Take This Album and Party (Greatest Hits - Take That)

Member Name: rleigh

Product:	Greatest Hits - Take That
Date:	28/06/08 (60 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A number of sensational pop tracks are featured here.

Disadvantages: The album was hurriedly put together resulting in a lazy tracklisting.

When a statement was released on February 13th 1996 that the band Take That was to split up, RCA Records hurried into action and this 'Greatest Hits' collection was released on the 1st of March 1996. Seventeen tracks are featured here, comprising of some of the bands finest tracks and also coming complete with the Beegees cover 'How Deep Is Your Love' which was the bands final single before splitting up. Take That actually reformed in 2005 and 'How Deep Is Your Love' is therefore not the last single that the band ever released, it was however the last that the band would release for ten years before returning with the smash hit number one single 'Patience'. As this 'Greatest Hits' collection was released in 1996 it therefore does not include anything from the bands 'Beautiful World' album, don't let this put you off however as Take That released a high number of incredibly powerful pop songs throughout the 90s.

'How Deep Is Your Love' is a fine way for the band to kick this collection off, it's an excellent cover of the Beegees classic and one that I personally am a particularly big fan of. Take That do an exquisitely fine job here of really making the track their own, this one begins this 'Greatest Hits' collection brilliantly well and as the band progresses its way through the rest of the collection never does the music disappoint.

Tracks such as 'Back For Good', 'Everything Changes' and 'Relight My Fire' are absolute favourites of mine from the Take That back-catalogue, they're all fantastic pop songs and these tracks do I feel provide the finest moments from this collection. Always the music of Take That comes complete with an absolutely excellent chorus, these tracks possess the bands very best and every time I hear these tracks I smile. 'Back For Good' and 'Relight My Fire' particularly appeal to me here, the choruses to both these tracks are exceptionally well crafted and the melodies also are absolutely astonishing. 'Back For Good' was actually written by Gary Barlow, he's really proven himself to be a highly proficient songwriter over the years and this I feel is one of the finest tracks that the man has ever written.

'It Only Takes a Minute' is another personal favourite from this album, again the melody is exceptional and the chorus simply astonishing. It's the perfect presentation of a pop song, Take That is an incredible boyband and this is one of the best singles that the band has ever released. 'Babe' was famously denied a Christmas number one by Mr Blobby, quite a kick in the teeth for Take That but still a truly phenomenal pop track. Featuring little Mark Owen on lead vocals, this is one of those tracks that I can just never forget; I still remember it being played in plentiful amounts around Christmas time and every time I hear it I therefore think of Christmas joy. East 17s 'Stay Another Day' is the track that reminds me most fondly of Christmas, 'Babe' has a similar effect on me however and this five minute pop gem is one that absolutely everyone should hear.

Closing the collection is 'Do What U Like'; one of my least favourite tracks of Take That's 'Greatest Hits'. This was the first single that Take That ever released as a band, the collection works backwards from new to old and that's why the collection finishes so disappointingly. The bands first few hits barely hit the Top 40, 'It Only Takes a Minute' was the bands first big hit and even that one only reached number 7. 'Do What U Like' hit a high of 82, it's the least successful Take That single there ever has been and there's good reason for that too; it's just not very good. The way that this collection runs is incredibly lazily done; it was however quickly knocked out when the band announced it was splitting though so I guess its understandable really that this 'Greatest Hits' collection is more than a little shoddy in layout. Starting at the beginning and working forwards would make more sense to me, that's not the way that this album was done though and the majority of the quality is therefore loaded toward the very start of the collection.

If you're looking for a good bit of nostalgic pop fun then I'd most definitely recommend investing in Take That's 'Greatest Hits' collection from 1996. The collection possesses a lazy layout, it does however contain a number of excellent pop tracks and if you like a bit of Take That then you can't really go far wrong with this one. Roughly half the tracks here were written either by Gary Barlow or other members of the band; a high contrast to the 2005 release 'Beautiful World' where Take That was involved in the writing process of every track on the album. How deep is your love for Take That? If the answer to this question is 'very' and you don't already own this album then what do you think you're playing at? Get this album right now and let the music shine.

For those that are interested, these are Take That's Greatest Hits:

1. How Deep Is Your Love
2. Never Forget
3. Back For Good
4. Sure
5. Love Ain't Here Anymore
6. Everything Changes
7. Babe
8. Relight My Fire
9. Pray
10. Why Can't I Wake Up With You
11. Could It Be Magic
12. Million Love Songs
13. I Found Heaven
14. It Only Takes A Minute
15. Once You've Tasted Love
16. Promise
17. Do What U Like


This 'Greatest Hits' collection from Take That can currently be bought from Play.com for a bargain price of £3.99.

Summary: Take That's 'Greatest Hits' collection is well worth investing in.