I guess if the plan for part 2 had been there all along they probably would have spread the quality a bit more evenly? I put a playlist with both volumes on shuffle yesterday and it definitely mostly hightlighted how strong part 1 is. (Even Come Dance With Me and Don't Leave Us Halfway sounded good in context, which I guess might mean part 2 has chances of still growing on me too, or it really just isn't as good)
A Hundred Years of Winter The Slightest Touch Living in a Lie Are my singles pick and would be a welcome addition to the Greatest Hits next year
No, not at all. It's only their 10th best seller, on less than 300k (11th if you include Thank ABBA For The Music) and it only stayed in the top 75 for 9 weeks, which was also among their worst runs.
Ah thanks! Not being in the UK I wondered if I just misremembered/didn't get to experience its impact
It does feel like we are going to have a Gold Part 2 situation as unlikely we will receive a complete new album and due to the amount of work recently and then tour promo along with the tour is going to be alot for them, So at most expecting a Greatest Hits maybe with 3 new tracks and various headlining slots at summer festivals or possibly joining a pop touring festival with a few dates similar to what We Love Pop was going to do in Australia which would appeal to all round pop fans
They clearly love it, but it just isn't the signature hit they seem to think it is. Even though they've been performing it as part of medleys and just on its own since the original reunion, it really hasn't picked up that many more sales.
Tell me why despite not being my favourites - Trouble & Love and Hundred Years of Winter are the ones that keep popping up in my head?
The concept of performing “Deeper Shade of Blue” in all of these mini promo medleys or short sets makes total sense to me, despite the fact it wasn’t one of their most successful singles at the time. It’s a band favourite, when they were making their comeback it was always the song they referenced as the type of track they’d be seeking out for new material; and really when you think about it, there’s no other song quite like it in their back catalogue, particularly from their initial run. I think the same about “Take Me For A Ride” actually, it’s a very good song that isn’t necessarily acknowledged as such by the core fanbase, but will stand the test of time. “To The Beat of my Heart” is fine, but it sounds more like an Alphabeat song than a Steps song. Production wise, whether it was a creative choice or not, it’s very chaotic and cluttered. But different strokes for different folks!
Totally agree with everything you've said here, but I have a soft spot for Trouble & Love as it's kinda cheeky and showcases a Steps first with a Lee-led vocal... and also Lee promising that something's gonna happen tonight (winky face) is very exciting.
If we went with signature hits we’d be getting mash ups of 5,6,7,8 and Tragedy everytime. Deeper Shade wasn’t a big hit when first out. It was their first single not to get a certification. But since it has gone over 200K and silver and when looking at its Spotify numbers (which are split between the single and album version) it is one of their higher streaming songs
Deeper Shade of Blue doesn’t physically need to be a “signature” hit - they perform it like it is one, and a lot of the time that’s enough. Plenty of artists do it.
It’s probably worth considering Deeper Shade Of Blue being single 4 (5 including Tragedy) from Steptacular. By the time it was released, most people probably had the album.
Deeper Shade Of Blue may not have been a massive seller at the time - probably due to it already being on the album that most people had by then - but it definitely is one of their best known songs.
In related news, their midweek in Australia was incredibly high- with ARIA predicting it’ll land in the top 10 (their highest position since Step One back in 1998) https://www.aria.com.au/charts/news...aiming-for-top-tens-on-this-weeks-aria-charts
Any updates on today’s midweeks? I feel like Lisa during the Electric release.. “but we performed for Holly and Phil…”
Last week's Wednesday sales update didn't come until 6pm, so another 8 hours to wait. There might be some people in here who get their hands on the updates sooner though.
