|
The Circus |  | Artist: Take That
Label: Polydor
Category: Music
List Price: £12.99
Buy New: £2.79
as of 22/11/2009 15:44 GMT details
You Save: £10.20 (79%)
New (58) Used (19) from £2.79
Seller: through-the-post
Rating:  116 reviews
Sales Rank: 56
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Running Time: 51 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 4.9 x 0.4
UPC: 602517874442
EAN: 0602517874442
ASIN: B001IA46D8
Release Date: December 1, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
| |
| Tracks:
| • | The Garden | | • | Greatest Day | | • | Hello | | • | Said It All | | • | Julie | | • | The Circus | | • | How Did It Come To This | | • | Up All Night | | • | What Is Love | | • | You | | • | Hold Up A Light | | • | Here |
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 116
 A real grower December 15, 2008
J. Hunt (Leeds)
32 out of 35 found this review helpful
Track by track after two weeks listening:
br /The Garden: Draws you in and makes you feel good to be alive. Would have been a great Christmas single.
br /Greatest Day: A nice homage to U2 (Where the Streets Have no Name.) Liked it the first time I heard it. Still do.
br /Hello: Not convinced to begin with. Driving down the motorway in the sunshine, it was suddenly a great singalong track.
br /Said it All: Gorgeous. Nuff Said.
br /Julie: Felt sad about something at work. Listened to 'Julie'. Felt happy again.
br /The Circus: Beautiful in its simplicity
br /How Did it Come to This: Autobiographical? A great performance of a cleverly worded track. One of my favourites.
br /Up All Night: Fabulous live
br /What Is Love: Howard comes precariously close to perfection with this one.
br /You: The only track I have yet to warm to. Too formulaic for me. Sorry!
br /Hold up a light: Not my favourite vocal but it'll be a killer live then a great memory thereafter.
br /Here: Fab-u-lous. Play it on repeat.
br /She said: A Strictly special. Simply lovely and great fun.
br /
Real progress; brilliant! December 7, 2008
C. Whyatt (Wargrave, Berkshire)
27 out of 30 found this review helpful
As a fifty something brought up on The Beatles I am not your typical Take That fan, but despite this, I have always liked them, especially since the comeback.
br /
br /This is a terrific album - great songs, beautifully sung, beautifully performed, beautifully produced - a triumph.
br /
br /It is actually more Coldplay that the Take That of Roobie era fame.
br /
br /Open your mind and enjoy.
Great Value... December 4, 2008
Mr. J. Linsel (UK)
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
let me get this straight... amazon are offering the entire new take that album for £3???...
br /
br /if so who cares about the quality... which is fine anyway... its only £3!!!
An actual review of the actual album..... November 26, 2008
Mr. D. J. Brindle (Merseyside, UK)
19 out of 27 found this review helpful
So the boys from Manchester - or is it Surrey and other rather expensive leafy English garden counties now - return with their fifth offering "The Circus".
br /
br /So, what's it like? Will it continue the boys return and supersaturate their pop legend status.....
br /
br /Certainly the album starts with a track, "The Garden", that's mostly Take That, but also partly "All You Need Is Love", partly Robbie Williams at the top of his game and overall, is a massive pop tune that, after it's Mark Owen spoken-cum-whispered intro opens into a huge Gary Barlow chorus of that sort that seemingly only he can write.
br /
br /By now I expect everyone has heard the oft-FM played "Greatest Day" singly, which also constitutes track two on the album. On it, Gary Barlow veers rather closely to Chris Martin territory with an apocalyptic lyric, thumping piano backing and quiet-loud-loud-quiet-loud bits that Martin and his shoe-gazers have conquered the World with. As an indie die-hard it pains me to say it, but anything Martin can do, Barlow can almost match. Albeit in a rather more expectedly boyband-esque way.
br /
br /When the title of track 3 "Hello" flashed onto my CD player I expected a Lionel Richie cover replete with requisite clay model of Lionel's head and accompanying dental overbite. Instead I was greeted with a frankly disappointing Mark Owen track that waffles on about it being a nice day and about Mark being glad someone took the time to say hello. Talk about easily pleased. This track, however, did not please my ears or sensibilities. It's weak. Think The Feeling but rubbisher and without the wide-faced Sophie Ellis Bextor in the background....
br /
br /We're back in firm Take That territory with the next track "Said It All". Gary Barlow croons "Said it all/Nothing to say at all/Nothing to say that matters/does it matter anymore?" to a presumably lost love. Or band member Mr R Williams Esq perhaps...
br /
br /Mark Owen returns to the fore once again with next track "Julie" which sounds like The Beatles without so much experimentation, craft and credibility. There are lots of sha-la-la-la-la's, lots of slide guitar and a little bit of Coldplay-style piano and drum bashing. It's another lightweight track, just like the last Owen number. I'm starting to see a pattern here....
br /
br /Title track "The Circus" is Barlow at his 3 minute pop song best perhaps. Wordy, but tuneful. Soulful but poppy. Sweeping but not maudlin. And enough unlike Take That to be a great Take That track. Gary swoons "Yeah everybody loves a circus show/But I'm the only clown you'll ever know" over a swirling string coda and Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds mellotron riff.
br /
br /"How Did It Come To This" sounds almost exactly like a slowed down version of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire" only without the lyrical clout, anger and political drive. But then, who wants Take That to do political stuff? Not I. We need Take That to do pop. And that's what they do here. Albeit in too short a time, the song ending before it really gets going at 3 minutes 10 seconds in length. Again though then Coldplay piano and Savage Garden guitars come to the fore.
br /
br /Next track "Up All Night" rips it's guitar riff from The Frames and a track called "Lay Me Down", and it's lyrical hook from Paul Simon's "Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover". "Oh baby/I don't need you to save me" etc etc etc. Mark Owen once again takes over vocal duties on what opens out into a semi-indie pop romp that's a little sickly sweet but catchy as hell.
br /
br /"What Is Love" sees Howard Donald posture lyrically over what love is. He doesn't really have the answers for us, but the tracks another string laden, piano bashing effort. And I'm sure I've heard that piano and string riff somewhere else. Ah yes. "I Will Survive". You'll see what I mean...
br /
br /Penultimate track "That You" sounds almost exactly like the last track. Disturbingly so. "It's youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu" wails Mr Barlow over that becoming very familiar string backing. Things are getting a little samey this point I have to say. But then I guess when what you do is almost the perfect pop recipe, you're bound to want to repeat it. Even I can't argue with that. Mostly.
br /
br /The album ends (or does it) with "Hold Up A Light", an excellent power-pop track that had me nodding my head and almost rocking out to Take That. Who'd have thought it. I say almost because as the CD runs on and on a hidden track appears - starting with Howard Donald laughing then a shuffled band in-joke track that shuffles and plods and does funny stuff before finally the album draws to a close.
br /
br /So, to summarise, as people who review stuff often pompously say, there's nothing else for it.... If you love Take That, you will, without doubt, adore this album.
br /
br /It seems a little lighter in ballads and a little heavier in Mark Owen nu-age tracks that previous efforts. And in parts it sounds as though Mr Barlow is shooting for Mr Martin's target of lots of thumped piano and tracks about codes and hidden meanings. But it remains unmistakably Take That.
br /
br /I've tried my best but therefore, what's to fault, really? I'd give it four and a half stars because at times it sounds a little samey, and the Mark Owen tracks are, in the most part, below par. But there are no half marks here on Amazon so...
br /
br /The quest for World domination goes on.
Simply put...brilliant! January 20, 2009
Matt (Toronto) (Toronto, Canada)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
After the phenomenal success of "Beautiful World" in 2006, I figured it virtually impossible to match, or even come close, in a second outing. I was wrong. Although "The Circus" is different both in approach, and overall vibe, it stays true to the intensely strong talent behind it. Between the brilliant songwriting by all four members, to the fantastic production by John Shanks, this album is a natural progression on the continuing path of Take That. I am totally thankful to have the group back making beautiful, epic music again. Whenever I can't find the words, these guys seem take them right out of my mouth.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 116
|
|
|
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON EU S.à.r.l. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME. | |
