I DON’T BELIEVE IT (said ala Mel B in Spiceworld)

Girls Aloud just announced the release of their second album's 20th anniversary edition and includes various unreleased tracks, demos, mixes and a 3-CD set of music from the era...

 

Three whole new unheard songs from the vaults, plus alternative versions of singles, mixes, etc... and their 20th anniversary of Sound of the Underground didn't even sell that well...

 

Literally, of all the girlband anniversary editions, it seems our Spices had the worst ones when it comes to tracklistings.. rugh... Like, Sugababes one was great too...

Edited January 17, 20241 yr by Mr.X

Girls Aloud and Sugababes track listings are really good, and what you'd really want from a re-release as a fan. Even if we don't focus on Spice Girls only putting on 1 unreleased song, they still made odd choices like not putting on every B Side.

Girls Aloud and Sugababes track listings are really good, and what you'd really want from a re-release as a fan. Even if we don't focus on Spice Girls only putting on 1 unreleased song, they still made odd choices like not putting on every B Side.

 

Not every b-side and the lame remixes.

 

I LOVED what Sugababes did with inviting new producers to remixing their singles from that album. It brough the music to the contemporary music scene, in such a clever way. We got old, well known previously released remixes instead <_<

 

Neither the Sugababes or Girls Aloud releases sold huge numbers. That didnt stop Girls Aloud doing an even more expanded 20th anniversary edition for their second album, including unreleased mixes, demos and unreleased music. WIth the Spice Girls we got............ terrible audio live versions of their singles (most of which were already available anyway) plus a bunch of well known mixes and shite design. Not a single unreleased track or demo in Spiceworld, which is what the fans had asked for.

 

Certainly the Spice Girls outsold them, and I do think they literally just did like 'minimal effort'... Hell, only Mel C seemed invested in it at all...

I think it's difficult to directly compare the girl group re-releases, for many reasons. Here's how they did in their first weeks anyway:

 

 

Chart date - 5th November 2021:

#5 - 7,798 sales - Spice Girls - Spice (12 newly released physicals, including 6 Vinyl, 5 Cassettes & 1 CD)

4,563 - Vinyl

1,464 - CD

1,219 - Cassette

364 - Streaming

188 - Download

 

 

Chart date - 8th October 2021:

#18 - 3,518 sales - Sugababes - One Touch (8 newly released physicals, including 4 Cassettes, 2 Vinyl & 2 CD) [one of the CD formats included a third bonus disc]

1,595 - Vinyl

1,336 - CD

306 - Cassette

189 - Download

92 - Streaming

 

 

Chart date - 23rd June 2023:

#42 - 2,925 sales - Girls Aloud - Sound of the Underground (3 newly released physicals, including 2 Vinyl & 1 CD)

Unfortunately I don't have the final chart sales breakdown, but I do have the Tuesday midweeks (which represents 4 out of 7 days of sales / 3 out of 7 days for streaming).

At that point it had sold 2,778 sales, which was 94.97% of its eventual 2,925 sales. I just don't know where the additional 147 sales would be distributed!

1,723 - Vinyl

964 - CD

54 - Download

37 - Streaming

I estimate 1,780 - Vinyl / 1000 - CD / 85 - Streaming / 60 - Download]

 

 

Chart date - 11th November 2022:

#46 - 2,257 sales - Spice Girls - Spiceworld (4 newly released physicals, including 3 Vinyl, 1 Cassette)

1,603 - Vinyl

279 - Cassette

224 - Streaming

151 - Download

^ Who knows how many copies the CD would have sold had it been available in this week. It came out 6 weeks later, so with an additional 6 weeks of pre-order availability, this happened:

 

Chart date - 23rd December 2022:

#105 (re-entry) - 1,532 sales - Spice Girls - Spiceworld (1 newly released physical, the CD)

1,196 - CD

167 - Vinyl

157 - Streaming

6 - Cassette

6 - Download

Looking back Spice25 did very well. They really messed SW25 up badly but actually got the Youtube side of it right.

 

Shame they couldn't get it all right.

Yeah Spiceworld was really a let down considering. I think the lack of unreleased tracks and the design really killed it.

They really should have kept the “separate cover per member” gimmick going for Spiceworld. It was proven to work for Spice, so why not for Spiceworld?

So weird they decided oh that did well let’s not do that again. Like, make it make sense. And also, what the hell happened to that Spiceworld 25 logo that was leaked a few months prior?! Like they could have incorporated that into another vinyl cover!

They really should have kept the “separate cover per member” gimmick going for Spiceworld. It was proven to work for Spice, so why not for Spiceworld?

 

I didnt much care for that tbh and probably wouldnt have bought them all for Spiceworld. The thing that made it worse, straight up as soon as they were announced, it was the design and the tracklisting. Then, the quality of the audio on the second CD really killed any fan momentum for the release. I cant quite believe literally no mastering was done on the live tracks... it was just a straight up rip <_<

 

They pissed off the fans, who are the main target audience for these types of releases... Spice25 was mastered at least, and provided some demons and unreleased tracks. Even Spice25 was kind of lackluster in terms of the tracklist as most fans complained the lack of unreleased songs (as Feed Your Love had already been released in Wannabe25).

 

You piss off the fans, a lot of them wont buy your shit. It's simple as that <_<

The individual vinyls did so well as well, they are pretty much sold out everywhere in the UK apart from the odd Sporty or Scary one.

 

Wasn't like they had 1000's left over.

 

Oddly the cassette was the best produced format of SW25. It seemed to have the most effort go into it.

 

They HAVE to release something alongside the documentary. Ideally whatever it is goes up for pre-order with a trailer then is release the Friday closest to the Documentary release for max impact on sales.

Hopefully they release something with the documentary. Even if it's just one song. We're Gonna Make It Happen or Spice Is Back would probably be good choices.

Edited January 19, 20241 yr by Sideout

A re-release of the GH with some unreleased tracks would be perfect. They could also release it on vinyl with the proper cover, I’d buy that in a shot.

 

An album of material from their Touch era could be released too but it won’t be as they would get next to nothing from it.

They definitely need to bring the Greatest Hits to update with a new package and unreleased tracks. A vinyl with the original cover would be a must too! I really want it!!

They definitely need to bring the Greatest Hits to update with a new package and unreleased tracks. A vinyl with the original cover would be a must too! I really want it!!

 

 

It's funny because when it was released I wasn't that fussed about the GH cover (I wasn't melting down like so many that they weren't on it or in the letters etc but I thought it was a bit meh). Now I love it, think it was a brilliant choice, it's quite timeless and is different to anyone else with a "band only" name on the cover.

 

 

So funny the utter bullshit over how it cost a million pounds to make it as the letters were made with real jewels and given to each girl. :lol: Imagine Victoria and Geri settling for an Amber S and an amethyst C while the other three got diamond, ruby and emerald :lol:

Edited January 20, 20241 yr by spiceboy

Yeah the lies about that cover being made of REAL DIAMONDS!! was so clearly a PR move lol... as iffffff :P

 

I always liked the cover, personally. never really got the melt downs online at the time about it, it was pretty clever and timeless. The only time I didnt like it was in that awful case with pink background. But against the white or the black, it was pretty excellent!

 

I need it in vinyl. NEED IT!

 

They should absolutely repackage it, remove Voodoo and include Step To Me, Never Give Up On The Good Times and If You Wanna Have Some Fun on CD1! That would ballance it out so much with all the ballads (excellent) at the end -_-

I'm always of the mind the GH is perfect as is. Would love the original cover on vinyl though.

 

I'd rather they released a rarities album, so their discography was bigger than 3 studio albums and a GH. There is more than enough music in the vaults, plus My Strongest Suit and How does it feel. With the multiple formats they could pick an easy week and go for number 1. Have Were gonna make it happen as the promo single and obviously include WOMAN

Edited January 20, 20241 yr by sammy01

Yeah the lies about that cover being made of REAL DIAMONDS!! was so clearly a PR move lol... as iffffff :P

 

I always liked the cover, personally. never really got the melt downs online at the time about it, it was pretty clever and timeless. The only time I didnt like it was in that awful case with pink background. But against the white or the black, it was pretty excellent!

 

I need it in vinyl. NEED IT!

 

They should absolutely repackage it, remove Voodoo and include Step To Me, Never Give Up On The Good Times and If You Wanna Have Some Fun on CD1! That would ballance it out so much with all the ballads (excellent) at the end -_-

 

 

I’d definitely take voodoo out and put step to me, never give up on the good times and if you wanna have some fun into it!! 😍

Jay can correct me but you cant take songs off an album and it still count as the same album for charts and sales?

 

You can add songs, like deluxe versions and so on but the original tracklist has to stay.

Maybe it's that a certain percentage of original tracks have to remain on it? Admittedly this is a 20 year old example lol but Girls Aloud's Sound of the Underground re-release had 3 new tracks on it, but they replaced 3 of the tracks from the original.