Come on - dance away the heartbreak

Continuing my trip back through the 2017 album charts.

28/04/17 : Tears On The Dancefloor - Steps


I can't claim to be Steps' biggest fan, but I'm actually quite pleased to see a bit of cheese this year - we've been surprisingly Stilton free.

Yeah, this is pretty cheesy, but it's well done cheese. They're definitely going for an ABBA vibe and I've got absolutely no problems in saying they do a pretty decent job with it - no, none of it screams musical genius but if you just want a bit of fun with a dancefloor beat then this may hit the spot nicely for you. Or you may well hate it, but I think it's safe to say no-one is going to be surprised this. I'm obviously never going to listen to it again, but it does exactly what's expected of it and I don't have any problems understanding why people would listen to it.

We're at #2 with a new entry on the start of an eleven week run, which is amusingly exactly the same as Gorillaz managed and that's probably the only thing those two albums have in common. The rest of the top five are Ed Sheeran, Rag'n'Bone Man, Kendrick Lamar and Imelda May (a new entry) with two more new entries in the top ten for Texas (#6) and While She Sleeps (#8), who I've never heard of even though they're still going - but that'll be because they're a metalcore band, so it's safe to say they're not my kinda thang.

Wikipedia tells us this is their fifth album and their first in five years, but actually their first proper album in seventeen years, because their fourth one is a Christmas album - and who counts them? It's interesting that I mentioned ABBA earlier because I learned that "Story Of A Heart" was written by Benny and Bjorn - it was never an ABBA track though, but was instead recorded by Benny Andersson's Band (it must have taken him ages to think of that name). There are quite the number of writers across the album with seventeen being used across ten tracks, but a lot of that is because half the album is cover versions. I didn't recognise most of the writers but Fiona Bevan co-wrote One Direction's "Little Things" (along with Ed Sheeran, apparently) and Mark Barry co-wrote Cher's "Believe" (along with a million other people). Critically, it was received well enough but commercially didn't do all that much elsewhere, with #10 in Ireland being the best it managed away from these shores.

discogs.com tells us that you can pick up a decent version for a couple of quid but if you want the blue neon vinyl version it's going to set you back £80 - I really struggle to imagine anyone loving them quite that much. There's no danger of me spending any money on it, but I'd say it's fun if you're in the mood for that kinda fun - and I'm sure plenty of people were pleased to experience it.

05/05/17 - A kitcheny-sink mish-mash

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