Recorded in DXD 24-bit/352.8kHz, and available as a Blu-ray/SACD package.
Blu-ray disc carries 5.0 DTS-HD MA, stereo 24/192 LPCM, plus 24/192 and 24/96 FLAC, WAV and MP3 versions with mshuttle transfer over the home network to your computer. SACD is surround/stereo/CD.
Oh, and it's relevant to all the baby threads we've been having of late
Drummerdave
Well-known member
- Dec 4, 2007
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- 18,545
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - not my usual choice of genre but it's blooming brilliant
6th.replicant
Well-known member
- Oct 26, 2007
- 294
- 0
- 18,890
I don't think this has been mentioned before, probably because of the potential for ridicule, but I've been listening to (apologies in advance to Big Chris):
Take That - Progress.
Now, I know what you're thinking, A Million Love Songs, Relight My Fire, what a load of rubbish. This isn't that Take That. There was some hoo-ha when the first single (and first track off the album), The Flood DIDN'T make it to number one, possibly because it wasn't commercial enough. It doesn't take long to realise that, far from being unusual, The Flood is actually the MOST commercial track on the album.
The surprise here isn't that Take That made an album with Robbie Williams, the surprise is that they made THIS album, one that almost seems designed to alienate the stereotypical Take That fan, the former teen-screaming, now middle aged, family-raising woman. They won't find the usual Gary Barlow ballad, with lush strings and romantic crooning, even Barlow's only solo vocal track, Eight Letters, for all the romantic lyrics, eschews his normal piano-led tinkling, for a more electronic sound (it actually, vocals aside, seems to want to drift into Ultravox's Vienna in places!) and this is a theme across the whole album, many of the songs feature a sparse, almost cold, synth-led soundtrack, you can well imagine Vince Clarke standing in the corner of the studio, providing the backing on a single synthesizer, indeed the track Pretty Things could have been lifted straight off of an Erasure album, including the lyrics.
There's a number of apparent influences, SOS, to my ears at least (and this may be more apparent to me than most people!), given some samples and slightly heavier guitars could easily be The Looks or The Lifestyle era Pop Will Eat Itself, other tracks see nods towards La Roux (themselves obviously heavily influenced by early 80s electronica). If you're a fan any kind of electronic music though you'll probably find something you'll like here.
Vocal duties are largely taken up by Robbie Williams (unsurprisingly I guess, wouldn't be much point bringing him back and then leaving him to do backing vocals), with Gary Barlow mostly taking a back seat, in fact Mark Owen shares the vocals with Williams more than Barlow does and the lyrics on the Williams tracks are typical of his style, densely packed with syllables, rhymes within lines, rather than simply rhyming one line with another, in fact it sounds very much like what you might have expected his next solo album to sound like, giving away just how much input Williams had on the album and is much, much stronger than his last couple of albums. Re-combining with Barlow seems to have given Williams a new lease of life, perhaps he's found his new Guy Chambers? I'd expect to hear a lot more of Williams and Barlow working together, if Robbie has the sense to see it.
It has to be said though, it's not all good, the last four tracks, 8, 9, 10 and err, 10 (poor old Jason Orange's track doesn't even get its own track number or listing on the sleeve, it's "hidden" after 20 seconds of silence at the end of Barlow's Eight Letters!) are the solo efforts of the rest of the band and seem to suffer in comparison to the more collaborative works that precede them, Mark Owen's plaintive cry "What do you want from me?" is arguably the strongest of these four efforts (although the lyric "I just want to have sex with you" might suggest one reason for his marital issues of late), the rest of the tracks seem curiously flat alongside the rest of the album, not bad songs, just more... normal, they stand out precisely because they don't stand out.
Up until this point though, there's some excellent songwriting on this album and it's a real step up, in terms of maturity but it's also a massive risk (albeit one that won't hit sales of this record but might the next, if it happens). As mentioned before there is no huge bubblegum commercial hit single here (although with some judicious remixing there might well be some club hits), this isn't an album of singles, it's an album of songs and, for the first three quarters, damned good ones, I thoroughly recommend it, if you can bring an open mind to the table, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Take That - Progress.
Now, I know what you're thinking, A Million Love Songs, Relight My Fire, what a load of rubbish. This isn't that Take That. There was some hoo-ha when the first single (and first track off the album), The Flood DIDN'T make it to number one, possibly because it wasn't commercial enough. It doesn't take long to realise that, far from being unusual, The Flood is actually the MOST commercial track on the album.
The surprise here isn't that Take That made an album with Robbie Williams, the surprise is that they made THIS album, one that almost seems designed to alienate the stereotypical Take That fan, the former teen-screaming, now middle aged, family-raising woman. They won't find the usual Gary Barlow ballad, with lush strings and romantic crooning, even Barlow's only solo vocal track, Eight Letters, for all the romantic lyrics, eschews his normal piano-led tinkling, for a more electronic sound (it actually, vocals aside, seems to want to drift into Ultravox's Vienna in places!) and this is a theme across the whole album, many of the songs feature a sparse, almost cold, synth-led soundtrack, you can well imagine Vince Clarke standing in the corner of the studio, providing the backing on a single synthesizer, indeed the track Pretty Things could have been lifted straight off of an Erasure album, including the lyrics.
There's a number of apparent influences, SOS, to my ears at least (and this may be more apparent to me than most people!), given some samples and slightly heavier guitars could easily be The Looks or The Lifestyle era Pop Will Eat Itself, other tracks see nods towards La Roux (themselves obviously heavily influenced by early 80s electronica). If you're a fan any kind of electronic music though you'll probably find something you'll like here.
Vocal duties are largely taken up by Robbie Williams (unsurprisingly I guess, wouldn't be much point bringing him back and then leaving him to do backing vocals), with Gary Barlow mostly taking a back seat, in fact Mark Owen shares the vocals with Williams more than Barlow does and the lyrics on the Williams tracks are typical of his style, densely packed with syllables, rhymes within lines, rather than simply rhyming one line with another, in fact it sounds very much like what you might have expected his next solo album to sound like, giving away just how much input Williams had on the album and is much, much stronger than his last couple of albums. Re-combining with Barlow seems to have given Williams a new lease of life, perhaps he's found his new Guy Chambers? I'd expect to hear a lot more of Williams and Barlow working together, if Robbie has the sense to see it.
It has to be said though, it's not all good, the last four tracks, 8, 9, 10 and err, 10 (poor old Jason Orange's track doesn't even get its own track number or listing on the sleeve, it's "hidden" after 20 seconds of silence at the end of Barlow's Eight Letters!) are the solo efforts of the rest of the band and seem to suffer in comparison to the more collaborative works that precede them, Mark Owen's plaintive cry "What do you want from me?" is arguably the strongest of these four efforts (although the lyric "I just want to have sex with you" might suggest one reason for his marital issues of late), the rest of the tracks seem curiously flat alongside the rest of the album, not bad songs, just more... normal, they stand out precisely because they don't stand out.
Up until this point though, there's some excellent songwriting on this album and it's a real step up, in terms of maturity but it's also a massive risk (albeit one that won't hit sales of this record but might the next, if it happens). As mentioned before there is no huge bubblegum commercial hit single here (although with some judicious remixing there might well be some club hits), this isn't an album of singles, it's an album of songs and, for the first three quarters, damned good ones, I thoroughly recommend it, if you can bring an open mind to the table, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
As Mr George Michael suggests...'Listen Without Prejudice'...and you may find you enjoy it too...
daveh75:
Belle and Sebastian - The BBC Sessions
+1
. Great album Dave
....now he's throwing Discus for Liverpool & Widnes........
Belle and Sebastian - The BBC Sessions
+1
....now he's throwing Discus for Liverpool & Widnes........
ricardo65:
Have to agree with The lhc on his thorough review
I'm a waffler, I know...
of the latest Take That album...I think I did mention it previously,
Apols, I looked back a few pages to see if it had come up but didn't find anything.
and found it also to be a breath of frsh air and surprisingly mature as previously below.
Glad I'm not alone in that opinion then. Ah, well, I guess I am now...
I'm a waffler, I know...
of the latest Take That album...I think I did mention it previously,
Apols, I looked back a few pages to see if it had come up but didn't find anything.
and found it also to be a breath of frsh air and surprisingly mature as previously below.
Glad I'm not alone in that opinion then. Ah, well, I guess I am now...
the_lhc:I don't think this has been mentioned before, probably because of the potential for ridicule, but I've been listening to (apologies in advance to Big Chris): Take That - Progress. Now, I know what you're thinking, A Million Love Songs, Relight My Fire, what a load of rubbish. This isn't that Take That. There was some hoo-ha when the first single (and first track off the album), The Flood DIDN'T make it to number one, possibly because it wasn't commercial enough. It doesn't take long to realise that, far from being unusual, The Flood is actually the MOST commercial track on the album. The surprise here isn't that Take That made an album with Robbie Williams, the surprise is that they made THIS album, one that almost seems designed to alienate the stereotypical Take That fan, the former teen-screaming, now middle aged, family-raising woman. They won't find the usual Gary Barlow ballad, with lush strings and romantic crooning, even Barlow's only solo vocal track, Eight Letters, for all the romantic lyrics, eschews his normal piano-led tinkling, for a more electronic sound (it actually, vocals aside, seems to want to drift into Ultravox's Vienna in places!) and this is a theme across the whole album, many of the songs feature a sparse, almost cold, synth-led soundtrack, you can well imagine Vince Clarke standing in the corner of the studio, providing the backing on a single synthesizer, indeed the track Pretty Things could have been lifted straight off of an Erasure album, including the lyrics. There's a number of apparent influences, SOS, to my ears at least (and this may be more apparent to me than most people!), given some samples and slightly heavier guitars could easily be The Looks or The Lifestyle era Pop Will Eat Itself, other tracks see nods towards La Roux (themselves obviously heavily influenced by early 80s electronica). If you're a fan any kind of electronic music though you'll probably find something you'll like here. Vocal duties are largely taken up by Robbie Williams (unsurprisingly I guess, wouldn't be much point bringing him back and then leaving him to do backing vocals), with Gary Barlow mostly taking a back seat, in fact Mark Owen shares the vocals with Williams more than Barlow does and the lyrics on the Williams tracks are typical of his style, densely packed with syllables, rhymes within lines, rather than simply rhyming one line with another, in fact it sounds very much like what you might have expected his next solo album to sound like, giving away just how much input Williams had on the album and is much, much stronger than his last couple of albums. Re-combining with Barlow seems to have given Williams a new lease of life, perhaps he's found his new Guy Chambers? I'd expect to hear a lot more of Williams and Barlow working together, if Robbie has the sense to see it. It has to be said though, it's not all good, the last four tracks, 8, 9, 10 and err, 10 (poor old Jason Orange's track doesn't even get its own track number or listing on the sleeve, it's "hidden" after 20 seconds of silence at the end of Barlow's Eight Letters!) are the solo efforts of the rest of the band and seem to suffer in comparison to the more collaborative works that precede them, Mark Owen's plaintive cry "What do you want from me?" is arguably the strongest of these four efforts (although the lyric "I just want to have sex with you" might suggest one reason for his marital issues of late), the rest of the tracks seem curiously flat alongside the rest of the album, not bad songs, just more... normal, they stand out precisely because they don't stand out. Up until this point though, there's some excellent songwriting on this album and it's a real step up, in terms of maturity but it's also a massive risk (albeit one that won't hit sales of this record but might the next, if it happens). As mentioned before there is no huge bubblegum commercial hit single here (although with some judicious remixing there might well be some club hits), this isn't an album of singles, it's an album of songs and, for the first three quarters, damned good ones, I thoroughly recommend it, if you can bring an open mind to the table, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Take That - Progress. Now, I know what you're thinking, A Million Love Songs, Relight My Fire, what a load of rubbish. This isn't that Take That. There was some hoo-ha when the first single (and first track off the album), The Flood DIDN'T make it to number one, possibly because it wasn't commercial enough. It doesn't take long to realise that, far from being unusual, The Flood is actually the MOST commercial track on the album. The surprise here isn't that Take That made an album with Robbie Williams, the surprise is that they made THIS album, one that almost seems designed to alienate the stereotypical Take That fan, the former teen-screaming, now middle aged, family-raising woman. They won't find the usual Gary Barlow ballad, with lush strings and romantic crooning, even Barlow's only solo vocal track, Eight Letters, for all the romantic lyrics, eschews his normal piano-led tinkling, for a more electronic sound (it actually, vocals aside, seems to want to drift into Ultravox's Vienna in places!) and this is a theme across the whole album, many of the songs feature a sparse, almost cold, synth-led soundtrack, you can well imagine Vince Clarke standing in the corner of the studio, providing the backing on a single synthesizer, indeed the track Pretty Things could have been lifted straight off of an Erasure album, including the lyrics. There's a number of apparent influences, SOS, to my ears at least (and this may be more apparent to me than most people!), given some samples and slightly heavier guitars could easily be The Looks or The Lifestyle era Pop Will Eat Itself, other tracks see nods towards La Roux (themselves obviously heavily influenced by early 80s electronica). If you're a fan any kind of electronic music though you'll probably find something you'll like here. Vocal duties are largely taken up by Robbie Williams (unsurprisingly I guess, wouldn't be much point bringing him back and then leaving him to do backing vocals), with Gary Barlow mostly taking a back seat, in fact Mark Owen shares the vocals with Williams more than Barlow does and the lyrics on the Williams tracks are typical of his style, densely packed with syllables, rhymes within lines, rather than simply rhyming one line with another, in fact it sounds very much like what you might have expected his next solo album to sound like, giving away just how much input Williams had on the album and is much, much stronger than his last couple of albums. Re-combining with Barlow seems to have given Williams a new lease of life, perhaps he's found his new Guy Chambers? I'd expect to hear a lot more of Williams and Barlow working together, if Robbie has the sense to see it. It has to be said though, it's not all good, the last four tracks, 8, 9, 10 and err, 10 (poor old Jason Orange's track doesn't even get its own track number or listing on the sleeve, it's "hidden" after 20 seconds of silence at the end of Barlow's Eight Letters!) are the solo efforts of the rest of the band and seem to suffer in comparison to the more collaborative works that precede them, Mark Owen's plaintive cry "What do you want from me?" is arguably the strongest of these four efforts (although the lyric "I just want to have sex with you" might suggest one reason for his marital issues of late), the rest of the tracks seem curiously flat alongside the rest of the album, not bad songs, just more... normal, they stand out precisely because they don't stand out. Up until this point though, there's some excellent songwriting on this album and it's a real step up, in terms of maturity but it's also a massive risk (albeit one that won't hit sales of this record but might the next, if it happens). As mentioned before there is no huge bubblegum commercial hit single here (although with some judicious remixing there might well be some club hits), this isn't an album of singles, it's an album of songs and, for the first three quarters, damned good ones, I thoroughly recommend it, if you can bring an open mind to the table, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
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