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Here it is – the third and final Spice Girls studio album and the last one to get a much needed vinyl treatment. Originally released on November 1, 2000, this is the only album by the iconic British girl band recorded after Geri Halliwell, aka Ginger Spice, left the band in the spring of 1998. While the album came only in the form of a CD and an audio cassette back in 2000, Virgin decided to celebrate its 20th anniversary with a brand new vinyl release, allowing Spice Girls fans around the world to finally complete their collections.
Growing up, I was a huge Spice Girls fan. In fact, their debut album, Spice, was the first CD I ever bought! I loved both the first and the second albums, and I continue to listen to them on a regular basis to this day. Say what you want about the Spice Girls and their vocal abilities, but the fact remains that they have some truly awesome jams that have aged surprisingly well.
When it comes to Forever, though, I never really gave it a chance to grow on me. While I enjoyed the first single, Holler, and even though Goodbye is really one of the band’s best songs, when the album came out, it felt like the original magic of the Spice Girls was pretty much gone. On one hand, there was a three-year gap between this album and their previous release, Spiceworld. Mind you, the first two albums came out within a year of each other, churning out hit after hit and actively keeping their fan base engaged. On the other hand, the third album presented a completely different sound to what had made its predecessors so appealing. Not necessarily bad, just more subdued and, well, different from what the craving fans expected from a Spice Girls comeback.
Besides, what made the Spice Girls a phenomenon was not just (or necessarily) their music, but their unity and the refreshing display of female camaraderie. All that kind of fell apart after Geri left and they each embarked on solo careers (some being more successful than others), and the power behind Girl Power was never properly brought back up in the lead to the third album. Even when it came to promoting Forever on TV or the radio, it was almost never all of them at once. Because of family duties or scheduling conflicts with their solo projects, it was usually only one or two of the Spice Girls going on a TV show to talk about the album, which really made the whole Forever era seem more like a contractual obligation than a project that they put their hearts and souls into. As a result of all that, Forever never really got a chance to shine on its own musical merits.
Fortunately, this brand new 20th anniversary vinyl release has given us skeptical fans a chance to revisit the album and appreciate it with the seasoned ears of adults who wouldn’t let their former circumstantial expectations cloud their judgment.
Forever was the girls’ attempt at showing some growth and maturity. That makes sense in retrospect, as some of them had gotten married and become mothers in the years leading up to it, so it would have been silly to keep up the zig-a zig-ahh routine. You can tell that the girls were inspired by the highly popular R&B sound of the late 90s and early 2000s. That makes sense too, since the album’s producer is none other than Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, the genius behind some of the most iconic R&B hits like Brandy & Monica’s The Boy Is Mine, Toni Braxton’s He Wasn’t Man Enough, and J.Lo’s If You Had My Love, among many others. So, as someone whose musical taste buds have a significant preference for that exact type of music, I have to say, Forever is a pretty solid R&B record.
Maybe the one more glaring downside of this album compared to Spice Girls’ previous records is that, with Geri gone, Victoria Beckham was assigned a few extra solos. While I love me some Posh Spice any day, it’s no secret that singing is not her forte, so it’s quite amusing when you have the album in the background, and all of a sudden, her voice comes on and it makes you cringe. It’s so noticeable that you can actually make a drinking game out of it! (Posh Spice fans, please don’t come for me. She is actually my favorite, no joke!)
Other than Holler and Goodbye, the songs tend to blend together, but my personal favorites are Tell Me Why, Right Back At Ya and Get Down With Me.
All things considered, is Forever the best R&B album out there? Definitely not. Is it an enjoyable companion to a good glass of wine and a nice conversation on a Friday evening? Absolutely!
Now about the actual vinyl release:
Artwork & Packaging
Forever comes pressed on a single standard black LP – with six tracks on side A and five tracks on side B – but it’s still equipped with a gatefold cover. One thing that is a little disappointing is that, instead of featuring a beautiful photo spread inside the gatefold, we get two big inside covers with just the lyrics printed in five columns on each side.
For this release, the label opted to tweak the original design a bit, so it’s a little different from the CD. While the front artwork is the same, the back now has an alternative photo of the girls. The original CD artwork had a simple white background with just the track listing and label/copyright information.
The record itself is held in a glossy sleeve with another photo of the girls printed on one side and the song credits printed on the other. While I appreciate the fact that they didn’t put the record in a simple white paper sleeve (really not a fan of those, especially for special releases), this would have been a better place to feature the lyrics, and save the additional photo and song credits for the inside of the gatefold. Also, it would have been a lot more convenient to read the lyrics off of that than holding the gatefold open and reading it closely like it’s the Cheesecake Factory menu.
As an added bonus, you get four individual 6×8-ish art-prints, each featuring a solo glam shot of each girl from the Forever photoshoot. Those are pretty cool, although I never know what to do with bonus items like this. I mean, 13-year-old me would have loved to frame and put these on the wall in my bedroom, but at 33 I am a little past that phase. But I guess if they’re going to bring someone else joy, I’m all for it.
Finally, the album comes with a personal code that you can use to download a digital version of the album for free.
Sound Quality
I have to say, Virgin did a great job with this release when it comes to the actual vinyl quality. Like the Spiceworld repress before it, Forever is pressed on 180-gram vinyl. It’s heavy with nice smooth edges and it sounds flawlessly.
The sound is crystal clear with almost no hissing noise in between tracks even when you turn the volume all the way up. That’s something I’ve worried about a lot when it comes to Spice Girls vinyl releases since the horrible quality of the Greatest Hits album picture disc edition. Those of you who own that one know exactly what I’m talking about – low volume, low base, lots of hissing… Luckily, that’s not the case here – I can hear them Holler loud and clear.
Other Available Versions
As I mentioned above, this is the first time Forever has been released on vinyl and the standard black LP is the only variant available.
Where to Buy
You can buy the Spice Girls – Forever (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) vinyl from the following online retailers:
Or stop by your local record store!
What do you think about this release?
I’d love to hear your thoughts about this release or the Forever album, in general. Did you like the album when it first came out? What are your favorite songs? Would you consider getting it on vinyl? Let me know in the comments below!
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