Buzz - Steps > Reviews > DO YOU GET A BUZZ OUT OF THIS ALBUM

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Average
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money

Advantages:	good all round music appeal
Disadvantages:	weak links

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

Steps. Claire, H, Lee, Faye and Lisa are a household name particularly with anyone who has children and even some that do not!

Now with a string of successful albums and singles under their belts, I finally get round to writing my opinion on Buzz the last album released.

What is it about Steps that makes them better than the rest of the pre manufactured music bands of today, well they are not only attractive but seem to have kept their values even with huge success, they are very much like the girl or boy next door types, genuinely nice people on and off camera, and this comes through in the Steps charm factor.

Claire Richardson has the edge on vocal talents without a doubt, a huge powerful voice that can be very hard to miss; she is often more than not the main contributor to the songs for this reason.

I feel that although Faye and Lisa although are also genuine class singers, just fall into the nothing special group and are a lot weaker vocal wise than Claire.
Again Lee and H…hmm, H is a pretty good singer too, having actually seen them sing live cough, he holds the notes pretty well, Lee however is to me slightly dodgy in this department however makes up for it in his looks.

So to Buzz

A varied bag here some really good songs and some I found rather mediocre and disappointing, this is Steps Third Album and the previous two being highly successful.
So how have they come along since their debut of 1997?

Better The Devil You know-
A remake of the Kylie version here and a very up tempo number, Better the Devil is a definite album opener that gets you in the mood,
Better watched on Video though as its quite a cheeky fun little number with all the usual funky actions thrown in.

Stomp-
A slightly different theme here for them, although most are great dance songs this another single release had a more 70’s style to its rhythm, and also the dance that accompanied it was definitely disco fever, a really enjoyable tempo to this one that will have you stomping round your home waving your arms about madly!

Summer Of Love

Steps jump onto the latest craze here. The Latino beat.. And an excellent shot at it too; once again the vocals are enhanced highly by Claire.
Here you get the full rhythm of a great dance track, you can almost feel the summer heat, excellent track for that party to get everyone up and in the mood.

It’s The Way You Make Me Feel -

This one the most recent of the steps hits, a very Abba esque song, sort of dated, this gives you the full range of vocals here, each with their own little piece, so to speak,

You’ll Be Sorry -
Another typical sing along with a great beat to it, the usual catchy chorus of course and this one features H quite heavily for a change, and this works well as he does the song great justice.

Learn To Love Again-
A song written and sung by H himself. Now call me sceptic but this just does not match up to their pre written songs, its good of course to try and prove yourself as a songwriter by all accounts, however the song is just not memorable enough to get this point across. Its mediocre I guess, but it goes nowhere fast except downhill. .zzzzzz.

Never Get Over You -

Over to Lisa for this one,
Lisa is lovely but as I said earlier she just has the average voice that doesn’t stand out in a crowd, a little weak and uncertain and it shows.
Credit where credits due, she wrote this one herself, and it’s a pretty good ballad, about love and life, however its too tame and meek, and it would have been a lot better had someone else sung it for her, still a good try Lisa.

Hand On Your Heart –

More Abba tones again here, mixed vocals and a catchy chorus, this one also is a good dance and sing along, with its up tempo feel. But sorry nothing outstanding here either, mediocre track yet again

Happy Go lucky -

Here the girlies Faye and Lisa team up to give us a very poppy teen band feel, they actually combine their voices pretty well, better than solo.
This one does work although it’s more of a teenybopper appeal song, a bit Flowery and lacks maturity somehow.
I do actually quite like it however I think this is only because it gets into your head and you cant help humming it.

Buzz -

The title track, here the band try and vary their normal style to an almost R & B feel, plenty of feel to it, with Faye taking the reigns so to speak as the main vocalist.
A short rap from Lee however brings the tone down slightly here, as the poor guy just hasn’t got what it takes, well either at rap or even at singing really but I suppose they have to let him have a go now and again so we don’t forget he’s there!

Here And Now -

One of my favourites on the Album, again up tempo but so catchy, a very Abba At their very best feel, this song is bursting with energy even from the very first line, this song jumps out at you from a lot of the tracks and it dwells on the group harmonies rather than individual…. this gives it the power it needs to succeed as a very strong willed track.

Paradise lost -
Here another rip storming song, that Claire takes in her stride, The power of her voice in this is unbelievable, the song itself is a mixture of tempo’s and for some reason the start reminds me of a Scottish anthem or something. God knows why, but it gives off that vibe!!
Quite poignant lyrical views of a holiday love here; with that holiday feel thrown in. Great stuff, now if they were all as good as this!

Turn Around -
Yikes Here’s Lee, he can take the lead, well sort of anyway, he tends to rely heavily on the back up of the ladies however a little too much for my liking, this is a fairly harmless enough song, catchy in parts and simple in its melodies and vocals, likeable enough it however comes under the nothing too special category.

Wouldn’t Hurt So Bad -

A harmonious ballad for the three Steps ladies here, typical girl band style and lyrics, the combined vocals make it sound and feel better than it actually is, weak and feeble, but if you go for the girlie harmonious style songs you will love it.

If You Believe -

Faye’s attempts at writing, however with the help of Cyndi Lauper adds immensely to the style and flair of this track.
Faye hasn’t a bad voice, compared to Lisa anyway, and this shows that she can do it on her own.
She even manages to put real guts into it and even raw power into this track, a strong ballad that is quite appealing to listen to.

Overall Buzz is a pretty mixed bag, I like the idea of them all having a shot at it so to speak to enhance their own particular talents either at writing or vocals.
Although they are of course a pre manufactured band so to speak, they hold up pretty well, the weak links however are their own writing often more than not, and this is quite sad, as you feel that they are the sort of band that rely too heavily on others to manufacture the music for them.
They are however superb as an all-round band, handling Ballads, disco and Latino with complete ease. This helps enormously in keeping them in the eye as variation adds to the spice of the music industry and helps them stay afloat where others would have sunk. They also seem to have managed to catch the attention of all ages from the teen’s to the grannies and this says a lot for them…keep it up.