Greatest Hits (Spice Girls album) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Background

The plan to reform and release a greatest hits had long been speculated by the media, but its planned release was first confirmed by Melanie Brown

Melanie Brown

Melanie Janine "Scary Spice" Brown , often better known as Mel B, is an English pop singer-songwriter, actress, author and television presenter...

in June 2005. Speaking just before a planned reunion for Live 8

Live 8

Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 Conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland from 6–8 July 2005; they also coincided with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid...

(that never actually materialised due to Brown's contractual agreements in L.A.), she stated: "We'll get back together because we all want to. I know everyone is up for it. There is going to be a greatest hits album and we've got loads of new songs that nobody has heard yet." When the Spice Girls reformed in 2007, Melanie Chisholm

Melanie Chisholm

Melanie Jayne Chisholm is an English singer-songwriter, actress and businesswoman professionally known simply as Melanie C . She is best known as one of the five members of the girl group Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed "Sporty Spice"...

said to a journalist that EMI had planned a greatest hits album, so the girls found it appropriate to go on the Return of the Spice Girls tour.

Recording

The album features two new songs, one of which was released as a single: "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)

Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)

For the Alcazar song, see Headlines ."Headlines " is a song performed by British group the Spice Girls. It was released as the only single from the group's compilation album, Greatest Hits on November 12, 2007...

" and "Voodoo." Halliwell describes Headlines, the single, as a "big love song" and "a Spice Girl classic". Another group member, Melanie Chisholm

Melanie Chisholm

in her 2008 appearance at Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a comedy panel game television show with a pop music theme, currently without a permanent presenter. It stars Phill Jupitus and Noel Fielding as team captains. The show is produced by Talkback Thames for the BBC, and is usually aired on BBC Two...

show announced, that "this song is not good at all." She was against the release of the song and claims it was just a move by the record company to market the album. The second new song is "Voodoo", with the former being released as a single in November 2007.

Release

The CD was released in several different formats, including versions with bonus DVDs and CDs. The limited edition box-set includes the normal standard edition CD, a remix CD a karaoke CD and a DVD featuring music videos for their greatest hits, individual postcards of each Spice Girl, and a friendship bracelet

Friendship Bracelet

A friendship bracelet is a bracelet given by one person to another as a symbol of friendship. Friendship bracelets are often handmade, usually of embroidery floss or thread. There are various styles and patterns, but most are based on the same simple half-hitch knot...

bearing the words 'Spice Girls'. The only single not included is "Step to Me

Step To Me

Pepsi launched a £1 million 'generation next' campaign in the United Kingdom - running alongside sales promotion activities, notably one by where consumers collected twenty pink ring pull tabs from promotional Pepsi cans, sent them off and received the free Spice Girls CD single "Step to Me" -...

", a promotional song for Pepsi

Pepsi

Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...

US release

In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, the album was initially released only through Victoria's Secret

Victoria's Secret

Victoria's Secret is an American retailer of women's wear, lingerie and beauty products. It is the largest segment of publicly-traded Limited Brands with sales of over US$5 billion and an operating income of $1 billion in 2006...

stores together with a digital release via the iTunes Store

ITunes Store

The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...

. It was announced that other retail outlets would receive them on January 15, 2008; however, online retailers list it as released on December 11, 2007, and copies of the album were found in retail outlets outside of Victoria's Secret on the release day. Despite the recent revision of the Billboard charts

Billboard charts

The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...

(as of the week of November 7, 2007) in the US, defining that albums sold by exclusive retailers (e.g. Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...

, etc.) are now eligible to chart on the Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

, the Greatest Hits, that sold over 600,000 copies through the Victoria Secret Stores, was not eligible for charting on the week of November 13, due to Victoria's Secret not being SoundScan enabled.

Artwork

The artwork features a £1,000,000 (roughly $2,020,000 US) jewel encrusted logo, which pays homage

Homage

Homage is a show or demonstration of respect or dedication to someone or something, sometimes by simple declaration but often by some more oblique reference, artistic or poetic....

to their debut album, Spice
Spice (album)
Spice is the debut album by British pop group Spice Girls. Released on November 4, 1996 by Virgin Records, the album was recorded at Olympic Studios in Barnes, London between 1995 and 1996, by producers Matt Rowe, Richard Stannard, Eliot Kennedy and the production duo Absolute...

. The jewels were designed by David Morris and each letter represents one member of the group. The "S" is made from amber

Amber

Amber is fossilized tree resin , which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents...

and represents Victoria Beckham

Victoria Beckham

Victoria Caroline Beckham is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model, actress, fashion designer and businesswoman. In the late 1990s, Beckham rose to fame with the all-female pop group Spice Girls and was dubbed Posh Spice by the July 1996 issue of the British pop music magazine Top of the Pops...

; the ruby

Ruby

A ruby is a pink to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum . The red color is caused mainly by the presence of the element chromium. Its name comes from ruber, Latin for red. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires...

pink "P" is Emma Bunton

Emma Bunton

Emma Lee Bunton is an English pop singer/songwriter and TV and radio presenter. She was a member of the 1990s girl group, the Spice Girls, in which she was known as Baby Spice as she was the youngest member. In 2010, she joined the judging panel on ITV's Dancing on Ice...

; Melanie C’s

Melanie Chisholm

letter "I" is made from a diamond

Diamond

In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...

; Geri Halliwell

Geri Halliwell

Geraldine Estelle "Geri" Halliwell is an English pop singer-songwriter, author and actress. After coming to international prominence in the late 1990s as Ginger Spice, a member of the girl group the Spice Girls, Halliwell launched her solo career in 1998 and released her album Schizophonic...

is the "C", made from amethyst

Amethyst

Amethyst is a violet variety of quartz often used in jewelry. The name comes from the Ancient Greek ἀ a- and μέθυστος methustos , a reference to the belief that the stone protected its owner from drunkenness; the ancient Greeks and Romans wore amethyst and made drinking vessels of it in the belief...

stones and the emerald

Emerald

Emerald is a variety of the mineral beryl colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5–8 on the 10 point Mohs scale of mineral hardness...

"E" is Melanie B

Melanie Brown

Melanie Janine "Scary Spice" Brown , often better known as Mel B, is an English pop singer-songwriter, actress, author and television presenter...

.
This is also the only Spice Girls Album to not feature the Girls on the cover.

Track listing

Special edition

Disc One: Standard edition
Disc Two: DVD, containing music videos for:

"Wannabe" – 3:56
"Say You'll Be There" – 3:52
"2 Become 1" – 3:56
"Mama" – 3:37
"Who Do You Think You Are" – 3:42
"Spice Up Your Life" – 3:05
"Too Much" – 3:50
"Stop" – 3:31
"Viva Forever" – 4:10
"Let Love Lead the Way" – 4:18
"Holler" – 4:15
"Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)" – 3:56 (U.S. release only)
"Goodbye" – 4:35

Box Set

Disc One: Standard edition
Disc Two: Special edition (Music Videos)
Disc Three: Karaoke collection:

"Wannabe" – 2:54
"Say You'll Be There" – 3:54
"2 Become 1" – 4:07
"Mama" – 3:43
"Who Do You Think You Are" – 3:45
"Move Over" – 2:47
"Spice Up Your Life" – 2:55
"Too Much" – 3:55
"Stop" – 3:25
"Viva Forever" – 4:10
"Let Love Lead the Way" – 4:16
"Holler" – 3:56
"Goodbye" – 4:35

Disc Four: Remix collection (not included in U.S. release):

"Wannabe" (Motiv 8 Vocal Slam Mix) – 6:21
"Say You'll Be There" (Junior's Main Pass) – 8:35
"2 Become 1" (Dave Way Remix) – 4:02
"Mama" (Biffco Mix) – 5:50
"Who Do You Think You Are" (Morales Club Mix) – 9:31
"Spice Up Your Life" (Murk Cuba Libre Mix) – 8:07
"Too Much" (SoulShock & Karlin Remix) – 3:54
"Stop" (Morales Remix) – 7:25
"Viva Forever" (Tony Rich Remix) – 5:21
"Holler" (MAW Remix) – 8:32
"Goodbye" (Orchestral Mix) – 4:16

Bonus tracks

iTunes bonus tracks http://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/spice-girls-greatest-hits/id268117175
- "Wannabe" (Junior Vasquez Gomis Dub) – 6:38
- "Tell Me Why" (Jonathan Peters Edit) – 3:24
- "Say You'll Be There" (Junior's X-Beats) – 6:57
- "Girl Power Documentary" (video) – 5:26
  - This is an abridged version of the video: One Hour of Girl Power
Victoria's Secret bonus tracks
- "Wannabe" (Soul Seekerz Radio Edit) – 3:31
- "2 Become 1" (Georgie Porgie Radio Edit) – 4:02
- "Spice Up Your Life" (Ralphie Rosario Radio Edit) – 3:38

Charts

Charts (2007)	Peak position	Sales	Certification
Australian Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...	1	80,000+	Platinum
Brazilian Albums Chart	2	50,000+	Gold
UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...	2	380,569+	Platinum
European Top 100 Albums European Top 100 Albums The European Top 100 Albums chart is the European adaptation of the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was created in March 1984.The European Top 100 Albums, commonly referred to as Eurochart Top 100 Albums shows the sales of an act in 19 European countries based on IFPI data.The European Top 100...	7
Argentine Album Chart Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers The Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers is an Argentine organization member of the IFPI, which represents the music industry in the country. It is a nonprofit organization integrated by multinational and independent record labels....	8
Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically...	9	15,000+	Platinum
Greek Greece Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe.... International Albums Chart	9
Canada Albums Chart	8	100,000+	Platinum
Mexican International Album Chart AMPROFON Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas is a non-profit organization integrated by multinational and national record companies in Mexico. Established on April 3, 1963, it groups phonographic companies that represent more than 70 percent of the market in Mexico...	11
Brazilian Album Charts	12	100,000	Gold
New Zealand Albums Chart	15	7,500+	Gold
Italy Album Charts	20	23,185	Silver
Spanish Album Charts PROMUSICAE Spanish Music Producers is a trade group representing the Spanish recording industry...	23	160,000	2x Platinum
French Album Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry...	31	20,000+	Gold
Mexican Album Chart AMPROFON Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas is a non-profit organization integrated by multinational and national record companies in Mexico. Established on April 3, 1963, it groups phonographic companies that represent more than 70 percent of the market in Mexico...	34
Sweden Album Chart Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....	50
Germany Album Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...	50	4,000
Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition.... Album Chart	52
Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the... n Album Chart	70
Netherlands Album Chart	73
Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	93	900,000+	Gold

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.