couldn't listen to this song for more than a few times as it just got under my skin right away. Not on the right album surely.
Rating : 5-

8.Cherry - Stop Teasing My Heart (Delta)
Really great to see this title picking up, Stop Teasing My Heart is a great follow up to Cherry's great track on 166. This time around we get a rather fast paced modern eurobeat song with a strong Clara Moroni scent to it. Bouncy, happy and catchy, just the way we want our Cherry tracks to be. Nothing really spectacular or out of the generic form, but just well produced eurobeat.
Rating : 9-

9.Neo - Eurohero (A-Beat C)
This title is just keeping it going fast and energetic, won't probably be long until he does a Manuel end does a crappy ballad and goes even further down hill after that. Eurohero for once is a fastpaced energy pack, exactly what one could expect to hear from Neo. The song is good and well done, but just doesn't compete with his better releases which ain't a totally bad thing considering the previous tracks being really fantastic. Either way a nice track especially with this album's general level.
Rating : 9

10.Mr. M - Be The One (Time)
Time. More Time. No more Time. Please. Maybe one more Time.
Rating : 5-

11.Leslie Parrish - This Love (Delta)
What I've been wondering generally with eurobeat lately does not only concern this song but just a general notice: We're going down hill.... For some reason less and less albums strike as really good and even less songs manage to really make me thrilled these days, and even in the end they end up getting boring after a while which ain't a good sign (when compared to many of the classics from 90's era that are still sounding fecking marvellous). Well This Love is a boring love song with a medium pace and absolutely no extra edge to it. Nice vocals and okay chorus, but not a song people will remember for long.
Rating : 6

12.Nick Key - Black Is The Night (A-Beat C)
Nick Key is back with more quality for the masses, but at some costs. The song is the same old energetic male A-Beat C product, if you already admit being a fan of this type of eurobeat then you'll love this, if not, you might as well skip it. Well produced Mega NRG Man/Dave Rodgers stuff without any huge surprises to it. I'm getting somewhat bored with this constant looping of similar styles, but I still ended up liking this song quite much. Let's hope they'll do something new for a change.
Rating : 8½

13.Black Eva - Over The Rainbow (HI-NRG Attack)
An excellet Kylie Minogue-ish intro turns into the every day HI-NRG Attack track way too fast. I could've listened to the intro for way longer when the hyped, annoying vocals make a come back and the "good old" chimes are also there. I know the label can produce catchy and fun female tracks but this time around Black Eva just ended up sounding annoying, period.
Rating : 6½

14.Nick Mansell - Hurricane (SCP)
If you read what I wrote about Nick Key then you can somewhat apply the same rules to Hurricane. Though not to the same extent as Nick Mansell is a tad more variable artis and SCP doesn't have that many men that they could loop with similar styles either. Electric guitars, rough edges and great male vocals are the basis on which this track is built on. I'd assume this being a rather big hit and loved by fans all around as it does have that "something" most tracks miss out, yet not really my exact favorite on the album, but still a good track.
Rating : 9

15.Melissa White & Ace - Switch! (SCP)
I never really thought this duo was the best one SCP could offer as the voices just don't really fit together as well as they should (just me I guess, seeing many others have loved the Melissa & Ace duets). Either way, Switch! is a really interesting song that borderlines between fast and mediumpaced eurobeat. Fun and original sounds give this track a nice edge but it just doesn't really strike out as a huge hit to my ears in the end. A good track on this album, but not a song I'll remember for long. Yet this is the best Melissa White & Ace duet so far clearly.
Rating : 8½

16.Digital Planet - Take Me Forever (A-Beat C)
With this male dominant album (at least quality wise it's male dominant) I was getting rather fed up in the end with yet more males doing the same thing over and over. I am not sure how much I would've valued this track of per say Nick Key if they were put on some other album with not so many aggressive male tracks around, but this time around I felt this was the weakest link of this kind of stuff. Not a bad song but just doesn't really have the spirit that per say Eurohero & Hurricane got. Nice extra female vocals give this track a plus, wish they used female background vocalists more commonly (so that you can actually hear them).
Rating : 8-

17.Mad Cow And The Royal Eurobeat Orchestra Of Bazookistan - Vodka (HI-NRG Attack)
Not sure if I'm getting old, but the HI-NRG Attack style is getting more and more irritating little by little (or maybe they just choose the annoying ones for SEBs all of a sudden). Vodka is yet an another follow up to this Russian theme I never really liked to begin with, so definitely the reason why I'm at least not liking this track. Fun lyrics, annoying sounds, okay vocals... Not much I could really do to avoid the annoyance this song managed to light up in me.
Rating : 6

18.Christine - Rain (SCP)
Well it's nice to see that SCP females are getting a bit more foothold on the albums for a change. Yeah! was a nice track and Rain follows up on the catchy style we've learnt to hear from Christine. Calm and rather harmonic just like her SEB debut song Me, Myself & I was. Maybe her asian theme is getting a bit too used by now, but for now it still functions rather nicely. A good album ender that should really brighten up the day of many eurobeat listeners.
Rating : 9+

Final Words :
The tracklisting didn't seem that thrilling this time around and for once it also ended up being rather close to what I had expected. The album really only offers a few true gems that I ended up loving but at the other end there's a ton of crap tracks that I just didn't like one bit. This is probably one of the first albums in ages that I really wouldn't wanna invest about any money on at all. The few great tracks just don't make up for the crappiness the album otherwise offers.

Final Score : 6½

The Best 3 Songs

- Lolita - I Wanna Take You Up
- Asya - A Love At First Sight
- Christine - Rain

The Worst 3 songs

- Mr. M - Be The One
- Phil - Crazy & Ready
- The Factory Team - Little Don

Honorable Mention

- Nick Mansell - Hurricane

Reviewed by Bore