''Steptacular'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by British pop group Steps, released in the United Kingdom on 25 October 1999, through

Jive Records Jive Records was an American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary to the Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chicago. Jive was best known for its successes with hip hop, R&B, an ...

. The album was accompanied by five singles; "

Love's Got a Hold on My Heart "Love's Got a Hold on My Heart" is a song by British pop music group Steps. It was released as the lead single from the band's second album, ''Steptacular'' (1999). The song features Faye Tozer and Claire Richards on lead vocals. The single pe ...

", "

After the Love Has Gone "After the Love Has Gone" is a single by Earth, Wind & Fire released in 1979 on ARC/Columbia Records. The song reached No. 2 on both the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, behind The Knack's "My Sharona" and the US Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart, No. ...

", " Say You'll Be Mine", "

Deeper Shade of Blue "Deeper Shade of Blue" is a song by British dance-pop group Steps, released as the fourth single from their second studio album, '' Steptacular'' (1999), on 3 April 2000. The song was originally recorded by English singer-songwriter Tina Cousi ...

" and "

When I Said Goodbye When may refer to: * When?, one of the Five Ws, questions used in journalism * WHEN (AM), an Urban Adult Contemporary radio station in Syracuse, New York * WHEN-TV, the former call letters of TV station WTVH in Syracuse, New York Music * When (b ...

" all hit the UK top 5, making ''Steptacular'' the first Steps album to contain fix consecutive UK top-five hits. ''Steptacular'' debuted at number one on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

, and it remained on the position for three weeks, selling 260,000 copies in the same time frame.

Background and release

Like the group's debut album, ''Steptacular'' also contains covers, including a song originally released by female pop group

Bananarama Bananarama are an English pop duo from London, formed as a trio in 1980 by friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward. Fahey left the group in 1988 and was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan until 1991, when the trio became a duo. Thei ...

entitled " Movin' On", "

Make It Easy on Me "Make It Easy on Me" is a song by American R&B singer Sybil, written and produced by the British team Stock Aitken & Waterman. It was released as the lead single from her third album, ''Sybilization'', in 1990. While Sybil had landed a deal in ...

" originally recorded by

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and "

" originally recorded by

Tina Cousins Tina Patricia Cousins (born 20 April 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and former model. She has had five singles in the Top 20 of the UK Singles Chart, both as a solo artist and in collaboration with others, including "Mysterious Times" wit ...

. The album also includes the group's version of "

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", which was originally recorded for the

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tribute album ''Gotta Get a Message to You'', which was released shortly after ''

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''. Early UK copies of the album featured a holographic silver "STEPS" logo on front. It was also released in cardboard and tin boxed sets, internationally.

Commercial performance

On 31 October 1999, the album debuted at number one in the United Kingdom and remained for three consecutive weeks. The album sold 84,000 units in its first week—only 1,000 copies ahead of

Westlife Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until he left in 2004. The group temporarily di ...

's debut album, ''

'', beating the Irish boy band.

Track listing

Notes *''Steptacular'' was released in Australia with a revised track listing, including two bonus tracks. *''Steptacular'' was released in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan in a boxed set limited edition, containing the UK track list of the album and the CD single for "After the Love Has Gone".

Personnel

*Producers **Topham, Twigg and Waterman (for tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 11 and 13) **Frampton and Waterman (for tracks 2, 4, 9 and 12) **Work in Progress (W.I.P) (for tracks 6 and 8) **Sanders and Waterman (for track 14) *Engineers **Chris McDonnell (for tracks 1, 3, 5, 10 and 11) **McDonnell and Tim "Spag" Speight (for tracks 7 and 13) **Dan Frampton (for tracks 2, 4, 9 and 12) **Paul Waterman (for tracks 6 and 8) **Speight and Al Unsworth (for track 14) *Mixing **Tim "Spag" Speight (for tracks 1, 5 and 7) **Dan Frampton and Paul Waterman (for track 3) **Frampton (for tracks 2, 4, 9, 12 and 14) **Waterman (for tracks 6 and 8) **Chris McDonnell (for tracks 10, 11 and 13) *Backing vocals: Mary Carewe, Mae McKenna, Andrew Frampton, Lance Ellington, Bernadette Barlow *Assistant engineers: Al Unsworth and Roe Waterman *Photography: Mike Owen *Mastered by Richard Dowling at Transfermation *All tracks were recorded and mixed at

PWL Pete Waterman Entertainment (PWE) is the production company one-time pop and dance record label owned by British pop mogul Pete Waterman. The label, originally PWL (Pete Waterman Limited), is most famous for being the home of hit record prod ...

studios in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

Background and release

Commercial performance

Track listing

Personnel

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References