Take That Album: “Greatest Hits”

It just gets me everytime when I read reviews written by "critics" that are really too up their own ar*es to actually admit that pop music from five guys that dance can actually be good.

After reading the credits carefully, one would actually realize that Gary Barlow writes alot of the lyrics and co-produces many of the tracks. Ok, so there are loads of other musicians that don't write 100% of their music themselves - Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, The Monkeys - are just some of them. But do these same "critics" discredit them for talent? No.

I just hope this double-standard stops once and for all. Music is music. And if you're too ashamed of admitting to liking a 'boyband', then just keep quiet, and don't bother writing reviews about "how awful" they are. This is good pop music and that's that.

In the early 90's, the New Kids On The Block split up and they were replaced by a much more sophisticated, and more talented group of boys named Take That. They were from Manchester, England and they loved to party. From 1992 until 1995, Take That was the name that every teenager and every teenybopper knew. They were huge. They made 8 number one hit singles in the UK and three number one hit albums. This greatest hits compilation was their last number one album released in February of 1996, the time when Take That called it quits.

The compilation features all the singles from the very first to the very last. The highlights here are no secret, Back For Good has got to be one of the finest songs ever written. The song's got melody, a catchy chorus and beautiful harmony. It was Take That's biggest song released and their breakthrough hit in America. Pray and Relight My Fire, both number ones, are bubblegum pop classics, Babe, another number one, is a genuine soap opera turned into a song type. While Love Ain't Here Anymore tends to lean more towards the rhythm and blues section. A Million Love Songs competes with Back For Good for the favorite Take That love ballad, and the boyish voice of Robbie Williams (a young man back then) empowers the groovy chart topper Everything Changes. Why Can't I Wake Up With You, It Only Takes A Minute, and Could It Be Magic add a nice tasty flavor to the theme of album's high energy pop sound. And if that's not enough for you, the extraordinary number one hit cover version of The BeeGees' How Deep Is Your Love tops it all up giving the entire album a very good opening.

Of course after the band disbanded, there was nothing much coming out of the members except maybe for the development of superstardom for Robbie Williams and a fall from grace for Gary Barlow who is least heard of nowadays but still making music.

How ever long it might take Take That to possibly reunite, if never, the world will Never Forget what a huge impact they were in the music industry back in those glorious years in the 90's.

This compilation is a must-have.

Love them or loath them this is a timeless piece, with strong vocals and pure pop combined perfectly. Robbie Williams steals the thunder with I Found Heaven, Could It Be Magic, and Everything Changes. Their earlier work is more dance directed, with Do What U Like aimed at the gay society. Sure is a US style rap which is more enjoyable the more listened to. Relight my Fire is an all time party classic, ,and well deserved. Back for Good is so simple and yet so effective. Never Forget is a masterpiece of pop and well worth it. An all time great band encapsulated on this excellent album. Buy today, or now!

I can still remember the morning Robbie Williams 'left' Take That. I was working in a factory, and the dizzy spell inspired by the news on the radio caused me to damage my hand. I won't go into all the reasons for Take That's towering importance at that time in my life: suffice to say they were a pop lighthouse in the sea-fog of indie I was then listening to.

But, Take That would only be of sociological or nostalgic significance, like the Bay City Rollers, if their only appeal was to the memory. what makes them essential today are the still-dazzling songs. the Take That aesthetic was very simple: for fast songs, a lead singer, strong, antiphonal backing vocals, a straightforward, chunky beat, and strings, whether synthesised or 'real'; ditto the ballads, in a lower register. But the results! 'Back for Good', with its haunting mix of acoustic guitar, strings and almost choral backing vocals! The breezepop of 'Everything changes'! The neurotic, dark epic 'Babe', with its choppy violins! The archetypal Take That single 'Pray'! The eunuch-tastic 'Could It be magic?' with its amazing falsetto chorus! My own treasured favourite, 'A Million Love Songs', with its sax and harp flourishes! The staccato ecstasy of 'I Found Heaven'!

This is by no means a perfect compilation. Sometimes Take That's ambition exceeded their reach - the Bee Gees cover is execrable; 'never Forget where you're coming from', with its mounting choirboy and gospel vocals, puts the 'm' into 'pop'. the lightening disco pastiche 'Relight my fire' is soiled by screeching guest vocals. At other times, Gary 'Ken' Barlow's desire to emulate Elton John and Level 42 are not always concealed. The most overtly 'sexy' songs are anything but. And it seems a shame to let this monument to the greatest singles band of the 90s fizzle out in a selection of charmless and tuneless 'bonus' tracks and camp remixes. But with a judicious use of your select button, Take That could still be magic. Now.

If you quit keep comparing this kind of musical proposals with Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin (because doing this is absurd)you may actualy enjoy this genre, British Pop is very enjoyable and Take That were one of the finest groups in the field

HM