Steptacular

This album made number one in the UK album charts while also spawning several top 5 singles, Tragedy, Love's got a hold on my heart, After the love has gone, Say you'll be mine, Deeper shade of blue and When I said goodbye.Like its predecessor, this set features a mix of original songs and covers. Their style is light pop music, co-produced by Pete Waterman with other co-producers replacing Stock and Aitken. It seems that they had plenty of possible choices for release as singles, because the quality is consistently high throughout the album.This was the second of three albums they made in the early nineties. Apart from compilations, the only other album they've released (many years later) is a Christmas album. Still, better to do a few quality albums than a lot of poor ones.

This is one of the best CDs from Steps. I like all of Steps' Cds. They are the only group I really listen to. In the US, practically no one knows who they are unless they watch Disney or Nickelodeon. Well, let's get on with this review, LOL!1) After The Love Has Gone / / / This song is one of my favs.2) Love's Got A Hold On My Heart / / / My fav.3) Tragedy / / / This song is sung better than the BeeGees.4) Say You'll Be Mine / / / Good Lyrics and Fun to dance to.5) I Think It's Love / / / This song has a great ballad to it.6) Make It Easy On Me / / / Really brings out Lisa's vocals.7) Deeper Shade Of Blue / / / One of STEPS' fav songs.8) Movin' On / / / One of the best songs on this CD.9) Never Say Never Again / / / This is an O-K song.10) When I Said Goodbye / / / This is such a sad song.11) I Surrender / / / A good dancing song.12) Since You Took Your Love Away / / / Need to have a single forthis song.13) My Best Friend's Girl / / / A good song that show H's vocals14) You're Everything That Matters To Me / / / My Fav.All the songs on the bonus CD are awesome!

This is the second of the three Steps album released by the band. I have the Australian release version which has 16 tracks (14 tracks plus 2 bonus.),which is practically the same as this imported (UK) version. Of the three albums, I rate this the best, slightly ahead of 'Buzz'(16 track Aust release) and Step One (13 track Aust release) not far behind it. This album has a mixture of good dance, pop and ballad songs. The female members of the group each have distincively different voices but blend in very well together along with the two guys. What I believe makes this a very-good album is that a lot of the better tracks are the ones which were not released as singles. People who have heard the songs that were released as singles will know they were good songs. This group are sometimes compared with Abba. I am a huge Abba fan, as I grew up in that era (I am 40), there are similarities with some of their music, but in other ways are very different.

I HAVE BEEN A STEPS FAN FROM THE START AND I HAVE TOO SAY I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE HARD TO TOP STEP ONE BUT THEY DID.THE ALBUM OPENS WITH THE VERY TAMPERER SOUNDING "TRAGEDY" AND I THINK IT IS AN EXCELLENT REWORKIN OF AN ALREADY BRILL SONG.AFTER ITS PURE POP WITH "AFTER THE LOVE HAS GONE" AND "LOVES GOTTA HOLD ON MY HEART" I ESPESIALLY LIKE THE CHINESE FEEL OF "AFTER THE LOVE HAS GONE" BUT BOTH TRACKS ARE SOO FAB.WE THEN HAVE MY FAVOURITE SONG OF THERE "SAY YOU WILL BE MINE" A SONG THAT GOES BEYOND POP AND IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CATCHY YOU WILL NEVER GET IT OUT OF YOUR HEAD. WE THEN HAVE A VERY ABBA SOUNDING SONG WITH "I THINK ITS LOVE" WHITCH IS WHAT THEY DO BESTWE THEN HAVE ONE OF THE FEW SONGS I DISLIKE WITH "MAKE IT EASY ON ME" I MEAN ITS GOOD AND ON ANY OTHER ALBUM WOULD STANDOUT JUST NOT THIS ONE. ITS THEN THE TURN OF "DEEPER SHADE OF BLUE" WHICH IS VERY CLUBBY AND VERY VERY GOOD THEN YET ANOTHER FAB BANNANARAMA COVER WITH "MOVIN ON" WHICH IS GOOD THOUGH NOT AS GOOD AS THE LAST ALBUMS "LAST THING ON MY MIND" I THOUGHT THE NEXT TRACK WOU;LD BE A SINGLE ITS THAT GOOD BUT "NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN" WILL ONLY BE A HIDDEN JEWEL IN A VERY GOOD ALBUM. THE SINGLE THAT DID COME OUT WAS A RATHER WEAK BALLAD CALLED "WHEN I SAID GOODBYE" WHICH ALTHOUGH GOOD IS NOT AS GOOD AS SOME OF THE OTHER BALLADS ON THIS ALBUM. THE NEXT SONG IS I SURRENDER WHICH IS OK BUT NOT WONDERFUL. THE BEST BALLAD ON THE ALBUM AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE LAST SINGLE "SINCE YOU TOOK YOUR LOVE AWAY" I LOVE THIS SONG AND PLAY IT AGAIN AND AGAIN. THE NEXT SONG IS "MY BEST FREINDS GIRL" WHICH IS SUNG BY "H" (DOES LEE DO ANYTHING) WHICH IS VERY LIKE "TRAGEDY" AND THATS NO BAD THING THE LAST SONG IS "YOUR EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS TO ME" WHICH IS OK BUT I HAVE HEARD BETTER. ALL IN ALL AN ALBUM THAT EVEN ABBA WOULD HAVE TROUBLE TRYING TOO TOP. ALSO LOOK OUT FOR "SUMMER OF LOVE" AS IT IS A DOUBLE A SIDE WITH "WHEN I SAID GOODBYE" ITS EXCELLENT. ALSO YOU MIGHT WANNA TRY AN ALBUM CALLED ABBAMANIA AS IT HAS TWO SONGS BY ABBA SUNG BY STEPS THEY ARE "LAY ALL YOUR LOVE ON ME" AND "I KNOW HIM SO WELL" OK SO THE LAST IS NOT AN ABBA SONG BUT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN. DO BUY THIS ALBUM IS YOU WANT A GOOD HAPPY ALBUM WITH A GOOOD FEEL ITS POP/DANCE WITH A BRAIN.