Take two for Take That

The photo on the cover of the album Beautiful World is a clever choice but it brings up some questions. First, the faces of the band members are not discernible so you cannot really tell who they are. This seems cheeky because this is the reunion album of the famous Take That, the most successful boy group in the history of British pop music since the Beatles.

I looked and I looked too in the only two-page CD inlay with the song credits. There are also no names mentioned as being the members of this revived or newly formed version of Take That. But then why bother with names or a clear picture when the whole world knows who they are and what they look like anyway.

So you wonder, is Robbie Williams singing with these guys? What about Gary Barlow? Don’t know. And what do they look like these days? With regards to that, I do say that having no new photo was probably also a way to hide whatever lines now mar the once devastating faces. After all, it has already been 10 years since Barlow, Mark Owen, Howard Donald and Jason Orange were last together as Take That and they have surely matured not only in looks but also in other places or things.

Beautiful World presents an older Take That and just like the lack of a clear picture simply getting your hands on the CD already brings up a very important question. Do these guys still have what it takes to sell pop songs? Take note that the most successful ex-Take That is Williams and he left a year before the group called it quits in 1995. Those who stayed until the end later made solo ventures but results ranged from mildly successful, to not at all.

Admittedly reviewers had their daggers out for Take That bashing when the album was released late last year. There was no way they were going to spare the group. Take That was too big to be left alone. Happily those blades have since gone back to their sheaths and the question of whether Take That can still sell was answered two weeks ago when Beautiful World and the single Patience were found on top of the hit charts in the UK and other countries in Europe. The boys still have what it takes.

Beautiful World is a boy group album but the music of Take That has matured and this is evident in the way the songs were sequenced and structured for maximum enjoyment by the listener. Reach Out seems tentative and is simple boy group fare. However, the music acquires confidence with every cut as the album progresses and I hear Take That taking solo turns moving towards Emo or MOR or returning to their pop roots.

Patience, Beautiful World and Hold On follow. All very good but it is towards the end when the one-two-three punch generated by 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 and the Beatlesque Wooden Boat proves to everybody that Take That is indeed one of the greatest groups of all time.

I, too was prepared not to like Beautiful World. What else can you do with a band, which sold 25 million albums because of Back for Good and a version of How Deep is Your Love. Yuk! Two rounds of the album were all it took to change my mind.

Billboard’s top hits

And now for the hits on the first month of the new year in the US. Here now are the Billboard listings where the lovely Beyoncé is queen of the charts.

First, the Top 10 singles in the Hot 100: Irreplaceable by Beyoncé; I Wanna Love You by Akon featuring Snoop Dogg; Fergalicious by Fergie; Smack That also by Akon but featuring Eminem; Say It Right by Nelly Furtado; My Love by Justin Timberlake featuring T.I.; How to Save a Life by The Fray; We Fly High by Jim Jones; Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance and It Ends Tonight by The All American Rejects.

The Top 10 albums are Dreamgirls, the soundtrack of the motion picture starring Eddie Murphy, Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé and Jennifer Hudson; Konvicted by Akon; Daughtry by American Idol finalist Chris Daughtry; FutureSex/LoveSounds by Justin Timberlake; Now 23 by Various Artists; Hannah Montana by the Soundtrack; The Inspiration by Young Jeezy; Hip Hop is Dead by Nas; Love by The Beatles and 21 by Omarion.