Ultra Electro Vol 2

This second entry in the Ultra Electro series gives us a variety of electro styles, including dance-rock, retro 80s synthdance, electro house, and dubby instrumentals. If you just like electro across the board, you're set. If you have a particular subgenre you love, you may find it tedious to weed through all the other stuff to get to what you want to hear. For collectors of hard-to-find mixes, it's good to have some longer versions played out in the mix. And you may also discover a few gems you hadn't heard of. Individual notes and track times:

CD1

1. Alfie (4:18) (starts things off mellow. Great riff and quirky female vocals)
2. Grace Kelly (3:31) (the only complaint here is that we don't even get 4 minutes of the mix of this deep electro hit with male vocals)
3. acceptable in the 80s (4:48) (thumpin track, gets the party started--sort of like an electro rendition of the sentiment in the Killing Joke classic "eighties")
4. love is gone (7:13) (what more to say? Guetta's usual alt rock feel vocalist and major electro bleeps and blips. And 7 glorious minutes of it)
5. say it right (7:16) (as mellow as Nelly's original cut, it's good to have one of the mixes of this club hit in a 7 minute cut)
6. perfect (5:38) (an electro riff you've pretty much heard before, topped by your usual female electro vocals. Fun stuff.)
7. e for electro (4:45) (Hi-tack creates an infectious electro hook with this mix, but it does get semi-redundant, and harkens back to some hooks from early 90s deep house)
8. bring the noise (6:24) (An odd mash-up. Benassi changes up the sound for a change, but Public Enemy's rap brings to mind memories of "Quadrophonia from the techno years! And who would have thought Flavor Flav would cameo on a modern dance track???)
9. by any demand (4:30) (kinda tame instrumental. Gets boring fast)
10. sweetfrosti (5:03) (felix da housecat knows how to tap into that classic synth sound from the 80s. The make vocals are ok, and I'm pretty sure there's a sample of the female "oh!" from the men without hats classic "pop goes the world" thrown in for added retro appeal)
11. konichiwa B***ches (5:30) (kinda like Gwen Stefani's `holla back' vocal delivery meets Kelis's "milkshake with a little "wipeout" thrown in for good measure)
12. read my mind (3:18) (This clunky and boring mix pales in comparison to the Pet Shop Boys mix, but it's nice to have it if you're a collector of the band's mixes)

CD2

1. it's all true (8:21) (mellow track, vocals remind me of Sarah McLachlan)
2. someone great (5:49) (wow, a mellow dance track, but this one is as catchy as anything put out by synthpop bands in the 80s. Also reminds me of the tone of HelloGoodbye's "Here in your Arms".)
3. proper education (5:43) (This very hot reworking of Pink Floyd never gets tired, and it's nice to have one of the remixes instead of the original mix)
4. sorry (7:07) (catchy vocal track with falsetto male vocal--cashing in on Scissor Sisters?)
5. this time (5:44) (really gets the party started with a hard dance rock beat and male vocal)
6. you gonna want me (5:30) (more dance rock with male vocal, but the familiar house music line "I know you're gonna want me, but when you want me, it may be a different story", sung by Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears, kinda puts it into cliché territory.)
7. kinda new (5:25) (dubby track with female vocal samples. Not much going on here, but the riff is catchy)
8. cream (3:44) (annoying filler with an obnoxious synth sound playing the riff)
9. let the beats roll (5:22) (hard male vocals, and another sample from the days of techno! A "Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!" that many club heads will probably recognize)
10. nyc beat (4:44) (hard make vocal. Pretty good thumpin' track--but not up to par with some of Armand's recent slammers)
11. nothing (7:44) (This fantastic track has a moody eighties synthdance vibe, with a melancholy male vocal delivery reminiscent of Bowie's "Heroes". So glad this track is near 8 minutes long--and would love to hear the Cicada mix as well, because this mix reminds me of a Cicada mix).
12. hide and seek (5:46) (another great mellow electro track to cool things down, with female vocals run through the vocoder)

After buying and greatly enjoying Ultra Electro, my expectations were set high. That one had stellar tracks, a great variety and was overall just smooth.

Ultra Electro 2 is no where near that. The majority of the tracks are average at best, with a few being intolerable(like Sweetfrosti and Konichiwa B***hes). A great number had empty and even annoying beats, with vocals that took away from what catchiness the tracks had.

Each CD is redeemed by a few tracks that I listen to infrequently, and are and memorable, but sadly don't make up for the majority of it. These were the only tracks I truly enjoyed:
CD 1
- Say It Right by Nelly Furtado
- Perfect by Mason and Princess Superstar

CD 2
- It's All True by Tracey Thorn
- This Time by DJ Antoine
- Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap

The short of it: No where near as good as the first Ultra Electro...generally lighter sounding but empty and full of sub-par tracks.