Spice Girls - Spice

Spice is the debut studio album by the British girl group the Spice Girls. It was first released by Virgin Records in November 1996 in Europe, then in February 1997 in the rest of the world. The album was recorded at Olympic Studios in Barnes, London between 1995 and 1996, by producers Matt Rowe and Richard Stannard, and the production duo Absolute. The album is a pop record with an inclusion of styles such as dance, R&B and hip hop. It is considered to be the record that brought teen pop back, opening the doors for a wave of teen pop artists. Conceptually, the album centered on the idea of Girl Power, and during that time was compared to Beatlemania. Spice was a huge worldwide commercial success. The album peaked at number one in more than 17 countries across the world, and was certified multi-platinum in 27 countries, platinum in 14 countries and Gold in 3 countries, including an 10× Platinum certification in the UK and Canada by the British Phonographic Industry and the Canadian Recording Industry Association, 8× Platinum in Europe by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and 7× Platinum in the US by Recording Industry Association of America. It became the world's top-selling album of 1997 selling 19 million copies in over a year. In total the album sold 30 million copies worldwide, becoming the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group and one of the most successful albums of all time. Five singles were released from the album. The first single, "Wannabe", became a worldwide success went to number one in 31 countries, one of the best-selling singles of all time and selling over six million copies worldwide. The next two singles, "Say You'll Be There" and "2 Become 1", reached number one in 53 countries. "Who Do You Think You Are" was released as the official Comic Relief single in the UK as a double A-side with "Mama" and both songs reached the top 20 in charts across Europe, Australia and New Zealand. In the band's native UK, all four singles went to number one on the UK singles chart and, in the Billboard Hot 100, the album produced three top five singles. Spice is basically a pop album with a diverse inclusion of musical styles such as dance, R&B, hip hop, soul, rap and funk, which lead some reviewers to call it a pop collection. The lead single, "Wannabe" is an uptempo pop song with elements of white hip–hop, rap and dance music. Two of the three ballads of the album, "2 Become 1" and "Mama", were co–written and produced by Stannard and Rowe, and both feature the use of keyboards, guitars, string arrangements and backing vocals. Production duo Absolute incorporated a mix of dance-pop, funk and R&B in "Say You'll Be There", which includes a harmonica solo played by Judd Lander, who also played the harmonica on Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon". The other songs produced by Absolute feature different music genres: "Naked" and "Something Kinda Funny" include pop elements with influences of soul music and funk respectively. "Who Do You Think You Are" is very influenced by early 1990s Europop, and incorporates a disco–style beat that resembles the music of the late 1970s. "If U Can't Dance", another heavily dance–oriented song, features a rap section performed by Halliwell in Spanish and contains a sample of Digital Underground's song "The Humpty Dance". The main concept of the album centred on the idea of Girl Power, embodying a feminist image, as both Madonna and Bananarama had employed before. Every track of the album deals with different aspects of this notion: The lead single "Wannabe" makes demands of sincerity and is a feminist message of choosing friends over relationships; "Say You'll Be There" motivates girls to stand up for themselves as individuals, while the focus of "Love Thing" is the symbolic expression of unity as a group; "Something Kinda Funny" deals with the identification of goals in life and "Last Time Lover" encourages the use of sexual charm as a weapon to be deployed along with any other skills that would help to get a result.

Tracklist:

1. Wannabe - 2:52

2. Say You'll Be There - 3:56

3. 2 Become 1 - 4:00

4. Love Thing - 3:37

5. Last Time Lover - 4:11

6. Mama - 5:03

7. Who Do You Think You Are - 3:59

8. Something Kinda Funny - 4:02

9. Naked - 4:26

10. If U Can't Dance - 3:50

Bonus:

11. Seremos Uno Los Dos - 4:05

B-Sides:

12. One Of These Girls - 3:20

13. Bumper to Bumper - 3:44

14. Baby Come Round - 3:22

15. Take Me Home - 3:49

Unreleased:

16. Strong Enough  - 4:12