Tell me that we still belong

Continuing my trip back through the 1994 album charts.

2711/94 : Always And Forever - Eternal

We've previously met Louise on our travels but this is our first visit with her along with the Bennett sisters and the other one - I suspect this will be a good example of "not my sort of thing".

Yeah, I'd say this is a very good example of that. They so obviously want to be Destiny's Child or En Vogue that it could have come across like a desperate try-hard effort, but (in my limited experience) it's easily as good as anything from them (we're actually yet to meet En Vogue on our travels). I liked "Stay" and "Just A Step From Heaven" and their cover of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" is also very well done. I'm not convinced by their version of "Amazing Grace" but its inclusion is interesting because it would have been easy for them to go down the "we're like them US groups, but obviously British" route with some references to London or fish and chips or something, but they've kept it global to try and break it over there. Also on that front, the album cover is interesting because it's not immediately obvious that Louise is considerably whiter than the other band members, particularly in the wake of the rumours she had to go solo because an inter-racial group was just too much for some US media to get their head round.

We're at #6 in the charts this week on their 33rd week of an impressive 62 week run, with it peaking at #2 in its 38th-40th weeks. Which is an impressively slow burn even before you consider than this is its second run, with it already having spent another 18 weeks in the charts, peaking at #9 in its eighth week - I assume it was one of those albums that whenever a single was released, people thought "OK - I guess it's time to buy the album now". The top five this week was besf-of heavy with offerings from The Beautiful South, Bon Jovi, Sting and New Order (a new entry) with only M People offering up a proper album (which we've already met in '96, so that tells you how well that album did). And the next highest new entry was Jimmy Nail (#17) - and there was me thinking I'd never have to think of that album again...

Wikipedia tells us it's their debut album and the only one featuring Louise Nurding (as she was) - and that's about your lot. Looking at their entry, it's quite detailed but remarkably dull - they were more successful after Louise left than I remember, but overall it's not a particularly happy tale with the Bennett sisters running things their way and not always taking what would seem the most reasonable path - the reunion failing because they refused to play some LGBT friendly venues during Pride certainly seems somewhat foolish. Back to this album, it was generally well received critically and commercially it did very well here, selling 1.2 million copies - but it didn't quite break the US market, stalling at #152.

discogs.com tells us that the market isn't exactly booming out there for this, with a decent copy setting you back the grand total of fifty pence - quite how someone expects they're going to get £90 for their copy is beyond me. This isn't something I need in my life, but from my position of limited knowledge, it seems like it's done well.

20/11/94 - One that certainly could have been worse
04/12/94 - One I should have previously heard