''Steptacular'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by British

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

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

Jive Records Jive Records (later stylized as JIVE Records) was a British-American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary of the Zomba Group of Companies, Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chic ...

. 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 written and produced by Andrew Frampton and Pete Waterman, and released in July 1999 by Jive and Ebul as the lead single from the band's second album, '' Step ...

", " After the Love Has Gone", " Say You'll Be Mine", " Deeper Shade of Blue" and " When I Said Goodbye" all hit the UK top 5, making ''Steptacular'' the first Steps album to contain six consecutive UK top-five hits. ''Steptacular'' debuted at number one on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, and it remained on the position for three weeks, selling 260,000 copies in the same time frame. The album was reissued on vinyl for the first time ever in February 2024. It debuted at number 5 on the UK Vinyl Albums Chart.

Background and release

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

Bananarama Bananarama is an English pop group formed in London in 1980. The group, originally a trio, consisted of friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey, and Keren Woodward. Fahey left the group in 1988 and was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan until 1991, when ...

entitled " Movin' On", " Make It Easy on Me" originally recorded by Sybil and " Deeper Shade of Blue" originally recorded by

Tina Cousins Tina Patricia Cousins (born 20 April 1971) 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 Tim ...

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

Tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

", which was originally recorded for the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in ...

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

Step One ''Step One'' is the debut album by British pop group Steps. It was released in the UK and Europe on 14 September 1998. The album charted at number two on the UK Albums Chart upon its release, going on to spend 64 weeks in the chart. It was ...

''. 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 are an Irish pop group formed in Dublin in 1998. The group consists of members Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily. Brian McFadden was a member before leaving in March 2004. The group disbanded in 2012 and later reun ...

'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 studios in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Background and release

Commercial performance

Track listing

Personnel

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References