Review: V-RARE #4 (pop'n music Best Hits!)

So, we move on to this V-RARE, the one that was provided with Pop'n Music Best Hits!, and being notable as one of the first truly unique V-RAREs. Best Hits! combined some of the favorites from the previous six Pop'n Musics, and added some brand new songs into the mix as well.

1.　カモミールバスルームREMIX (AWA AWA MIX) / SLAKE
I absolutely love this mix. It starts off completely minimal with just accoustic guitar, vocals, and random sound effects. It then morphs into this weird mix of a hard (yet not overpowering) bass line over Yu Tokiwa's soft vocals. Exceptional. *****

2.　天麩羅兄弟ノ二度揚ゲReMIX / TEMPULA BROS.+SEIYA
Another very good re-mix. The first was somewhat more minimal and annoying, but this remix is far superior. Much more layering of sound, and much slicker production make it far more tolerable. Well done, but not quite at the level where I'd want it on my favorite song list on my iPod (4*+). ***1/2

3.　PROTO TYPE～戦火 / 村井聖夜
Oh man, do I love this. This is a wonderful remake of クチビル倀 from Pop'n Music 5. It's reimagined in a classical form slowed down with only piano and cello as the instruments. Extremely well done. ****

4.　STARS☆☆☆ (NM TRANCE DUB MIX) / NAOKI MAEDA
Hey, what's Naoki doing in a Pop'n collection? Well, since it's a ＴЁЯＲＡ song, I suppose he can get a pass. This is a pretty good remix of the original, although a bit overproduced in my opinion almost completely masking the vocals. It kind of just meanders on for 5'29. It's not bad at all, but it's not exceptional either. It's the kind of song that comes on randomly and I'm like, "hey, cool," but wouldn't actively seek it out for listening. ***

5.　CANDY (☆little a live style☆) / NAOKI MAEDA
All we need is yet another mix of CANDY. As far as I know, this is the only non-Dancemania appearance of this version, which is essentially a mashup of Candy☆ and Candy♡. If you've heard both, and like both, then, well, you get both right here. I'm feeling generous today, so I'll go for ***.

"And now for something completely different," we end up with a bunch of 8-bit preview versions of upcoming Pop'n 10 AC/8 CS songs. They are, well, as one would expect, 8-bittacular. Although most of these have been heard a million times since then, at the time this V-RARE came out, these were pretty new/never heard before. I love all of them, and can't really objectively rate them since, well, they are chip tune representations of the upcoming originals. They are all great in their own way, from the cheesy "poofs" to represent the gunfire at the end of Texas Gunman to the ultra-cheesy string section in Troika Dance, to the ridiculous beach sounds of Sea Side City. If you have some sort of hatred for 8-bit remixes, then you'll hate these. Me, I absolutely adore them. Here's the list of the 8 amazing 8-bit remixes:

6.　White Lovers / Tommy Angel
7.　テキサスのガンマン / Sludgy Hawks with H
8.　Troika Dance / "Hirotees"
9.　消えた!? ナポレオン / WILD ROSE
10.　dandelion / sotaro
11.　Sea Side City / T.H.Wavy Kiss
12.　HOLIDAY / らく楽器隊
13.　ラブ・アコーディオン / mon cheri H.T.

This marks the first truly essential V-RARE in my opinion, and certainly an essential compilation for any Pop'n music fan. It is packed from beginning to end with great remixes and reimagined Pop'n songs. Even if you're not a fan of the series, there will probably be something that you'd like. While up until this point, the V-RAREs had been a mix of a couple of break out songs with a bunch of other ho-hum material, this one is excellence defined.