What The Future Holds - First Listen! (1 Viewer)

My keepers from the album - not bad at all :disco:

What the Future Holds
Something In Your Eyes
Clouds
To the Beat of My Heart
Father's Eyes
One Touch
Under My Skin
Heartbreak In This City
Come and Dance With Me
Don't You Leave Us Halfway
To The One
Hold My Heart
 
Zu-Klara said:
In the CLOUDS
In the CLOUDS
In the CLOUDS
In the CLOOOUUUUDS

LOVING THIS ONE NOW :disco:
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Is this bit sung by LSL please, Steps fans? I mean I know I should be able to distinguish between her and Faye by now...
 
dUb said:
My keepers from the album - not bad at all :disco:

What the Future Holds
Something In Your Eyes
Clouds
To the Beat of My Heart
Father's Eyes
One Touch
Under My Skin
Heartbreak In This City
Come and Dance With Me
Don't You Leave Us Halfway
To The One
Hold My Heart
Click to expand...

Clouds AGOG :shock:
 
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Still not clicking with me... :emoji_cloud_rain:
 
dUb said:
My keepers from the album - not bad at all :disco:

What the Future Holds
Something In Your Eyes
Clouds
To the Beat of My Heart
Father's Eyes
One Touch
Under My Skin
Heartbreak In This City
Come and Dance With Me
Don't You Leave Us Halfway
To The One
Hold My Heart
Click to expand...

Switch Clouds and Under My Skin and then SAME
 
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dUb said:
Oh that's Faye
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Oh good. I like it more now :disco:

I used to have the same trouble with Girls Aloud (until I watched the videos, which I didn’t always) apart from Queen Nadine OBVIOUSLY. However it did become clear that the worst bits were usually Cheryl :)
 
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On which note, I may embark on a pointless project of working out which GA member would have theoretically sung the various parts of ‘To The Beat Of My Heart’ :disco:
 
That “How we dance is so fantastic / you don’t understand you don’t understand” pre-chorus really is PEAK XENO :disco:

Not to mention blatantly being a point at which QUEEN NADINE would be in charge
 
Zu-Klara said:
That “How we dance is so fantastic / you don’t understand you don’t understand” pre-chorus really is PEAK XENO :disco:

Not to mention blatantly being NADINE IN CHARGE
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'You don't understand, you don't understand' might be my favourite bit of the album. Is that Faye singing it first time, then Claire second go round?
 
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FetchFugly said:
'You don't understand, you don't understand' might be my favourite bit of the album. Is that Faye singing it first time, then Claire second go round?
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It really is EVERYTHING. Absolutely thrilling and I keep playing it over and over again. I think @dUb might be better placed than old cloth ears here to advise on who’s singing, although I would say DEFINITELY Claire on the second round
 
At a guess I would say it’s either Faye or Lisa with H or Lee first time round

HOPE THIS HELPS :)
 
I was away from moopy for an hour and had a sudden PANG OF CONSCIENCE that I'd encouraged Zu to overdose

THANK GOD
 
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Zu-Klara said:
At a guess I would say it’s either Faye or Lisa with H or Lee first time round

HOPE THIS HELPS :)
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Narrows it down thanks. :D

Listening again I am pretty sure it is Faye (with Lee I think, though this is by the by).
 
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Imagine slipping slowly into a coma during a LSL verse :(
 
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FetchFugly said:
No one gets a whole verse now. It definitely messes with the flow sometimes, but if it keeps them all happy...
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Well we don’t want more scraps and Christmas ruined AGAIN

Although I bet they have to beat Claire with sticks to stop her trying to hog the whole song
 
Zu-Klara said:
I was rather hoping that ‘One Touch’ would be a cover of this, especially now I’ve heard it

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Given that this stone cold classic is almost three-quarters spoken word, I fear Lee would have shouldered most of the vocal duties.

My Steps “One Touch” cover of choix is THIS, and it also fulfils the “classic Steps but with a contemporary sound” narrative that they’ve been prattling on about this “era”.

 
Thank God their understanding of “contemporary” includes a somewhat dated (not a criticism) Girls Aloud rewrite, a G:son cover and some songs which sound a bit like their old ones, and doesn’t include that fucking awful metallic autotune hell :disco:
 
I've dipped into a few tracks from this. Clouds is quite good. To The One is really good. To the Beat of My Heart is EVERYTHING. Heartbreak In This City is quite dreadful!

that is all
 
Clouds is so good, it should have been an instant grat, it shows a different side to the album but is so much more current than the two they went with
 
09 What The Future Holds (Single Mix)
08 Something In Your Eyes
08 Clouds
11 To The Beat of My Heart
09 Father's Eyes
07 One Touch
07 Under My Skin
07 Heartbreak in the City
07 Come and Dance With Me
07 Don't You Leave Us Halfway
09 To The One
07 Hold My Heart
09 What the Future Holds (Album Version)
 
It's fine and all but that middle section needs way more time to get used to. So much jumbles into one and dare I say it, some VERY BASIC STEPS (albeit that still means GOOD) stuff going on there.

I agree, I feel it's a slight regression in sound and Tears had bigger highs. But then that album was phenomenal. I wasn't expecting them to top it. The singles here suggested they weren't going to, and I love both now.

Over the moon to have a top notch Girls Aloud lead single feature and yes indeed, imagine a whole Steps/Xen album, I think the sun would actually explode as a result.

Clouds is gorgeous although the chorus is a bit LIMP and Father's Eyes is as perfect a Steps midtempo as they come and should be a single. I doubt it will. To The One is orgasmic shimmery pop.
 
That being said, I know not everyone likes Claire's subtle ability to throw cars off of motorways with her voice, killing children and others in the process, but SOME of us QUITE LIKE that sort of thing and there is a distinct lack of it.

She's definitely been asked to pipe down for some reason, perhaps because the world was crying out for an extra LEE verse and a clambering Lisa Scott-Lee all over everything like a fast-spreading virus. I hope you're all happy. There's a reason Steps were founded on stamping out equal opportunities, and that's because we just DON'T NEED TO HEAR SOME OF THEM.

The lack of sad bangers and an "I Will Love Again" beast that Claire is allowed free rein to scream on is a really shitty loss to be honest.
 
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Raining On Me said:
That being said, I know not everyone likes Claire's subtle ability to throw cars off of motorways with her voice, killing children and others in the process, but SOME of us QUITE LIKE that sort of thing and there is a distinct lack of it.

She's definitely been asked to pipe down for some reason, perhaps because the world was crying out for an extra LEE verse and a clambering Lisa Scott-Lee all over everything like a fast-spreading virus. I hope you're all happy. There's a reason Steps were founded on stamping out equal opportunities, and that's because we just DON'T NEED TO HEAR SOME OF THEM.

The lack of sad bangers and an "I Will Love Again" beast that Claire is allowed free reign to scream on is a really shitty loss to be honest.
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I KNEW you would have an issue with the lack of Claire :D

*(even I, as hardly a fan, find her lack of vocals not fantastic)
 
There is way too much of the less desirables on the vocals. However if it's what's required to get bangers like "To the Beat of my Heart" then I'm willing to overlook.
 
Anyhoo, it's all still sinking in but I think I can do an initial rate. The main thing is I am thrilled they are back and still making Steps music some 23 years on is outstanding and so I can never be unhappy. There are three absolute gems here which in itself is a triumph. And the whole murmurs of their being lots of ballads clearly wasn't true.

My main 'issue', if I can call it that, is the upbeat tracks, three gems aside, by and large don't each have a USP. With the last one each of them was significantly different and had something standout about them (be it production for Happy, known cover for I Will Love Again, shimmery for Glitter and Gold, girls night out for Firefly etc). This time it's like they just made 4/5 traditional Steps track but forgot to add that extra kick that elevates it from a solid 7/10 up to a 8-9/10 banger. As such, many of them run into each other and none are standing out as a future classic.

9.5 What The Future Holds (Single Mix)
09 Something In Your Eyes
07 Clouds
09 To The Beat of My Heart
08 Father's Eyes - I think this works great out of the downtempo moments
07 One Touch
06 Under My Skin
07 Heartbreak in the City
7.5 Come and Dance With Me
07 Don't You Leave Us Halfway
08 To The One
05 Hold My Heart
09 What the Future Holds (Album Version)
 
Raining On Me said:
That being said, I know not everyone likes Claire's subtle ability to throw cars off of motorways with her voice, killing children and others in the process, but SOME of us QUITE LIKE that sort of thing and there is a distinct lack of it.

She's definitely been asked to pipe down for some reason, perhaps because the world was crying out for an extra LEE verse and a clambering Lisa Scott-Lee all over everything like a fast-spreading virus. I hope you're all happy. There's a reason Steps were founded on stamping out equal opportunities, and that's because we just DON'T NEED TO HEAR SOME OF THEM.

The lack of sad bangers and an "I Will Love Again" beast that Claire is allowed free rein to scream on is a really shitty loss to be honest.
Click to expand...

Claire is still the dominant voice across the album and is furthest forward on the vast majority of choruses though, even when she isn't wailing quite so much. On Tears too there were a few songs on which she wasn't all over the chorus. This time two of her beltier moments are the two ballads, the inclusion of which you just know she was obviously the main advocate. Agree that at least one more sad banger would be nice though.

Saying all this I do think they pretty much perfected their vocal distribution quite early on with Love's Got a Hold on My Heart. A few iconic words for LSL and nada for the boys.
 
After listening to this a few more times, Heartbreak In This City is now my number 1.

08 What The Future Holds (Single Mix)
08 Something In Your Eyes
06 Clouds
10 To The Beat of My Heart
10 Father's Eyes
06 One Touch
06 Under My Skin
11 Heartbreak in the City
07 Come and Dance With Me
08 Don't You Leave Us Halfway
10 To The One
06 Hold My Heart
08 What the Future Holds (Album Version)
 
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