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Team Flack
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: London
Posts: 26,397
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Take That vs Britney reviews
I predict there will quite a few of these this week
Two from today
MSN-More TT than Britney
Quote:
Britney Spears and Take That release similarly-titled albums this week, but Tom Townshend reckons only one of these circuses is worth the price of admission…
This week sees the return of two pop giants, both releasing similarly-titled albums on the same day. One is a former Mouseketeer turned sex symbol, hoping to reclaim her musical crown after several years of 'Kerry Katona moments'.
The other is a 1990s boy-band aiming to sustain the unexpected success which followed their reformation three years ago.
Britney Spears' new album, Circus, is the follow up to the relatively unsuccessful Blackout, a record released only 13 months ago.
Blackout was greeted with largely favourable reviews, with the Guardian calling it "bold" and "fantastic", yet it came at a time when each day's papers brought fresh tales of the star, seemingly in emotional and mental breakdown.
The album's relative failure (its worldwide sales were half that of predecessor In The Zone) is mostly attributed to the public's discomfort at buying an album by someone so obviously in distress.
Take That's The Circus comes two years after the former boy-band's hugely successful reunion album Beautiful World, an album that garnered similarly positive reviews but followed a 32-date sold-out tour of Britain and Ireland that returned the group to the public's affections after 10 years apart and a career which had been largely overshadowed by the achievements of one-time band member Robbie Williams.
While Beautiful World's global sales were equal to those of Blackout, the group had never sustained international success in the way Spears had and their comeback is unprecedented in British pop. The fact that the group appeared dignified, genuine and thrilled to be welcomed back meant few had a bad word to say about the record.
While Britney may have turned her life around, musically things don't appear to have moved on at all. Circus could well be outtakes from the Blackout sessions. Working with many of the same writers and producers, it's another example of the robotic, futuristic and conventional structure-shunning pop that’s characterized Britney’s sound since 2003’s Toxic.
Lyrically it's still teeming with nods and winks to her train-wreck lifestyle, alongside stomach-turning and unconvincing depictions of Spears as a sexual dominatrix (why do so many female singers get stuck on that page of the How To Be Madonna manual?)
In Britney's case, Circus refers both to the media circus that surrounds her, with paparazzi snapping every move for fear they might miss Spears exposing herself again, and the circus of being in a relationship with the once-divorced, once-annulled singer.
This is an album about life in the spotlight and is as glaring, self-obsessed and ultimately empty as that life truly is. And in a time of financial uncertainty and gloom, Circus feels surplus to requirements; a musically gaudy, needy and greedy irrelevance.
The definite article in Take That's The Circus makes all the difference. Theirs is the circus of old: the traditional escapism of entertainment. Take That are showmen not celebrities (remarkably avoiding the tabloid intrusion and gossip mongering that accompanies fame these days).
The Circus, appropriately, delivers thrilling, occasionally daft, breathtakingly accomplished, all-ages, mass-appeal distraction from our everyday woes and, paradoxically, is all the more relevant for it.
If we're honest, Beautiful World was not a great album. It sounds, as you might expect from a band who hadn’t had to think about being a band for a decade, messy and uncertain in its identity. Many of the songs fail by overreaching, perhaps desperate to prove themselves against what must’ve seemed the unattainable heights of Robbie's success and repeated musical reinvention.
The album was carried by both our affection for the boys - we wanted it to succeed - and the Gary Barlow penned tour de force Patience, a perfectly crafted sing-a-long that displayed a sophistication not evident on any of his 90s compositions.
This was later followed by the theme tune to the film Stardust, the equally majestic Rule The World (joining that exclusive club of songs that were more successful than the movies they came from – see also Philip Oakey’s Together In Electric Dreams and Bob Dylan’s Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door).
Even if they never recorded anything as good again, their renewed popularity could carry them through at least two more years of touring, a third comeback album and another Greatest Hits. So it's an unexpected delight to discover that The Circus is by far the finest album Take That have ever made.
The Circus begins with The Garden, a song and production so big most bands would end their careers on it. Take That circa 1995 would certainly have chosen this as their swansong (instead of that regrettable Bee Gees cover).
It's a rallying, genuinely moving and captivating display of their collective talents. So how on Earth can they follow it? With one of the best songs Barlow has ever written: Greatest Day.
Starting with a simple strummed acoustic guitar, like their previous career highlight Back For Good, Greatest Day eclipses its memory as the relentless, driving piano hurtles you into an Olympic Gold Medal of a song.
This is the work of a supremely confident writer and its current radio ubiquity is, unusually, adding to our appreciation. It feels almost corny to say, but it lifts our spirits every time.
The ever-adorable Mark Owen continues to carve out his niche as the Davy Jones of the band with the Nilsson-esque showboating of Hello, a far more cohesive and accomplished sister-song to Shine.
Yet it's Jason Orange who really surprises. His How Did It Come To This is a cleverly rendered tale of modern life's dilemmas, partly inspired by Amy Winehouse which adds to the poignancy. And we know that Mr. Williams will be kicking himself for not coming up with the deliciously arch line: "Maybe you are oh-so slightly OCD".
Title track The Circus is astonishingly beautiful; a restrained and classic piano ballad that avoids all the clichés of modern songwriting and, we must confess, moved us to tears. For all their seven albums of striving, Oasis never got this close to Lennon & McCartney’s ability to sing from the heart without resorting to mawkish sentimentality.
From here on in, the floodgates were opened and we bawled stupid great man tears throughout the rest of the CD, affected by both the brilliance of these songs and the Tortoise and the Hare catharsis of the band's incredible story.
Penultimate track Hold Up A Light captures all the rightful triumphalism Take That must feel having gone from being the butt of many a comedian’s jokes to the best and biggest pop group in Britain.
The Circus is the album Keane wanted to make. It's the album The Feeling will go back into the studio to try and make. It's the album Coldplay know they can never make. Who would ever have expected that?
To borrow the rhetoric of Tony Blair, what makes Take That great is songs, songs, songs - all that really matters when the meaningless trappings of fame are stripped away. Without songs, Britney would've just been a woman dressed as a schoolgirl (and our auntie does that every Christmas!)
It's the lack of songs that will ultimately see Spears' Circus discarded and forgotten, whereas Take That will deserve every accolade, award and scream.
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http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/musi...entid=11477488
BBC
Quote:
"It's either a huge mistake or a brilliantly contrived piece of PR, but Britney Spears and Take That are both releasing an album called Circus (or The Circus) on the same day.
There won't be a Blur vs Oasis-style chart battle - Take That's album has already broken pre-order records, ensuring that it will go to number one by the end of the week.
But, as any chart historian knows, securing the top spot is no guarantee of quality - just ask Elvis, whose Suspicious Minds was robbed of chart glory by Rolf Harris's Two Little Boys.
So, who has constructed a better big top - Take That or Britney Spears?
THE GREAT CIRCUS STAND-OFF
TAKE THAT
The UK's most popular boy band present the second album since their hugely successful reunion.
BRITNEY SPEARS
Britney's sixth studio record follows a tempestuous year for the former mouseketeer.
PREVIOUS FORM
Take That's last album, Beautiful World, sold 2.5 million in the UK.
Britney Spears' last album, Blackout, sold 250,000 in the UK.
HOW WILL I RECOGNISE THE NEW ALBUM IN A SHOP?
NUMBER OF WRITERS
Nine
37 (yes, 37)
BALLAD RATIO
Eight out of 13 tracks - 62%
Three out of 14 tracks - 21%
OPENING TRACK
The Garden: A typically rousing Take That ballad, set against the unlikely backdrop of a major ecological disaster ("the scent of burning oil was in the air")
Womanizer: Britney's latest hit single is a flawless piece of 21st Century robo-pop with a tongue-twister chorus. Also contains sirens.
DOES IT INCLUDE A SONG CALLED THE CIRCUS?
Yes. It's practically a Gary Barlow solo track, with a sparse piano-vocal arrangement.
Lyrically, it's the tale of a lover spurned, with Gary cast as the circus clown for loving a lady who has abandoned him. A thousand hearts will break.
Yes. In it, Britney claims to be the "ringleader" (we think she means ringmaster) of a circus which may or may not be a metaphor for the music industry. Key lyric: "When I crack that whip, everybody's gonna trip, just like a circus"
DOES THE ARTIST PROVIDE EVIDENCE OF GENUINE CIRCUS SKILLS?
Yes
Yes
BEST SONG
Throwaway bonus track She Said is a delightful hula shuffle which promises to be a highlight of the group's sold out stadium tour.
Nothing quite matches the magnificent Womanizer, but the stuttering groove of Mannequin and the flirty Radar come close.
WORST SONG
Mark Owen's tale of domestic bliss, Hello. Set to a rolling music hall piano, it aims to match the towering grandeur of Shine, but ends up sounding a little bit like When I'm Cleaning Windows.
Every Britney album has a tedious song about getting naked or being a "freak" in the bedroom. Here it is the slap bass-powered Lace And Leather. Even Britney sounds bored.
BEST LYRIC
"I met this girl last night and she said 'why won't you marry me?' Well, I'm too young for that, too dumb for that, too broke for that, too tired for that... But would you like to come back to my flat?" (Up All Night)
A brilliant moment of comic misdirection from Mark Owen.
"Can't remember what I did last night. Everything is still a blur. Can you calmly hand me all my things? I think I need an aspirin." (Blur)
A woozy recollection of the morning after the night before, and the only allusion to Britney's "lost year" on the album.
WORST LYRIC
"Just the other day somebody said to me, 'hey maybe you're oh-so-slightly OCD'... I said, 'yes, that's partly true but it's just my way of compartmentalising all the things I see.'"
(How Did It Come To This)
Jason Orange lets us into his latest psychotherapy session.
"Say what you want about me, but all of the boys and all of the girls are begging to If You Seek Amy." (If You Seek Amy)
It looks like nonsense, but in Britney's southern drawl those last four words sound incredibly smutty. A desperate attempt to shock.
LYRIC DISPLAYING MOST AWARENESS OF CURRENT SOCIO-ECONOMIC CLIMATE
"Looks like the cost of houses are falling, but I don't notice." (Hello)
"All we had is shattered like broken glass" (Shattered Glass)
DURATION (ACTUAL)
50mins 58secs
50mins 10secs
DURATION (PERCEIVED)
A cozy sixty minutes reading the Sunday papers beside a roaring fire with a stack of hot, buttered toast and a mug of cocoa.
Half-an-hour of wild abandon in a sweaty nightclub, followed by three days reflecting on your inexcusable behaviour.
STRANGEST ARTWORK MOMENT
Gary Barlow looks terribly uncomfortable swinging on a trapeze.
While dressed as Heidi, Britney is served a cake by a circus performer.
BEST THANK YOU OR INLAY CREDIT
"Take That performed all their own stunts throughout the making of The Circus."
"Thank you, Brett Miller AKA Snowflake - for getting my ass out of bed."
NUMBER OF INTERNET "FRIENDS"
Myspace: 56,947
Facebook: 58,228
Bebo: 34,456
Total: 149,631
Myspace: 462,732
Facebook: 356,956
Bebo: 2,117
Total: 824,544
SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL EVENT
Fans have been invited to wave the group off as they catch the Eurostar to Paris on Monday. Four of them will win tickets to join them on the train. If they've remembered their passports.
MTV and Sky One will broadcast a warts-and-all documentary, Britney: For The Record, detailing the troubled last 12 months in the singer's life. Contains such insights as "I'm a smart person".
THE CRITICS SAY
"Gary Barlow can't spot a cliche like without stepping eagerly into it."
The Independent
"They bring a fallible human quality to an album which is all about gilding their strong bond with their original fans."
Daily Mirror
"Spears, never the most emotive vocalist, frequently sounds disconnected, even a bit bored"
The Guardian
"She confronts issues of fame, broken relationships and motherhood against a masterfully engineered soundscape."
The Sun
WE SAY
A confident, accomplished record that's precision-targeted at their fanbase. The lush orchestration gives a cinematic sweep to ballads like Greatest Day and The Garden, but it also disguises the occasional weak vocal.
There are some classic Britney tracks here but sonically and lyrically she is treading water. It's a shame that the Princess of Pop hasn't been able to channel the turmoil of the last 12 months into her music.
OUR MUM SAYS
"I like the single. It's very sing-along-ish. I'm looking forward to seeing them in June."
"She looks really well compared to what she looked like last year. Do you think that's her real hair?"
FINAL SCORES
7.5/10 6/10
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7750388.stm
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01-12-2008, 10:15 PM
If you're basing that on XF I hope you realise her management would have made them rules for her own safety.
Hybrid Mode
