Super Eurobeat 174

1.Dave Rodgers - Make Up Your Mind (A-Beat C)
Okay, to kick off an album like this is really not the way to go... We've heard quite a few remakes lately and while most were at least sufficiently nice, something always seems to screw up the whole show. We all learned to love this song when it was performed under the Wain L title, yet this time the grandmaster takes the lead and tries to burst some energy and modern sounds to the song. I really agree with the majority (majority being the roaming crowd complaining at the forum) about the fact that Dave should not have sung this, but on the other hand I do give credit to the renewed sounds as they sound majorly wicked. Whenever I stop for a while to enjoy the sounds I get rudely awakened by the vocals which is disturbing to say the least. So to say it simply, I'm torn between two with this song. It's on the other hand nicely modernized, but then again performing it by a different vocalist just sounds too much. I'll actually withdraw from grading it as it's just too much of a mess in my ears. Figure it out for yourself.
Rating : N/A

2.Annalise - Day After Day (A-Beat C)
A-Beat C has been definitely giving Annerley a lot of space after she stepped back into the spotlight a year ago. Annalise has been featured on nearly every SEB after her comeback which indeed has been refreshing as I've mostly enjoyed her songs, but I have to say it's all starting to seem slightly repetitive _already_. I know I'm guilty of pointing fingers at various names that appear often on albums and while Annerley has been only around for a year again it seems like she's on every single album. Day After Day is a slightly different style for her, yet still in the good old safe format. Her vocals sound good as always, but the song is slightly suffering from the recent A-Beat C syndrome that lacks the punch and uniqueness most of their older materials had. The chorus is nice to the ear and the sounds are all right, but unfortunately that's about it. All about this song scream general to me after a while and that's what it is.
Rating : 7+

3.Time Force - Love Me In The Heat Of The Night (Time)
Another Time presentation, another song filled with the generic words in the title and lyrics. Yet this is not the very typical level for Time lately which is a really good thing. This song packs a mighty fine punch with the aggressive sounds and melody that work surprisingly well. Vocalwork isn't too impressive as they just can't give that same sort of energy into the song as the song otherwise offers. Vocals aside this song has very aggressive sounds, killer chorus and a very catchy mood over all. Nice Time presentation.
Rating : 8½

4.Ciao Ciao - Shadow In Your Smile (HI-NRG Attack)
I'll do a bit of quoting here (as a slight follow up to the previous SEB): "Maybe I've just grown to accept the fact that they won't offer any non-pitched female vocals for us"... What I said back on 172. And the label just had to prove me wrong right after and actually offer a song that is even less pitched than about anything we've heard from them in ages. This time the vocal work is just plain awesome and you can actually grab some unique sounds and styles from the vocalist. This may just be one of the most revolutionary HI-NRG Attack songs in a few years, the song is very unique by it's sounds, the vocals are just brilliant, the melody works perfectly and the song even doesn't seem to have their typical silly lyrical work included. Plain awesome, really would love to hear more of this kind of HI-NRG Attack.
Rating : 10+++

5.Mega NRG Man - Black Jack (A-Beat C)
Tomas struck back on the last volume with the awesome In The Sunrise and he's again here with more NRG to offer us. I am probably just dirtyminded but the title of the song reminds me of a something X-rated no matter how I think of it, and the lyrics just always boost up my weird mental images. Black Jack is a rather exemplary song from the male type of A-Beat C in all forms, it's nicely produced, good energy and great vocals but even with all the good sides it can't really stand out of the crowd as well as its predecessor. An all around nice song in the typical Tomas Martin level.
Rating : 8

6.Kelly T. - Take Me To Heaven (A-Beat C)
The newcomer on A-Beat C makes her 2nd appearence after her debut on 166. This time around she's been treated to a really aggressive song á la older Lolita or Virginelle. The first time around when I was listening to Take Me To Heaven I kept having flashbacks to the golden 120s decade with the awesome A-Beat C hits like Lucky Tango and could easily place this song during that era. The song features excellent sounds and a catchy chorus which are the main foundation to keep this song going strong. Kelly's vocals aren't maybe as strong or catchy as some of the longrunning veterans but she's showing good signs of becoming another recurring name on SEB with this song. Take Me To Heaven is an all around great example of how well A-Beat C can perform at their best, though I maybe would've loved it even more if Elena had sung it.
Rating : 9½

7.Phil & Linda - Into The Groove (Time)
A duet, nice, hunh? Or, maybe, not? Seriously what the F*** is up with this song.... It makes me feel so weird every time I hear it. Everything about the song sounds offkey to my ears, the vocals are really weird, the sounds feel totally out of the place and I can't really dig up any kind of a proper melody from under all of the chaos. Really really funky song, not sure at all what to think about it. A chaos is what I'll call it. Not my cup of pepsi.
Rating : 7- (?)

8.Candy Taylor - Sweet Sixteen Girl (Delta)
Delta's performances just keep on going steady with their newfound energy. Sweet Sixteen Girl sounded good to me even before I had even actually heard the song, I just for some reason was sure I'd be getting a great track this time around. The song is a synth lead faire with backgrounds that really give the spotlight for the vocals that are the most obvious hook the track has to offer. Nice production, good vocals and a catchy melody, all ingredients for a steady hit.
Rating : 8½

9.Christine Feat. El Latino - Viva La Noche (SCP)
Am I the only one who keeps constantly thinking this is actually a Kiki & Fancy song and not Christine at all? The vocals have such a striking resemblance to the dynamic duo who'd get featured by per say Goofy DJ. Well that aside this is a solid feelgood song that will make you smile and feel like dancing no matter what. This song represents the kind of SCP I love hearing the most: Happy, bouncy, catchy and simply addictive. The extra male vocals aren't very noticable at first but after a few replays you start to notice how they add a really nice spice to the track. Absolutely brilliant song that deserves to be on a lot of future compilations!
Rating : 10

10.Cherry - Please Forgive Me (Delta)
Welcome back Elton John. The piano melody in the beginning of the song has a striking resemblance to some of the acoustic tracks I've heard Elton perform and I for one don't really wanna combine Elton with eurobeat. This song is actually in general quite far from typical eurobeat. The song is very light all around with mostly the synth & piano combination pulling the weight and vocals work as an extra spice. A bit too airy for me I guess, what goes around and doesn't come around.
Rating : 6½

11.Jungle Bill - Caterpillar Man (HI-NRG Attack)
Producing great intros for songs seems to be very common lately as so many of the labels start off their tracks with catchy and unique styles. Caterpillar Man starts off with a cool intro that everytime makes me look forward to something special, too bad that doesn't apply to the rest of the song. The track has a very solid speed going on but it's hard to find a melody under all of the chaotic sounds and wacky lyrics. Not very memorable nor special in any way, nor is the track particularly bad either...
Rating : 7

12.Kasanova - You And Me Forever (Time)
More piano, did I ever say I was never a big fan of the acoustic piano? The song has that similar airy and dreamy athmosphere so many other Time songs have lately had that it's hard to come up with much new to say. The vocals are okay, the melody is actually pretty nice but in the end the sounds just drag the track down no matter what. It's all just too much of a Deja vu.
Rating : 7-

13.Paul Harris - Generation Of Love (Delta)
The past few Paul songs were catchy and very much born to be classics but nothing lasts forever. Generation Of Love can't keep up the level as the track returns the title back to the land of been there, done that. Okay sounds, okay vocals, okay melody, everything is ok! But OK is not what makes my engine purr so I'll settle with the number this album seems to be all about.
Rating : 7

14.Digital Planet - Today (A-Beat C)
Fly aaaaaawwaaaay, fly aaawaay from eaaar! More songs with similar lyrics, more songs with similar sounds, more Digital Planet. The fanboys of this A-Beat C title will most certainly be pleased by this all around solid presentation by Stefano Brandoni. I can't probably include myself into this crowd as no matter what I did I could not make myself like this song. The production is pretty nice, the vocals are as macho as always and macho is what I like, but it won't make the song work as much as I was hoping it to. Yet another 7.
Rating : 7

15.Helena - Melodies Of Love 2007 (Time)
Why oh why make a remake of a song like this, my heart cries and my ears bleed. I disliked the original song, I disliked the acoustic remake on 129 more and I dislike this even more. Time has so much good stuff to make remakes of, Melodies Of Love deserves to get shot in the street really. I declare this as the worst remake ever due to the original being horrible enough already. And the new sounds and vocals just don't do anything to me other than irritation.
Rating : 4½

16.Fastway - Rockin' Hardcore (SCP)
Every single time I started listening to this track I could feel my feet starting to stomp the ground helplessly, and that my fellow eurobeaters is a good sign. It's all about Fastway in this song, energy, masculinity and action. The kind of material he has been giving us for so long now. Rockin' Hardcore is a typical example of his career so far and it will surely please anyone who liked anything by him I guess. In all its simplicity it's just eurobeat like it should be: FASTway.
Rating : 9½

17.Nuage - Give Me A Sign (A-Beat C)
The beautiful Denise is here yet again and this time she's back to her good old midtempo eurobeat that made her a household eurobeat name. The track follows the wellworking formula and does that with good style. The vocals sound really pleasant to the ear and especially the chorus will keep you hooked on. Not an instant hit like some of her songs but after a few replays the song started to sound really nice and catchy. Time for a 2nd Nuage album soon?
Rating : 9

18.Powerful T. - Into The Daylight (A-Beat C)
Powerful T. is back with vengeance. His steady style doesn't seem to stagger one bit which can both be a good and a bad thing. For the fans of this kind of masculine "ID" eurobeat this track is surely a hit, but us girlygirl lovers it might not be the best news. The sounds offer a nice variety when there's a lot of fading in and out used to clearly separate the different parts of the track but it also sounds a bit like the track loses a bit of its edge on these 'downtimes'. Not really anything groundbreaking but either way it's a pretty nice song to listen to.
Rating : 7½

Final Words :
After the great 3 albums at the start of this decade the level goes clearly down with this album. The album is all around very generic stuff that just doesn't stand out in any way and can't leave a mark in the eurobeat hall of fame. The few big hits the album has are absolutely brilliant but in comparison to the earlier albums this album just doesn't have anything at all to say. The bonus disc on this SEB still makes the album worth of getting with 10 classics featured in extended format. I especially was pleased to see Dr's Girl back even with just an extended version of one of her old hits. Also maybe this Volume 1 promises us with some of those longlost extendeds we never heard. I demand Terry Gordon - Boomerang!

Final Score : 7

The Best 3 Songs

- Ciao Ciao - Shadow In Your Smile
- Christine Feat. Elvis El Latino - Viva La Noche
- Kelly T. - Take Me To Heaven

The Worst 3 songs

- Helena - Melodies Of Love 2007
- Helena - Melodies Of Love 2007
- Helena - Melodies Of Love 2007

Honorable Mention

- Fastway - Rockin' Hardcore

Reviewed by Bore