Take That - 'The Greatest Day'
That's right, Gary Barlow, this COULD be the greatest day of our lives, just as every day could be the greatest day of our lives, if the circumstances are right. What we would really need, just to put the cherry on the icing on the marzipan on the sherry puddle on the cake, is a song which reflects this. A song which lifts our already-soaring spirits up to the blazing sky, where cherubs and angels take their rainbow combs to tweak and tease our delight and excitement, until these things are woven deep into the very fabric of Heaven itself, forever more.
Have you got a song like that? And if so, do you think you could go back and get it?
I'm well aware that Take That are officially A Good Thing. You don't need to tell me that. I also know that they have an army of devoted fans who will love them no matter what, and who will destroy anyone who dares to question the brilliance of their comeback material.
On the other hand, I also know when a good band make a good record. A good record is something like 'Back For Good', or 'Pray', or 'Shine', or even 'Rule The World'. A good record is the one which makes an already rabid audience scream and hug each other because this is Their Moment, the Song They Have Been Waiting For. And even though this COULD be that song, in the same way that any song could be that song, sadly it is not.
You can tell it isn't just by watching the video. The band stand on top of a skyscraper, Gary sings out across a sun-drenched skyline. There's a build-up to the massive chorus, where Mark, Howard and Jason vibrate with excitement, arms wide, faces open with beaming smiles, like they are in on the secret that this is the Best Song Ever, and they cannot wait to get to the really good bit, and then...
...nothing. The firework is lit, sparks are coming out of the back-end, but it does not leave its patch of wet earth, and it does not go bang. It just continues to smoulder.
Not that there is anything wrong with smouldering. It's just we were promised the soundtrack to The Greatest Day, and this, for all that it is a perfectly nice Take That song, is not it.
Maybe all that work on Britannia High has sapped Gary's strength or something...
Download: Out now
CD Released: November 17th
(Fraser McAlpine)
Comment number 1.
At 15th Nov 2008, Kathyapple wrote:Hang on a minute ... you gave Rule The World a pretty awful review as you did Patience! If you don't like Take That ... just say so! But don't backtrack on a previous review! You silly sausage!
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Comment number 2.
At 16th Nov 2008, Fraser McAlpine - wrote:I didn't give 'Rule The World' an awful review at all. Look.
But I did give it three stars, which I did because I gave 'Shine' four stars, and 'Shine' is better. What I should have done is give 'Shine' five stars, 'Rule The World' four, and this three. So if there's any backtracking, it's to do with the star rating, which is hard to decipher at the best of times (hence all the words that come with it).
Sorry for any confusion.
Fraser
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Comment number 3.
At 19th Nov 2008, electricfaith wrote:i dont see why britania high should sap his strength; its AWFUL
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Comment number 4.
At 30th Nov 2008, GuyTookOutMySpleen wrote:The trick is to actually be a fan or at least receptive when you're criticizing a band's music. It's easy to berate them when you don't really like them in the first place.
Do I think "Greatest Day" is a great track? Yes, but do I also think it could have been better? Yes again. The music itself is great though the lyrics are abit too repetitive, they could have come up with two different choruses or something like that.
That's the problem though, something that sounds great to someone might sound like trash to someone else. When it comes to Take That though, there are more Thatters out there than not, and that should say something to those that don't give them a real fighting chance.
The thing with critics is that they are only stating their own opinion, and that in itself carries no weight whatsoever. What do they really know, I mean REALLY? They don't do polls to ask the public's opinion and then respond accordingly, they just yap about how oversugary-with-low-substance they think the song is and then add something in the end like "they're ok". That won't score you any points with anyone.
Going back to my earlier "can't please everyone" point, it's safe to say that critics are not needed around, because they only speak for themselves, and more often than not they're always in the minority.
So TAKE THAT Nancy Drew.
PS: You went on the same way about "Rule The World" and you got told off big time, that was hilarious btw.
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Comment number 5.
At 30th Nov 2008, Fraser McAlpine - wrote:Being "told off"- or as I like to put it, "provoking a healthy debate" - is the point of the job, genius.
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Comment number 6.
At 3rd Dec 2008, thranjax wrote:People seem to be having a go at Fraser because he doesn't like this record as much as "Rule the World". The thing is, Fraser himself says the marking scheme may be incorrect.
When you give a record a mark out of five what absolute standard are you supposed to judge it against? If you give a record five stars how do you know that in a year the same band might not release something even better, then how many stars do you give that?
There is no Platonic ideal of "five star" pop record against which to judge the things. Whatever skills Fraser may have he is unable to tell us the name of every piece of music that will ever be written, how good the best is and how many stars Take That's "Greatest Day" should therefore have.
Anyway, and with due deference to Fraser's comment about "provoking a healthy debate", the song and the band are just pants. Nicely coloured ones with sequins on, but pants nonetheless.
Thranjax
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Comment number 7.
At 5th Dec 2008, GuyTookOutMySpleen wrote:Oh the debate was healthy alright!! I think the minimum amount of laughter we need each day is about 15 minutes, and this one lasted way longer.
Well whether you like em or you don't, "Greatest Day" did become their 11th number 1 single and it indeed was their greatest day, Mr Anthrax....oops I mean Thranjax.
Merry Xmas
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