Spiceworld – Spice Girls – CD

• Released: 3rd November 1997
• Running time: 39 minutes
• Dom’s rating : 4/10

  Track Listing

• 1. Spice Up Your Life
• 2. Stop
• 3. Too Much
• 4. Saturday Night Divas
• 5. Never Give Up On The Good Times
• 6. Move Over
• 7. Do It
• 8. Denying
• 9. Viva Forever
• 10. The Lady Is A Vamp

Thereis without a doubt no-one out there who hasn’t heard of the SpiceGirls, and since the last single from their first album, a double-A sidedMama / Who Do You Think You Are, there’s been no let up from the girls.Whereas most bands would go away and quietly work on their next album, and thenrelease it with a list of tour dates, the Spice Girls advertised Walkers crisps,Impulse Spice – a new fragrance, but whereas those crisps taste nice, theImpulse spray smells horrible. They even went so far in their promotion ofPepsi as to record a song, Step To Me, only for them for it to be givenaway on a CD single in a promotion if you sent off a stack of tokens. Theirlatest foray into advertising is the new Polaroid camera, the SpiceCam.

It was only last July when the girls shot into the chart at No.3 with Wannabe,climbing to No.1 the following week, and then followed it with three moreNo.1’s from the same album, Say You’ll Be There, 2 Become 1, andMama / Who Do You Think You Are. Then the first single from the newalbum, Spice Up Your Life went straight into the charts at the top aswell, making five No.1’s in a row, and their new single from Spiceworld,a balled called Too Much is due out on December 8th and is one of thetop contenders for the Christmas No.1.

For those who can’t get enough of the band, their first film, also calledSpiceworld is released on December 26th in the UK, and apparentlyfeatures the five girls getting ready for their first ever gig. They describeit as them themselves, but with their characters exagerated, “if you canexagerate our characters even more”, said Mel B.

Directed by Bob Spiers, who has worked on the TV series AbsolutelyFabulous, and written by Kim Fuller and the programme’s star, JenniferSaunders, the film also has a number of cameo appearances by famous people.As well as Richard E. Grant playing their manager, cameos comefrom Michael Barrymore, Richard Briers, Bob Hoskins, Elvis Costello,Stephen Fry, Dame Edna Everage, Elton John, Hugh Laurie, Meat Loaf, JonathanRoss, Toyah Willcox, and Jennifer Saunders.

When December 26th comes around, don’t say you haven’t been warned.

The album contains a mere ten tracks, covering half the length a CD can befilled with, and kicks off with the frenetic Spice Up Your Life. Verycatchy, very loud, and you must have heard this one already. Stopchanges beat slightly, but is also an uptempo catchy number, and is probablya contender for one of their next singles, although it sounds exactly likea Boyzone record.

Too Much is the slow lovey-dovey ballad on the album, and coming outjust before Christmas points to it being this year’s 2 Become 1.Saturday Night Divas manages to strike the right balance between thefast and slow songs, and comes off as one of the album’s best tracks, whileNever Give Up On The Good Times returns the album to the fast lane,but while being one of the most memorable tracks, it also reminded me veryslightly of the mid-80’s song Break My Stride by Matthew Wilder,if that’s at all possible…

Move Over will strike a chord with most people from the instant theyplay it as it’s the song used in the Pepsi promotion where they kept rabbitingon about “generation next” to tie-in with the advertising campaign. Do Itis more of the same, but aims for a slightly funkier beat – only aims though.

By the time we get round to Denying all the ideas have gone out thewindow, and we’re left with a very dull mid-tempo effort. Viva Foreveris the longest track on the album clocking in at 5:09, and is one of thebetter tracks: slow with a backbeat, and a hint of Spanish guitar all theway through – one that should be released as a single next summer when weget some decent weather. Finally The Lady is a Vamp completely lets theproceedings down. Going for a big band sound, the girls spend three minuteslisting past musical and screen legends, and then claiming that they’re allovershadowed nowadays by the Spice Girls, which is probably, but unfortunately,true, and an abysmal final track.

As you open the packaging, it scores a plus for coming complete with fulllyrics for each song. However, it then scores a big fat minus for having acouple of pages full of blatant advertising for all of their productsavailable via mail order.

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1997.