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Reviews: Back to Index
The albums have been graded on the most common grading system used in
Finnish schools. Where 4 is the worst, and 10 is the best. The final score
for the album is most of the times the average for all of the tracks, though it can also change if the reviewer wishes so. The Super Eurobeat Non-Stop albums will be reviewed as full collections, and the individual songs won't be reviewed, unless they are completely new. Though Euromach and JGTC albums for example will have complete song by song reviews.
The grading system simply goes as ie. 4- (3,75), 4 (4), 4+ (4,25) and 4½ (4,5) and the next one again would be 5-. A simple system we have over here in Finland.
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Super Eurobeat 202
1.Irene - Coolover (SCP)
As far as big expectations go Irene is definitely on the front
line of material that geda hype from me. Throughout the years every
single presentation from her has been good in one way or the other, so
who wouldn't have their hopes up for more of the same goodness.
Coolover kicks off with a pretty distorded intro that for some
reason tends to get under my skin more than it really should. Upbeat
eurobeat is always fun to listen to, but there's something off with this
presentation. I'm not sure if it's the static sounding synth that just
seems out of place or the lackworthy chorus that cause the song to feel
slightly uninspirational. Coolover as a song is definitely still fun to
listen to, but it just doesn't have what it takes for a song to last
long. A fun little song that is up my alleyway in style and
presentation, but it just isn't that strong as a complete package.
Rating : 7½
2.Chris Stanton - Ready Forever (Time)
Time wanted to make the "perfect little eurobeat song" by using
guitars... masculine vocals and everything nice. However the accidental
addition of Chemical B(oredom) into the mixture created yet an another
generic song. The same old problem is what gets under my skin here: It
feels so much like a rehash, there are zero "new" elements from Time in
this song. The track has identical sounds to the previous male tracks by
the label, there are basically zero memorable and distinctive
differences that would set Ready Forever apart from per say
Perfect Hero. The fact is that if you enjoy the sounds the label
pushes forward, then obviously there is not a single reason to dislike
the material, but if you don't, well what can you do? The real problem
Time has in my eyes is the lack of originality, compare the label to
pretty much all of the other labels out there and you'll notice that
they create a working pattern and then smack the same old dead pony till
it doesn't even move anymore. And in my eyes the pony died 10 years ago.
Rating : 7-
3.Paul Harris - Dreamlover (Delta)
There is something really odd about how a single small element in a song
can make you love it. I can right off the bat remember a lot of songs
that might not have been anything special as a whole, but there was just
a single bit that sounded memorable and made me love them. Dreamlover
presents one of these features as well: The line "All I need is a
dreamlover" that is repeated heavily just sounds so uniquely
different in pitch as opposed to everything else, it stands out right
away. The track is also a very solid yet a bit of a "play it
safe"-production from Delta. The background vocals by Clara sound
good, but if they would have been put more forward instead of hidden
behind the male vocals we could have had a song with much more strength.
But as said, this song is your typical Delta faire, but a single small
change in vocal pitch makes this song stand out for me.
Rating : 9
4.Bubbles - Hanky Panky (SCP)
Well to be quite honest, I wanted to love this song. I did my best, I
put in a lot of effort and in the end I was quite close to accepting it.
The thing is, that this sort of Kiki & Fancy material is either
gonna work magnificently or it's just gonna stay as unimaginative
elevator music. Hanky Panky is certainly something you can't
forget though, so not something you'd play in an elevator. But for the
majority I'd suspect it's not for the merits of the song, but the
annoyance factor. When this sort of songs even to me seem annoying
there's something wrong. The sounds are done all around very well with
all the bells, chimes and scratches but the vocals just jump out as too
dominant. With some editing and changes to the vocal structure of the
song, I would probably have rated this as a good song, now it's just
something in between. A song you can listen to once and find good
elements in it, but you won't come back due to the sheer vocal
annoyance.
Rating : 7
5.Cherry & Luke - Go Shinkansen! (Delta)
Duets always stand out, they just do. It may not always be a good
feature, but in the eurobeat world where material closely reminds of
something previously done they just have a lesser chance of being
clones. Go Shinkansen! is a mental follow up to Chemical Love,
the male & female vocals just stand out as something really harmonic.
For a song about a bullet-train the lyrics, small announces here and
there plus speed just fit perfectly. A great presentation yet again from
Delta, but when will we see a duet with 2 men or 2 women? Outside of
Go Go Girls and Go 2, there are hardly any around?
Rating : 9+
6.Go Go Girls - My Hot Guitar (Go Go's Music)
The change of pace for Go Go's Music is a pretty refreshing one. A
female track infused with guitars (well duh what did you expect with
this sort of a title). Sometimes the eurobeat labels manage to bring
life into a rather non existant melody and that's pretty much the case
with My Hot Guitar. The verses and chorus aren't exactly your
stand out bull's eyes, but the vocals just bring life into the show. The
enthusiasm and good mood is enough to make the song feel like something
special. With a stronger melody and some extra energy this song could
have really been something unique, but now it's just a nice faire to
listen to in the lack of real new Lolita material.
Rating : 8½
7.Dream Fighters - I Can't Stop Lovin' You (Dima Music)
For a very long time I considered Mr. Dima to be a mastermind who
manages to shed light into the deepest of the cracks and holes in the
music industry. But even the geniouses have their off days I guess. I
Can't Stop Lovin' You for one is one hell of a boring presentation.
I honestly am surprised to see such a dull track that just doesn't seem
well thought on any level. The vocals seem to lack real strenght, the
space-esque sounds may seem slightly different from the general stuff
you hear, but when you pair them with a melody that lacks any form of
highs and lows you just get elevator eurobeat. Worst I've heard from
Dima, ever.
Rating : 5½
8.Princess F. - Internet Kills The Eurobeat Stars (HI-NRG
Attack)
I can try to be nice every once in a while, but today I am not in the
mood for that. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS CRAP?! I may approve of the message
the song puts out, but that's the only thing there's really worth of
notice. The melody is absolutely aggravating. The vocals are way too
distorded and make lyrics absolutely impossible to understand without
the booklet. Also did I mention the sounds? What on earth is going on, I
couldn't hear anything fitting in this presentation. It's really not
internet that kills the eurobeat stars, but this sort of material that
comes close to very fairly amateurish material. It is sad due to the
fact that HI-NRG Attack can clearly do a lot better than this.
Rating : 4½
9.Apple - Playboy (Eurogrooves)
Getting some more aggressive material from Elena is
definitely a breeze of fresh air. If you play this song and Ready
Forever simultaneously you'll see the real changes are rather small.
This track has a lighter touch to it and a few extra elements like the
smooching sounds paired with vocoders (still hate them) that bring extra
points for it. But as said, these 2 songs are very much alike and could
use some Mentos - The fresh maker. But still this track works out better
out of the 2 with a bit more of flesh around the bones.
Rating : 7
10.F.C.F. - New Technological World (Asia/Saifam)
It indeed is a technological world, good thing Mauro reminded us of it.
Too bad he didn't do it with a more memorable message. What usually is a
good sign of not the most memorable presentation is that you can't even
really remember how the chorus went after the song ended. One can't
argue about the fact that Mauro sounds as butch as ever, but
strong vocal work alone can't save the world. In the name of the moon, I
will punish this song to remain as elevator material. Needs more
cowbell.
Rating : 6½
11.Mickey B. - I Wanna Run To You (A-Beat C)
Classic eurobeat in these modern days of the huge eurobeat revolution?
What is this blasphemy! I have to admit I was highly surprised by this
song for two reasons: First of all, the song really is a blast from the
past in pretty much every way. The sounds, melody and vocals just all
remind me of the good old 1990's for some reason. Secondly the track
isn't exactly the strongest presentation from A-Beat C, but it still
manages to come out as a very pleasing sound without very big amount of
effort. If the verses lack some magic, the chorus is very pleasant to
listen to. The C-melody sounds so classic that I can't help but love it,
this is like going back to the retro-era. Oh did anyone else notice how
identical the first few seconds of the song are to 'N Sync's Bye Bye
Bye, I always get a slight hopefullness when I think it'd be Justin
& crew.
Rating : 8½
12.Dave Rodgets Feat. M. Landau - All Around The World (A-Beat
C)
Eurobeat does tend to have it's highs and lows. Why on earth the lows
are so frequently combined with Mr. Rodgers? All Around The World
is something incredible. Been quite a while since I heard a song with so
much ear-bleeding effects. The vocals, the sounds, the distortion and
horrible horrible melody. Everything in this song just falls in the
wrong place it's even slightly amusing. Well without further ado, I
knight thee All Around The World as the worst eurobeat song of
2010. Arise my champion!
Rating : 4
13.AAA - Hide & Seek (SCP Revamp Mix) (J-Euro)
This new introduction of J-Euro on SEB is definitely a very much needed
change in the form. The Japanesy songs just have such a different
structure as opposed to your every day eurobeat it's fun to listen to
something that suddenly breaks the whole structure in a different way
versus the old classic a-melo, b-melo yada yada yada. My problem with
J-Euro generally is the fact I don't really speak the language myself
and I would love to be able to sing along to the song, and Hide &
Seek definitely has every piece present that'd make me sing along to
it. Great song all around, just do this in English and I'd be in heaven.
Rating : 9
14.Go 2 - Don't Turn It Off (Headrush Version) (SCP)
I shall have to turn it off sadly. The end is nigh, but the manly men
of SCP bring some extra life in the end. Heavy guitars combined with
rock elements provide a very uncharacteristic song to be on a SEB, but
then again Hide & Seek was different as well. These differences
are in my opinion a good way to bring diversity on the albums to make
songs stand out more. If this decade will bring a remix of some old song
every time I at least hope it's done in some different way á la this
track. But if this song is compared to the original, the remix clearly
stumbles and falls head first on the ground. It does not mean that
there's anything clearly wrong in it, but it's just not quite the
masterpiece the original was. Either way, for the right audience this
will definitely be a big hit.
Rating : 8
Final Words :
With an album as mediocore as this one it's sort of hard to go heavy on
the praises. But on the positive side we did have Dave proving he
can still produce songs that are annoying in every single way possible
and that puts the rest of the album in a fairly good light. Sadly the
only HI-NRG Attack presentation was also fairly horrible, but it at
least had a good title to go with it. The offerings made by Delta were
clearly the standouts on this album, with the SCP remix of Hide &
Seek following closely after. The past years in terms of SEB
consistency have been fairly variant, but usually the albums have had
some real highlights that made the SEB a real treat, this time around
the better half of the album just wasn't quite topnotch unfortunately.
There are ways to improve from here, but for some odd reason based on
the 203 tracklisting I might even feel we're going even further
downhill. Well, will just wait till the album is out and not chop the
head off just yet.
Final Score : 6½
The Best 3 songs
- Cherry & Luke - Go Shinkansen!
- Paul Harris - Dreamlover
- AAA - Hide & Seek (SCP Revamp Mix)
The Worst 3 Songs
- Princess F. - Internet Kills The Eurobeat Stars
- Dream Fighters - I Can't Stop Lovin' You
- F.C.F. - New Technological World
Honorable Mention, for the worst eurobeat song in years:
- Dave Rodgers Feat. M. Landau - All Around The World
Labels present on the album:
A-Beat C: 2
Delta: 2
Dima Music: 1
Eurogrooves: 1
Go Go's Music: 1
HI-NRG Attack: 1
Saifam: 1
SCP: 3
Sinclaire Style: 0
Time: 1
Other: 1
Reviewed by Bore
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