First, they re-assembled without their star player and capitalised on the untapped reservoirs of goodwill left by Britain's best and most popular boyband. Then, just in case the pace should slacken, they invited said star player — chastened by his own solo career struggling and the sheer scale of what happened without him — back on board in time for another tour and album.

Goodwill or not, Take That have never been an albums act but Progress suggests that it's not for the want of trying. Even so, despite all five contributing to songwriting, whether Jason Orange and Howard Donald will see Progress as progress is doubtful since they've been marginalised to one lead vocal apiece: Donald on the gym workout that is Affirmation; poor Orange exiled on the echo-laden Flower Bed. And, for all the sheer Gary Barlow-ness of Eight Letters, those looking for a grandstanding, tearjerking, timeless Take That ballad will look in vain.

Instead, they've gone for a combination of edge, electrothump courtesy of Madonna's producer Stuart Price and lyrics that veer from mildly paranoid to toe-curlingly confessional, not least when Mark Owen bellows, “I still want to have sex with you” on his mea culpa What Do You Want From Me?.

It's a curious mixture and one that's spectacularly hopeless on Wait. But when it works, as on the frantic, pounding SOS, the unhinged Underground Machine and the baroque Pretty Things, they've never been more fascinating or, whisper it soft, more relevant. After all, there's a new generation of Take That fans to be seduced...
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/music....roke.do

Producer Stuart Price (Madonna, Killers) is the perfect choice here, mixing risque sonics with plenty of razzle and stomp. SOS is the storm after the calm of opening lead single The Flood and signals the mood of playful panic that underscores the album.

It contemplates the apocalypse and sundry disasters in a hyperventilating operetta, several light years away from anything you'd have found on their 1992 Take That & Party debut.

More shocks to the system follow. Kidz warns "Kings and queens and presidents/ Ministers of governments...." of the impending wrath of youth.

On an album which is the first featuring the composing talents of all five TT men, this sounds like the revenge of Mark Owen. His socially concerned solo albums may have sunk without trace, but now he has his gang with him.

The Robbie Williams effect looms large on Happy Now, a slyly ironic, creepy song where the lead vocalist claims to be "A supersonic specimen/ A minor miracle of medicine".

The heavy duty Underground Machine has the feel of a galumphing robot at a metal disco, cast in the slipstream of Rock DJ. With its bolshy, male stripper beat and see-sawing chorus, it's set to become a big live favourite.

Take That's comeback has not only accommodated but been strengthened by Williams' return. Its one notable misfire, What Do You Want From Me? is quickly covered by the polite finale Eight Letters.

They've pushed the envelope while playing to their core audience, who will love them even more. That must be why it's called Progress.

Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs....8YnDuFp

Take That's new album has become the biggest pre-order release of the year, Amazon.co.uk said.

Progress, the band's first album since reuniting with Robbie Williams, has received twice as many online orders as any other album released this year.

It has also been pre-ordered more times than any other Take That album, including the 2008 release The Circus, which is Amazon.co.uk's seventh biggest-selling album of all time.

The band's latest release, officially in the shops from Monday, has been tipped to be Christmas Number One.

But online sales so far have surpassed expectations.

Julian Monaghan, head of music buying at Amazon.co.uk, said: "Take That and Robbie Williams have enjoyed significant chart success over recent years but the demand for this first album with Robbie back in the fold is higher than anything that either of them have achieved before.

"It is going to be a massive seller throughout the Christmas period and with the sell-out tour still to follow, it could be at the top end of the music charts for a long time to come."

Take That are due to perform on tonight's X Factor results show on ITV1, with an exclusive rendition of their latest single, The Flood.

Progress is currently available for pre-order from Amazon.co.uk, priced at £8.93.

Fans can also download the album for £3.99 at the Amazon MP3 store.

Copyright © 2010 The Press Association. All rights reserved.

http://www.google.com/hostedn....064552A

Progress, the band's first album since reuniting with Robbie Williams, was pre-ordered by thousands before going on sale to the public, making it the most in-demand Take That album of all time.

Bookies say the group are heading straight for the top after a sensational live performance on the X Factor results show on Sunday night.
http://www.google.com/hostedn....087231A

Consumer demand for the new album, which sees Take That reunite with Robbie Williams for the first time in 15 years, has already moved the album’s release date forward one week and the album has also topped the pre-release charts at Play.com and HMV.

And while lead single The Flood surprised many by not topping the charts yesterday, losing out to Rihanna’s Only Girls (In The World), HMV says it expects demand for the album to be brisk.

"Progress has all the makings of one of the biggest and fastest-selling albums of recent years, and it should comfortably shift well over a million copies in just a few weeks as we approach Christmas - when it will undoubtedly top the festive charts,” says an HMV spokesman.

“Robbie's return to the band is the fairytale chapter that was waiting to be written, and if that wasn't enough, the weekend's TV documentary and show-stealing appearance on the X-Factor will have given the band an incredible platform to connect with a vast family-based audience of millions of fans all over the country."

HMV estimates that should it sell 150,000 copies today, as expected, the album could sell as many as half a million copies in its first week of release in the UK alone.
http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=1043307&c=1

Цирк был продан в 133.000 в первый день, выводы делайте сами.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki....Kingdom

конечно, Oasis рекорд не побить (думаю, он вечный), но свой собственный и попробовать сместить Coldplay (и Intensive Care), есть шанс

я уж не буду говорить про любимое мое "изменившийся рынок". Лет 10 назад был бы весь миллион.

Шикарный результат и это главное