Disco de Take That: “Greatest Hits”

By the time this group started on their successful career, I had given up on music radio, but there is some music that you can't avoid hearing, even if you want to. So it was that I eventually realized that Take That made some great music. They never made it in America, though they might have done had they stayed together a bit longer. Gary Barlow was the lead singer and primary songwriter but his subsequent solo career has been much less successful - unlike Robbie Williams, one of the other group members, who has become a hugely popular solo singer.

Take That had eight British number one hits including Back for good, which gave them an American top ten hit a few months before they disbanded. Their other UK number ones were Pray, Relight my fire (a cover of a Dan Hartman song featuring Lulu as guest vocalist), Babe, Everything changes, Sure, Never forget and How deep is your love (a Bee Gees cover). They had several other UK top ten hits including covers of Could it be magic (Barry Manilow) and It only takes a minute (Tavares) with the former featuring Robbie Williams as lead singer - a rarity on Take That recordings.

If you buy this because Robbie Williams was a group member, you may be disappointed since he rarely sings lead. If, on the other hand, you are looking for simple, mainstream pop music, superbly performed, you might enjoy the music of Take That.

i like take thats music and even though they are no longer around i occasionally listen to my mums take that album and find that i do like their music. i also watched the take that documentary and found out that they are not as sweet and innocent as everyone may have thought they were during the time they were around cos they done some quite rude and naughty stuff!

I can still remember the exact time, down to the last second when I heard the news that Take That were spliting up. They say you remember where you were when Kennedy was shot, but I remember where I was when I saw the front page of 'The Daily Express' on that fateful February day. To my regret I had never bought 'Could It Be Magic' when they released it as a single and I kicked myself ever since. But, one day my eye lay upon this CD in the shops and when I saw it had my most sought after song on I had to buy it. You should buy it for this reason if you do not buy it for any other. It is a fantasic album an a brilliant one to reminise to my pre-pubescent days to. Sheer genius.

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.