Forever

1	Holler 4:15
2	Tell Me Why 4:14
3	Let Love Lead the Way 4:58
4	Right Back at Ya 4:10
5	Get Down with Me 3:46
6	Wasting My Time 4:14
7	Weekend Love 4:06
8	Time Goes By 4:51
9	If You Wanna Have Some Fun 5:26
10	Oxygen 4:56
11	Goodbye 7:07

Barnes & Noble

"There been tears along the way, but we've never cried alone," sing the Spice Girls on their chummy new ditty "Right Back At Ya." "The four of us have grown and our friendship never ends." Well, this time, it doesn't exactly rhyme, but you get the idea: Girl Power is back! And, despite the two-year layoff, new husbands and babies, and solo albums, the Girls are closer than ever. But, yep, they did say "four of us," because Forever is their first album since Geri "Ginger Spice" Halliwell hit the bricks (apparently they now let her cry alone). Emma, Mel C., Victoria, and Mel G. may look more like the First Wives Club than the teen queens who've replaced them at the top of the charts, but they still pack some sass. And, unlike their current competition, they're no virginal vixens; "Holler," a boisterous, vocoderized dance single, strings together none-too-subtle come hither calls like "Everything you want you will find in me." And the Girls aren't afraid to flex their maternal muscles. The tender ballad "Tell Me Why" finds them looking at life through one of their own little girl's eyes: "She is so sweet and young, and her life has just begun." The Spice Girls may not last forever -- or even another album -- but there's enough Girl Power left to sustain this one. Bill Crandall

All Music Guide

The Spice Girls waited three years to deliver their third album, Forever. While they were away, a number of things changed -- things have that tendency -- but the pop scene didn't shift so drastically that it was chilly to a Spice comeback. Many pundits argued, fairly accurately, that they were the trailblazers for the resurgence of frothy, unabashed teen pop in the last two years of the 20th century. But, just like there was a decade separating the ages of the Spices and Britney Spears, there's a huge difference between the cheery, featherweight "Wannabe" and the calculated sex and shock of ."..Baby One More Time" -- ironically, the older girls made music that was lighter and more innocent. With Forever, they continue to follow that path, with a sleek, stylish attempt at maturity, but they seem lost because they just don't sound interested any more. Sure, they make all the right moves, hiring superstar producer Rodney Jerkins to helm most of the tracks, but the record is curiously self-conscious and flat. Neither the production, songs, nor performances have much life to them, with the exception of the closer, "Goodbye," which significantly was released as a Christmas single back in 1999. There's little of the giddy sense of friendship that marked their first two records, and the ballads aren't as sweetly sentimental; there's little of the charm that made the Spice Girls so irresistible. Often, Forever plays like the Girls realized that it's their final album, and they put in just enough effort to make it palatable, but not enough to make it appetizing. That's not the best way to go out, but it seems like the best the Spice Girls could do in 2000, considering that their hearts and minds were clearly on their ever-increasing solo projects. Stephen Thomas Erlewine