Take ThatAlbums
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Take That
The BBC described Take That as the most succesful British band since The Beatles. I'll let you think on that for a moment. The band originated in Manchester circa 1990 and were initially seen as the UKs answer to New Kids On The Block. Thankfully for everyone involved, that clearly wasn't the case. They have, for their crimes, spawned almost every British boy-band that's appeared since but there was one important difference with Take That. The difference was Gary Barlow, a slightly chubby uncool looking fella, but he could pen a tune or two. The likes of 'A Million Love Songs' would even gain credit from the more alternative and credible media, such as N.M.E. A good tune is a good tune and even in this day and age, can still win through. Gary apparently wrote it when he was a mere fifteen years old. A dance-pop band, and it's the dance tunes that have dated here. Still, more on that later. A word concerning Robbie Williams, i've taken this from Wikipedia. It reveals quite a lot about Robbie, even at this early stage in his career.... The mother of failed Manchester United trialee Robbie Williams read Martin-Smith's advert in Stoke on Trent, and so urged the recently failed salesman to try. Williams applied and annoyed Martin-Smith from his first audition, but Martin-Smith recognised the talent and signed Williams.... . Thanks then manager of Take That. I never knew he was the last to join the band, although I clearly knew he was the first to leave. Bye, bye Robbie, bye bye. Oh, Nigel Martin-Smith, impressiario, initially had the band work gay clubs up and down the land. None of the band were from stage-school, so whilst the former isn't at all surprising, the latter is quite different to these days of 100% manufactured bands with performers cherry picked, likely via a TV talent show. Everything Changes 6½ ( 1993 ) Everything Changes / Pray / Wasting My Time / Relight My Fire / Love Aint Here Anymore / If This Is Love / Whatever You Do To Me / Meaning Of Love / Why Can't I Wake Up With You / You Are The One / Another Crack In My Heart / Broken Your Heart / Babe Gary Barlow wrote 11 of the 13 songs here. The exceptions were 'Relight My Fire', a cover duetted with Lulu and the Howard Donald ( he of the dirty looking hair ) co-penned 'If This Is Love' with the albums co-producer, one Dave James. Gary Barlow himself was the albums other producer. So, it's hard to squarely lay the blame at one or the other for the albums sterile, soul-pop apeing sound. Perhaps the only benefit of such shiny production is that Robbie Williams lead vocal on the title track is very nearly buried beneath the instrumention. Still, nice trumpet and all. Howard doesn't quite do himself justice on 'If This Is Love' and the two 'Heart' songs right next to each other are very nearly unlistenable. So far, so bad then? Luckily, the rest of the album shows signs of huge improvement in the band, notably from ( that man again ) Gary Barlow. Often voted least cool man on the planet in school-classrooms throughout the 90s, no one ever doubted his writing ability. Well, not until Robbie became president elect of the entire United Kingdom via a few weak Oasis rip-offs anyway. Still, I remember we all had to daily kiss posters of Robbie Williams laid out in bus-shelters the country over and then sing a rendition of 'Angels' 3pm Christmas Day.... Anyway, Mark Owen provides the best non-gary vocal with 'Babe'. It's a strange construction, actually. Genuinely great for the last minute or so. Backing vocals suddenly take on an innovative feel and a heavy metal guitar implausibly sits ( very ) quietly in the mix. It's there, nonetheless. 'Whatever You Do To Me' is an album gem those who merely invest in a Take That Best Of are missing out on. A sterling piece of pop music, laced with tasty motown-soul influences courtesy of Barlow. The grin-inducing Bronski Beat styled falsetto is entertaining too, even though it was clearly a sop at the groups gay following. Nobody Else 6 ( 1995 ) Sure / Back For Good / Every Guy / Sunday To Saturday / Nobody Else / Never Forget / Hanging Onto Your Love / Holding Back The Tears / Hate It / Lady Tonight / The Day After Tomorrow A Sgt Peppers apeing sleeve was a move intended to tell people, ‘hey, we’re selling Beatles-like quantities of records’. For all of this, ‘Nobody Else’ fails to be the intended slam dunk. Robbie had left and cracks were appearing in the public togetherness of Take That. The other four carried on to promote ‘Nobody Else’ and with the almost universal lauding of the Gary Barlow composition ‘Back For Good’, all appeared well. Within months, the band would officially announce they were to split, a greatest hits album appeared and a superb version of The Bee Gees ‘How Deep Is Your Love’ as a farewell single. Their harmonies had never sounded better. It’s a shame elements of ‘Nobody Else’ revert to boy-band type. It’s no stronger than any of their other albums bar the obvious quality of the two main singles, so we’ll discuss these for a moment. Beautiful World 7½ ( 2006 ) Reach Out / Patience / Beautiful World / Hold On / Like I Never Loved You At All / Shine / I'd Wait For Life / Ain't No Sense In Love / What You Believe In / Mancunian Way / Wooden Boat A stream of singles, some very good indeed ( eg, 'Back For Good' ) gave Take That their place in history. Now they're back, what do they have to offer? Gary Barlow, always the leader, allows the other now more mature yet still variable ( talent-wise ) members to have their say in this comeback from the lads. The steady stream of Pop Idol acts and Louis Walsh managed boy-bands haven't replaced the Take That guys. Well, since when did Westlife write a song? Not really the point, even assuming they have one, of their act. Take That were different in the fact they could barely play with the exception of Gary, have differing yet character filled voices, yet made the best of their modest gifts. Each of the band members have their Ringo moments and Gary contributes his usual mix of solid songwriting incorporating good singles and the odd moment of apparent dullness. Well, some things never change. The obvious omission of Robbie Williams from the ranks is nothing but welcome, his gurning features and hideous boorish vocals simply would have sounded out of place here, by the way. So, taking no chances, Take That enlist the services of producer John Shanks, who also gains quite a few co-writing credits to help shape the songs. When it works, it works surprisingly, spectactularly well. Let's take current number one, the Mark Owen penned 'Shine'. Full of ELO-isms, it demonstrates a new side to the band. Very rock flavoured and full of accomplished backing vocals, it's an excellent song and would be whoever it was by, so less of your snobbery, you at the back. Mark also gets to sing another ELO moment, more of a power ballad this one, yet 'What You Believe In' convinces through repeated-plays.
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