If you love tight, well-produced dance music, this is the band for you. Alive & Dangerous marks Da Buzz's sixth release (although it is a combination of seven tracks each from previous albums Alive and Dangerous with a few bonus remixes). You may have heard of Da Buzz from their first breakout single, "Let Me Love You Tonight." With their crisp mixing, catchy melodies, great dance-pop energy, and Annika's effortless vocal talent, this is a band that deserves much more household recognition than they currently have. Hopefully, the deal with Airus Entertainment will help move them toward the world stage.
This Swedish dance group usually releases their records as Japanese imports, so it's nice to finally have domestic access to content from two of their albums. At the time of this review, the domestic release date is still TBA, but can be purchased now from dabuzz.us.
"Alive" is one of the best dance melodies I've ever heard with a driving, sing-along-loudly melody. "Tonight (is the Night)" is a good example of Da Buzz's trademark vocal stacking and a solid melody. Another track of note, "Stay Forever Young," features a very cool intro, interesting programming, and chugging energy. The US versions here are essentially rock versions of their dance counterparts except for "Set My Heart on Fire (US vrs)" which is a more strings and acoustic guitar-laden rendition of the (better) rock ballad original.
Besides the US rock songs, this CD is primarily upbeat dance numbers with a few ballads and mid-tempo cuts. Hardcore Da Buzz fans may still want to track down the full albums from which this project draws, but aside from the sad oversight of omitting Alive's killer track "Can You Feel the Same Way Too," the chosen material represents a solid best-of cross section of both original releases. This disk should be a part of every dance fan's CD collection.
