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Posted by: Jay* 21st December 2020, 02:09 PM

https://www.steveyb.co.uk/wp-content/gallery/Emma-Bunton/EmmaBunton-03LifeInMono.jpg

'Life in Mono'
4th December 2006

1. All I Need to Know
2. Life in Mono
3. Mischieveous
4. Perfect Strangers
5. He Loves Me Not
6. I Wasn't Looking (When I Found Love)
7. Take Me to Another Town
8. Undressing You
9. I'm Not Crying Over Yesterdays
10. All That You'll Be
11. Downtown
12. Something Tells Me (Something's Going to Happen)
13. Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps
14. Por Favor

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A thread dedicated to discussion about Emma Bunton's third album 'Life in Mono'!

What are your thoughts and opinions on this album? Which tracks do you like, love, hate? What's your favourite? Were the singles the correct choices? Rate the tracks in order of favourite to least favourite.

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https://www.steveyb.co.uk/wp-content/gallery/Emma-Bunton/EmmaBunton-Sing09Downtown.jpghttps://www.steveyb.co.uk/wp-content/gallery/Emma-Bunton/EmmaBunton-Sing10AllINeedToKnow.jpg

Posted by: sammy01 21st December 2020, 04:48 PM

Where is the notion that LIM didn't do very well coming from? Yeah it got a low peak but it sold as much as Hot and VB released in 2000/2001 and it sold 20k more than the 3 solo albums (BI, Passions and LASOM) combined the year before.

Emma evidently sold to non Spice girls die hard fans with LIM as we know by then they had dwindled to tiny numbers. Who is to say LIM might not have sold 10k not 53k had it not been for Strictly?

Posted by: spiceboy 21st December 2020, 05:26 PM

And you say we like to argue just for the sake of not admitting you’re right, really grasping at straws trying to make a #65 album into a success. It sold what it sold because it was released in a very high sales climate I highly doubt had she released in January / February after the show that she would have sold anywhere near that amount and still would have charted around #65...

Posted by: Jay* 21st December 2020, 05:47 PM

Yeah, December 2006 was a huge time for sales, and honestly it's the #65 peak that speaks more clearly about where Emma's career was at at that moment, in relation to the market and other artists. In the same week, Katie Price had an album go Top 30 with over 30k sales compared to Emma's 12k.

Life in Mono's performance only looks good when you compare it to other solo Spice albums (that weren't released around Christmas time), but in terms of 2006, it wasn't a particularly good showing. Maybe you're right about Strictly helping somewhat to achieve those sales, but in a way that's sad to think of... could she have missed the Top 100 altogether if she'd just had an ordinary level of promotion and exposure?

Posted by: sammy01 21st December 2020, 09:20 PM

Mel B missed the top 400 the year before, Geri missed the top 40 and BI was out the chart in a flash.

Of course we are comparing it to other spice solo releases I'm mean we can compare Spiceworld to '21' by Adele and call it a flop.

LIM was the last solo Spice Girls related album to sell over 30k and nearly doubled that. There must be a reason it sold better than every other solo release since 2004. It's not like even at non Christmas time Mel C or Geri were smashing the top 40 and selling in total with an album what LIM sold first week. Dismissing the evidently much bigger sales because it was released in December is doing a big disservice, it could have missed the top 400 like LASOM there was no one forcing people to buy it in December 2006 bar people wanting to.

Strictly undoubtedly helped LIM be a big cut above other solo releases before and since it sales wise.

Posted by: Jay* 21st December 2020, 09:57 PM

I think we're coming at Life in Mono from different angles! It's difficult to fairly compare it to other solo Spice albums because none of the others were released in the Christmas market.

I think if you apply the context of the fact that album sales were huge in late 2006, and it only reached #65, that's more telling of how well it truly did. I mean, the amount of albums that outsold her that week, and the names that managed to do that... we're talking Katie Price (#29 in 2nd week on sale), Lil Chris (#54), Andy Abraham (#57, 4th week on sale)... makes it difficult for me to see Life in Mono as some kind of resounding success.

Posted by: spiceboy 21st December 2020, 10:18 PM

This tbh. Who knows how Passion would have done had it been released during Christmas 2006, perhaps it would have charted at #40 and had bigger first week sales same for Beautiful Intentions it may still have charted at #28 with bigger sales. The comment about Emma still appealing to casual buyers thanks to Strictly is not necessarily the case since first week sales of LIM were nearly 3 times less than Free Me so I'd say it was just her remaining fans buying copies or people buying copies for Christmas for her remaining fans...

Posted by: sammy01 21st December 2020, 11:24 PM

And Passion was what a 10th of the 1st week sales of Scream, LASOM a 10th of Hot and BI less than a 3rd of Reason.

I'm not saying LIM was a resounding success but Christmas or not the album market was very healthy for all those releases and they flopped. Imagine if Passions was released in December 2006 it might have charted at #140 with the same sales.

You can't attribute LIM sales being more than double any solo album released since 2004 with because it was released in December. It evidently picked up casual sales thanks to Strictly.

Posted by: Jay❄ 23rd December 2020, 11:33 AM

Moved the 'Life in Mono' related posts from the Masked Singer, into this new topic for the album!

This album was released 14 years ago this month! I still think All I Need to Know is one of the most beautiful songs any of these girls have created. I suppose it wasn't a wise single choice considering how it did, but I love that she chose it anyway

Posted by: Mr.X 23rd December 2020, 12:05 PM

This is the 4th best Spice-related album, for me. Just stunning, classy and really well done, overall.

Sure, it isn't packed with hits but you know what it is packed with? Great music that flows really well and is really well thought through. It was a clear evolution in her sound and even the reviews acknowleged that. It is, still to today, the closest to a concept album we ever got from a Spice Girl.

Music such as I'm Not Crying Over Yesterdays, All I Need To Know, Life in Mono, Undressing You, Take Me To Another Town, All That You'll Be.... all just perfect pop songs with real music instruments that sounded fresh at the time and still sound so good today.

For me, this is one of the only solo Spice-related albums that stands the test of time still today. Put it on in the summer time whilst you are on a car drive to the beach with your mates? YES. Put it on during a rainy winter Sunday? YES. Make love in the Spring whilst it plays in the background? YES. Start the Autumn by walking around your local park and watching the leaves fall whilst the album plays in your headphones? f*** yes! An album for the whole year

The only other albums you can say similar are NS and Free Me, in my opinion.

A shame it faired so badly when it came to the comercial success. Definitly releasing it on the back of Downtown and Strictly was a mess and a bad move. Yes, Strictly is a high ratings TV show but it does absolutely nothing for music. It did nothing for Emma, or Alesha apart from one single being a minor hit for each of them. Any acts that perform there barely see sales picking up after. It's just not that kind of TV show, unfortunately.

Because she was on strictly, she was also not able to perform it properly and promote it properly. I also think that the stint on Strictly did nothing for her critical aproval with the music industry. She gained a lot of good will with Free Me and the show seemed a deviation from that, in terms of people looking at her as a serious pop artist, in my opinion...

Also as much as I LOVE All I Need To Know and admire that it was even released as a single, I do think it was the wrong move. It's a GORGEOUS song but it needed a bit of a boost for radio/single promo reasons and the video wasnt very good either. It was a nice idea, but just never really managed to succed as a single. Perfect track though!

Here is what I would have done:

- Not do strictly but release Downtown for CiN

- Start the year with a release of Take Me To Another Town in February/March, to test the waters again

- Release Undressing You close to the summer time, in May with a single remix for the horny beach huns to salivate over, followed by the album itself in June.

- Do some Spring/Summer festivals, get into the live performance/touring mode, capitalise on that. Do some album-tracks performances here and there, on TV shows such as Jools Holland, E4 etc. Really dive into the album, with maybe some performances of Life in Mono, I'm Not Crying Over Yesterdays, etc. It bothered me that she never did much of these...

- Release I'm Not Crying Over Yesterdays in September

- Tour small 2000-3000 seat venues across the UK and Europe September-November. Go to EU festivals, award shows, whilst on the road.

- Release All That You'll Be in December, with a Christmas mix as a b-side.

Obviously all of this would have meant the Spice Girls reunion would be delayed till 2008 and I AM FINE WITH THAT considering what we got from the group at the time lol

ALL IN ALL, a great album that deserved much, much better. Here's to a future vinyl release If there's a Spice album that would really trive in vinyl, this is IT!

You will note that I didnt even mention the bonus covers. There's a reason for that and let's leave it at that

PS: Gotta say Jay that pishing those posts into this thread makes it quite weird. Why not just start that conversation from scratch here? Those posts made total sense in that other topic and seem out of narrative here... same with the discussion on the LA State of Mind topic...

Posted by: Jay❄ 23rd December 2020, 12:11 PM

These posts are on topic here, but off topic where they initially were Life in Mono had nothing to do with whether Melanie C is doing The Masked Singer, the fact it was raised only stemmed from mentioning that Emma doing Strictly didn't do much for her.

Posted by: Mr.X 23rd December 2020, 12:14 PM

But that is why it made sense in that thread?........ that comparison is interesting in that context

Posted by: Jay❄ 23rd December 2020, 12:21 PM

An in-depth discussion regarding how Life in Mono sold and charted in 2006 has absolutely nothing to do with speculating whether Melanie C will take part in a reality show in 2021, it was really going off topic. It makes more sense to me that specific Life in Mono chat should go in a thread dedicated to it.

I'm the one who raised Life in Mono/Strictly in the first place, and I ended up wishing I hadn't because that thread was becoming a mess. I feel better about these posts being in this thread instead, it's neater and on topic. I'm not changing it back!

Edit: I just read the posts in here, and there aren't even any references to Melanie C/The Masked Singer anyway? It reads purely as a Life in Mono discussion, comparing its chart performance to other solo albums. As for the L.A. State of Mind topic, a few people were mentioning the album in a Today thread... may as well have mentions of Today be in a L.A. State of Mind thread instead.

Posted by: Mr.X 23rd December 2020, 12:26 PM

We should definitely have a rate soon on Life in Mono

All I Need to Know 10/10
Life in Mono 10/10
Mischieveous 10/10
Perfect Strangers 9/10
He Loves Me Not 9/10
I Wasn't Looking (When I Found Love) 10/10
Take Me to Another Town 10/10
Undressing You 10/10
I'm Not Crying Over Yesterdays 10/10
All That You'll Be 10/10
Downtown 7/10
Something Tells Me (Something's Going to Happen) 3/10
Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps 1/10
Por Favor 1/10

Posted by: vibe 23rd December 2020, 12:35 PM

Take Me To Another Town is the highlight on this album.

It was screaming for a single release, its so catchy !!

I really hate the album art where she looks like a plastic doll that could be named Annabelle !!

Posted by: tommie 23rd December 2020, 12:39 PM

I actually disagree with that - a solo Spice Girl is never going to be 100% credible either way and it did good for her profile. I just think the big mistake was to release it during the 4th quarter rush; personally I would've released Downtown as a one-off and included it as a bonus track and then released the album after another further two singles that she could actually promote full-time. First single in the New Year, second single in the spring/summer; hopefully she would get the opportunity to perform single #3 on Strictly after doing it. Fourth single released in the post-Christmas rush and you have a full year of promoting the album.

With that said, the biggest issue with Life In Mono is that it's not exactly full of hits. There's a reason they tacked on Downtown and decided to rush-release it along with it. I would've probably tried to buy a hit or two to tack onto the album.

Posted by: vibe 23rd December 2020, 12:45 PM

Strictly gave her a CIN single which was a hit and obviously helped pick up album sales!!

END OF

She was dancing to millions and then performing to millions, and she is likeable spice !!!

Posted by: spiceboy 23rd December 2020, 12:46 PM

There is no reference to the Masked singer in your post so it makes more sense here!

Posted by: Mr.X 23rd December 2020, 01:02 PM

Who said anything about 100% credibility? I think she got a lot of it during the Free Me era by both the public and the press, and she pissed all over it by not touring live and then going on Strictly.

Although I do agree that a staggered release would have been better rather than the rushed album promo release we got.

Posted by: Mr.X 23rd December 2020, 01:08 PM

Another way that Strictly really messed this up was them releasing the album in a rushed way to get to capitalise on it. And it backfired, massively. Yes, probably the album picked up a few sales due to Strictly but really, in the grand scale of things, it was a complete flop due to how and when it was released.

I know fans like her stint on Strictly cos it is a popular TV show in the UK and she got a minor hit with Downtown over it but you gotta put it in the grand scheme of things. It didnt do much for her career as a pop star at all and attaching herself to it seemed like a desperate attempt to get noticed. It never works well...

Personally, it was what killed the era before it even begun. As soon as the TV show ended, so did her career

Posted by: Mr.X 23rd December 2020, 01:11 PM

In other news - and maybe treat this as a Xmas gift - I should say that I have info that Emma's team are currently dealing with the rights issues for FM and LiM to get both albums on Worldwide streaming platforms (like they did with AGLM this year) AND they have discussed vinyl releases too but only after or even if the streaming is secured for those albums first.

So if the vinyls come at all, it will take quite a while, but there's a bit of hope for you on that front Cant say much more (and dont know much more than that to be honest) but it comes from a reliable source that often deals directly with the girls!

Posted by: Jay❄ 23rd December 2020, 01:16 PM

Would be a dream come true to have them on vinyl

Posted by: Mr.X 23rd December 2020, 01:21 PM

I seriously doubt that it will come to it, but I guess you never know. The rights issues with those two albums are hard because they were released semi-independently rather than the way that AGLM was, making it super hard to track everything for a worldwide release. Plus, it is not like LIM in particular was a successful album at all, so that makes it double hard.

BUT I think with a 'special edition limited to 3000 copies' type of announcement, I think they would sell out quite quickly. She sold out the copies for MHP vinyl so quickly at the time they made it more widely available as a consequence...

There is definitely a (admitely small) market for special editions of solo spice vinyls

Posted by: Pearll 23rd December 2020, 03:36 PM

Ahhh this is my second favourite Emma album after Free Me.

I love Life in Mono, Mischievous and Take Me To Another Town.

The fact that she's the last solo spice girl to have a top 10 in the UK... She was an amazing solo artist.

Posted by: Mr.X 23rd December 2020, 04:39 PM

Mel C was #8 this year with her album but singles wise, yes this is true. Even the group's last single didnt make it to Top10

I do agree with all the rest though

Posted by: sammy01 23rd December 2020, 07:41 PM

LIM finally going Silver with a vinyl release would be amazing.

Posted by: Mr.X 23rd December 2020, 08:54 PM

Not sure it would to be honest but would be amazing if so!

Posted by: tommie 23rd December 2020, 10:34 PM

Life In Mono would need to sell over 6k copies to go Silver and that's just not going to happen. If Victoria Beckham and Hot can't get past the 60k mark and both having been out longer, Life In Mono has little shot of it.

Posted by: spiceboy 24th December 2020, 11:45 AM

A really beautiful album from Emma but badly mishandled with singles etc. Downtown obviously got her a hit and was the last Spice hit in the UK etc etc etc, but it's quite poor really and the fact she didn't bother to perform it at her Royal Albert Hall gig despite it being a very well known song which also one of her singles probably shows that Emma thinks the same... It just doesn't match up to the original, as lovely as Emma's voice is she doesn't pack the punch for this song personally. Still it's nice I guess and got Emma a hit out of the album.

All I need to know is stunning, absolutely beautiful... but what a bad single choice!! It's one of those songs you need to let grow on you as in the beginning it is pretty but a bit boring and unless you're actually a fan of Emma you probably wouldn't give it the time of day (as nobody did lol). It's also not a good song for radio at all. Really Take me to another town was the obvious commercial catchy most likely to be a hit song to release on the album next. Mischievous I think would also have been a great single very Breathing style (another missed out single) and her voice sounds lovely on it. Perfect strangers and Undressing you also much better single options and two more great tracks.

I think following on from Free Me this album shows progression for Emma and it beautiful but not as commercial sounding as Free Me. Although I have stated above what I thought should be single, none of them really scream hit except maybe TMTAT. She could have done with having a couple more commercial tracks on there for an album campaign... not that she needed it as she abandoned it instantly.

1. All I need to know 10/10
2. Life in mono 7/10
3. Mischievous 10/10
4. Perfect strangers 9/10
5. He loves me not 5/10
6. I wasn't looking when I found love 6/10
7. Take me to another town 9/10
8. Undressing you 9/10
9. I'm not crying over yesterdays 6/10
10. All that you'll be 7/10
11. Downtown 4/10
12. Something tells me 5/10
13. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps 5/10
14. Por Favor 3/10

I often stop at track 10 when I listen to the album, as up to there it is a strong body of work, the last 4 tracks let it down tbh should've stuck to them as B-sides, with Downtown as the only bonus track.

Posted by: sammy01 24th December 2020, 11:49 AM

Well the more active she is as a solo artist the more chance it has. Victoria and Mel B are going to sell nothing as they don't even try to. In the age of streaming keeping releasing content will help the back catalogue trickle sell. It's a long shot but who knows, stick a signature on those LIM vinyls in 2022 and make a big noise when it finally gets put up on streaming properly next year hopefully.

Posted by: tommie 24th December 2020, 01:53 PM

Well, it's not like Mel C is shifting loads of her past studio albums is she? And Mel at least seems to try to keep her Red Girl albums in stock and available; even bigger artists like Madonna, Kylie and Britney doesn't shift a lot of their studio albums except the occasional boost from special editions and vinyl releases. In general people just won't go for a past studio albums when "discovering" a new artist; either they'll get the latest one or a greatest hits (which are becoming increasingly redudant due to streaming) when available.

Even if Emma did print 5k of Life In Mono and those sold out, the majority of those sales wouldn't go towards the UK (though I doubt she'd be able to sell 5k of a LiM vinyl tbh). Life In Mono has also been long gone from stock in stores and the bargain bins so those sort of casual sales are out too.

Posted by: sammy01 24th December 2020, 02:08 PM

I actually thought Melanie C's albums had done ok trickle sales wise over the years. Like I remember Stages was on like 7k when it was last updated then it was over 11.9k this year when we got the update in May.

There is definitely a push on Emma's social media to keep reminding people she is an artist first and foremost. As we have seen from this topic too some effort is going on behind the scenes to sort out her back catalogue too.

Posted by: tommie 24th December 2020, 02:31 PM

The thing with trickle sales is that they seem to die out as soon as stores end up not having them in stock; casual buyers might pick up a Melanie C or Emma album if they see it in the bargain bin, or maybe even as a 2-for-1 offer along with the Greatest Hits. Once those bargain bin sales get done, so are the albums seemingly. Life In Mono is an example of that if you look at how it's sold over the years - in 2009 it had sold 50 726 copies and in the 2016 update it was at 53 510 copies. Selling almost 3k in seven years is impressive for a Solo Spice album - however, when you compare it to the 2020 update, it had sold 408 copies since 2016; barely 100 copies per year! Clearly, there were still copies lingering in stores between 2009 and 2016, but those copies are gone by 2020.

Posted by: spiceboy 24th December 2020, 02:50 PM

I think Emma would be able to sell 5k vinyls of Life in mono (worldwide) I mean she sold what 3k of that Coming home for Christmas!

Posted by: tommie 24th December 2020, 02:58 PM

Eh, I think there's a bit of a difference between selling an expensive vinyl of songs available on cd and likely won't used for anything else but decoration and a cd single with two songs that aren't available elsewhere.

Posted by: spiceboy 24th December 2020, 03:42 PM

Maybe 5k is a bit ambitious but certainly a few k. Not enough in the UK to get to 60k obviously. I would absolutely love Hot, VB and LIM to reach 60k though wish I could just buy 10k of each album lol

Posted by: tommie 25th December 2020, 11:13 AM

Yeah, it would nice if Hot, VB and LIM could officially pass the 60k mark and Forever pass the 300k mark. Northern Star passing the 900k mark would also be pleasing. I doubt any of those things will happen in the near future though; even the Forever vinyls didn't exactly sell that well in the UK.

Posted by: Eduardo 25th December 2020, 02:17 PM

Her best album, specially because it's the one "All That You'll Be" is a part of.

Posted by: Mr.X 25th December 2020, 04:41 PM

It's madness but it is most probable that none of those things will happen within our lifetimes

Posted by: tommie 26th December 2020, 12:29 PM

If Mel C/her team pushed Virgin to release a special edition + vinyl to get Northern Star back in stores it *might* have a slight shot at reaching 900k (especially if they could get When You're Gone on there), but even that's a long one considering it's 7k off. As I said, the biggest issue for these albums is that stores doesn't stock them so people has to seek them out themselves, which of course only generates fan sales. At least Northern Star has two number one singles on it.

Posted by: Mr.X 27th January 2021, 12:19 PM

Since so many videos of Emma's TV performances were posted on the Free Me thread, showcasing how wide-spread her promo was, I thought I would put here the videos from TV performances from the Life in Mono era.

You can tell a very different story with the approach here from her previous era. Downtown, for instance, got a promo promo spread. I remember a few more of these but these are all the videos I can find right now. All I Need to Know really deserved better promotion, unfortunately. Such a gorgeous track performed in really lame shows with no staging, no set, just her miming with no effort made it really impossible to sell the track....

This era is, for me, the great 'lost' era right next to Forever. Both albums were just stunning and I hope Life in Mono gets some appreciation around its 20th anniversary at least...

Downtown should have never been the lead single. It was a charity single for Children in Need, not album launch material

DOWNTOWN













ALL I NEED TO KNOW

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever 27th January 2021, 03:25 PM

I think many artists lost so many trickle sales and artists of today have a huge advantage with that, they literally dont lose sales at all. I think so many songs especially the big hits would have such bigger totals in today climate, the spice girls had so many huge singles that would have far far higher totals in todays climate. Kylies cant get you out of my head is another song i feel this way about, it opened with 306,000 sales on its debut week through physicals you can only imagine what that would translate into in todays market.
The Spice Girls albums mainly the first 2 would be on so much higher if they were part of the huge streaming era.

Posted by: Joshnat192 31st January 2021, 10:55 PM

Emma always has been my favourite but being honest I never understood Life In Mono. After Free Me she gained some solo projection and I was expecting a single/album next year (2015) to keep building her profile but she took two years, came back with a cover, the whole photography & videography was so cheap compared to all the Free Me era... But what caught my attention is that Maybe was the most iconic of Free Me so I was expecting her to develop more this sound and bring more uptempo songs but she did the album with no options commercially. For me this album always looked like the rejects of Free Me, sad she didn’t work harder and was more ambitious about it.

Posted by: Joshnat192 31st January 2021, 11:00 PM

Also the whole feeling of the project for me (the performances, the looks, general image) she looked like 60 years old woman. She lost all her commercial appear on that era.

Posted by: Mr.X 1st February 2021, 12:44 AM

I think Life in Mono was a natural progression from Free Me, personally. Free Me is very varied in its soundscape, but it is almost like a conceptual album and Life in Mono takes that further and becomes more cohesive.

Is it better? No. But I like it just as much because there is a really good progression to the album. The cohesion, the writing is excellent, she sounds heavenly and goes a bit dark in places. Production wise is also very good.

Yes, the launch of it and the promotion was bad though, and that taints the memory of the album. But if you abstract that from the music, it stands on its own very nicely!

Posted by: Piers 1st February 2021, 04:43 AM

I remember on first hearing this album...I quite hilariously thought that maturity in her sound must just come from her turning 30. Now that I'm a few years past 30 myself, I'm like...yeah, 30...isn't...especially mature.

I like Life In Mono overall. All That You'll Be and All I Need To Know are gorgeous. Take Me To Another Town and Undressing You are probably my two favorites. But it just doesn't have the sort of material that could set charts on fire...even in an alternate world that gave a fair shake to solo Spice releases. That's not necessarily a bad thing. She sounds lovely on all of it. Songs are pretty. It just is what it is. Outside of Downtown, Take Me To Another Town is probably the closest thing to having hit potential...but even that's not quite Free Me or Maybe.

What's a little curious is potential hits were actually recorded for this era. The unreleased Crazy Beautiful is an ear worm. What we've heard of Ladylike is clearly a demo...but you can tell it was a draft of something that could have been great. There are others too. Yet...to me...the stronger material for this album (that was written by Emma, no less) got dumped in favor of five covers and decidedly more muted offerings. Emma only wrote 7 of the 14 songs on the Deluxe edition.

Of course, by the time My Happy Place came along, nothing by a solo Spice was ever going to chart well...but I actually do think Baby Please Don't Stop and Too Many Teardrops sound like hits that just arrived too late.

Posted by: Mr.X 1st February 2021, 08:48 AM

Sure there are no 'sure fire' hits on the album but that's ok - it is a stunning album to have and listen to anyway

Never really cared much for Crazy Beautiful to be honest...

Posted by: Joshnat192 1st February 2021, 09:31 PM

I agree with you that the album is really nice to hear in full, I still remember all the lyrics and hate the fact that it isn’t in Spotify. Simply caught my attention that she gave everything for Free Me but Life In Mono looked like 0 efforts..

Posted by: vibe 2nd February 2021, 11:27 AM

Take Me To Another Town had hot potential !

Posted by: Babyboy 14th October 2021, 04:48 PM

I am looking for interviews made by Emma about this album. track by track maybe where she talked about the album. There is not much stuff on the web.

Posted by: Mr.X 14th October 2021, 09:04 PM

Dont think she did that, unfortunately. She did do track by track interviews on her website for the Free Me era, but I cant find them anywhere now.... unfortunately nada for Life in Mono... Promo was really bad back then...

Posted by: spiceboy 14th October 2021, 09:11 PM

100% this such a shame they were not singles in the LIM era I'd take both of those over Downtown and All I need to know.

Posted by: Mr.X 14th October 2021, 09:27 PM

The problem with Life in Mono era was that she was jumping onto it off the back of Strickly and Downtown. They just weren't representative of her as an artist and also she was confident that it would sell like hot cakes for christmas off the back of it.

When it didnt (event thought it didnt sell badly at all, just charted really low due to Christmas madness), her momentum was completely gone.

All I Need to Know is one of the best songs a Spice Girl ever put their name to. It was framed at the time as a success in waiting cos it was so beautiful, and people were hoping it would do what Simon's other protegee, Will Young, did with his last single - All Time Love. It would go on to sell well and steadily because of how beautiful it was.

Unfortunately the song didnt do much. Promo was drastically limited. She refused to go on a radio tour at the time (and rightly so!), and also she got preggers so she stopped any promo for it.

It's a gorgeous, fantastic album. Really underrated and deserved much much better than what it got in the end. I am not sure any of the solo albums ever got to such a high level of concept and quality as Life in Mono. Yes, it didnt have many 'chart hits' but it is really well thought out and produced, it flows really beautifully.

I always play it when Autumn is arriving. It feels perfect for that kind of season.

Posted by: tommie 15th October 2021, 06:26 AM

Life In Mono quite simply doesn't have any hit singles on it. It's why they probably tacked on Downtown to it and tried to push it in the Christmas rush.

Posted by: Mr.X 15th October 2021, 07:36 AM

Hence why the promo tactic failed an ultimately superior album

Posted by: spiceboy 15th October 2021, 08:57 PM

All I need to know as beautiful as it is, isn't a patch on All time love, musically or vocally. It also doesn't sound like a song for radio at all unlike All time love, it was a bad choice for a single really.

Posted by: -Jay- 16th October 2021, 10:20 AM

I much prefer All I Need to Know to All Time Love

It's hard to compare them because Will was still reliably getting huge support from the media and radio. 2 weeks at #1 on radio airplay for All Time Love. I'm sure Will could have released Emma's song and done well with it at that point in his career.

Posted by: Mr.X 16th October 2021, 10:43 AM

Exactly. I think Simon Fuller (who was representing Emma at the time) really misjudged the Life in Mono era, unfortunately. The album should never have been released after Downtown in the first place.

Downtown was a cute buzz and charity single. The album needed a couple more tracks being released ahead of it, as Emma has been away for over 3 years from the music scene by then. A release strategy similar to Free Me could have worked, I think. And Strictly has never been a huge impact-show for music sales overall (bar a couple of songs here and there)...

Then the promo for All I Need To Know really was one of the worst of any Spice-related eras back then, which is a shame really. I still think that All That You'll Be would have been a better single than All I Need To Know (even though the latter is the better song).

How I would have done it:

- Downtown in November 2006 for Children in Need

- All That You'll Be in February 2007

- Take Me To Another Town and Life in Mono (album) released April 2007. The album would't include Downtown

- Undressing You in June 2007 + Attending festivals

(if enough success had been generated) - Not Crying Over Yesterdays (new single remix) in late September 2007, with a delux version also released including Downtown and a couple of other new songs.

A small, intimate autumn/winter tour

Posted by: sammy01 16th October 2021, 11:06 AM

Can we all just download and stream LIM and get it over 60k and silver. It annoys me much more than it should how close it is to silver but sells so little still so far away.

Posted by: Mr.X 16th October 2021, 12:08 PM

Streaming now, hen

Posted by: Voodoo 16th October 2021, 12:19 PM

No. It was just 2 years. Very standard.

Posted by: sammy01 16th October 2021, 12:43 PM

LIM is an example of a good cohesive album with no real stand out tracks. All I need to know is beautiful but Take me to another town was the only really obvious radio friendly song on the album.

Posted by: Mr.X 16th October 2021, 02:43 PM

oops, you are right! Had it in my head that it was released in 2003 but that was Free Me the song and Maybe!

Posted by: -Jay- 16th October 2021, 05:17 PM

Though Crickets was promoted/released in May 2004, charted in early June 2004, and then it was kind of quiet in the UK until September 2006, when she was revealed to be a Strictly contestant... with Downtown coming in November 2006.

Two and a half years... I mean this would be lightning fast speed for Adele lol, but for Emma... I think she left it too late. She did a lot of good groundwork for her career from April 2003 to summer 2004 and then she let herself become out of sight, out of mind. She really needed to capitalise on the goodwill. I think late 2005 would have been more ideal than late 2006... but hey, can't change the past

Posted by: Mr.X 22nd November 2022, 12:29 AM

Was just listening to this today whilst working, and the rain was falling quite hard outside.

Still a gorgeous, lovely listen. Songs like All I Need To Know, I Wasn't Looking, Not Crying Over Yesterdays, Undressing You, All That You'll Be... What an album

It really hit me in the feels. Bunton does Autumn really well

Posted by: Nina West 2nd February 2023, 03:03 PM

Gonna do a review of this album very soon, so stay tuned. Also I've done reviews for 'Spice', 'Schizophonic', 'Free Me', 'Victoria Beckham' & 'Northern Star' they're in their respective threads if u wanna check them out.

Posted by: Jessie Where 2nd February 2023, 03:19 PM

She should've done 'Take Me to Another Town' as the CIN single rather than 'Downtown'. I doubt it really would've changed the trajectory of her career at that point though.

Posted by: Mr.X 2nd February 2023, 03:37 PM

Personally, Downtown was fine as a CIN single but shouldnt have been used to launch the album as it was so obvious that it was just a one-off single!!

She shoudl have done:

Nov 2006: Downton, CIN single

March 2007: Undressing You buzz single

May/June 2007: Take Me To Another Town

June 2007: Album release (Standard tracklist + Downtown) + small touring, festivals, etc

September 2007: Perfect Strangers OR I Wasn't Looking single

Nov 2007: All That You'll Be - final single + delux version of the album (inc rareties/new songs and MAYBE the Something Tells Me cover)

And call it a day!

Posted by: Amanda Hugginkis 2nd February 2023, 04:51 PM

Ooh yes I will

Posted by: sammy01 3rd February 2023, 08:00 PM

I just want this album to get a silver cert. To be so close but so far away is annoying.

Release a vinyl for it please Emma.

Posted by: Mr.X 4th February 2023, 01:00 AM

Having Free Me and Life in Mono on vinyl would be just incredible, an absolute dream. I would LOVE IT if she released her albums on vinyl but will never happen.

Posted by: One_For_Sorrow 4th February 2023, 07:05 AM

Thanks, will have to check these out. Mel C & Geri in particular.

Posted by: spiceboy 4th February 2023, 11:56 AM

I would much rather Mel B and Victoria did it as at least they would all have a certified album then.

Posted by: Nina West 5th February 2023, 08:12 PM

Posted by: Babyboy 5th February 2023, 08:55 PM

I disagree for Downtown because it is a copy of the originale.
Also PS deserve more, the story of the song is so beautiful

Posted by: Herbs 5th February 2023, 08:58 PM

All I Need To Know is my 2nd fave Emma song (after Maybe). Was always so gutted it flopped

Posted by: Amanda Hugginkis 5th February 2023, 10:33 PM

And what /10 for the album cover?

Posted by: Amanda Hugginkis 5th February 2023, 10:34 PM

Was the whole album covers?!

Posted by: Mr.X 7th February 2023, 11:02 AM

Really don't agree with a lot of your comments or votes on this one.

All I Need to Know is, after Maybe, perhaps her best ever single. It's just perfect in any way.

Same with All That You'll Be which I think it is up there with her best ballads, it would have been a perfect winter single, perhaps more adequate to the General Public than AINTK. I'm Not Crying Over Yesterdays is also such an underrated STUNNING song. Even the demo that got leaked ahead of the album was stunning and fun. Undressing You and Take Me To Another Town are both 10s too.

Downtown can choke. It's terrible and a direct copy and paste of the original. In fact, all the covers at the end of the album are barely 4 out of 10 imo.

Bunton has this things with covers, where when she really commits and puts her own spin on it, they turn out great (Crickets Sing for AnnaMaria for instance, is a stunner, so is Eso Beso, etc). But when she does copy and paste (What I Am, Downtown, Somethnig Tells Me, all the covers on My Happy Place), it is really stark how bad they are lol...

The album really should have just been the first 10 tracks + Downtown as a bonus. The final three covers RUIN the album so much, its absolutely pointless. Specially when she had much better original songs to add as bonus tracks rather than those awful covers. I understand Downtown as it was a special CIN single, but to add 3 more of those lame covers was a shit strategy...

My rates would be:

10/10
All I Need To Know
Life in Mono
Perfect Strangers
Take Me To Another Town
Undressing You
I'm Not Crying Over Yesterdays
All That You'll Be

9/10
Mischiveous
I Wasn't Looking When I Found Love

8/10
He Loves Me Not


4/10
Downtown
Something Tells Me

3/10
Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps
Por Favor

Posted by: Joshnat192 7th February 2023, 10:28 PM

Back in the day I loved this album and even today is nice to hear but being honest was such a let down. I don’t blame her, after the crazy Spice Girls years and the strong promo of Free Me with not big success guess she put the minimum effort into the project and took the two years break to rest and recover, when the most logical point was to release a new album soon after Free Me and explore the Maybe music style more. She reminded me to Alexa Dixon situation, Alexa got a big hit with TBDN, released few singles of the album and started the new album campaign shortly (shame that first single was not really commercial and the whole project flopped). I think Emma had some chances after FM to success with the right music but definitely she and her team gave up and then we had Life In Mono. I’m still quite shocked about how she went from the exquisite Free Me photography to LM, thank God social media didn’t exist at that time, otherwise I can imagine how many memes we would have had with that cover!

Posted by: Mr.X 7th February 2023, 11:58 PM

That TV ad where the legs in the album cover move still haunts me to this day

Posted by: Voodoo 8th February 2023, 08:45 AM

Posted by: tommie 8th February 2023, 09:48 AM

"The brand new album includes a hit single"

They knew.

Posted by: ___∆___ 30th May 2023, 10:26 PM

Revisited this over the past few days following on from doing the same for ‘Free Me’ - I bough LIM when it was released along with the singles but I hardly listened to it so it’s been nice going back to appreciate it.

Definitely an album of two halves for me - song rate coming up shortly.

Posted by: Mr.X 30th May 2023, 11:29 PM

I LOVE A SONG RATE!! Bring it on

Posted by: ___∆___ 31st May 2023, 06:33 PM

Have to say I absolutely love this album when listening to it on full but it kind of loses its way after such a strong opening

‘All I Need To Know’ is such a beautiful track - it didn’t deserve to flop at #65 I guess though after that failed the label didn’t really know what to do need to try and rejuvenate the album as there were no obvious guaranteed smash hit singles waiting to be released?

All I Need To Know 10

This didn’t deserve to flop, such a beautiful song

Life In Mono 10

Feel like this could have fitted in perfectly on ‘Free Me’ too - this sound suited Emma so well

Mischievous 10

Another one that leads on perfectly from ‘Free Me’ - grown up anthemic pop

Perfect Strangers 9
He Loves Me Not 8
Wasn’t Looking (When I Found Love) 6.5
Take Me To Another Town 7
Undressing You 4
I’m Not Crying Over Yesterdays 4
All That You’ll Be 5.5
Downtown 9.5
Something Tells Me 7
Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps 5.5
Pot Favor 5.5

Posted by: Sideout 31st May 2023, 07:57 PM

Secrets
Ladylike
Crazy
In Another Life
Crazy Beautiful
Midnight & Martinis

all should have made the album instead of some tracks that did

Posted by: sammy01 31st May 2023, 10:37 PM

I listen to this more than pretty much most other solo albums. It just works as a body of work, where as most other solo albums I listen to the odd track at a time not the whole thing.

Can we please all just download a copy and get it silver asap!

Posted by: ___∆___ 1st June 2023, 12:07 AM

Is there a sales tally for it? Criminal that it’s not a silver seller

Posted by: Mr.X 1st June 2023, 12:31 AM

AGREE ON ALL OF THIS!!







The run from Wasnt Looking to All That You'll Be are all 9 and 10s!!

The covers can choke

Posted by: Mr.X 1st June 2023, 12:31 AM

Posted by: spiceboy 1st June 2023, 08:19 AM

I always found that hilarious and so cute!

Posted by: spiceboy 1st June 2023, 08:25 AM

The most recent sales tally we have is 53,918 as of 8th May 2020. So it needs to sell another 6,082 copies to reach silver status.

The closest tally to a certification in albums is Victoria though with 53,938 of her first album meaning she needs to sell another 6,062 copies to reach silver status.

Melanie B was already granted silver status for Hot despite the fact she sold less than both Emma and Victoria with 53,676.

Posted by: sammy01 1st June 2023, 09:30 AM

I think Victoria will get the silver cert at some point as it gets more streaming (thanks to being her only album thus all her streams and This is spice girls etc from it). LIM is pretty much forgotten and has no real hits bar Downtown.

Frustrating both are so close though. They will I'm sure both be over 54k now.

Posted by: tommie 1st June 2023, 09:40 AM

Both will take a looooooooooong time to get to Silver unless they spam the market with special editions - streaming for old forgotten studio albums are negligible (hell, even for albums like Spice World they don't amount to much!); they would probably have more trickle sales by just putting a vinyl out there in shops.

Posted by: Jessie Where 1st June 2023, 10:00 AM

'Take Me to Another Town' was there, but I think the album was dead on arrival really with the strategy they used - releasing it off the back of a shoddy CIN cover at the height of Q4.

Maybe they should've actually used that song as the CIN single, then released the album early the next year after a second single (a different track stronger than anything else on this album?)... and then used 'All I Need to Know' as the ballad to help sell the album in spring.

Posted by: Mr.X 1st June 2023, 11:32 AM

Yeah this was a terrible move by Simon and Emma. Releasing the album of the back of a CIN cover single, while Emma was on Strictly was quite a bad move...

They should have just ridden the CIN and Strictly vibe with Downtown and then release Take Me To Another Town and All That You'll Be later in 2007, with the album following those. It would have most certainly been better in terms of charts positions but also in terms of actual visibility for the album itself.

I guess after the album managed only #60 in the charts and then All I Need to Know only managing #65, it really was a kick in the teeth for her and the record label... But also, she got pregnant and the campaign stopped, perhaps too abruptly..

She really went from being everywhere in November/December 2006, to virtually no presence or promo in January/February 2007... it was quite the whiplash if you ask me, to be a fan at the time

Posted by: spiceboy 1st June 2023, 12:16 PM

I can see why they released in December off the back of Downtown as she had maximum exposure with Strictly and CIN so in theory was the perfect time to release. While it did result in a low chart position she clearly benefited from the high sales market of the time and undoubtably would not have sold as much otherwise if released in Jan / Feb under another single, she however very likely would have charted higher but sales obviously outrank chart position.

I could see her performing similar to Beautiful Intentions if she had waited and released in Jan / Feb with Take me to another town, a top 40 album chart position with between 20-30k sales but with TMTAT charting much better than AINTK possibly top 20 with the right promo and radio play.

In all honesty, as much as I adore AINTK, it's truly a stunning song, it was such a BAD single choice. It takes a few listens to really appreciate the beauty of the song and none of the girls could afford that, they needed instant catchy tunes that would grab the listener on first play. Take me to another town was the obvious release, it was basically the 'maybe' of that album although nowhere near as good. And therein lies the problem nothing on LIM is as good as Free Me, it's a decent album but suffers from coming after a brilliant one.

Posted by: ___∆___ 1st June 2023, 12:24 PM

I always thought VB got certified silver on shipments? I remember Mel B getting certified even though it entered at #28

They are so close to silver but ultimately SO far as trickle sales/streaming for these albums will be minimal - LIM coming for silver in 2053

Posted by: spiceboy 1st June 2023, 12:33 PM

No I don't think she did, just Mel B. Not sure if rules were changed by this point to sales rather than shipments?

Posted by: Mr.X 1st June 2023, 12:40 PM

hhhmmm so I can see the reasoning of 'strike while it is hot' but honestly, I don't think it is a similar situation as Beautiful Intentions. Emma had record company backing and had she only focused on Downtown released as CIN single and that going #3, she could have ride that wave and then release the album later, when she could focus more on its promotion as opposite to the single as a focus. It just wasn't an 'album seller' of a single... It did its job as a charity single, and that was all it needed to do. Thus she would have avoided an embarrasing chart position which essentially killed off any chances of her getting good promo slots or even the record company feeling they could invest in her moving forward...

Neither CIN or Strictly were known as promo to sell albums, sadly... CIN singles were always a very isolated case, right? They were, as it rightly should be, about the charity itself, not the artists' albums. Same with Strictly... they werent for the record buying public... they literally were for celebrities to dance lol...

As a strategy, it was a terrible move to launch an album off the back of. A single? Great. More than that, no please... finish Struictly to raise your profile and THEN focus on your album going out!

Posted by: Mr.X 1st June 2023, 12:58 PM

EVERYBODY GO TO iTUNES AND AMAZON AND BUY A COPY NOW!!! AND LETS DO IT AGAIN NEXT MONTH TOO

AND LETS HAVE A Life in Mono listening party

Posted by: sammy01 1st June 2023, 09:26 PM

Ideally she would have released the album in mid November to avoid the big Christmas rush and have a longer run of xmas sales and weeks. TMTAT released late summer as the 1st single. Downtown 2nd single, the album the week after. AINTK 3rd single in Feb for valentines day with a tour in April that went on sale with the album in Nov.

Posted by: spiceboy 1st June 2023, 09:27 PM

I am sorry but I disagree with pretty much everything in this post except for the fact Downtown wasn't really an album seller but worked as a Charity single in it's own right...

Firstly, the record label backing as apposed to Melanie's independent release... Geri also released an album just a year earlier with a bigger label backing than Emma had, and she charted at #41 after having very similar success to Emma in both of their previous releases (more actually). Geri herself actually released a somewhat stand alone hit single in Ride it months earlier and in hindsight probably would have done a bit better if she had released off the back of that rather than waiting and releasing off the back of Desire. I could easily have seen Emma charting somewhat similar (maybe a bit better due to more goodwill her way) and selling a similar amount without the heavy Christmas sales market (again probably a bit better due to more goodwill her way).

While not all CIN singles have gone on to be good for album promo (the Year before Liberty X's didn't do much for their third album) Girls Aloud released I'll stand by you, their third release from WWTNS which went to #1 and helped the album to continue selling through Christmas. Before that Will Young released You and I his 4th single from his debut album which helped to push the album to 800k sales. The two years in a row before that S Club 7's Have you ever and Never had a dream come true both second singles from their parent albums helped keep 7 and Sunshine selling to quadruple and double platinum sales. Martine McCucheon's Talking in your sleep the year before that pushed You, Me & Us to 3x platinum as it's final album single. I'd also argue that Girls Aloud's next one Something New helped sell Ten, and Ellie Goulding's How Long Will I Love you helped Halcyon Days re-release massively.

Finally Strictly the following year had Alesha Dixon who went on to have a successful album era with The Alesha Show after she was dropped from her first record label. Sophie Ellis Bextor a few years later also had a great resurgence with Wanderlust.

While I don't disagree with getting it out of the way and then focusing on the album properly afterwards, I don't think there was any guarantee of success and she would likely have achieved a somewhat higher charting album but less sales. You just have to remember how ANTI-SPICE everyone was in the UK back then, it was horrific.

Posted by: Mr.X 1st June 2023, 09:35 PM

FINE! I wasnt sure about the CIN metrics which is why I asked but yes, you are right. Still think she would have a better change doing a proper album campaign afterwards, for sure.

And yes, the ANTI-SPICE mood at the time was awful. Everything they did was slated big time, it was quite unbeliveable...

Posted by: Voodoo 1st June 2023, 09:40 PM

Just a correction - it's only certified Platinum.

I don't understand why as it was supposed to have set a record for biggest selling album by an ex UK girl group member at the time of release with over 900k UK sales. It was brought up on Denden because everyone thought it was Melanie C with Northern Star. It was then broken by Cheryl Cole and 3 Words.

Posted by: Mr.X 4th December 2023, 02:03 PM

Happiest of Birthdays to the amazing Life in Mono, the most underrated of solo-Spice albums and one of their masterpieces (Emma's only other masterpiece, to be fair!).

A gorgeous album, unfortunately met by a terrible release schedule/promo strategy. But nonetheless, quality prevails. It might not be the most radio friendly, but it was certainly stellar.

It really needs to be put on streaming, for once!

Some highlights for me:

All I Need to Know (Album version)
Probably the most beautiful solo-Spice ballad, to this day. It's just stunning and gorgeous. Reminds me of the first day of autumn.



Life in Mono
I love me some moody Bunton and this is her at her best. It is also probably her best cover to date as well, and it really suited her.



Take Me To Another Town
The lost single. It would have been a perfect first single for the album, and it will always bother me that she didn't use it at all.



Undressing You
A perfect Spring single, it should have followed on after the release of the album instead. It would have been amazing with a gorgeous sensuous video.



I'm Not Crying Over Yesterdays
I LOVE this song so much, it's a gorgeous little gem, and seems to have a more moody-but-poppy side of Bunton which is perfect fit for her.
Personally I loved the demo version that leaked before the album although that is really nowhere to be seen right now.



All That You'll Be
Although I prefer All I Need To Know, I definitely think this would have been a better fit as 'the' ballad single from the album. It's so so gorgeous, definitely one of her best.



Overall, I do think it is a gorgeous album and I often put it on, more than any other solo-Spice offering as you can both listen to it attentively or put it on whilst you clean the house, do some gardening, etc ehhe

It showed Emma has a developing artist beyond the 'straight up pop hits' that she had gone in before, and into a more-mature version of the Free Me sound. Definitely an album to be appreciated as a whole rather than with some quick singles.

STREAM IT (for the UK fans)



STREAM IT (for the international fans)

YouTube Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLv_G3_H7AoCNwJFMHWiPMeryowMN2pcKd&si=7grQ5w_AFwUK174Q

Posted by: -Jay- 8th April 2024, 01:12 AM

The album has disappeared from digital and streaming services in the UK and Ireland. RIP?

Posted by: vibe 8th April 2024, 06:19 AM

Its not disappeared from UK itunes. I just played AINTK!

Posted by: -Jay- 8th April 2024, 06:48 AM

^ Not showing on iTunes or Apple Music for me

Posted by: spiceboy 8th April 2024, 06:58 AM

It won't disappear from your itunes if you already downloaded it, it however is no longer available on the store, or spotify or apple music!?

What on earth is going on with her music catalogue, it reallly is appalling.

Posted by: Lukuzz 8th April 2024, 08:31 AM

What the hell, why remove it

Posted by: Mr.X 8th April 2024, 09:21 AM

A damn mess.... her catalogue really needs taking care of damn

Emma, get on the phone with Mel C and get her to help you find a better team!!

Posted by: Rebel 8th April 2024, 01:20 PM

Might as well take Free Me off the UK as well! So that you all can feel how us non-UK feel lol

Posted by: sammy01 8th April 2024, 04:19 PM

Emma's fans were complaining it was unfair only the UK and Ireland can stream it so she has removed it from them so we are all equal.

Moden queen pushing equality

*cries

Posted by: masahiro 9th April 2024, 07:50 AM

When We're living in a world without Life in Mono and Free Me on streaming...

Posted by: Mr.X 9th April 2024, 08:27 AM

Never mind guys, Bunton is on holidays at Disney world AGAIN, the most vapid place in the world. She doesnt really care about her own music to sort this out.

A bloody crime. One of the best solo Spice albums. Simon really did her dirty hey?... But at the end of the day, it is mostly her fault. The other acts that Simon used to manage and release under, have go on to release more and have everything from their 19 Records available online. Only Bunton doesnt care.

Posted by: -Jay- 10th April 2024, 09:21 AM

It's back on Spotify, in the UK at least. It's not made its return to Apple Music/iTunes yet.

Posted by: vibe 20th April 2024, 11:00 AM

Not able to play this now on Apple Music

Gutted