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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 164
1.Annerley Gordon - On My Own 2006 (A-Beat C)
It has been quite a long time since Annerley left the Eurobeat scene to pursuit her career
outside the small circles in this industry. The question just is that is it really her back or is this just
a re-production with old vocals. To the unexperienced ear it sounds that it's just the old vocals recycled
with new soundworlds. Over all the song never was one of my favorites, but the remake sounds nice and does
justice to one of the original eurobeat queens. Resurrection of Annerley Gordon in the eurobeat industry
might offer some nice change for A-Beat C, let's hope for the best.
Rating : 7½
2.Mark Foster - Queen (Boom Boom Beat/Asia)
At least to me it seems kind of strange how 3B just came to the album series but they are already
hogging way more album space than Vibration ever did, and even with some crappy songs. Queen is
one of the worse examples of BBB work as it's just a plain fast song with no soul, no hooks, nothing at all
to grab on to. After listening to the song for a ton of times I still feel there's practically no melody
at all and it just flows on due to the beat. Not my kind of stuff at least.
Rating : 5+
3.Mad Cow & The Royal Eurobeat Orchestra - Bazookistan (HI-NRG Attack)
The whole Russian theme that HI-NRG Attack seems to love so much is back when Bazookistan strikes.
To me it seems that the label is trying to re-produce the magic they were able to put in the few of the first
Russian themed songs but aren't succeeding too well in the job. This time the song features some extra trumpets
which sound rather unique and a nice flavor to the song, but a few instruments can't save the day sadly. Bazookistan
remains as one of the typical HI-NRG Productions that got the speed, but not much extra to spice it up.
Rating : 7
4.Domino - Fuku Wa Uchi (SCP)
So this time around Domino is not under her typical A-Beat C label, but is doing a collaboration
with the ever so popular SCP. Fuku Wa Uchi is the first song we've heard from Miss Alessandra in
quite a while so it's great to have her back and with a kick-ass song. Fuku Wa Uchi is a song based on
Japanese children's song, so you can expect a cute, bubbly song along the lines of Kiki & Kika productions.
SCP has done marvellous work with Alessandra and present us with one of the happiest, catchiest and cutest
tracks in quite some time. The song is a nice addition to the Domino discography, but still can't compete with
the best she has to offer.
Rating : 9+
5.Mako - In The Night In The Fire (Delta)
Another name we haven't heard in a while makes a comeback to SEB. Mako has had quite a few
big time hits in the past so the expectations were high again. What Delta presented us with is a
pretty common eurobeat tune with nice vocals and nice sounds packed in a rather colorless package in the
end. The track falls under the elevator music for me and I couldn't really find any points in it
that would've really been clear highlights.
Rating : 7-
6.Mega NRG Man - Into The Night (A-Beat C)
Tomas Marin is back with a new hit after the succesful Supertonic Lady. Into The Night
follows the pattern that has been proved to be working nicely over and over again. The track works with the typical
male eurobeat elements: guitars, aggressive vocals, energy and slightly rougher sounds over all. A nice song that works
well in small doses but doesn't create that 'Must listen!' kind of a feeling.
Rating : 8
7.Dave - Pride (Time)
Every once in a while the labels manage to caught me by surprise and this time around it's Time to pull the carpet under me.
I honestly wasn't expecting much from this song but can't even say how much I was surprised by this energy pack. Pride
is like a flasback to the past to the glory days of Time when they kept on pushing great hits for years. The song is energetic,
aggressive, catchy and most of all addictive. The chorus is brilliant and in combination with the brilliant c-verse it's plain
perfect. A great addition to Time merits in the past few years.
Rating : 10
8.Cherry - Make Me Believe (Delta)
Why oh why have they abandoned the once so great title? Cherry has been going lower and lower lately with the
crappiest song selections and there's no trace of left what used to make her a name above the others under the Delta label.
If Leslie Parrish was supposed to be the more romantic, calm kind of title, I don't really wanna know what kind of Pop
songs she'll get when the more 'aggressive' Cherry gets this kind of stuff.
Rating : 6
9.Ken Martin - China (Boom Boom Beat/Asia)
Mauro Farina really seems to be getting most of the space all of a sudden on SEB and it's a pity when most of the better
songs from 3B are done by the female vocalists. China is a typical fast paced 3B track that shows its best parts in the catchy
chorus. Nice sounds, great backgrounds and a good chorus, but... The verses and the melody itself don't really do much justice to the rest
of the song and in the end you get left with a rather spiritless creation.
Rating : 7-
10.Alexis - Blue (Time)
If Pride was a step to the right direction for Time, Blue is a huge step back to the land of the clones. Elena
Ferretti sounds good as always, but yet again she has a cold, calm song that flows by without creating any kind of edge what so ever.
I will leave out all of the comments regarding the typical flaws Time productions have, Blue indeed feals Blue at least.
Rating : 5½
11.Donna - Boogie Boogie(Delta)
A title that brought much joy and happiness a year back by King & Queen, can Delta re-produce the same kind of magical athmosphere?
Clara Moroni gets to loosen up for a change in a more fast paced disco-ish dance song, which is a good thing after all of the ballads. Too
bad Boogie Boogie as a song isn't from the best end, but remains a rather mediocore song with a great chorus and nice tricks here and there.
On this album, the song is from the better end, but it's not a very memorable presentation in the long run.
Rating : 8+
12.Manuel - No Control (A-Beat C)
Manuel is quickly becoming the female version of Nuage for A-Beat C with the constant rate of new songs. When compared to
his female fellow it's just sad that Manuel hasn't been able to keep up the level as high as Nuage did for ages. No Control
is a catchy, fast paced dose of energy that will surely please most of the eurobeat fans who enjoy this kind of material. This time around the
chorus is the best feature of the song as it's easy to start singing along to, plus the sounds will easily hook you along.
Rating : 9-
13.Priscilla - Shattered Dreams (Delta)
A brilliant and unique kind of intro starts up yet an another Delta production. I had listened to 164 quite a few times without
paying much attention to this song, but after a while it suddenly opened itself to me and I got hooked. The great chorus that sounds
slightly off-key works marvellously and works as the best part of the song. The verses sound pleasant and Clara's vocals work time after time.
Rating : 9
14.Dave Rodgers - Make A Movement (A-Beat C)
After the quiet period in new Dave Rodgers songs we've been lately getting a lot of excellent productions. Make A Movement appeared
a while back on Campus Summit 2005 album, so it's not technically a new song, but it's still worth the review. A guitar influenced song with over all
irresistible melody just can't go wrong. Great chorus, good vocals and nice sounds, nothing to complain.
Rating : 9
15.Kelly Wright - I've Got The Music In My Heart (A-Beat C)
When this song originally started playing on my playlist and I wasn't looking at the artist I thought a Norma Sheffield song was about to
start, was slightly surprised to hear Karen singing in the first verse. The track is a rather mellow track that flows on like a typical
Norma song that goes by without making too much of a ruccus. Calm, quiet, boring.
Rating : 7-
16.Go 2 - Looka Bomba (SCP)
Energy, action, GO 2. You know them individually, you know them together. You know they offer us with quality and that's why they are here again.
Looka Bomba is yet another addition to this duos range of irresistible songs. It's fun to see how great they go along and can bring out hit
after hit without losing any of their edge. Fastway steals the show in Looka Bomba with his excellent shouts that add a nice touch to the song.
Rating : 9½
17.Cindy - Pun Pun Beam (HI-NRG Attack)
If Bazookistan didn't work as well as one could hope, Pun Pun Beam is from a totally different planet. The song blasts in action with
a relatively annoying intro but with such energy! The song is a very typical production from the label in both good and bad, but this time around the
melody is brilliant and the mindnumblingly dumb (purposedly?) lyrics just make you sing along. The chorus is excellent and the extra raps here and there
bring out more variety for the song. A definite highlight for the album.
Rating : 10
18.Phil & Linda - Only For Love Only For You (Time)
A new title from Time yet again. The song has a very disco-heavy feel to it and the song definitely strikes out from the typical Time productions. It
may not be a very special song, but at least the label offers some variety. The vocalists sound smooth and the song ain't all that bad either, but it just
can't really give that extra punch you would hope for such a production.
Rating : 7
Final Words :
This album was very contradictional to me and I had a hard time reviewing it due to the clearly opposite sites it had. The album featured some excellent
productions from very surprising names, yet it also had some truly bad performances by some of the usually excellent names. The average the album got was around 8,
but in the end I felt the album wasn't worth such a high grade and lowered it by one. The few highlights versus the low points kind of even out eachother and
the mediocore songs remain in the end with the typical level of 7. Not a very good album in the end if I'm to say, but if you take the good songs out of it, you
still get quite a few hits.
Final Score : 7
Reviewed by Bore
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