Super Eurobeat 134
1.Lolita - Beautiful Day (A-Beat C)
As far as good album openers go, this track is definitely from the better
end.
Lolita is still one of the best eurobeat vocalists and she's
again given a great song to perform.
Beautiful Day suits her voice
perfectly and the energy is overwhelming at some points. Regarding her
long list of awesome tracks this ain't definitely the best, and therefor
it might not be the most memorable song. A good intro for the album and as
I'm writing this, there's the first warm day of the whole spring in
Finland and the sun is shining from a clear blue sky, a beautiful day
indeed.
Rating : 9
2.Mako - Lovebreaker (Delta)
As the album had a strong opener, the level slightly decreases but only a
bit. This track features some nice ups and some not so nice downs. The
vocals aren't very effective but the backgrounds and the melody sound
great, in the end the track leaves a sort of mixed up feeling, even if I
thought I didn't really like it that much I kept on singing along to it.
Rating : 7+
3.Mike West - A Glory Day (Time)
A cool intro with some simple but very effective sounds start this track
with a great feeling. When the vocals are added into the track the song
starts to blow badly, the vocals sound really weak and don't suit eurobeat
at all. When eurobeat is made the vocalists have to be really energetic
and have that something in their voice, this track would've been good if
there just was a proper vocalist singing the lyrics, a pity really, good
song gone to waste.
Rating : 7+
4.Matt Land - Don't Stop Me (A-Beat C)
A guitar intro, what a surprise, and the beginning of the song sounds
quite slow, but when the beat begins there's no doubt that this is very
good energetic eurobeat at it's best. My favorite male vocalists
does an amazing job with this song as the backgrounds leave the vocals a
lot of room and the song relies mostly on
Matt Land. The song
perhaps isn't the most memorable performance from
Matt, but it
carries on his good level.
Rating : 9-
5.Robbie Grain - When You Smile (Delta)
An awesome intro with *really* cool playing with the synth. I was really
surprised how they could get such a cool solo from a synth. From the very
first seconds of this song I was totally sold, I didn't have any
expectations and perhaps that's a good thing as that way I can be
surprised by more unknown titles. One of the best c-melodies in eurobeat
history, I don't know what would give enough credit for this song, I am
amazed, everybody give a round of applaudes to Delta *clap clap*.
Rating : 10
6.Brian Ice - Ev'ry Night (A-Beat C)
A calm piano intro makes this track sound like it's not in the right place
as the song seems really calm, the spoken lyrics in the beginning sound
pleasant and you get a sort of lullaby-ish feel from it, just as you're
about to fall asleep the beat begins and you realize we're still in
Eurobeat-land Dorothy. The song has a really distinctive feel to it and
after a few replays the song works plain marvellously, another huge
surprise.
Rating : 9+
7.Casanova - Super Fly (Delta)
If the past 2 songs had distinctive sounds and very unique styles this
track reminds us that the vast majority of eurobeat has a simple formula
that is cloned over and over again. This track is quite decent and has a
nice synth solo as the c-melody but it lacks a bit more punch, still a
nice song to listen to.
Rating : 8+
8.Karen - Open Your Heart 4 Another Story (A-Beat C)
Something about the vocals in this song made me think that it's really not
Karen singing, somehow she just sounds quite odd. Apart from that, this
track is quite awesome. The melody is good and the basic eurobeat sounds
this time work really well, and the chorus really is the part in this song
that manages to give it that extra spice to make it more memorable.
Rating : 8½
9.Giselle - Love Is Fantasy (Time)
Another piano solo as an intro, but the piano in this song is quite fast
and as soon as the song kicks really in you're swept away. What makes this
song work so marvellously is the energetic backgrounds that leave you
craving for more, the vocals aren't perhaps the best for a song like this
but it could be worse as well. Not the best song on the album, but still a
good performance, and an excellent c-melody.
Rating : 9-
10.Donna - On My Own (Delta)
These days I get warm and fuzzy feelings from the excellent
Donna
track from SEB118. The vocals don't sound really special at first but
slowly they start to grow on you and it didn't take a long before I really
fell in love with her voice, this track had a thing or two to with it as
well. Really cool soundworlds and the chorus works marvellously.
Rating : 9
11.De La Vega - Sex On Crime (A-Beat C)
I've heard a lot of good things about
De La Vega but I never really
got into his music for some reason. This track though managed to convince
me as well, the track starts with a really boring sound but when the
melody is thrown into the mix it really begins to sound enchanting. A cool
song that is your typical good eurobeat song, nothing phenomenal but above
the average.
Rating : 8½
12.Norma Sheffield - Stay (A-Beat C)
I have my guard up with certain names, I don't have anythig against
Norma but she just seems kinda boring most of the times, so it was
nice to be surprised again (*counts* I think that's the fourth time on
this album already, which is quite amazing). This track has a really
soothing mood to it,
Norma's vocals sound plain awesome and even if
there isn't anything really special in the track I just fell in love with
it right away, excellent!
Rating : 9
13.Buddy Bo - Hard Beat (Delta)
A song featured on the anime
Dear Boys that I had heard a few times
before and liked it from the very first time. The vocals mix up male and
female vocals nicely and the chorus is really effective. There's just
something about this track that manages to give it a nice boost and rise
it above the common eurobeat.
Rating : 9+
14.Dave Simon - The Maniac (Time)
A cool intro with some excellent sounds is blown to waste by quite
freaky vocals. This track has something parodic about it, and I got a
feeling like it might be a remake of some other song but the booklet
revealed that it's not. The song has an excellent c-melody that I would
gladly listen to a lot, but the rest of the song just doesn't work as well,
the background vocals sound good and are the best part about the vocal
works.
Rating : 8-
15.Dave & Domino - Forever (A-Beat C)
The album is finished off with another duet by the dynamic duo. I've
slowly started to accept
Dave's vocals and this track had another
positive boost to it, the track sounds really soothing and there's just
something so right about it. I was left with a really nice feeling about
the album as this track slows the pace a bit and it really suits the end.
Rating : 9½
Final Words :
This album had some excellent moments and it didn't really have any bad
songs in the mix, which definitely had an effect in my final opinion about
the album. There was a complete surprise by
Robbie Grain as she
presented an amazing song that is surely gonna stay as my favorite for a
long time, also various other good songs were featured and like I said,
there are no bad songs at all which makes this a good album to dig into.
Final Score : 8½
Reviewed by Bore