Super Eurobeat 184

1.Mark Astley - Super Rider (Delta)
Time for a new eurobeat show to begin. Delta heats the engine with yet an another race themed track. The previous Mark Astley song was rather popular among the fans so it's nice to hear more perfromances under the title. Super Rider kicks off with a simple yet excellent intro which is probably the reason why this particular song was selected as the album opener. The song is fairly simple Delta material, good sounds, good vocals, good melody, pretty much everything is good, to an extent where the song just doesn't quite manage to live up to its precedor. The problem with the song is that after quite a bit of airplay it started to feel like too much of a 'been there, done that'. But as said before, it's good, not bad.
Rating : 8½

2.Mike West - Wild Night (Time)
Manly power keeps the show flowing when Time presents us with a nicely strong performance. I'm still not the biggest fan of Gambogi's vocals as there's just generally not enough vocal range differences in them when compared to many of the other male vocalists around. Wild Night suffers from this previously mentioned problem in my ears, while the song is catchy and I like the melody a lot, it's the vocals that create the biggest problem for me. Most of the time it seems like there's just one note that he is singing all through the song. The chorus earns bonus points for being very catchy and nice to sing along to, a steady basic Time performance.
Rating : 8

3.Jeff Driller - Spin Spin Baby (HI-NRG Attack)
HI-NRG Attack keep going their own way and they rarely stray from the path, both in good and bad. Spin Spin Baby is exactly what you can expect to hear from the label, it's speedy, wacky, energetic and features all the sounds and effects we've heard in the past as well. So you probably know in advance if you'll enjoy this song or not. For us who walk the path in the middle just have to figure out whether the song has enough edge to rise up the crowds, in my opinion it just doesn't. More general-nice-level material sadly.
Rating : 7½

4.King & Queen - Come On Up (A-Beat C)
The fun from A-Beat C productions has been missing for quite a while now, where are the feel good songs that Go Go Girls, Lolita, Domino & the other classic titles used to push forward on a regular basis? May the reason be whatever, it's really refreshing to hear finally some more upbeat and happy material from the label. Come On Up feels like a mental follow-up for the one album hit Wake Me Up from 145 as the track has a similar feel to it on many levels. Annerley is handling the vocals with a much livelier style and it's basically what makes the song feel so enjoyable. The preview for Come On Up sounded really good and even after hearing the full song I agreed, to some extent. The song is a nice step forward from the shadows but it's not quite the jackpot I was hoping for, I can't give a good reason what's missing, but it's just not quite 'ready' yet.
Rating : 9-

5.Nuage - Everybody Shake (A-Beat C)
Nuage's usual style is widely recognized as rather unique and easily recognizable, but it's the times when she pushes forward an energetic performance when her true edge shows. Let's Go Dee Jay has remained in history as one of my favorite Nuage performances due to the upbeat style and energy that Denise obviously has to offer. Everybody Shake is finally a fast track that fits her perfectly as the slower verses could easily be a part of the usual trendy style, but the chorus on the other hand builds up more energy that makes the song shine. The track has a really funky sounding synth that at first felt slightly odd, but by time I grew to love it and it especially makes the song sound really memorable. One of the better Nuage songs in quite a while definitely.
Rating : 9½

6.Pamsy - My Sweet Forever (SCP)
Lately the edge that Pamsy's productions usually have had, has been slowly crumbling. I'm not sure if the songs just got worse or has time treated her style roughly. My Sweet Forever is more of the smooth and stylish SCP that stands out from the usual eurobeat easily. The question mostly is, how long can she keep pushing forward material that feels so similar and even slightly repetitive? I'm already getting a slight feeling like I got when Nuage's repetitive style started to feel boring. I can't really give out any bad points about the song, nor can I mention all that many unique aspects either, which is probably why this song just feels like one of the B-sides. Good vocal work, nice sounds and all that, but just not memorable enough. Props for using more acoustic instruments again.
Rating : 7+

7.Alexis - Just A Game 2008 (Time)
As people already pointed out, recycling a previously used intro for this song is just lame. This song is truly a eurobeat legend and it's sad to see how it went through such a horrible reform. The sounds feel like they would have been cloned from the earlier remakes and it feels like there's not one single point about the song that would've been thought thoroughly. Elena's vocals sound as steady as always but they can't really save the day when the track has suffered such injustice from Time's producers.
Rating : 6

8.Jay Lehr - Imagine (SCP)
Finding the right words to describe the style Jay Lehr's doing is slightly complex, in my own head I sort of made him to be the male equivalent for Pamsy. The track features air-like, light and soothing sounds that were a trademark for Pamsy in the beginning. Imagine is those exact words: light & soothing. If you enjoyed his previous performances then I'm quite sure you'll be at home with this song, the song has a slightly hybrid kind of feel to it, as I could easily imagine hearing this kind of music in the trendy european pop circles as well. I feel the song is pretty nice over all, but it just doesn't have enough merits to be as much of a hit as I'm Alive had.
Rating : 8-

9.Nikita Jr. - Happy Snappy Valentine (HI-NRG Attack)
Who let Betty Boop into the house... HRG has had pitched and weird sounding vocals in the past as well, but this is just something way off. I've generally loved all of the releases under Nikita Jr. title, so I had a hard time categorizing this track since it just felt so wrong on many levels. The melody is rather catchy and the chorus is fun in a weird way, but the sounds and vocals are too off-key in my ears. I would probably take this song through a full make-over since it has a good basis, but it feels unfinished, even slightly amateurish.
Rating : 7+

10.Annie - No Borders (Time)
Annie has been a Time vocalist who I have given credit as being the most memorable and solid performer, No Borders backs this statement up yet again. The nice synth lines strike a great base to build the rest of the song on. Vocals are efficient and the chorus is what makes the song stick at the back of your head and you'll surely notice humming 'Noooo boooooordeeeeers noooow, you and I' unconsciously. A good song that could have used some extra edge through more memorable instruments and brave compositional decisions.
Rating : 9-

11.Ester - Never Gonna Give Up (Go Go's Music)
It's perfectly justified to be getting GGM on every album at least once since their performances don't seem to lack inspiration at all. Ester makes a come back after nearly a year of absence with a very strong track to keep the Go Go's flag high. Never Gonna Give Up is a song á la good old Domino & Lolita style. It's fun, catchy and features a really irresistible and different kind of synth that is definitely my favorite part about the song. I'd dare and go state that this track will be a definite Best Of '08 material since it's just so different and well produced. Females are fortunately taking a foot hold on this album!
Rating : 9½

12.Ace Warrior - White Love (A-Beat C)
If in the past Ace Warrior meant energy and aggression, it seems like he has gotten old or just fallen in love. White Love is a song that sounds like most of the Dave & Nuage songs have been in the recent past. Very easy going and light sounds that are spiced up with rather unnoticable guitars here and there. The whole problem with the song is that it just doesn't sound well thought at all. I would classify this track as truly the worst performance by Ace Warrior, a shame, but the only way is up (no, don't say it can get even worse, please).
Rating : 5½

13.Annalise - Valentino's Day (A-Beat C)
So I guess Valentine's day is really incoming with more songs featuring this sort of a theme. If Happy Snappy Valentine was plain odd, Valentino's Day is fortunately (hah), a more traditional kind of production. The intro always reminds me of Eurobeat Disney as it has a strong stench of that era. I can't really point out that much difference about this song when compared to the previous releases since it just feels like a monotonous train of thought, unimpressive melody is where it all springs from.
Rating : 5

14.Money Man - Love For Money 2008 (Time)
2 remakes on an album alone is just too much, I've been criticizing about even having that one on every album. Love For Money 2008 is a steady Time remake that doesn't bow down too much or change the original song's structure about at all. The nicely strong beat at the background keeps the song flowing with a good pace, it's slightly odd how the synths have taken a secondary role on this song as the vocals are on the frontstage so much that only in the c-melody you can really hear how striking they sound. Yet more okay level material, but it's a shame that this track had already been released previously.
Rating : 8-

15.Daniel - Full Metal Cars (Delta)
The infamous clip on Delta's myspace sounded funky so I had my hopes up for this song in particular, and they weren't in vain. Daniel's sexy vocal work is again taking the lead role on this truly memorable production. Energy is flowing with such a snappy style it's plain irresistible. The chorus and the c-melody create a patchless duo that rises as the true highlight for the song, but the verses don't get left too much behind either. All around well thought eurobeat that just enforces Daniel's spot as the real shining new comer in the eurobeat world.
Rating : 9½

16.Cherry - Yes I Will (Delta)
Drawing inspiration out of the pop culture is probably very logical even in the eurobeat world, but it's not very common to draw 2 dots together so easily as with this case. As people already stated on the forum before me, this song feels like a direct follow up to Pink's U + Ur Hand. The song has so many similar elements it's slightly baffling, when I listened to the song for the first time I kept unconsciously singing to the vocals from the Pink song and got disturbed when they didn't go like that in this song in the end. I was quite certain that after the previous awesome Cherry performances this song would start a downhill as the title sounded boring, but I was so wrong. The track has all the energy and power that Set Me Free & Rain had, even slightly more on some points. Clara's vocals really complete this song as it's again perfectly balanced eurobeat.
Rating : 10

17.Mega NRG Man - Let It Go (A-Beat C)
Something feels wrong here, the familiar Mega NRG Man elements are all present, but there's a small dose of Lolita in the mix as well. The first few times I kept listening to this song I kept getting flashbacks to a few different performances by Elena Gobbi, the c-melody sounds like a rip-off of some song I can't place my finger at. If we strip out the c-melody off the song it leaves us with a generic Mega NRG Man song that works on the usual style, but it can't quite leave a huge impression either. Not much to say, move along.
Rating : 7½

18.The Snake - Speed Of Light (SCP)
More new vocalists in the eurobeat world are always welcome, especially when they present something slightly different from the general norm. SCP's masculinity has been tied to a few individuals so far, so it's nice to hear a new strong performer that has a good start with Speed Of Light. The song fits the category of aggressive eurobeat perfectly as there's electric guitars, strong beat, masculine vocals and a butch artist title included. A nice way to end the album at the top, a good song but can still improve with more work.
Rating : 9

Final Words :
I was rather neutral towards this album for quite a while. Most of the songs are rather nice but there aren't exactly all that many highlights nor lowpoints. Cherry, Daniel, Ester & Nuage present the best this album has to offer, but only the Cherry song feels like it can become a longlasting favorite. Over all I'm pretty satisfied with the album, most of the general good level songs usually by time grow on me more and in a year from now I'll probably be listening to many of the songs still. Again a complaint or two to the constant remake flow from Time, maybe on next album we could get 3 remakes? Hope not...

Final Score : 8-

The Best 3 songs

- Cherry - Yes I will
- Nuage - Everybody Shake
- Ester - Never Gonna Give Up

The Worst 3 Songs

- Annalise - Valentino's Day
- Ace Warrior - White Love
- Alexis - Just A Game 2008

Honorable Mention

- Daniel - Full Metal Cars

Labels present on the album:

A-Beat C: 5
Delta: 3
Go Go's Music: 1
HI-NRG Attack: 2
SCP: 3
Time: 4

Reviewed by Bore