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Better The Devil You Know - You all know this ex-Kylie song so I won't go into detail. 8.5/10.
Summer Of Love - Very Latino and it is the sort of song that makes you want to dance and dance and dance! I like the lyrics and the dance is amazing! My 2nd favourite song of 2000 so far! The video is very Gap Advert-ish but still very good! Hopefully this is a taste of more to come! The whole song is very much Ricky Martin meets Jennifer Lopez and works very well indeed. Shame it didn't get higher up in the UK Singles Chart. I am glad for this one that Lee has had a new hair-style as his old one was getting rather boring. I do not like Lisa's trouser things; when she is dancing it looks like she has got 3 legs! (see single inlay.) Great song - a well deserved 10/10.
Stomp - When I first saw the title of Stomp I didn't think that it was an over good name for a song, however, when I saw the world exclusive showing of Stomp I dispelled all thoughts of 'Bad Title' beacuse it goes so well with the song and the song is brilliant! The dance routine looks quite hard to learn, but STEPS did it well, even though I saw H make 2 mistakes, both being slow timing. At the start of the 3.25 long song, Lee was on a red mobile phone and then threw it to the audience (I think) and the song started! Faye has got a new hair style and it looks great! It seems much shorter and is straight; no dreads this time! The costumes are very good; everybody looks excellent. Claire has got some very effective sticker tattoo things around her belly button which look very hi-tech, which is what the whole 3rd album is supposed to be like. In the actual song Claire opens the singing on the first verse, then Faye continues, with Lisa following and the chorus starts with its' amazing dance routine! Faye then goes on to the 2nd verse with no music in between it and the chorus, then Lisa sings a very nice bit and Claire finishes off the verse before the chorus is sung for the 2nd time. After, the music slows down and Claire and H sing a bit and then there is some very good music and the chorus is sung again twice before a very abrupt ending in which everyone has their own pose! The chorus is absolutely fabulous and as soon as you know the lyrics, you won't be able to stop singing it! This number doesn't sound like any previous STEPS song, which shows they have variation, but it is very vaguely like 'Where's The Party' by Madonna. I was very pleased to see Lisa doing more singing because recently her and Lee don't seem to have done much. Lee, however, doesn't sing anything apart from the line 'we're gonna stomp all night' for the second time on the chorus. It is supposed to be a cover of the same song by the Brothers Johnson which they sang in 1980. Whether this is true (GenSTEPS seems to think it is,) a source of mine says that the Brothers Johnson did have a song called Stomp, but it wasn't like the marvellous one from STEPS!
This is a brilliant up-tempo song which should get STEPS a very good singles chart position all around the world! 10/10.
It's The Way You Make Me Feel - The first time I heard this track was when STEPS performed it on The National Lottery Stars (v. good for STEPS performances) and I didn't immediately take an instant liking to it. However, after watching it again and again, I do now and will be buying the single (like you will). The song is not a typical STEPS track and it is quite hard to review. It seems an old-fashioned type track, presumably around which the video is based which is set in Olde England. In the Lottery performance there was not really a dance routine - at least not one you could easily copy on your own as it is very partnership dancing if that is the right term you use - with STEPS and the dancers ballroom dancing with each other and spinning each other round sort of. The girls have got fans which they are flashing around throughout the whole performance which did tend to get a bit annoying, but did tie in very well with the music and the whole feel of the song. Not much singing from Claire, which is quite good because she does seem to have taken the lead a lot of previous singles and on this one Lisa gets a fair crack at the live singing which is good. This song is hard to rate because it is so un-STEPS-ish. It is mid-tempo and 'old-fashioned' in lots of ways, but works very well; however, the lyrics could be better, but I'll still give it 10/10.
You'll Be Sorry - This has to be one of the greatest songs any band has ever done - it is BRILLIANT. H takes the lead vocals and sounds excellent; then we come to the chorus which is stunning. You'll Be Sorry has to be the next STEPS single - it is up-tempo and very danceable. All the vocals are superb, the music fits in beautifully and no doubt a fantastic video could be produced if You'll Be Sorry were to be a single, which would most certainly acheive the UK #1 status I'm sure. 10/10.
Learn To Love Again - After H did such a marvellous job doing lead vocals on the previous song and he co-wrote Learn To Love Again I had high hopes for it. The first 25 seconds prove me right and lead you to believe that Learn To Love Again is going to be a great tune. However, after 25 seconds, everything goes down hill and this has to be the worst song on Buzz. It is a half-dance song which does not do anything for me. It gets very tedious and the lyrics are not very good I'm afraid. The music is almost appalling and I'm extremely surprised that Learn To Love Again was included on Buzz it is so bad - B-side status is the maximum it deserves. When Buzz was still being written, I remember putting on this site that H had said he had written 2 tracks for Buzz - Learn To Love Again which he described as a 'brilliant up-tempo number'. He must have been talking about the wrong song. The Experienced of Buzz. A generous 3/10 (at least he had a try at writing something)
Never Get Over You - Wow! Is this really Lisa? This song is fantastic! The chorus is brilliant and Lisa sings it as well as anybody could. The church organ seems to fit is beautifuly aswell! Definetely one of my favourite tracks on 'Buzz'. A great up-tempo number that should do excellent as a single. 10/10.
Hand On Your Heart - The first ballad on 'Buzz' which is good. Claire seems to be very suited to ballads and this one is better than 'I Think It's Love' from 'Steptacular' which Claire also sings. The opening lines of the chorus are fantastic!: 'Hand on your heart, heart on your sleeve' sings Claire rather melancholy. It is a very good song and an great chillin' out number. 10/10.
Happy Go Lucky - This song does sound like Ace Of Base and Faye sounds just like the Ace Of Base lead singer. Although this song is similar to Buzzz I don't think it is as good. It doesn't seem very STEPS-ish and is quite hard to rate. A good album track, but I don't think Happy Go Lucky would make a good single. 8/10.
Buzzz - The title track of the album gets off too a great start - the opening music is great! Faye sounds very good and the lyrics are very good, especially in the chorus I get a b-b-buzzz off you/just bec-c-c-ause I do. Lee's background vocals are good and his little rap in the middle is good. The whole song gets you into a good mood and it is really good. Nice extra 'z' on the end too! 10/10.
Here And Now - This songs is slightly hard to review because it doesn;t seem to be a typical STEPS song. It is also not fabulous. The chorus is sung too many times and it is too short. H's voice on the 2nd verse does not sound great, either. The verses are too repetitive, but the tune to the song is good and there is evidence of effort in the end result of the final song. 9/10.
Paradise Lost - This song is all about a holiday romance which Claire sings about. And it is sung superbly. The lyrics are good and this mid-tempo song is fantastic. This is one of only 4 tracks on Buzz which has been completely written by PWL members (in this case Mark Topham & Karl Twigg). Paradise Lost is an excellent track and deserves 10/10.
Turn Around - I've been reading negative reviews on the Internet about this song, but I disaggree with them all - I think Turn Around is great! Lee opens up the vocals on verse 1 and him and Faye both sing the chorus and Faye continues by herself on the 2nd verse. Lee does some rapping in the middle, which I think sounds good and hopefully more Lee & Faye duets will occur in the future. 9.5/10.
Wouldn't Hurt You So Bad - Track 14 and amazingly only the 2nd ballad on Buzz which works well, however it is probably the weakest ballad on the album out of the three. Lisa's vocals sound good, as on Never Get Over You, but the overall song doesn't really do anything for you, even though it is written by the same writers of Buzzz. Clearly they should stick to the faster songs, and I think that Wouldn't Hurt So Bad coulld be much better. It seems slightly rushed and a better end result could have been acheived. 7.5/10.
If You Believe - You can immediately tell that this song has been written by someone very talented. Cyndi Lauper has produced a gem here and is as good as her own stuff, much of which I have in my personal music collection. No disrespect to Faye or any of the other writers of If You Believe, but I believe that Cyndi wrote most of it and hopefully her expertise has been passed on to Faye. The final song on Buzz and being a ballad there is nothing unusual about that, and it rounds of the whole albums perfectly. 10/10.
OVERALL
Buzz is the third and best album by STEPS and it should certainly be in everybody's music collection. All the songs are excellent, except H's Learn To Love Again and the ballad Wouldn't Hurt So Bad is not the best ballad I've ever heard before, but it is still good. Buzz is a truly amazing album.
OVERALL SCORE........................................10/10
Read reviews of 'Step One'
Read reviews of 'Steptacualar'
Read reviews of 'Gold'
