  |
 Geri Halliwell - 'Passion', 2005 • 3rd Album |
| Track this thread - Email this thread - Print this thread - Download this thread - Subscribe to this forum |
 Dec 23 2020, 10:45 AM
Post
#1
|
|
 "Jayrusaleminians" - Umi.
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 4 April 2007 Posts: 41,406 User: 3,217 
          
|
  'Passion' 6th June 2005 1. Passion 2. Desire 3. Love Never Loved Me 4. Feel the Fear 5. Superstar 6. Surrender Your Groove 7. Ride It 8. There's Always Tomorrow 9. Let Me Love You More 10. Don't Get Any Better 11. Loving Me Back to Life 12. So I Give Up on Love --------------- A thread dedicated to discussion about Geri Halliwell's third album 'Passion'! Following the release of the second album 'Scream If You Wanna Go Faster' in 2001, Geri explored other career opportunities in 2002 and 2003 - including the release of her second book 'Just for the Record', a role as a judge on the ITV show Popstars: The Rivals and a cameo in an episode of Sex and the City. Geri was finally ready to return to music in 2004. The first single 'Ride It' made it to #4 in the UK chart in November of that year, making it her 6th Top 10 hit as a solo artist. This disco-flavoured pop song was intended to be the first taste of an album with similar dance-pop material, however Geri and EMI decided to make changes to the project. A few songs were scrapped, and Geri returned to the studio to write and record new songs - but this caused a six month wait for the follow up single 'Desire' (May 2005) and the eventual release of the 'Passion' album (June 2005). Unfortunately both releases were commercial disasters, reaching #22 and #41 respectively - her first releases to miss the UK Top 10 singles and albums charts. What went wrong? Perhaps the four year gap between albums had been too long, and a sizeable chunk of her fanbase had moved on. Arguably an ill-fated TV documentary which didn't exactly show Geri in the best light to the general public was harmful as well. To date it remains Geri's final commercially released studio album. 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. ---------------   |
 |
 
|
|
Dec 23 2020, 03:34 PM
Post
#2
|
|
 BuzzJack Enthusiast
Joined: 6 September 2017
Posts: 927 User: 39,574
|
It took many years of being her last album for Passion to really grow on me, I now quite enjoy it even if it does feel very disjointed.
My instant faves from the start were the singles, Love Never Loved Me, Feel the Fear and Let Me Love You More. The Ian Masterson tracks are the strength of "Passion". Superstar, Surrender Your Groove and Dont Get Any Better were the three weakest links of the record for me then and still are now. Not that I dislike any of them just meh. Would've been interesting to see how the original 2004 album would've been like /been received before she returned to the studio with Korpi and Blackcell. |
|
|
|
|
Dec 23 2020, 03:44 PM
Post
#3
|
|
|
New Entry
Joined: 21 October 2020
Posts: 37 User: 115,976
|
Love Never Loved Me is still bangs so hard!
I love her vocals on this album. Seriously, she has come so far vocally. This genre was hers! I still bop to Ride it occasionally. It's so camp, so Geri! She was such a promising solo artist! I remember watching her in that awful documentary. It was so obvious that she fed up with the industry. I'm not sure if Europop lead single was a good choice in 2004 either... This post has been edited by Pearll: Dec 23 2020, 03:45 PM |
|
|
|
|
Dec 23 2020, 04:30 PM
Post
#4
|
|
 Break the tension
Joined: 7 March 2006
Posts: 88,852 User: 51
|
I think by that point she didn't really stand a chance, the second album was a bit of an underperformance and that was a HUGE gap since. I think 'Ride It' only peaked that high due to the small amount of hype of it being her comeback before dropping down like it had a brick tied to it.
She really should have released 'Love Never Loved Me' though, what a huge mistake (although I'm not convinced it would have made much difference). |
|
|
|
|
Dec 23 2020, 04:38 PM
Post
#5
|
|
|
BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 7 September 2017
Posts: 5,071 User: 39,587
|
I have never listened to the full album, but will give it a go this Christmas. The only songs I have heard have been the singles, So I Give Up on Love and Love Never Loved Me. The singles were bad, her worst at the time, and the other two songs didnt particularly grab me, personally, so I didnt bother with the rest of the album. Shall give a proper review in a few days, and hope this is a pleasant suprise like when I listened to Schizophonic again this year and was surprised I liked it more than I remembered ah
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 23 2020, 04:47 PM
Post
#6
|
|
 BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 7 January 2009
Posts: 7,064 User: 8,073
 
|
QUOTE(Tawdry Hepburn @ Dec 23 2020, 05:30 PM)  I think by that point she didn't really stand a chance, the second album was a bit of an underperformance and that was a HUGE gap since. I think 'Ride It' only peaked that high due to the small amount of hype of it being her comeback before dropping down like it had a brick tied to it. She really should have released 'Love Never Loved Me' though, what a huge mistake (although I'm not convinced it would have made much difference). I think she was also at that odd phase in her career where she wasn't seen as hip enough to be on Radio 1, but not old enough to fit in at Radio 2. The airplay for Desire was a disaster and a half, so it never stood a chance. Personally, I think it was wrong to ditch the Disco Sister concept - it worked a few years earlier for Kylie, so I think for Geri it could've been a solid concept rather than the mixed bag that ended up being "Passion". |
|
|
|
|
Dec 26 2020, 05:24 PM
Post
#7
|
|
|
BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 6 September 2017
Posts: 11,797 User: 39,568
|
I actually really like this album, it’s a bit disjointed but then Schizophonic is also quite disjointed so I don’t see it as a bad thing.
Really stupid not to have released LNLM first obviously should have been released in place of Ride it and the album off the back of it but then that would have been the Disco Sister album and not passion. I think this album has the strongest songs she has done with LNLM and let me love you more and there’s always tomorrow and feel the fear, not to mention loving me back to life which I think is the best solo song she ever did. Apparently Feel the fear was a contender for the CIN single that year but Girls Aloud I’ll stand by you for the spot, a shame as that could have gotten Geri another hit. I think it deserved to do a lot better than it did in the charts #41 was a real shame. Also don’t care what anyone says Ride it is a bop, really cringe but gets stuck in your head. Ranking 1. Passion 7/10 2. Desire 9/10 3. Love never loved me 10/10 4. Feel the fear 10/10 5. Superstar 7/10 6. Surrender your groove 6/10 7. Ride it 8/10 8. There’s always tomorrow 10/10 9. Let me love you more 10/10 10. Loving me back to life 10/10 11. So I give up on love 6/10 |
|
|
|
|
Dec 26 2020, 05:25 PM
Post
#8
|
|
|
BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 6 September 2017
Posts: 11,797 User: 39,568
|
QUOTE(Mr.X @ Dec 23 2020, 04:38 PM) I have never listened to the full album, but will give it a go this Christmas. The only songs I have heard have been the singles, So I Give Up on Love and Love Never Loved Me. The singles were bad, her worst at the time, and the other two songs didnt particularly grab me, personally, so I didnt bother with the rest of the album. Shall give a proper review in a few days, and hope this is a pleasant suprise like when I listened to Schizophonic again this year and was surprised I liked it more than I remembered ah Oh I hope you like loving me back to life it’s my favourite song by her 
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 26 2020, 09:02 PM
Post
#9
|
|
|
BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 7 September 2017
Posts: 5,071 User: 39,587
|
QUOTE(spiceboy @ Dec 26 2020, 05:25 PM) Oh I hope you like loving me back to life it’s my favourite song by her I shall report back but if it is anywhere near the quality of the other 4, Im not confident at all 
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 26 2020, 09:06 PM
Post
#10
|
|
|
BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 6 September 2017
Posts: 11,797 User: 39,568
|
QUOTE(Mr.X @ Dec 26 2020, 09:02 PM) I shall report back but if it is anywhere near the quality of the other 4, Im not confident at all 
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 27 2020, 11:53 PM
Post
#11
|
|
|
BuzzJack Regular
Joined: 25 March 2018
Posts: 393 User: 69,521
|
Honestly, I've never understood why people didn't like it so much. I think the reviews of the time were so needlessly nasty that it somewhat tainted the perception. Yahoo's review called her a bronchial sea lion. As per usual with solo Spices, the write-ups made it sound like the music was shockingly inept..without showing much evidence they actually listened to the album at all.
My thoughts? I think Love Never Loved Me is the best thing she ever did solo. I like it even better than the similar Sorry by Madonna...which would land at #1 a few months after Passion was released. I think the title track is the best Geri ever sounded...and is a better, more flattering showcase for her voice than Mel B or Victoria ever got to have in their solo careers. After that, I think Feel the Fear and Let Me Love You More are very strong...and Ride It is extremely likable. I even think Superstar (which seems to be universally disliked by everyone except for...me?) has a classic pop chorus. There's a little fluff (Surrender Your Groove), but I don't think any of it's bad. I'll defend the album, but there are things about the era that I don't love. The Ride It video and performances were amateur-hour. Most of her previous singles honestly did have well-thought out campaigns...especially Look At Me and It's Raining Men. But Ride It was content to have people just doing silly choreography in bargain bin afro wigs. Her GAY performance of Ride It, in particular, was a mess...with her spending half of it fiddling with a microphone that wasn't even on anyway. Desire's video fared a little better...but it was a pretty weird decision to base it off Catwoman...which had been the previous year's biggest critical and commercial flop. So. Yeah. The music I like, but the others elements weren't clicking. This post has been edited by Piers: Dec 27 2020, 11:54 PM |
|
|
|
|
Dec 28 2020, 03:04 AM
Post
#12
|
|
|
BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 6 September 2017
Posts: 11,797 User: 39,568
|
QUOTE(Piers @ Dec 27 2020, 11:53 PM) Honestly, I've never understood why people didn't like it so much. I think the reviews of the time were so needlessly nasty that it somewhat tainted the perception. Yahoo's review called her a bronchial sea lion. As per usual with solo Spices, the write-ups made it sound like the music was shockingly inept..without showing much evidence they actually listened to the album at all. My thoughts? I think Love Never Loved Me is the best thing she ever did solo. I like it even better than the similar Sorry by Madonna...which would land at #1 a few months after Passion was released. I think the title track is the best Geri ever sounded...and is a better, more flattering showcase for her voice than Mel B or Victoria ever got to have in their solo careers. After that, I think Feel the Fear and Let Me Love You More are very strong...and Ride It is extremely likable. I even think Superstar (which seems to be universally disliked by everyone except for...me?) has a classic pop chorus. There's a little fluff (Surrender Your Groove), but I don't think any of it's bad. I'll defend the album, but there are things about the era that I don't love. The Ride It video and performances were amateur-hour. Most of her previous singles honestly did have well-thought out campaigns...especially Look At Me and It's Raining Men. But Ride It was content to have people just doing silly choreography in bargain bin afro wigs. Her GAY performance of Ride It, in particular, was a mess...with her spending half of it fiddling with a microphone that wasn't even on anyway. Desire's video fared a little better...but it was a pretty weird decision to base it off Catwoman...which had been the previous year's biggest critical and commercial flop. So. Yeah. The music I like, but the others elements weren't clicking. I agree with all of this. Album is good, videos (and album artwork) are not so much (although I love the Australian cover). I also think Geri has never looked better than she did during the Desire era, everything was just wow! This post has been edited by spiceboy: Dec 28 2020, 03:05 AM |
|
|
|
|
Dec 28 2020, 08:09 AM
Post
#13
|
|
|
BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 7 January 2009
Posts: 7,064 User: 8,073
|
QUOTE(Piers @ Dec 28 2020, 12:53 AM) I'll defend the album, but there are things about the era that I don't love. The Ride It video and performances were amateur-hour. Most of her previous singles honestly did have well-thought out campaigns...especially Look At Me and It's Raining Men. But Ride It was content to have people just doing silly choreography in bargain bin afro wigs. Her GAY performance of Ride It, in particular, was a mess...with her spending half of it fiddling with a microphone that wasn't even on anyway. Desire's video fared a little better...but it was a pretty weird decision to base it off Catwoman...which had been the previous year's biggest critical and commercial flop. So. Yeah. The music I like, but the others elements weren't clicking. I think the biggest issue with the album is that it ends up being very disjointed - as I said, I think she would've been better off going with the Disco Sister concept, especially with the silliness of the Ride It video. Then all of a sudden she came out with Desire (6 months after Ride It!), which was a clear attempt at her trying to recreate Some Girls. Then you had tracks like So I Give Up On Love and no clear real theme of the album. I can see why the reviewers went the easy route with reviewing the album because with an album name like "Passion" you end up asking yourself what her passion is and what it's meant to represent? |
|
|
|
|
Dec 28 2020, 12:16 PM
Post
#14
|
|
|
BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 7 September 2017
Posts: 5,071 User: 39,587
|
OK I had a listen to the album last night and I think it isnt as bad as I thought it would be. There are some nice moments in it, with Love Never Loved Me being the obvious stand out.
I think a good single mix of LNLM would have been more successful than the singles she ultimately released out of this and probably would have gone down very well with her target audience. Whilst it is an uneven album, I do appreciate the breath of diversity of genres in there (the quality of those, however, is another matter). Also, I think Geri does sound better than ever on it. Let Me Love You More is cute, although it does sound like she was trying to do a companion song to a previous song of hers from the first album, a mix between Sometime and Let Me Love You. It's here, I think, she sounds the more comfortable both lyrically and vocally. Not sure about some of the lyrics, but it's ok overall. The main issue on the album seems to be that it's full of a lot of good intentions but it doesn't sound honest and it all amounts to very little, to me. Lyrically, it's very stale which is a shame as Geri always framed herself as a song-writer. Whilst this was perceived as true during the hey days of the Spice Girls and her initial solo career (and she does love to take credit for the hits), I think her writing became very stale somewhere around the Scream album release. By the time this album comes around, most of its lyrics are quite bland and the word play it's cute at first but there is only so much you can bare of the same 'silly' and 'quirky' type of lyrics over a full album. Some songs, like Feel The Fear, are basically filled with the type of positive messages you find in fridge magnets: cute but full of clichés and meaningless at the end of the day... Geri isnt the only one suffering from this (Melanie C is basically a walking, singing fridge magnet herself) but ultimately it comes across as insincere here as there are so many platitudes one can handle without rolling our eyes and tuning off. But songs like Superstar for example, are so ridden with clichés that you wonder if Geri ever actually experienced celebrity lifestyle at all, and she sounds like she just read about it on a magazine. The other big issue is the production values, both musically and the visuals of the era. As Piers said and well, it all seemed quite lame. Musically, she is dabbling in genres that she doesnt grasp at all, nor does she sound like she fits them. So I Give Up on Love and Passion are examples of this. Both songs are trying very - very - hard to sound like old school big band numbers but they just come across as middle of the road productions overall (and the awful lyrics on both don't help!). The production on Feel The Fear, for instance, is of the standard of the LA State of Mind iamspamspamamirecordings  Plus, she sounds BORED on it... I can see why it wasn't a single. The lyrics are so saccharine she would have been mauled by the press if it was a single at all. Ride and Desire work well in the context of the album. They are definitely two of the strongest singles and I wish she would have done more with the videos and promotion for them... Ultimately, you can tell the album was done by committee. A shame she didnt go the full Disco Sister approach as it could have been interesting and you can see where she was going with it. But even then, I am not sure she would have been well received with it, as Geri was never the most DANCE artist out there... Not to say that she couldnt do it (hello Dua Lipa and them bad moves!!) but I do think it would have been more interesting than what we got. I dont think I will be revisiting much of this album, unfortunately, though I have a new appreciation for Let Me Love You More and Love Never Loves Me. |
|
|
|
|
Dec 29 2020, 01:30 AM
Post
#15
|
|
|
BuzzJack Regular
Joined: 22 September 2020
Posts: 421 User: 113,700
|
QUOTE(schizo_spice @ Dec 23 2020, 08:34 AM) It took many years of being her last album for Passion to really grow on me, I now quite enjoy it even if it does feel very disjointed. My instant faves from the start were the singles, Love Never Loved Me, Feel the Fear and Let Me Love You More. The Ian Masterson tracks are the strength of "Passion". Superstar, Surrender Your Groove and Dont Get Any Better were the three weakest links of the record for me then and still are now. Not that I dislike any of them just meh. Would've been interesting to see how the original 2004 album would've been like /been received before she returned to the studio with Korpi and Blackcell. I agree, the Ian Masterson and Hannah Robinson tracks are the best on Passion (Love Never Loved Me, Let Me Love You More, There's Always Tomorrow). I would love to hear the two unreleased songs they did for the album (Disco Sister Music, Geri's Got Her Groove Back). |
|
|
|
|
Dec 29 2020, 10:35 AM
Post
#16
|
|
|
BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 6 September 2017
Posts: 11,797 User: 39,568
|
QUOTE(Sideout @ Dec 29 2020, 01:30 AM) I agree, the Ian Masterson and Hannah Robinson tracks are the best on Passion (Love Never Loved Me, Let Me Love You More, There's Always Tomorrow). I would love to hear the two unreleased songs they did for the album (Disco Sister Music, Geri's Got Her Groove Back). Geri's got her groove back sounds dreadful based on the title 
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 29 2020, 10:35 AM
Post
#17
|
|
|
BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 6 September 2017
Posts: 11,797 User: 39,568
|
QUOTE(Mr.X @ Dec 28 2020, 12:16 PM) OK I had a listen to the album last night and I think it isnt as bad as I thought it would be. There are some nice moments in it, with Love Never Loved Me being the obvious stand out. I think a good single mix of LNLM would have been more successful than the singles she ultimately released out of this and probably would have gone down very well with her target audience. Whilst it is an uneven album, I do appreciate the breath of diversity of genres in there (the quality of those, however, is another matter). Also, I think Geri does sound better than ever on it. Let Me Love You More is cute, although it does sound like she was trying to do a companion song to a previous song of hers from the first album, a mix between Sometime and Let Me Love You. It's here, I think, she sounds the more comfortable both lyrically and vocally. Not sure about some of the lyrics, but it's ok overall. The main issue on the album seems to be that it's full of a lot of good intentions but it doesn't sound honest and it all amounts to very little, to me. Lyrically, it's very stale which is a shame as Geri always framed herself as a song-writer. Whilst this was perceived as true during the hey days of the Spice Girls and her initial solo career (and she does love to take credit for the hits), I think her writing became very stale somewhere around the Scream album release. By the time this album comes around, most of its lyrics are quite bland and the word play it's cute at first but there is only so much you can bare of the same 'silly' and 'quirky' type of lyrics over a full album. Some songs, like Feel The Fear, are basically filled with the type of positive messages you find in fridge magnets: cute but full of clichés and meaningless at the end of the day... Geri isnt the only one suffering from this (Melanie C is basically a walking, singing fridge magnet herself) but ultimately it comes across as insincere here as there are so many platitudes one can handle without rolling our eyes and tuning off. But songs like Superstar for example, are so ridden with clichés that you wonder if Geri ever actually experienced celebrity lifestyle at all, and she sounds like she just read about it on a magazine. The other big issue is the production values, both musically and the visuals of the era. As Piers said and well, it all seemed quite lame. Musically, she is dabbling in genres that she doesnt grasp at all, nor does she sound like she fits them. So I Give Up on Love and Passion are examples of this. Both songs are trying very - very - hard to sound like old school big band numbers but they just come across as middle of the road productions overall (and the awful lyrics on both don't help!). The production on Feel The Fear, for instance, is of the standard of the LA State of Mind iamspamspamamirecordings Plus, she sounds BORED on it... I can see why it wasn't a single. The lyrics are so saccharine she would have been mauled by the press if it was a single at all. Ride and Desire work well in the context of the album. They are definitely two of the strongest singles and I wish she would have done more with the videos and promotion for them... Ultimately, you can tell the album was done by committee. A shame she didnt go the full Disco Sister approach as it could have been interesting and you can see where she was going with it. But even then, I am not sure she would have been well received with it, as Geri was never the most DANCE artist out there... Not to say that she couldnt do it (hello Dua Lipa and them bad moves!!) but I do think it would have been more interesting than what we got. I dont think I will be revisiting much of this album, unfortunately, though I have a new appreciation for Let Me Love You More and Love Never Loves Me. The fact there is no mention of loving me back to life does not bode well 
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 29 2020, 11:02 AM
Post
#18
|
|
|
BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 7 September 2017
Posts: 5,071 User: 39,587
|
QUOTE(spiceboy @ Dec 29 2020, 10:35 AM) The fact there is no mention of loving me back to life does not bode well Let me just say that I didnt think it was worth a mention? Maybe I am a cold hearted bitch but by the time that song came along I was too bored to care for any more clichéd lyrics and bored singing
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 29 2020, 11:15 AM
Post
#19
|
|
|
BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 6 September 2017
Posts: 11,797 User: 39,568
|
QUOTE(Mr.X @ Dec 29 2020, 11:02 AM) Let me just say that I didnt think it was worth a mention? Maybe I am a cold hearted bitch but by the time that song came along I was too bored to care for any more clichéd lyrics and bored singing Omg you took the words right out of my mouth describing you... 
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 29 2020, 01:10 PM
Post
#20
|
|
|
BuzzJack Gold Member
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 10 December 2013 Posts: 4,220 User: 20,217
|
Feel The Fear is one of m favorite Geri ballads ever. i relistened to this album over the summer and i think it's not as bad as people make it out to be though the Disco Sister album idea excited me more.
|
|
|
|
|
| Time is now: 16th April 2024 - 11:04 PM |
Copyright © 2006 - 2024 BuzzJack.com
About | Contact | Advertise | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service
