Track Listing

1. Stay
2. Crazy
3. Save Our Love
4. Oh Baby I
5. I'll Be There
6. Sweet Funky Thing
7. Never Gonna Give You Up
8. Just A Step From Heaven
9. Let's Stay Together
10. This Love's For Real
11. So Good
12. If You Need Me Tonight
13. Don't Say Goodbye
14. Amazing Grace

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35202 in Music
• Released on: 1993-11-29
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
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

CD Description
Putting a contemporary spin on a classic sound, the ladies of Eternal (sisters Easther & Vernette Bennett, Kelle Bryan and Louise Nurding) clearly haven't forgotten the roots of soul music or what made the style so provocative in the firstplace.
Flipping ahead to the last track on ALWAYS & FOREVER, "Amazing Grace", it's apparent that the church and gospel music are at the heart of everything Eternal stands for: The silky harmonies suddenly bursting with rich overtones and deeply felt emotions; the sanctified backbeat running through every melodic thread; and the exciting call and responsebetween the preaching lead vocals and the chorus. Authenticsoul music approaching us from the UK is hardly surprising.That Eternal comes roaring back at you with a genuine rootsfeeling in their harmonies and a slamming, street-wise rhythm pocket (as on their hit single "Stay") is something else again. But then ALWAYS & FOREVER is full of surprises--working with producer and gospel legend BeBe Winans on "Crazy", Eternal walks the line between the sanctified and secular traditions, without patronising either. Whether the context is hot and funky, or sweet and slow, Eternal has the right stuff, and then some.

Customer Reviews

This is different, and well worth a listen.
Although many of the records are definately the sound of Eternal, they have managed to give a few surprises on the way. I think that this record is well worth listening to, and in my opinion well worth any amount of money, within reason, that you pay for it.

A fantastic effort showing their full potential
It is not suprising that a soulful south-west London quartet would pursue into UK stardom:with singles such as 'Stay' and most notably 'Just a step from Heaven'(of which both singles earned great critical praise),in my opinion Eternal are the best female group to have existed in the nineties (yes,even better than the spice girls)because as you here them singing and if you concentrate you can be focused on the charisma and heart broken lyrics of the lead singer;Esther Bennet and her backers.But what could have been a successful career unravled into an edgy one due to the other group members leaving (for various reasons)what we all should remember is that Eternal will never be forgotten for many further generations

So Good not so good, but still a pop classic.
Always & Forever may sound a little dated in comparison to the current vein of Brit and US pop/r'n'b, but this is a fine album and their success throughout the nineties was entirely deserved. With memorable songs such as Stay and Just a Step, great production and vocals that have yet to be topped by us Brits, Eternal set a brand new benchmark in the 90s.

Until Denis Charles formed the 'British answer to En Vogue' we didn't have a group to oust the Americans from our charts. Always & Forever's soulful vocals and funky songs did just that and is the debut many still wish to make today.

Arguably, Eternal themselves have struggled to produce a follow up as thoroughly consistent as this. But whatever the case Eternal deserve to be remembered for having more hits than Spice, and maturing with each consecutive album.

Always & Forever is packed with priceless harmonies and classic moments, so buy this album and you'll thank me, but if you only own later albums or the Greatest Hits collection, I suggest you skip 'Power of a Woman' (put together in less than a year and aside from the remixed singles, largely, the time constraints show) and head for this debut instead....

Richard Taylor (sweetmoose56@hotmail.com)