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 Emma Bunton - 'Life in Mono', 2006 • 3rd Album |
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 Dec 21 2020, 02:09 PM
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#1
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 "Jayrusaleminians" - Umi.
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 '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 --------------- 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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Dec 21 2020, 04:48 PM
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#2
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 BuzzJack Platinum Member
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QUOTE(Jay* @ Dec 21 2020, 03:56 PM)  Strictly did very little for Emma Bunton in 2006 in terms of her music, and she was overshadowed by male contestants. [This post is from this topic: http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?s...t&p=6750220 ] 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? |
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Dec 21 2020, 05:26 PM
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#3
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 BuzzJack Platinum Member
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QUOTE(sammy01 @ Dec 21 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? 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... |
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Dec 21 2020, 05:47 PM
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#4
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"Jayrusaleminians" - Umi.
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Joined: 4 April 2007 Posts: 41,425 User: 3,217
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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? |
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Dec 21 2020, 09:20 PM
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#5
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
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QUOTE(Jay* @ Dec 21 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? 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. |
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Dec 21 2020, 09:57 PM
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#6
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"Jayrusaleminians" - Umi.
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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. |
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Dec 21 2020, 10:18 PM
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#7
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
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QUOTE(Jay* @ Dec 21 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. 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... This post has been edited by spiceboy: Dec 21 2020, 10:19 PM |
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Dec 21 2020, 11:24 PM
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#8
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
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QUOTE(spiceboy @ Dec 21 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... 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. |
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Dec 23 2020, 11:33 AM
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#9
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"Jayrusaleminians" - Umi.
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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 
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Dec 23 2020, 12:05 PM
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#10
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
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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... This post has been edited by Mr.X: Dec 23 2020, 12:13 PM |
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Dec 23 2020, 12:11 PM
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"Jayrusaleminians" - Umi.
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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.
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Dec 23 2020, 12:14 PM
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#12
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
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QUOTE(Jay❄ @ Dec 23 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.But that is why it made sense in that thread?........ that comparison is interesting in that context 
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Dec 23 2020, 12:21 PM
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#13
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"Jayrusaleminians" - Umi.
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Joined: 4 April 2007 Posts: 41,425 User: 3,217
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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. |
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Dec 23 2020, 12:26 PM
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#14
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
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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 |
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Dec 23 2020, 12:35 PM
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#15
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
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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 !! |
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Dec 23 2020, 12:39 PM
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#16
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 BuzzJack Platinum Member
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QUOTE(Mr.X @ Dec 23 2020, 01:05 PM) 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... 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. This post has been edited by tommie: Dec 23 2020, 12:40 PM |
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Dec 23 2020, 12:45 PM
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#17
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
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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 !!! |
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Dec 23 2020, 12:46 PM
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#18
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
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QUOTE(Mr.X @ Dec 23 2020, 12:14 PM) But that is why it made sense in that thread?........ that comparison is interesting in that context There is no reference to the Masked singer in your post so it makes more sense here!
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Dec 23 2020, 01:02 PM
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#19
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
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QUOTE(tommie @ Dec 23 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. 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. |
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Dec 23 2020, 01:08 PM
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#20
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
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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 
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