Review: V-RARE #8 (beatmania IIDX 8th Style)

Blah blah blah, 8th Style rules, blah blah. Let's get on with the review.

1. Tell Me More... (original long version) / Togo-chef feat.朝比奈亜希
I was never a huge fan of this song, although it kind of grew on me a little. This is a real long version, and pretty decent. But, nothing particularly amazing. ***

2. LOVE BOX (original long version) / め組upper-slope
I would write a review for this, but I'd just be repeating what I said before. ***

3. LOVE IS ORANGE (MEGIDDO MIX) / Orange Lounge
Now we're talking. This is a kick ass remix of Love is Orange. Sped up, slightly tranced out, and even slightly euroified. I can dig it. Why they never put this version in IIDX as a playable song is well beyond me. ****

4. Drivin' (undulated mix) / NAOKI feat.Paula Terry / Remixed by Yu Takami
This one just shocked me greatly. This is a fucking trip-out amazing remix of Drivin'. Then again, Yu Takami is amazing, and turns this mediocre me-too Naoki Eurobeat song into a spectacular piece of Trip-Hop. Wow. *****

5. PINK DREAM (ZETA MIX) / PINK PONG
I really enjoyed the original Pink Dream, and this version does not disappoint. It slows down just a little, adds a harder beat, and stretches it to a ridiculous 6'12. Despite some of the slightly overbearing build-up, it still ends up being really good. ****

6. Luv 2 Feel Your Body (Decoration Mix) / Shoichiro Hirata / Remixed by SLAKE
I'm really mixed on this. On the one hand, I really like it, on the other, I'm like goddamn can this be any more drawn out? I suppose it just depends on my mood. It's really not terribly different from the original, but it does have some Slakeification added to it. It also unfortunately suffers from Konamifanmixitis. I suppose my opinion of this changes depending on where I am in my menstrual cycle. Today, I'm feeling ***.

7. rainbow flyer (DJ YOSHITAKA remix) / dj TAKA / Remixed by DJ YOSHITAKA
I remember the shock and awe at the abomination of the original extended Rainbow Flyer remix with Sana. Well, it's back, but it's much more tolerable. DJ Yoshitaka strips it down and makes it a bit harder and adds some cool good-cool style skippy breaks. It makes me happy, what can I say. ****

8. memories (full size cover version) / colors
I am ashamed to admit that I never noticed that in the memories video that dj TAKA is playing every instrument as well as singing. It took my wife (who didn't even really know what dj TAKA looked like at the time) to point that out to me. Then I was like oh, shit, that is TAKA doing everything. Well, I'll be damned. Oh, hm? This song? It rules, of course. Duh. *****

9. 合体せよ！ストロングイェーガー!! (Ryu☆remix) / L.E.D. /Remixed by Ryu
It makes me immensely happy to see that this is in IIDX 12th Style. Ryu is a God among men, and proves that he has the innou to one-up even L.E.D. in this wonderful remix. *****

10. murmur twins (srab the hardcore mix) / yu_tokiwa.djw / Remixed by kors k
Fucking awesome is just one way to describe this. This seriously awesome and evil remix is just too cool for school (not the good-cool /Hideo Suwa type, of course). kors k is just one twisted fuck to somehow take one of the most candy-coated IIDX songs ever (not that it's a bad thing or anything) and flip it around and hardcoreify it. Of course, it works brilliantly. *****

Absolutely essential. One of the great IIDX Styles gets an equally amazing V-RARE. Even the first two ho-hum tracks are still GOOD, it's just that compared to the rest, they fall way short.