Buzz (Steps album)

Buzz is the third studio album by British pop group Steps, released on 30 October 2000. It reached number four on the UK Albums Chart. The album saw the group starting to move away from the PWL sound to a more mature sound, working with producers from Sweden and songwriters such as Cyndi Lauper. This more mature sound was also echoed in the new material from Gold: Greatest Hits.

Buzz
Studio album by
Steps
Released30 October 2000
Recorded1999–2000
Genre
Length55:55
LabelJIVE
Producer
Steps chronology
Steptacular
(1999)		 Buzz
(2000)		 Gold: Greatest Hits
(2001)
Singles from Buzz
  1. "Better the Devil You Know"
    Released: 13 December 1999
  2. "Summer of Love"
    Released: 3 July 2000
  3. "Stomp"
    Released: 16 October 2000
  4. "It's the Way You Make Me Feel"
    Released: 1 January 2001
  5. "Here and Now / You'll Be Sorry"
    Released: 28 May 2001
  6. "Mars & Venus (We Fall in Love Again)"
    Released: 3 July 2001 (US only)
Alternative cover
International cover

Each of the five group members co-wrote a track on the album, each in turn had a chance to have lead vocals in one whole track. The lead single from the album "Stomp" is a funky upbeat song that is lyrically about partying at the weekend and having a good time, and features a sample from Chic's single "Everybody Dance" The single peaked at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the group's second number 1 hit after "Heartbeat"/"Tragedy".

Preceding singles "Better the Devil You Know" and "Summer of Love", were included on the album after they were released earlier that year as part of double A-side singles with "Say You'll Be Mine" and "When I Said Goodbye" respectively. "It's the Way You Make Me Feel" was the fourth single to be released from the album and reached number 2 in the UK after copies of the single were released a week early in shops, damaging their chance at taking the number 1 spot; however, this led to the band holding a chart record for the highest chart jump when the track went from number 72 to number 2. "Here and Now" and "You'll Be Sorry" were the final songs released from Buzz and were both included on a double A-side CD single which reached #4 in UK. The album was certified Platinum in UK and was released in Australia and US in 2001.

As with their previous two albums, some cover versions are included on the album. "Better the Devil You Know" is a version of the Kylie Minogue track and "Here and Now" was originally recorded by Worlds Apart.

Release and reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Yahoo! Music UK[2]
NME[3]
Answers.com[4]

Buzz received favorable critical response from different music magazines and websites. Everyone noticed the group's departure from the "ABBA sound", into their own musical style. AllMusic stated "They (Steps) do in fact have their own sound, and it has revealed itself here, crystal clear".[5]

This album saw the group leaning toward a more mature and original sound influenced by electro and techno but still keeping the sound prominent to Steps' earlier work. This is seen as the album plays out through tracks such as "You'll Be Sorry", "Never Get Over You" "Happy Go Lucky" and "Buzzz". The art work and overall look for the album is prominent to the sound as their earlier albums had more colour and expression to resemble the enlightenment of the sound of their music. As their sound was more mature their appearances were more sophisticated and showed the progression of Steps into a new era that was carried on into the look of their next album, Gold: Greatest Hits.

In an interview with whereitsat.tv when Steps were asked if their Pete Waterman days where behind them, Lee responded with: "We've been under Pete Waterman's wing for a good two or three years and I think with the third album Buzz, we've had an experience and sort of self-expression and things, you know. We've had our chance, we've wrote, we've helped produce and we've got th[ose] songs on the album Buzz. Now that the greatest hits album is coming out, [we're] writing and helping produce for that as well and then there's an album after that. It's almost like leaving an era behind and moving onto something else, so you could see it as a new beginning in a way."

However, the album is said to be less successful than their first releases, only peaking at number four on the UK Albums Chart and achieving double Platinum status from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI)—Step One was certified 8× Platinum and Steptacular was certified 4× Platinum. It is also considered to be their only album to not sell a million copies in United Kingdom, before the group's Boxing Day split. To date, it has sold more than 680,000 units in UK, becoming their lowest-selling album while they were still together. The album also features solos from each member apart from Lee, though he is featured on the song he co-wrote, "Turn Around".

Track listing
Buzz – UK edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Better the Devil You Know"
  • Mark Topham
  • Karl Twigg
  • Waterman
3:49
2."Stomp"
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Rita Campbell
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Waterman
3:22
3."Summer of Love"
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Waterman
3:52
4."It's the Way You Make Me Feel"Jörgen Elofsson
3:17
5."You'll Be Sorry"
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Waterman
4:06
6."Learn to Love Again"
Frampton3:27
7."Never Get Over You"
Hedges3:55
8."Hand on Your Heart"
Frampton4:03
9."Happy Go Lucky"
  • Goldmark
  • Riprock 'n' Alex
3:33
10."Buzzz"
  • Goldmark
  • Riprock 'n' Alex
3:21
11."Here and Now"
3:45
12."Paradise Lost"
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Waterman
4:35
13."Turn Around"
Graham Stack3:24
14."Wouldn't Hurt So Bad"
  • Goldmark
  • Mueller
  • Goldmark
  • Jimmy Bralower
3:34
15."If You Believe"
Chris Porter3:52
Total length:55:55
Buzz – International edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Stomp"
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Campbell
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Waterman
3:22
2."It's the Way You Make Me Feel"Elofsson
  • Elofsson
  • Kreuger
3:17
3."Buzzz"
  • Goldmark
  • Mueller
  • Goldmark
  • Riprock 'n' Alex
3:21
4."Here and Now"
  • Carlsson
  • Thomson
  • Romdhane
  • Larossi
3:45
5."Happy Go Lucky"
  • Goldmark
  • Daymond
  • Greggs
  • Goldmark
  • Riprock 'n' Alex
3:33
6."Summer of Love"
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Waterman
3:52
7."Better the Devil You Know"
  • Stock
  • Aitken
  • Waterman
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Waterman
3:49
8."You'll Be Sorry"
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Waterman
4:06
9."Learn to Love Again"
  • Watkins
  • Frampton
Frampton3:27
10."Never Get Over You"
  • Scott-Lee
  • Hedges
  • Butler
Hedges3:55
11."Hand on Your Heart"
  • Richards
  • Frampton
Frampton4:03
12."Paradise Lost"
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Waterman
4:35
13."Turn Around"
  • Evans
  • Garvin
  • Paul
Stack3:24
14."If You Believe"
  • Tozer
  • Lauper
  • Pulsford
  • Irn
Porter3:52
Total length:52:21
Buzz – International edition (bonus tracks)
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
15."Wouldn't Hurt So Bad"
  • Goldmark
  • Mueller
  • Goldmark
  • Bralower
3:34
16."Human Touch"
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Waterman
4:00
Total length:59:55
Buzz – Japanese edition (bonus tracks)
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
17."Stomp" (W.I.P. Remix)
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Campbell
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Waterman
  • W.I.P. (remix)
6:08
18."5, 6, 7, 8" (Instrumental)
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Waterman
2:54
Total length:68:57
Buzz – US edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Buzzz"
  • Goldmark
  • Mueller
  • Goldmark
  • Riprock 'n' Alex
3:21
2."It's the Way You Make Me Feel"Elofsson
3:17
3."Happy Go Lucky"
  • Goldmark
  • Daymond
  • Greggs
  • Goldmark
  • Riprock 'n' Alex
3:33
4."Mars & Venus (We Fall in Love Again)"
  • Dane DeViller
  • Sean Hosein
  • Elofsson
  • Goldmark
  • DeViller
  • Hosein
3:50
5."Stomp"
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Campbell
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Waterman
3:22
6."Here and Now"
  • Carlsson
  • Thomson
  • Romdhane
  • Larossi
3:45
7."Summer of Love"
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Topham
  • Twigg
  • Waterman
3:52
8."Never Get Over You"
  • Scott-Lee
  • Hedges
  • Butler
Hedges3:55
9."Wouldn't Hurt So Bad"
  • Goldmark
  • Mueller
  • Goldmark
  • Bralower
3:34
10."Learn to Love Again"
  • Watkins
  • Frampton
Frampton3:27
11."Hand on Your Heart"
  • Richards
  • Frampton
Frampton4:03
Total length:40:00

Note

  • "Mars & Venus (We Fall in Love Again)" is only available on the US edition of Buzz and has been left unavailable in the UK, although a remixed form appeared on The Last Dance.

Personnel
  • Lisa Scott-Lee - vocals, background vocals
  • Faye Tozer - vocals, background vocals
  • Lee Latchford-Evans - vocals, background vocals
  • Ian 'H' Watkins - vocals, background vocals
  • Claire Richards - vocals, background vocals
  • Patrik Andrén – keyboards
  • Greg Bone – guitar
  • Jimmy Bralower – arranger, producer, engineer, drum programming
  • Nigel Butler – arranger
  • Andy Caine – vocals (background)
  • Rita Campbell – vocals (background)
  • Mary Carewe – vocals (background)
  • Andreas Carlsson – vocals (background)
  • Chris DeStefano – bass, keyboards, engineer, drum programming
  • Dave Deviller – guitar, programming, producer
  • Tim Donovan – engineer
  • Lance Ellington – vocals (background)
  • Cyndi Lauper - vocals (background)
  • Jörgen Elofsson – producer
  • Mark Emmitt – mixing
  • Andrew Frampton – arranger, producer
  • Daniel Frampton – engineer, mixing
  • Andy Goldmark – bass, arranger, keyboards, producer, drum programming
  • Chaz Harper – mastering
  • Simon Hill – drum programming
  • Sean Hosein – programming, producer
  • Nick Ingman – string arrangements, string conductor
  • Henrik Janson – string conductor
  • Ulf Jansson – string conductor
  • David Krueger – producer
  • Josef Larossi – arranger, producer, mixing, instrumentation
  • Bernard Loor – mixing
  • Gustave Lund – percussion
  • Ernie McCone – bass
  • Esbjörn Öhrwall – guitar
  • Paula Oliveira – assistant engineer, mixing assistant
  • Jeanette Olsson – vocals (background)
  • Steve Price – engineer, mixing
  • Mark "Ridders" Risdale – engineer
  • Andreas "Quiz" Romdhane – arranger, producer, mixing, instrumentation
  • Shane Stoneback – mixing assistant
  • Mark Topham – bass, producer
  • Karl Twigg – keyboards, producer
  • T-Bone Wolk – guitar
  • Hakan Wollgard – string engineer
  • Richard Woodcraft – assistant engineer
  • Gavyn Wright – violin

Charts
Chart (2000) Peak
position		 Certification
(sales thresholds)
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[6] 11
Irish Albums Chart[7] 23
Japanese Albums Chart[8] 53
UK Albums Chart[9] 4 2× Platinum[10]

Release history
Country Release date Format Label Catalogue
United Kingdom[11] Jive / EBUL
30 October 2000 Standard edition (CD) 920117-2
Standard edition (cassette) 920117-4
Australia[11] 16 July 2001 Standard edition (CD + bonus tracks) Zomba 920128-2
United States[11] 24 July 2001 Standard edition (CD) 01241-41752-2

References
  1. AllMusic review
  2. Yahoo! Music UK review
  3. NME review
  4. Answers.com review
  5. "All music critical reaction to Buzz" allmusic.com Retrieved 7 March 2010
  6. "Belgian Charts > Steps". ultratop.be Hung Medien. Retrieved 08-03-2010. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  7. "Irish Charts > Steps". irish-charts.com Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 November 2008.
  8. http://www.oricon.co.jp/. Retrieved 15 November 2008. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. "The Official Charts Company > Steps". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 15 November 2008.
  10. "BPI Certified Awards Search". British Phonographic Industry. Archived from the original on 24 September 2009. Retrieved 04-09-2009. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  11. "Buzz release dates, editions, and information on official site" gensteps.co.uk Retrieved 7 March 2010
  • "AllMusicGuide". Track listings, formats, trivia, etc. Retrieved 30 June 2007.
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