In case you're wondering what a sixteen year-old boy is doing writing a review of the Spice Girls, I found this album while I was rooting around my drawers - I didn't even know I had it! I knew I had a few Spice Girls singles lying around, but I don't remember ever buying the album! Honest! ... Read review
Putting aside the Girl Power phenomenon--really, what were the chances five scantily-clad ... more
birds flashing their knickers with kung-fu kickswouldn'tmake it in the music industry?--the Spice Girls reallydomean something: great singles. There's not a dog i...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Putting aside the Girl Power phenomenon--really, what were the chances five scantily-clad ... more
birds flashing their knickers with kung-fu kicks wouldn't make it in the music industry?--the Spice Girls really do mean something: great singles. There's not a d...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
The first ever Spice Girls music DVD features the videos for the current hit double A-side ... more
single 'Holler' & 'Let Love Lead The Way' and 1998's Christmas number one, 'Goodbye'. Also included is an exclusive double-sided poster featuring images of the girls, taken by top photographer Dean Freeman.'Holler' is stunning and futuristic, 'Let Love...' features the girls as the four elements - earth, air, fire and water. 'Goodbye' was filmed at a Gothic mansion in London in 1998.
Advantages: A few good songs Disadvantages: Lyrics tend not to make sense; completely cheesy
...writing a review of the Spice Girls, I found this album while I was rooting around my drawers - I didn't even know I had it! I knew I had a few Spice Girls singles lying around, but I don't remember ever buying the album! Honest! I decided to give it a listen, to see if it was worth keeping, or whether it should go down to the local charity shop where I work. If you're interested, Spice is the girls' debut album from 1996 - hard to believe that the ... ...information on the sleeve, the Spice Girls themselves were co-writers for every song!
The album starts off with their first and probably most famous song - Wannabe. This is of course the song that first introduced the world to the phrase "Zigazig Ha". Yes that's right - according to the lyrics, it's "Zigazig Ha", not "Ah" as you may have thought. Well anyway, this is a love it or hate it song, and you'll ... more
In case you're wondering what a sixteen year-old boy is doing writing a review of the Spice Girls, I found this album while I was rooting around my drawers - I didn't even know I had it! I knew I had a few Spice Girls singles lying around, but I don't remember ever buying the album! Honest! I decided to give it a listen, to see if it was worth keeping, or whether it should go down to the local charity shop where I work. If you're interested, Spice is the girls' debut album from 1996 - hard to believe that the Spice Girls were around 9 years ago! According to the information on the sleeve, the Spice Girls themselves were co-writers for every song!
The album starts off with their first and probably most famous song - Wannabe. This is of course the song that first introduced the world to the phrase "Zigazig Ha". Yes that's right - according to the lyrics, it's "Zigazig Ha", not "Ah" as you may have thought. Well anyway, this is a love it or hate it song, and you'll have your own opinions on it. Listening to it again now I think the chorus is terrible and the words are cringe-worthy ("slam your body down and wind it all around", anybody?) but I'll leave it up to you.
The next track is Say You'll Be There, which was another of the girls' earliest and biggest hits. I actually like this song quite a lot - I think I've got it on a single somewhere - because it's quite catchy and has a decent enough tune. It's a good slice of 90s pop.
2 Become 1 is up next, which as you may remember was their first ever Christmas number one (followed up the next year by Too Much and the year after by Goodbye - yes, 3 in a row!) It's a bit schmaltzy, and slightly too slow, but it's an example of how less can be more, especially in an over-produced pop album such as this. I don't particularly like this word "nice", but it's a really nice song.
After this trio of big hits comes the key question hanging over the album - will the tracks I don't know be as good as the others? Sadly, on Love Thing, the answer is no. Ok, so the chorus is bright and breezy, but the lyrics are dull and predictable, and there is a truly horrendous rap part featuring phrases like "stop pushing, you're rushing, you're losing my loving". Which doesn't even rhyme.
Moving swiftly on to the final track on this side (I own the cassette in case you're wondering) we have Last Time Lover. Yes, in case you're wondering again, all the songs on this album are about love. This track takes the pace down a bit and almost stray into the world of RnB with some sultry vocals from Scary Spice. But sadly, just like the previous track, it doesn't stick in your mind very long and quite frankly it's boring.
Onto the next half of the album we go, with a tribute to their mums, called… Mama. Yep, they really did write a song saying "mama, I love you". If you can look past the saccharine lyrics, there's a pretty good bit of guitar and orchestra, and I have to admit it's catchy. But does anyone really want to hear about their family bonds? This was probably good as a mother's day present, but you wouldn't go out and buy it and listen to it. Plus, at over 5 minutes long, it far outstays its welcome.
Aha, this is more like it. Who Do You Think You Are? is an up-tempo dancy pop tune, which leaves you tapping your foot with its mixture of snappy lyrics and brassy beats. This was probably another of their big hits, since I remember it well, and recently one of my friends started singing it randomly. Yes it's cheesy, but it's good fun.
But sadly, now that all the famous songs have been used up, it's downhill from here. Something Kinda Funny is weak vocally and just slides past in a repetitive blur.
Naked doesn't live up to its interesting title. There are little spoken parts in the verses, a sinister whispered phone call in the middle of it, and I think it's supposed to be a bit passionate and sensual, but apart from the word "naked" being repeated about 30 times, nothing leaves any impression. It's certainly not as clever as it thinks it is.
And so we arrive at the final song. "Already?" I hear you cry, and yes 10 songs is quite short, but alas, If U Can't Dance is indeed the end. And unfortunately it's also one of the worst songs. The "rapped" verses are frankly awful ("we got the flavour, the bad behaviour, the rhythm, the melody, the juice for you to savour") and there is a verse sung in Spanish, which is always a bad move. If it has one saving grace, it's the catchy chorus with its screeching trumpet, but even this gets repetitive.
The photos of the band on the sleeve are alright I suppose, in that they capture the completely different personalities of each of them, and although the two Mels were always stronger vocally, the singing is mostly good from the whole group (yes even Victoria Beckham!) However, the "Girl Power" is at times a little crude and immature to say the least,
Overall, this is an album with good points and bad points, and without descending into clichés it's pretty much an album of two halves. The songs you know are good (Wannabe and Mama being the bad exceptions); the rest aren't. Looking at it that way it only leaves three good songs, which is very poor for an album, no matter who it's by. If you're tempted for a laugh, I really wouldn't recommend buying it unless it's from a charity shop for 50p, but if you were a fan of the girls, it might be worth getting.
Advantages: Happy bubblegum type dance tracks in the majority Disadvantages: Erm, not exactly awe inspiring!
...own a copy of the Spice Girl’s CD ‘Spice’, and what’s more, and very much worse, I love it!! The Spice Girls are (or were!) very popular with young teeny boppers and instigated the whole phenomenon of ‘girl power’ as we know it today. But I’m 36 years old for chrissake, I should know better….
Is it the incredible singing talent of these five (as were) beautiful girls you wonder? Well….er….no! ... ...image, despite continuing as the Spice Girls and releasing more singles and albums. Melanie Chisholm (Mel C - Sporty Spice) has managed to make a very lucrative solo career for herself, helped along by her duet with the wonderful and incredibly talented Bryan Adams and her surprisingly good ‘Northern Star’ album. Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice), who left the group very early on has released her own album and singles as well as a new career ...
Squiggles 10.03.2001 (23.03.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Spice - Spice Girls
Advantages: Ballads aren't bad Disadvantages: Everything else is
...to review 'Spice' by the Spice Girls, but then I'm prepared to give anything a fair chance, so off I toddled to the library to borrow it, and now here I am listening to it! Just before I start, if anyone else has got any albums they want me to review, just drop it in my guestbook. Or yhwman's for that matter, I know he's up for it too!
- Tell me what you want, what you really really want
The Spice Girls were formed in 1993 after responding to an ... ...1 on it's debut, the Spice Girls were a chart success, and they have all enjoyed successful solo careers since. OK, maybe not all - Geri still sounds bloody awful :P
- Thank you for the music
Time to delve into the album itself. It's a ten tracker, although the 40 minutes it occupies is a little measly for a modern day album – although I suppose with a lot of 3-4 minute pop songs it would be something of a feat to fill the whole CD! The advantage ...
Excelle 03.08.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Spice - Spice Girls
Advantages: A unique brand of music that is original and upbeat Disadvantages: Have a lot of power over young girls and need to control the message they give
...admit to liking is the Spice Girls!!!
Introduction
With the success of many boy bands in England such as Take That, East 17, Boyzone etc, the music industry were crying out for a female equivalent. So in attempt to compete with these boys bands and perhaps take a portion of the pie, someone decided to hold auditions. Four of the five members attended the auditions, the fifth gained an audition later. And so the Spice Girls were born.
The members
... ...of the group. As the Spice Girls progressed through several albums she began to lose the sporty look, changed her hairstyle and showed the beauty she possesses.
Posh Spice – Victoria, now married to Beckham (famous English soccer player) she is the epitome of the upper class British woman. Her classical looks, with the dark hair and bobbed hair style put her in mind of a twenties upper class lady who would be more at home attending balls. ...
Simoncook1 27.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Spice - Spice Girls
Yes, who can deny the Spice Girls were big in their time, but I think everyone needs to admit they're going out. There's a rumour that they have a new album coming out soon but I think they may well have left it too long..fans can only wait so long. I personally dislike the Spice Girls, but even I cannot deny their first album, which I barely admit to buying, was class. Although immature when I now listen to it, their sound has matured over the years ...
ladydina 16.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Spice - Spice Girls
...but for some reason the spice girls get all the blame and all the insults.
if you listen to the album for what it is then you will be impressed yes it is all bubblegum pop with a little more attitude but all of the songs are quality or pop's version of quality at least.
there is'nt a song on 'spice' that would'nt have done well if released as a single.
pop may only be limited to teenage girls and very young boys listening to it but if there is ... ...of pop songs that are similar to the singles off the LP the best of the other songs are 'love thing' and 'something kinda funny'
it is a great pop album. so if you like pop you should stop insulting the spice girls and get down there and buy it ...
red_doyle 26.02.2001
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Originality
Lyrics
Quality and consistency...
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Advantages: great B-side Disadvantages: Not enough tracks, no video
The intro starts and you know you're on to a winner - this is a pyscedelic mass of music coming straight at you from the world's biggest girl group. It's a fanfare of pop and you can hear it from miles around. The tune's infectious, the songs fantastic, and see how hard it is resist not to have to join in sometime during the whole 2 minutes and 53 seconds. The B-side's brilliant too 'Spice Invaders' - not really a song. It basically features all the girl's talking a lot too each other, perhaps set in a recording studio that they have all to themsleves. It's incredibly funny to listen to! ...
Out of all the albums I have purchased in the pass number of years this is my all time favourite one. This ex- spicegirl is first class ? her style is brilliant. Out of all the spicegirls she is the only one to produce anything that one could say is decent to listen to. My favourite song is ? I turn to you? and if you are like me a clubber then you will no doubt have heard the club remix which is first class. I also really like ?things will never be the same again? ? it is such a deep thinking tune which I never bore listening to. ...
Advantages: All tracks are great! Disadvantages: Not enough tracks
The second album from the SpiceGirls ? and at the moment, it is the last album the SpiceGirls released. Whether there will be another one ? only time will tell. This album however, is a fantastic piece of pop. Spice Up Your Life is the wild festival theme song everybody knows, Stop (another favourite) is a Motown stomper of a song. Too Much is slow, with a sexy nightclub theme running through it. Saturday Night Divas is another disco track, as is never Give Up On The Good Times, the one track almost everyone thinks should have been a single. Move Over is the song used in the multi-million pound Pepsi campaign in 1997. Do It and Denying are the weakest tracks on the album if there are any, although both have superb lyrics and catchy tunes. Viva Forever is absolutely beautiful and this leads into the classy, sexy superb Lady Is A Vamp ...
bombay spice
An impromptujaunt toYork to seea band playat Fibbersbrought
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Product Information for "Spice - Spice Girls" »
Product details
Title
Spice
Performer
Spice Girls
Genre
Rock & Pop
Sub Genre
Teen Pop
Release Date
10/1996
Recomended Retail Price
8.99 GBP
Original Release Year
1997
Label / Distributor
Virgin / EMI Operations/CEVA Logistics
Pieces in Set
1
Studio / Live
Studio
Stereo
Stereo
Format
Performer
EAN
724384217426
Catalogue Number
CDV 2812
Additional notes
Album Notes
Spice Girls: Victoria, Emma, Melanie C., Geri, Melanie B. Additional personnel includes: Absolute (various instruments); Greg Lester (guitar); Jackie Drew (violin); Tony Ward (cello); Judd Lander (harmonica); Matt Rowe, Richard Stannard (keyboards, programming, background vocals); Dave Way, Pete Davis, Paul Waller, Statik (programming); Mary Pearce, Eric Gooden (background vocals). Producers: Richard Stannard, Matt Rowe, Absolute. Engineers: Adrian Bushby, Jeremy Wheatley, Al Stone. There's a long tradition in England of kiddie-pop bands who harmonize well, look good, sell syrup by the millions in the U.K. and can't get arrested in the U.S. The Spice Girls smash that mold by adding a point of view. Having more pop hooks than your average bait & tackle shop doesn't hurt either. The five Spice Girls met when they answered a would-be svengali's ad looking for young women who could sing and dance. He got more than he bargained for. They also had spunk, and one of their first acts was to fire him and take control of their own career. The group co-wrote every song on SPICE, and it's an audacious debut on the order of Madonna's first LP. The girls' songs, like Madonna's, are simultaneously about wanting sex and wanting empowerment; their mantra is "girl power." These are new kids on the block who've actually been around the block a few times. Calling their debut single "Wannabe" is merely the most obvious nod to the queen of pop; they pay further homage in the brazen way they grab for any pop style within reach. Hip-hop, dancehall reggae, dance-club beats and soft balladry and all thrown into this spicy pop stew with utter abandon. Vocal lines are wantonly tossed back and forth among the five like unsuspecting suitors. If they can figure out a way to keep it up, watch out.
Album Reviews
Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.80) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's." NME (12/21-28/96, pp.66-67) - Ranked #50 in NME's 1996 critics' poll. Spin (2/97, p.87) - "...Unless a new sensation arrives in the next few minutes, Spice Girls are the new Nirvana." Village Voice (2/18/97, pp.65-69) - "...their excess spunk already has allowed them to transcend their manufactured roots....the Spice Girls are Madonna X 5 and their debut sets the stage for their future as confidently as the Material Girl's glorious first LP..." Entertainment Weekly (2/14/97, p.61) - "...what lifts the Spice Girls above female--Bay City Rollers status is that SPICE is a devilishly good pop collection, as the Girls deploy their thin, snarky voices in the service of white hip-hop that's not without soul..." - Rating: B+
Titles on disc 1
1.
Wannabe
2.
Say You'll Be There
3.
2 Become 1
4.
Love Thing
5.
Last Time Lover
6.
Mama
7.
Who Do You Think You Are
8.
Something Kinda Funny
9.
Naked
10.
If U Can't Dance
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13/07/2000
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