Super Eurobeat 191

1.Lolita - Hurry Up Hurry Up (Go Go's Music)
The new decade starts off with who else than the queen of eurobeat Lolita. Her rare appereances the past few years have been easy on the ear and she hasn't had much chances to really let loose. Hurry Up Hurry Up is a good time to get slightly chirpier and sing about happy things. The track opens the album up with such a good mood it's easily contagious. What is slightly odd about the song is how the tension is tightly built around the verses and bridge, but the chorus on the other hand just falls down and can't generate enough threat to keep the pace up. But fortunately the verses and c-melody are simply irresistible, so they make up for the flaws the chorus has. Vocals are as excellent as always and especially every time the Boom Boom Boom Shakalaboom is repeated I find myself feeling all tingly and jumpy inside. Not an instant hit but definitely a step up from Goodnight Kiss, and a nice way to start a driving themed album.
Rating : 9-

2.Babby One - Manga Super Robot (HI-NRG Attack)
After some airplay for the SEB190 DVD it comes as a slight disappointment that we're treated to more "old" material. Manga Super Robot is a track that reminds me of oh so many other HRG performances and sadly it ain't for the song's best. A good chorus, the extra female vocals and some nice chimes here and there are the only good things I can say about the track, the rest just falls down and remains in my x-box that won't be opened up anytime soon. Not quite the continuation I wanted for the album.
Rating : 6½

3.Leo River - Runaway (Go Go's Music)
About time to have 2 Go Go's Music songs on SEB after the 180s. Leo River is a new vocalist from the label and is definitely bound to be a rising comet if Runaway is the direction. Vocal work is stunningly catchy as Leo puts out similar vibes as Manuel and that's never a bad thing. Masculinity can be heard from every word and every COME ON! and that's definitely a good thing. The track does not leave much room for mistake as the sounds are general yet very fitting, melody is addictive and the whole package is wrapped with a tension building synth. Yet more reasons to love GGM.
Rating : 10-

4.Garcon - Ride On My Speedy Car (HI-NRG Attack)
If the Babby One song didn't work, the question is: Does this track? It's occasionally hard to explain why, but songs that have similar styles, similar vocals and basically everything identical about them just clash for some reason. While Manga Super Robot felt old and rehashed Ride On My Speedy Car feels thrilling and full of riding pleasure. The song is everything that HI-NRG Attack is, in both bad and good. You will either love this or hate it, I fall into the lover camp as it just sounds really easy to pick up, yet also easy to dump. Not definitely very longlasting fun but for the time being I'm enjoying it.
Rating : 8½

5.Ducky Chix - Looking For Lovers (Sinclaire Style)
If I wasn't the biggest fan of Sinclaire Style productions in the past, this does not help the situation any more. Looking For Lovers sounds excessively annoying: The synth sounds like plastic, vocals sound like B-class HI-NRG Attack, melody sounds non existant and pretty much everything just feels like it'd be at Demo state. A terrible song to end up on a commercially released album, but I guess there's worse material out there as well. In the eurobeat world's shining lights, this song won't in any way remain as a hit.
Rating : 5½

6.Powerful T. - Into The Game (A-Beat C)
A-Beat C's direction for the better tomorrow just seems to be taking bigger and faster steps! Powerful T. hasn't really lately managed to grip the level of his best moments but Into The Game is the huge leap into the land of great eurobeat. Electric guitars are used heavily throughout the song and they give it a really nice feel as the already energetic and well balanced sounds get just a bit of extra energy from them. Vocal work is done with professionalism and when the chorus and verses work out there's nothing really to complain. Some extra hooks here and there would have made this the heir to Original Sin.
Rating : 9½

7.Mickey B. - A Neverending Night (A-Beat C)
Yeah, BABY! A-Beat C is back with vengeance! It gives me such pleasure to hear the label breathing again and especially when it's Michaela Capurro who is the one to hit the jackpot once again. A Neverending Night is exactly the kind of material A-Beat C used to do a few years back time after time. Perfect combination of fast beats, strong synths and superb vocal work. The track is fast paced, spiced up with really nice gimmicky changes in vocal ranges that are the real hook the song has to offer. Lyrics sound really awesome to the ear and the bridge rises above the rest with the lyrics: "Tell me why now the moon is crying, so tell me why and you'll be mine" If A-Beat C continues with material of this sort in the 190s we have nothing to worry.
Rating : 10+

8.Mark Foster - Kiss Me Divine (Asia/Saifam)
This does rise up the question: What's with all of the reheating of Divine? We already had Tokyo Tonight that borrowed bits of the songs but now we have it here again. Kiss Me Divine uses the bits of Divine with even more class than Tokyo Tonight did. I would go as far as saying that this remake actually beats the original classic. Mauro's vocals sound like he would have sung it with his whole heart and it just gives the song so much more life. The basic Saifam sounds are there but they don't really matter much when the tempo is kept up constantly and vocals are the real hook here. A good way to revive a classic.
Rating : 9+

9.Jay Lehr - Wildlife (SCP)
The style Jay Lehr has adapted so far is very strongly present once again. Wildlife follows the style of I'm Alive and Imagine in more than one way. The sounds used all around are very similar and the track is again like the male counterpart for Christine. The first time I heard this track I kept thinking of Summer Ski as the mood and melody are somewhat similar. The similarities in these songs still don't really make Wildlife any worse as it works nicely as it is. Easy to digest, easy to poop out. Not as balanced as I'm Alive yet far better than Mystic Love.
Rating : 8½

10.Daniel - My Gasoline (Delta)
What sucks about this song, is quite frankly the piano intro. If intros occasionally feel out of place, this is definitely one of those moments. My Gasoline is an action packed faire that fits the driving album pretty much perfectly. Delta's wicked style of squeezing the energy in the chorus is yet again present, and wow with what style. The song over all works excellently but the chorus is just one step closer to perfection. The lyrics are rarely mentioned as the foundation for eurobeat songs but this time around the play with words in My Gasoline just steals the whole glory. Delta definitely ain't gonna run out of gas anytime soon.
Rating : 10

11.Annalise - Fantasy World (A-Beat C)
It might just be the effect of Powerful T. and Mickey B. talking, but for some reason the obvious problems with Fantasy World don't seem to bug me all that much. The song sounds really weak and light as it brings back the trash synths we heard so often during the 180s from A-Beat C. But as said, for some reason it just doesn't matter much. If you scratch the surface a bit you'll end up with a song that seems to be mostly built around a simple sing-along style song. I could imagine this sorta stuff being sung at a kindergarten or similar, now they just made an eurobeat song around it. Not really that special, but there's some nice edges to it as well. Thin melody versus strong vocals are what make the song sound slightly off, but if you get used to it, it actually sounds pleasant (in an elevator eurobeat kind of way).
Rating : 7

12.Go 2 - Purple Emotion (SCP)
The occasional slower Go 2 performances have received controversial reception. Music Come On worked out pretty nicely, but it still couldn't become the instant hit like many other performances by the duo. Purple Emotion sadly follows the trend, it is over all pretty nice and fun for a while, but there's just something off about the duo singing ballads. I feel it all sounds too dreamy to fit the two masculine performers, maybe more fitting for Norma Sheffield or the likes. Now it just suffers from credibility issues.
Rating : 7

13.Cherry - Got To Be Certain (Delta)
It is actually slightly surprising that it has taken this long to get a eurobeat cover from Kylie Minogue. SAW productions are closely tied to the eurobeat world so covering them seems perfectly logical. Cherry has been doing lots of remakes as of late so it is fitting to hear the track under the title naturally. Got To Be Certain is no where near to Kylie's best known songs but it fits the modern eurobeat style surprisingly well. A mid paced track that both sounds and feels like the 1980s. Not quite the track I would imagine to fit a driving themed song but it's still a good remake none the less. Love the clapping sound every time it appears!
Rating : 8+

Final Words :
The 190s have kicked off after the long break. It did feel like a lot longer than last year, but that's probably because it actually was. It does seem that they are breaking the long lasting trend of not releasing a new Super Eurobeat album in November, but guess this is all a part of some masterplan. Hopefully not paving the way for the grand finale. The addition of themes to SEB did feel like an interesting idea, but I have to say the people at Avex really didn't think this album through at all. There are a few songs that really fit the theme, but nearly half of the songs just sound out of place. I can't at least imagine playing Fantasy World, Purple Emotion or Looking For Lovers in my car at all.
If we leave the theme out, the album still works out really nicely. The few slumps don't seem that awful when there are multiple strong presentations available as well. Especially hearing the phenomenal Mickey B. song brought my faith back in A-Beat C. Go Go's Music and Delta do a steady good job, the labels that definitely have room for improvement are Sinclaire Style and HI-NRG Attack. We'll have to wait and see what 192 brings forth. Hopefully something even better, at least a party is going to be starting. 191 starts off the decade nicely and if the level can remain even close to this we will be having a strong decade. We better.

Final Score : 9-

The Best 3 songs

- Mickey B. - A Neverending Night
- Daniel - My Gasoline
- Leo River - Runaway

The Worst 3 Songs

- Ducky Chix - Looking For Lovers
- Babby One - Manga Super Robot
- Annalise - Fantasy World

Honorable Mention

- Powerful T. - Into The Game

Labels present on the album:

A-Beat C: 3
Asia/Saifam: 1
Delta: 2
Go Go's Music: 2
HI-NRG Attack: 2
SCP: 2
Sinclaire Style: 1


Reviewed by Bore