PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
Always And Forever CD EMI, CDEMD1053, 1993, 14 Track
AMAZON
The debut album from this female South London quartet, as was, is most notable for containing the thumping, inspirational “Just A Step From Heaven”, a genuine R&B classic and powerful both as a love song and an implicit political statement. It was the song which announced Eternal as a musical force to be reckoned with, and despite the high standard of the their subsequent work, it remains their finest five minutes. The rest of Always And Forever sounds closer to the band’s later successes: tight uptempo booty-shakers (“Stay”, “Crazy”) alternated with smoothly produced, mawkish ballads (“Oh Baby I.”, “Don’t Say Goodbye”). It all makes for pleasant listening, but suffers by comparison to that one extraordinary moment. –David Bennun
