The Circus: primeras críticas

Against all the odds, Take That’s 2005 reunion turned out to be a raging success.

Without Robbie Williams, many thought they’d sink like a stone. But while Gazza, Howard, little Mark and Jason scaled the heights, it was superstar Robbie whose career hit the depths.

Skilfully rebranded as a middle-aged man band in a clever TV documentary, they followed it up with a record-breaking tour and an album, Beautiful World, which sold more than any of its predecessors.

The ongoing embarrassment of Mark Owen’s solo career was no more. A dapper Gary Barlow was off the pastries and back on the piano.

Confidently reconvening this April, the lads have delivered a polished follow-up in remarkably quick time. With its giddy highs and orchestral flourishes, musical glitter balls and assorted baubles, The Circus is skillfully stage-managed theatrical pop which succeeds in emphasising both individual personalities and their newly-established group democracy.

The record gives Jason Orange the lead on the glossy but angst-ridden soul-baring How Did It Come To This. Howard holds court on the dazed, shimmering What Is Love and the extravagant billowing Here. See - they aren’t just there to perform stage moves to make your average pole dancer’s eyes water.

Big no-brainer choruses on Julie and Hello spell pop simplicity rather than sophistication.

But they bring a fallible human quality to an album which is all about gilding their strong bond with their original fans.

Take That were never going to be a big hit in hip circles, but these pop clowns maintain their place in the Big Top with a connection more lasting than tastemakers realise.

Up All Night has Simon And Garfunkel-style harmony busking, a McCartney-lite fandango and a special request. "Baby I want you to save me/I should be up all night with you."

It’s an offer their fans will find hard to resist.

Fuente: The Mirror

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THEY defied expectation when they made their Beautiful World comeback. They smashed all records when they shifted £35 million of tickets earlier this month for their New Year tour of the UK.

So could “difficult second album” syndrome be avoided when the Man Band went into the studio to record the sophomore set of their Second Coming? Would The Circus really come to town?

Well, yes and no. Like its predecessor, THE CIRCUS (Polydor) boasts one killer track. Hit single Greatest Day is as pop-perfect now as Patience was back in 2006. It’s easily the best song here.

Next up are Gary Barlow’s Coldplay clones.

You, Said It All and the minor key title track are hugely influenced by Chris Martin & Co. You half expect Barlow to rip off his mask to reveal a manically grinning Martin beneath.

Not that it’s a bad thing. Take That have added hummable hooks and pop sensibilities to those sublime sonic swoops.

On the other side of the coin, cheeky Mark Owen – now officially the democratic band’s frontman – offers the vaudevillian Hello, a sort of 60s take on ELO’s Mr Blue Sky. It’s irritating, but annoyingly likeable after a while.

Elsewhere, Up All Night recalls Simon & Garfunkel’s sell-out era, Hold Up A Light has the makings of a stadium singalong amid its sawing strings, and Here (an unlikely songwriting collaboration with Turin Brakes) ends in a Beatley crescendo of sound.

The downside? Songs such as Julie and How Did It Come To This are cheesy, giggly hidden track She Said should have stayed hidden and Will Malone’s strings tend to be overpowering.

Not the Big Top then, but certainly a good show. It won’t matter to the faithful, of course.

They’re already rolling up, rolling up for The Circus, with a third show added at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena just last week.


Fuente: Sunday Mercury