Album title: Wonderland
Artist: Take That
Genre: Pop
Nationality: English
Release date: March 24
Position in Discography: Eighth
Fear Factor: Moderate
Familiar with this artist? Yeah
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? A little
Average RYM Score: 1.90 (ah jeez, lads!)
Although I traditionally hate boybands, I gained something more of a sense of grudging respect for Take That when I dived into the world of sugary pop in my article
Stranger in a Strange Land, some years ago in my journal, and I was relatively impressed with their album
Progress, showing that they could rise above the banal pop song expected of them. This, however, starts off with, well, a bland pop song and doesn't give me too much hope that that album wasn't just an aberration. “Giants” is better; still a pop song of course but seems to have a little more about it than “Music makes me feel good”, which is essentially the theme of the title track, and has a great hook in it. I actually like this one a lot.
It's catchy stuff, can't be denied. They're not reinventing the wheel here, but what boyband is going to attempt that, and if they've found the winning formula they'd probably be crazy not to stick to it. Infectious, memorable and singable choruses, not too much to think about lyrically, a mix of pop and dance and a bit of soul: sure won't the little girls eat it all up? “Superstar” has a sense of rock (
a la Nickelback, if you can call that rock without pissing yourself laughing) and is not bad at all, and then of course there are the ballads. The first one is “Hope” and it's pretty damn good I have to say, quite a lot of power in it, while the closer “It's All For You” has a sense of the movie soundtrack about it but it's nice too. Take That certainly know how to write the love songs, that can't be denied. “The Last Poet” has a nice feel to it, probably my other favourite if I have to pick, though I could have done with a better ending, and “Every Revolution” has a good sense of energy about it.
Not a bad album. Nothing that's going to set the world on fire, but then, I guess these lads have done their share of burning the charts down at this stage, and they can just sit back and watch the money roll in now, can't really fault them for that. As the Knack once grinned, the little girls understand.
Check out more from this artist? I think I've probably heard all I need to by now really
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Probably will have to, yes
Expectation Index: 4