I love the Forever album but do agree there were no huge singles left after the first release.

 

Tell Me Why would have been a minor hit and kept the album selling.

If You Wanna Have Some Fun would have been the next best hit. It probably would have done well (with proper promo!), and Tell Me Why would have been a minor hit, yes.

 

Weekend Love or Time Goes By (jesus) probably woudnt done well at all unfortunately,..

All of those songs - every single last one - that you all mentioned have no melody and are lifeless. Oxygen is probably the worst song they have ever done. Smacking their lips and crooning some cheesy lyrics, whilst they leave a tap on in the background over a boring rnb beat, does not a good song make. They clearly put all their efforts into their solo albums, rushed Forever in a couple of days, and left the production to an rnb producer who had no idea what the Spice Girls sound was.

All of those songs - every single last one - that you all mentioned have no melody and are lifeless. Oxygen is probably the worst song they have ever done. Smacking their lips and crooning some cheesy lyrics, whilst they leave a tap on in the bakground, over a boring rnb beat does not a good song make. They clearly put all their efforts into their solo albums, rushed Forever in a couple of days, and left the production to an rnb producer who had no idea what the Spice Girls sound was.

 

There's definitely melodies present throughout Forever, so I don't get that criticism. I actually think they threw in a few too many ad-libs on certain songs, which can start to feel a little overwhelming throughout the whole album listen. So I'd lean towards the songs being a little overcooked, not underdone. Sometimes less is more!

 

Michael I wish you'd stop asserting things that aren't factual. Forever wasn't a 2 day project. Writing and recording sessions were spread out from August 1999 to July 2000. Ironically it's Spiceworld that was their most rushed album, recorded haphazardly during filming for the movie, and yet that intensely quick recording resulted in a lightning in a bottle moment as one of the best pop albums ever... so... rushed albums isn't always a negative... but Forever wasn't rushed. If anything they spent too much time on it; we all know that ideally they should have had an album out in late 1999. But they focused on a change of direction and prolonged the recording and delayed the album.

Those early sessions were for pop songs that they discarded, such as Woman, or for Holler/LLLTW. The others were all rushed. The level of quality of Hollier and LLLTW vs the rest of the album shows thay they needed more time with individual songs, and also to focus on POP/ ROCK. They would have had a decent pop album in 1999 ready to go. Obviously Geri was the main sound/ main writer behind the group, but they were all solid popstars.

Those early sessions were for pop songs that they discarded, such as Woman, or for Holler/LLLTW. The others were all rushed. The level of quality of Hollier and LLLTW vs the rest of the album shows thay they needed more time with individual songs, and also to focus on POP/ ROCK. They would have had a decent pop album in 1999 ready to go. Obviously Geri was the main sound/ main writer behind the group, but they were all solid popstars.

 

We all agree with the fact that they should have released an album in 1999. For me, that was their biggest set back for them, meaning it was 3 years since their last album by the time Forever came along. Too long specially with such a drastic change of sound and a line up missing one member.

 

BUT it is clear that the rest of the album wasnt rushed at all. Lots of cooking and producing went into it and as Jay says, perhaps at points it is a little too overcooked with the ad libs, the extra length of IYWHSF etc. I dont think the rest of the album seems underproduced at all.

 

You just dont like it, and that is fair, but I dont think you can call this album rushed at all lol

August 1999 [session 1] - (All songs were scrapped and have never leaked; one of the songs, WOMAN, was performed in December 1999)

August 1999 [session 2] - Right Back at Ya (Recorded alongside other songs that were scrapped, but eventually leaked in 2015)

August 1999 [session 3] - Holler, Let Love Lead the Way, Weekend Love

September 1999 - If You Wanna Have Some Fun, Oxygen

April 2000 - Tell Me Why, Get Down with Me, Time Goes By

July 2000 - Right Back at Ya (Reworked), Wasting My Time

August 1999 [session 1] - (All songs were scrapped and have never leaked; one of the songs, WOMAN, was performed in December 1999)

August 1999 [session 2] - Right Back at Ya (Recorded alongside other songs that were scrapped, but eventually leaked in 2015)

August 1999 [session 3] - Holler, Let Love Lead the Way, Weekend Love

September 1999 - If You Wanna Have Some Fun, Oxygen

April 2000 - Tell Me Why, Get Down with Me, Time Goes By

July 2000 - Right Back at Ya (Reworked), Wasting My Time

 

 

I do wonder if any other tracks from those sessions were ever recorded. Seems odd that only the songs we actually heard what was released plus 4 other demos and we know the titles of a couple more and that's it.

 

Seems off that the last 4 sessions only produced what we heard in the album and nothing more...

I have wondered the same, it does seem odd! I don’t think we’ve ever had any information about whether those later sessions resulted in any other songs that went unused. In particular, booking more studio time in July just to work on one new song seems a bit wasteful.

 

We need an in depth interview with the producers solely about Forever!

I have wondered the same, it does seem odd! I don’t think we’ve ever had any information about whether those later sessions resulted in any other songs that went unused. In particular, booking more studio time in July just to work on one new song seems a bit wasteful.

 

We need an in depth interview with the producers solely about Forever!

 

Yeah we do! They were so complimentary of the girls back then and since! Wish some other demos leaked from that era..

August 1999 [session 1] - (All songs were scrapped and have never leaked; one of the songs, WOMAN, was performed in December 1999)

August 1999 [session 2] - Right Back at Ya (Recorded alongside other songs that were scrapped, but eventually leaked in 2015)

August 1999 [session 3] - Holler, Let Love Lead the Way, Weekend Love

September 1999 - If You Wanna Have Some Fun, Oxygen

April 2000 - Tell Me Why, Get Down with Me, Time Goes By

July 2000 - Right Back at Ya (Reworked), Wasting My Time

 

They should have recorded the album earlier and not scrapped s single one from the August sessions. The awful Weekend love could be a filler track to finish off the album with 10 tracks. Everyone would have just skipped it.

Meekul

 

This album is a really nice listen - it's not as outlandishly POP as the others but they do the sultry R&B sound very well for the most part.

 

The worst thing about the era is the album artwork, now that is unforgiveable

The worst thing about the era is the album artwork, now that is unforgiveable

I guess you're not ordering it on vinyl any time soon?

Spiceworld was recorded in 2 months (June & July 1997). It was released on November 3 1997. It only took 5 months to release the album after the first recording sessions.

 

The girls started to record Forever at the beginning of August 1999. So they probably could have had the album out in mid December 1999 to cash in on the Christmas sales.

Really wish that had been the case... It did look like it when the first few pictures came out in 1999 with them outside of the studios, but then........

 

I always thought that the Christmas Tour being planned for that time seemed like a good chance of it being to promote an album as well... But then I guess Melanie C was full on solo Spice by then so....

I mean, the biggest issue with Forever is that they sort of lost their individuality with producers like Darkchild since it sounded literally like they were told to produce them like Destiny's Child. I do think Forever has aged rather well, but when you look at it within the context of R&B records released in 2000 it does get lost in the shuffle.

I mean, the biggest issue with Forever is that they sort of lost their individuality with producers like Darkchild since it sounded literally like they were told to produce them like Destiny's Child. I do think Forever has aged rather well, but when you look at it within the context of R&B records released in 2000 it does get lost in the shuffle.

 

So true. When you already got TLC and Destiny's Child, you don't need another copy cat. Their individuality is the whole key, it's what set them apart. Forever was quite bland to me, comparing to other albums in the market during that time.

^ Very good point Tommie

I mean, the biggest issue with Forever is that they sort of lost their individuality with producers like Darkchild since it sounded literally like they were told to produce them like Destiny's Child. I do think Forever has aged rather well, but when you look at it within the context of R&B records released in 2000 it does get lost in the shuffle.

This is exactly my issue with the album. In the mid-90s, you had britpop and R&B ruling the charts, then 'Wannabe' comes along and it's loud, slightly bratty and unashamedly pop. After that they had carved their own brand of pop and girl groups of all kinds started popping up. I get the need and desire to change things up, but why go from trailblazing to copying what everyone else were doing? If people wanted that sort of music, there were other groups they could turn to and they would do it much better.

 

I also agree with the other point raised in here that the album is very overegged with too many adlibs. Did they think they had to make up for being a vocalist down?