Dancemania EX × Trance Paradise

Disco Gaga
Release Date: 5/18/11
Price: 1886 yen

Disco covers of Lady Gaga’s biggest hits. No word on who’s producing yet.

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Anim80s – Anime Hits in 80s Disco Style (Animeighties)
Release Date: 12/22/10
Price: 1886 yen

I didn’t think it could get any stranger than Ghibli Reggae (yes, it’s real), but somehow DJ Yossy and EMI have managed to create an even more bizarre amalgam of musical styles. Anim80s features popular anime themes, including many recent ones, done in 80s disco style. That means a booming bassline, 80s synths and, of course, hand claps! Think Dancemania Super Classics/80s, except with anime themes.

Mind you, the synths don’t come across too well in the video, and not all of the songs quite hit the mark, but all in all it’s a fantastic release for fans of that classic PWL/SAW sound. I’ll have a full review up shortly. In the meantime, you can also download the album from iTunes Japan for 1200 yen. Unfortunately, iTunes doesn’t have full versions. It’s just the same non-stop mix as the CD. 🙁

Also worth mentioning is that technically Akiba Koubou didn’t produce most of the CD. Instead, many songs were outsourced to dance Beyond, who have previously worked on Hyper Yocomix and the bootleg Hime Tra series from Get Over the Records. Many tracks were also done by Youhei Fujita. Rayto ended up with 3 tracks, while DJ Command arranged only one song on the album.

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Anim80s – Anime Hits in 80s Disco Style (Animeighties)
Release Date: 12/22/10
Price: 1886 yen

This looks absolutely amazing. Akiba Koubou mainstays Nagisa, Shihori, and Kei are joined by Utatte Mita mega stars Hana-tan, Kou-Hey, Usa, Priko, and more! Best of all, we’re guaranteed ZERO repeats! The only problem is that 30 tracks can only mean ridiculously short edits, but with any luck EMI will release a download edition with full-length tracks.

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Disco no Tatsujin
Release Date: 11/24/10
Price: 2000 yen

Disco hits from 1970-2000. If I’m not mistaken, the songs are actually arranged in chronological order.

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Disco no Tatsujin
Release Date: 11/24/10
Price: 2000 yen

The title translates to “Disco Master.” Basically, it’s another excuse for Victor to repackage their usual 70s and 80s repeats.

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Anim80s – Anime Hits in 80s Disco Style (Animeighties)
Release Date: 12/22/10
Price: 1886 yen

Anim…eighties? Rather than continuing the Wa Euro Best or Premier Euro series, EMI and DJ Yossy have instead decided to start a new series featuring 80s disco covers of popular anime themes. No, this isn’t a joke. Think “Cat’s Eye” done in the style of “Beat It” or “Eternal Blaze” redone like “Turn It Into Love.” This is either a very bad idea or a very very good one.

Many thanks to Heather of Disco NRG for translating the track list. Right now 30 tracks have been announced, which would be really surprising since it’s unlikely we’d get any repeats.

Via Para-Center.

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Disco Around 50 Let’s Groove ~ Surfer
Release Date: 1/27/10
Price: 2400 yen

Sony’s entry in the Disco Around 50 series will focus on Surfer Disco, whatever that is.

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Disco Around 50 Hello Mr. Monkey ~ Step
Release Date: 1/27/10
Price: 2400 yen

Victor’s entry in the Disco Around 50 series will focus on Step music.

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Disco Around 50 Super Freak ~ Soul & Funky
Release Date: 1/27/10
Price: 2400 yen

No surprises here; the final list is exactly the same as the early one. EMI have set up a special website for the cross-label series: http://www.emimusic.jp/st/series/ar50/

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Around 40 Eurobeat 2
Release Date: 1/27/10
Price: 2381 yen

Not much has changed between the early list and the final one. I wonder how much longer this series can last, because they’ve used up most of the bigger hits by now.

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Disco Around 50 Let’s Groove ~ Surfer
Release Date: 1/27/10
Price: 2400 yen

Sony’s entry in the Disco Around 50 series will focus on, umm, surfer music? The track list is very similar to Sony’s aborted Shibuya Disco Hits release.

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Disco Around 50 Hello Mr. Monkey ~ Step
Release Date: 1/27/10
Price: 2400 yen

Victor’s entry in the Disco Around 50 series will focus on Step music. I’m not really sure what that means, but apparently Arabesque’s “Hello Mr. Monkey” exemplifies it. The track list is very similar to Victor’s aborted Shinjuku Disco Hits release.

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Disco Around 50 Super Freak ~ Soul & Funk
Release Date: 1/27/10
Price: 2400 yen

Whoa, total déjà vu. The track list is very similar to EMI’s aborted Roppongi Disco Hits compilation, which was supposed to come out this past September. It appears that EMI, Sony, and Victor will be giving the series another try, rebranding it “Disco Around 50” instead of “Gotouchi Disco.” Sony and Victor haven’t announced their releases yet, but you can bet they’ll be out on the same day. Unless, of course, they cancel the series again.

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Around 40 Eurobeat 2
Release Date: 1/27/10
Price: 2381 yen

January is certainly becoming the month of surprise sequels. Around 40 Eurobeat did reasonably well in sales, but it wasn’t exactly a huge hit. Disco R35 before it sold much, much better yet it never got a sequel. In any case, “eurobeat” seems to be a fashionable word again in Japan, so I guess EMI will milk it as much as possible.

Most of the announced tracks thus far should be familiar to fans of Dancemania Super Classics. The problem with 80s eurodance compilations is that by definition they have to be 100% repeats. 🙁

Included as a bonus track is Youni Oginome’s Japanese cover of “Dancing Hero,” better known to most fans as “Eat You Up.”

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Disco 80’s presents Around 40
Release Date: 9/2/09
Price: 2427 yen

Mostly repeats on this latest attempt to cash in on the Around 40 fad.

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