Passion (Geri Halliwell album)

Passion is the third studio album by English singer Geri Halliwell. It was released on 6 June 2005 by Innocent Records. Two singles were released from the album: "Ride It", was commercially successful. It peaked at number two in Russia, number four in UK, reaching number three on the Belgium, Spain and Scotland Charts.[7], and "Desire", which charted at number 22 on the UK Singles Chart. Although the album was praised for Halliwell's improved voice[2] the album was a commercial disappointment, peaking at number 41 with only 5,432 copies sold[8] and charting for only one week on the UK Albums Chart.[9]

Passion
Studio album by Geri Halliwell
Released	6 June 2005
Studio	Sphere Thriller Jill's Whitfield Street Murlyn
Genre	Pop jazz dance-pop electropop
Length	42:39
Label	Innocent EMI
Producer	Peter-John Vettese Korpi & Blackcell Ian Masterson Absolute Steve Power Quiz & Larossi
Geri Halliwell chronology
Scream If You Wanna Go Faster (2001) Passion (2005) Playlist (2016)
Singles from Passion
"Ride It" Released: 22 November 2004 "Desire" Released: 30 May 2005

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
BBC Music	mixed[2]
entertainment.ie	[3]
Hot Press	mixed[4]
The Guardian	[5]
Yahoo! Music	[6]

Background

Halliwell wrote many songs between 2001 and 2004 with a number of producers. Songs recorded during this period that did not appear on the final album include "Set Me Off", "Turn It On", "Putting on the Bling", "Disco Sister", and a cover version of "100% Pure Love". Halliwell also wanted to record the track "Some Girls" (written by Richard X and Hannah Robinson) for the album, but the track was instead given to Rachel Stevens.[10]

But at the end of 2004, EMI and Halliwell came to a mutual agreement and changed the focus of the album and the title to Passion, replacing some of the dance songs with ballads, jazz, and electropop songs, including the newly recorded songs "Passion", "Desire", "Surrender Your Groove", "So I Give Up on Love", and the B-side "True Love Never Dies".

Halliwell described the album as "a journey through a range of extreme emotions from passion and love through to fear and hope". According to her, Passion can be seen to chart her development as both a vocalist and songwriter. For the singer it has been a matter of "finding out who I am not as much as I what I am. I think this album catches me at a real transitional point as a songwriter".[11]

Singles

"Ride It" was released on 22 November 2004 by Innocent Records as the first single from the album. "Ride It" was commercially successful. It peaked at number two in Russia, number four in UK, reaching number three on the Belgium, Spain and Scotland Charts.[7]

The song "Desire" was released on 30 May 2005 as the album's second and final single. It peaked at number 22 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the lowest-peaking single of Halliwell's solo career to date. To promote the single, Halliwell performed the song on Top of the Pops, Top Gear, CD:UK, The Footy Show, Ministry of Mayhem, Popworld and GMTV.

Promotion

A tour had been planned in order to promote the album, but was canceled.[12][13]

A documentary promoting Passion, titled There's Something About Geri, was premiered by Channel 5 on 15 May 2005. It covered her life and career and following her from Moscow to Milan and Britain as she prepares for a relaunch of her singing career.[14] The documentary attracted an audience of 1.1 million viewers, garnering above-average Sunday ratings for the network.[15] Despite rating success, it was criticised by the media for showing a "self-obsessed, painfully vain little girl in need of constant mollycoddling".[16] She regretted doing the documentary film, commenting, "I shouldn't have done it! Even thinking about it makes me cringe!".[16]

Track listing

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Passion.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Passion"	Geri Halliwell Peter-John Vettese	Vettese	2:56
2.	"Desire"	Halliwell Korpi Wollo Terry Ronald	Korpi & BlackCell	3:22
3.	"Love Never Loved Me"	Halliwell Robinson Ian Masterson	Masterson	4:04
4.	"Feel the Fear"	Halliwell Andy Watkins Paul Wilson	Absolute	4:15
5.	"Superstar"	Halliwell Guy Chambers	Steve Power	3:28
6.	"Surrender Your Groove"	Halliwell Korpi Wollo Ronald	Korpi & BlackCell	2:58
7.	"Ride It"	Halliwell Quiz Larossi Savan Kotecha	Quiz & Larossi Ian Masterson	3:46
8.	"There's Always Tomorrow"	Halliwell Robinson Masterson Holweger	Masterson	3:48
9.	"Let Me Love You More"	Halliwell Robinson Masterson	Masterson	4:06
10.	"Don't Get Any Better"	Halliwell Tracy Ackerman Watkins Wilson	Absolute	3:23
11.	"Loving Me Back to Life"	Halliwell Chambers	Power	3:24
12.	"So I Give Up on Love"	Halliwell Vettese	Vettese	3:12
Total length:				42:39

Personnel

• Geri Halliwell – vocals
• Anders Hedlund – drums
• Peter-John Vettese – guitar, backing vocals, drums
• Phil Spalding – bass guitar
• Magnus Lind – accordion
• Putter Smith - double bass
• Andy Duncan – drum programming
• Mitch Dalton – acoustic guitar
• Joe Holweger – electric guitar, bass guitar
• Dave Bishop – baritone saxophone
• John Themis – guitar
• Matthew Vaughan – keyboards, programming
• Damon Wilson – bass guitar
• Tim Van Der Kuil – guitar
• Guy Chambers – acoustic guitar, baritone guitar, bass guitar
• Frank Ricotti – percussion
• Sam Dixon – bass guitar
• Phil Palmer – acoustic guitar
• Richard Robson – programming
• Phil Todd – alto saxophone, flute
• Dave Arch – piano
• Chris Davis – tenor saxophone, flute
• Emma Holmgren – backing vocals
• Andy Caine – backing vocals
• Hannah Robinson – backing vocals
• Mitch Stevens – backing vocals
• Tracy Ackerman – backing vocals
• Claire Worrall – backing vocals
• Gary Nuttall – backing vocals

Charts

Chart (2005)	Peak position
Argentinian Albums (CAPIF)	17
Greek International Albums (IFPI)	37
Italian Albums (FIMI)[17]	49
UK Albums (OCC)[18]	41

References

1. AllMusic review
2. "Music – Review of Geri Halliwell – Passion". BBC. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
3. "Music Review | Geri Halliwell – Passion". entertainment.ie. 15 June 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
4. O'Hare, Colm (21 June 2005). "Passion | Music Review | Album". Hot Press. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
5. Clarke, Betty (3 June 2005). "CD: Geri Halliwell, Passion". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
6. Townsend, Tom (21 June 2005). "Geri Passion Album Review, New album reviews and latest album releases on Yahoo! Music". Yahoo! Music. Archived from the original on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 27 July 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
7. "Top Radio Hits". Tophit. 31 January 2005. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
8. "Geri Halliwell's sales in U.K." Forever Spice. Retrieved 25 April 2012.
9. "Geri Halliwell". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
10. O'Mance, Brad (28 September 2012). "Richard X has confirmed the existence of a song he and Hannah Robinson did with Nicola Roberts • Popjustice". Popjustice. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
11. http://www.therecordmag.com/jun2005/geri.htm
12. "Geri Halliwell Cancels Tour After Ticket Sales Flop". Female First. 11 March 2005. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
13. Vivian, Rhiannon (19 June 2005). "GERI HALLIWELL: FROM DIVA TO DESPERADO; She used to fill stadiums all over the world, but her terrible single and album have reduced her to visiting supermarkets to flog her records... – Free Online Library". Sunday Mirror. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
14. "There's Something about Geri (2005)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
15. Conlan, Tara (16 May 2005). "TV ratings: May 13-15 | Media". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
16. Duerden, Nick (27 May 2005). "Geri Halliwell: Spice odyssey". The Independent. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
17. "Italiancharts.com – Geri Halliwell – Passion". Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
18. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 6 September 2018.