Take That

Touring

As they supersize up to stadiums, the boys-to-men popularity of Take That seems to know no bounds. Last time they threw everything but the kitchen sink at their live show, so goodness knows what they will pull out of their M&S sleeves this time – perhaps Mr Robbie Williams?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture....09.html

All four remaining members looked seedy, with an unshaven, unwashed air about them. Howard had given up on any hope of a solo singing career and had become a DJ, Jason was a second-rate actor, Mark had stumbled into reality TV and Gary had been dropped by his label and was writing and producing tracks for other pop groups, including Donny Osmond and Atomic Kitten. Meanwhile, Robbie Williams was big news, looking like the one who had managed to escape.

Skip forward a couple of years in which the foursome release two albums, embark on one big tour and sign up to a mammoth advertising deal with Marks & Spencer. Now they’re the ones who are decked out in crisp suits while Robbie has been living quietly in California and has said that he would like to perform with them again.

When released in Britain last November, The Circus became the fastest-selling album of 2008 and stayed at the top of the album charts for five weeks because if there’s one thing that this group knows, it’s pop. Sure, they’ve had a few years in the C-list wilderness, but here they prove that they have not lost their touch.

This album is a mixture of upbeat pop numbers and soaring choruses with big-band backing – think of 2006’s Shine – plus a couple of ballads thrown in for good measure. In fact, the general feeling is that they have graduated with honours from the boy-band ranks and are now tackling more mature material. In short, this has become a “man band”.

There are even tracks – Hold Up a Light and How Did It Come To This – serious enough to make you think that Barlow, as songwriter, and the producer John Shanks have taken Coldplay as a major inspiration.

But there are problems, too. Parts of this 11-track album (plus a hidden song) feel far too mapped out; as if the group sat down before writing with a spider diagram of topics they wanted to cover. Hello references falling house prices and filter coffee, ticking boxes for the now-thirtysomething female audience who made up most of their original fan base. How Did It Come To This, discusses a girl who lives in North London, including lines about schizophrenia. Look how grown up we are, it screams. Meanwhile, What is Love tells us that despite having aged, they’re still ordinary guys who, just like the rest of us, don’t have all the answers.

Many of the lyrics should have been left behind. Scattered randomly are lines such as “If love is a game, I’m playing all my cards” and “Why, why, why do you cry, cry, cry”. By the time they sing: “Today this could be the greatest day of our lives,” it’s hard not to ask why, after so many years, Take That still cannot avoid descending into greeting-card territory.

Listening to this album is akin to eating a Big Mac. If you’re in the mood it does the trick, but once finished the experience is unmemorable. Parts may have you nodding your head merrily and some of it demonstrates that they have come of age in certain senses. However, much feels so hurried that its easy to imagine record-label executives rushing to get it on the shelves.

Of course despite these grumbles, The Circus netted these execs and Take That another fortune. It meant that tickets for the tour planned this year sold out in one day; a Dh190 million phenomenon that smashed all previous, worldwide sales. In the album’s notes of thanks, they sign off saying “See you soon,” so expect more of the same commercial formula in the future.
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090121/ART/36892582/1007

*бегает кругами*

а ниче, пусть увидят настоящих сибирячек, не видели ж никогда, думаю им понравится, особенно то что под шубками, но эт я так, к слову, мы ж тута все Снегурочки
эх, у меня уже давно идея горит, им валеночки и варежки с логотипом послать, прикиньте, номер "Pray" в валенках!!! это будет нечто