Steps were formed in 1997 and this was their debut album, which was produced by Pete Waterman. Contrary to popular belief, the group weren't put together by him. He only started producing them after their debut single.
Always good value at parties and for listening to, Steps did terrible concerts without live bands so I refused to go and see them except at roadshows and one-off charity concerts. However, I enjoyed most of their songs and I especially like this album which was released in July 1998.
Here's a track listing.
1. Steptro 2. Last Thing On My Mind 3. 5,6,7,8 4. One For Sorrow 5. Heartbeat 6. This Heart Will Love Again 7. Experienced 8. Too Weak To Resist 9. Better Best Forgotten 10. Back To You 11. Love You More 12. Stay With Me
Track 1 - Steptro
A quick and rather pointless little instrumental tune which leads into track 2.
Track 2 - Last Thing On My Mind
This is a cover of a Bananarama album track and it reached the Top 10. Faye sings the first verse and Claire takes over in the second verse. It's disco pop very much in the vein of Abba.
Track 3 - 5, 6, 7, 8
A mixture of pop and line dancing, this song is the biggest selling single of the 1990s not to reach the top 10. It hovered in the charts for over 20 weeks, never getting higher than number 20 in the charts. It's cheesy but Lee's rapping is fun. Good for parties!
Track 4 - One For Sorrow
This Claire-led song is one of my favourite "Steps" songs. It's a heart-wrenching pop song about the confusion after a relationship ends. "I tried so hard to understand you, all the good it did me".
Track 5 - Heartbeat
Not one of my favourites, this ballad was a double A-side with "Tragedy" if I remember rightly. Claire, Faye and Lisa sing mainly but H's vocals feature towards the end.
Track 6 - This Heart Will Love Again
This is a rather bland, mid-tempo song, again about a relationship break up.
Track 7- Experienced
H sings the vocals on here. Excellent singing but a terrible ballad about losing his virginity. "She was older, older by years she was". Ugh!
Track 8 - Too Weak To Resist
This is another song where H takes the lead and it's my favourite. It's about cheating on a partner. His voice is really strong and under-rated. I like the words. "Though I hurt you, I swear it was the last thing on my mind, but I found myself on my own, one too many times".
Track 9 - Better Best Forgotten
Steps apparently didn't like this song and didn't want it released as a single but sure enough it was the last song to be taken from this album. It did quite well in the charts. It's another Abba-style pop song. "Take a chance on a happy ending".
Track 10 - Back To You
Another rather bouncy song, purely there to fill this album. The singing by the women is good but it's just boring.
Track 11 - Love You More
I remember this song being a hit by Sunscream and Steps added a poppy sound to it. It still sounds a bit hippyish in places but Claire and Faye sing it without the raspy vocals on the other version.
12 - Stay With Me
Good vocals from Faye and Lisa can't stop this being a let down track at the end of the album. Another ballad.
Overall, this is a good album and it has a mixture of styles and decent singing. Steps took different sounds and styles and put them together to make them their own.
"Step One" cost £10 when it was released but I expect it's much cheaper now, if you can find it. As usual the internet is probably the best place to look.
The cover of the album is positively awful.
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Sep 14th, 2004
(Jul 22nd, 2005)
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