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[Piers]

Good topic! I won't go through every album era, but here's a few off the top of my head.

Geri - Summertime (Schizophonic). I wouldn't put it in single consideration out of the Schizophonic material, but at the very least I think it towers over You're In A Bubble. I would slot it somewhere in the latter half of the album and then end Schizophonic with Someone's Watching Over Me. While Geri has stronger songs, I do think Summertime and Goodnight Kiss are the best use of her vocal abilities in this album era.

Geri - Getting Better (Scream If You Wanna Go Faster). I feel like no one really ever talks about this song...but to me, there's enough effort put into this that it seems like it was intended for something greater than a b-side. My guess (which isn't based on much) is that this was supposed to accompany the Therapy film she was shopping around at the time. "We need a little therapy, c'mon" Yes? No? Anyway. I think the common wisdom would be to replace either Shake Your Bootie Cutie or Heaven and Hell (Being Geri Halliwell)...but I'll pretty much always take loudly, proudly bizarre over unmemorable. So I'd slot Getting Better on the album in place of either Don't Call Me Baby or Lovey Dovey Stuff.

Emma - Invincible. (A Girl Like Me) To me, the production here lacks a certain oomph...but a more rocky, amped-up mix would have actually been single material. I know a different artist actually did release this song as a single around the same time...and it went nowhere. But. With the right artist (Emma) and the right mix (it wasn't that far off), I think this one had the makings of an early 2000s classic. It just sounds to me like something that you'd hear in a commercial for one of the Now compilations.

Melanie C - Follow Me (Northern Star). I've always thought this song was gorgeous. Way too good to be left off Northern Star. My guess is she was trying to get a good variety of themes and sounds for the album...and this one was a smidge similar to Closer. But I still would have included it...preferably in place of If That Were Me (Follow Me is superior to that one in every way as far as I'm concerned). I'd even go so far as to say I would have been up for Follow Me as the 5th single off the album...and I like it better than all the singles off Reason, Beautiful Intentions, and This Time (though not all the album tracks in general).

This post has been edited by Piers: 10th July 2022, 04:13 AM