Original release date: January 2nd 2001
Buy It's The Way You Make Me Feel here (Amazon UK)
Read all my Buzz20 posts here
Happy 20th birthday to my all time favourite Steps song, It's The Way You Make Me Feel. Taken from their third album, Buzz, this was released just after New Year's Day in 2001, causing a minor chart kerfuffle at the time (back when charts were based on actual sales, not just what people listened to for free on endless repeat). Some naughty stores sold copies of the CD single a week early, meaning that the song debuted at number 72, before rocketing to number two a week later. Did these early sales prevent it from being their (rightful) third number one? We may never know - what is abundantly clear, however, is that even 16 years later this remains a glittering example of sophisticated pop music at it's finest. A beautiful, mid-tempo tune that exquisitely highlighted the harmonious vocals of the band, with a chorus that stands shoulder to shoulder with undeniable classics such as Pet Shop Boys' Being Boring, Erasure's You Surround Me, Britney's Lucky and Girls Aloud's Call The Shots. A glorious synth riff danced elegantly alongside a shoulder-shimmying beat, whilst grandiose strings weaved seamlessly into the radiant wall of sound that writer/producer Jörgen Elofsson (with David Kreuger) crafted. The visuals also captured the stately majesty of the song - recreating the royal court of Les Liaisons Dangereux, complete with ruffles, bussles, bows and ballgowns on the video cast. While Faye and Lee, Claire and H sang to each other throughout the palace, Lisa got a tousled hair hottie to seduce (at 1m16s; who was he?!) just before they performed the song's requisite dance routine in the chandeliered ballroom (years later during the reunion tour, H finally got to dance to this with a male partner and it was just all sorts of lovely). And whilst Sleazesisters provided some throbbing remixes, it is this original version that I never get tired of listening to, cocooning me in an aural hug as if meeting an old friend for the first time in ages.
Happy 20th birthday to my all time favourite Steps song, It's The Way You Make Me Feel. Taken from their third album, Buzz, this was released just after New Year's Day in 2001, causing a minor chart kerfuffle at the time (back when charts were based on actual sales, not just what people listened to for free on endless repeat). Some naughty stores sold copies of the CD single a week early, meaning that the song debuted at number 72, before rocketing to number two a week later. Did these early sales prevent it from being their (rightful) third number one? We may never know - what is abundantly clear, however, is that even 16 years later this remains a glittering example of sophisticated pop music at it's finest. A beautiful, mid-tempo tune that exquisitely highlighted the harmonious vocals of the band, with a chorus that stands shoulder to shoulder with undeniable classics such as Pet Shop Boys' Being Boring, Erasure's You Surround Me, Britney's Lucky and Girls Aloud's Call The Shots. A glorious synth riff danced elegantly alongside a shoulder-shimmying beat, whilst grandiose strings weaved seamlessly into the radiant wall of sound that writer/producer Jörgen Elofsson (with David Kreuger) crafted. The visuals also captured the stately majesty of the song - recreating the royal court of Les Liaisons Dangereux, complete with ruffles, bussles, bows and ballgowns on the video cast. While Faye and Lee, Claire and H sang to each other throughout the palace, Lisa got a tousled hair hottie to seduce (at 1m16s; who was he?!) just before they performed the song's requisite dance routine in the chandeliered ballroom (years later during the reunion tour, H finally got to dance to this with a male partner and it was just all sorts of lovely). And whilst Sleazesisters provided some throbbing remixes, it is this original version that I never get tired of listening to, cocooning me in an aural hug as if meeting an old friend for the first time in ages.
(Note - whilst not their traditional Christmas AA side single, this did feature a non-album track on the flip in the form of Too Busy Thinkin' 'Bout My Baby. The group had performed this on ITV special, Motown Mania - see it here on youtube. It is a solid, up-beat dance anthem that fits nicely into the Steps canon, though perhaps not as obvious a chart smash as some of their other covers. Shame, because it is a corker of a performance).
No comments:
Post a Comment