Album Review: Wonderland - Take That

Take That are a English group consisting of members Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald, with previous members including Robbie Williams and Jason Orange. The group formed in 1990 and since risen to success with 28 top 40 singles and 17 top 5 singles in the UK alone. Alongside this, internationally, they have had 56 number one singles, and 37 number one albums, as well as winning 8 Brit Awards.

Their breakthrough single was a cover of Tavares hit 'It Only Takes A Minute', which peaked at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart. It was then followed by 'I Found Heaven', and then 'A Million Love Songs'. However, their cover of Barry Manilow's hit 'Could It Be Magic' gave them their first big success. The first Take That album, 'Take That & Party', was then released in 1992.

In 1993, they released their second studio album, 'Everything Changes', which spawned six singles; 'Pray', 'Relight My Fire', 'Babe', 'Everything Changes', Why Can't I Wake Up With You', and 'Love Ain't Here Anymore'. 1995 saw the release of their third studio album, 'Nobody Else', which reached number 1 in the UK and across Europe. The second single from this album, 'Back For Good', would be known in the future as one of their biggest songs. It reached number 1 in 31 countries around the globe.

In 1995, Take That saw the first departure of Robbie Williams however, at the end of the year they all mutually agreed to part ways, so at the beginning of 1996, they officially announced they were disbanding. This was followed by the 'Greatest Hits' compilation album, which contained a cover of the Bee Gee's 'How Deep Is Your Love'.

Fast forward nearly 10 years, In 2005, 'Never Forget - The Ultimate Collection' compilation album was released. An official press conference was then held by the band announcing they were going on tour, minus Robbie Williams. 2006 saw Take That return to the recorded music scene, by signing with Polydor Records. Their comeback album, 'Beautiful World', entered the chart at number 1 and is the 35th best selling album in UK music history.

Their fifth studio album, 'The Circus', prior to the release had broken all pre-order records and had become the most pre-ordered album of all time. After four days of being released, it had sold 306,000 copies, going platinum, making it the fastest selling album of the year.

In 2010, Robbie Williams announced he was returning to Take That. The new studio album, 'Progress', was released at the end of 2010 and they embarked on a huge UK stadium tour. The album became the fastest selling album of the century, reaching number one in the UK. In 2011, they announced a new EP, 'Progressed', which featured 8 tracks written by the band since they had reunited as a five piece. However, Gary Barlow later announced the bands break, and how they would reunite in the future, but unfortunately they went on a hiatus.

2014 was not a great year for Take That, Gary had announced that Robbie left the bad for the second time and Jason Orange also decided to leave. Despite this, Gary, Mark and Howard continued with the recording of the seventh studio album, 'III'. This was then released at the end of 2014 and became the band's seventh number one album.

Track Listing:

1. Wonderland

2. Giants

3. New Day

4. Lucky Stars

5. And The Band Plays

6. Superstar

7. Hope

8. River

9. The Last Poet

10. Every Revolution

11. It's All For You

12. Don't Give Up On Me

13. Up

14. Come On Love

15. Cry

I used to be a major Take That fan around the time of 'Beautiful World'/'The Circus', but not so much before or after. However, when I heard they had brought out an album as a three-piece I had to listen, and I thought I would turn it into a review!

So the first song, 'Wonderland', didn't start off great for me.. I found it a little bit creepy in the beginning and definitely wouldn't of thought it was Take That until they started singing. However, it had a nice build up, a funky tune, which sort of had an Michael Jackson vibe (very 90's), and sounded very much like a musical number!

'Giants' is the only song I vaguely knew before listening to the album. I thought it was a great first single from the album, it has a nice beat, catchy and the vocals suit it. The production is great, and it would be great as an opening or closing song for tour.

'New Day' was a little different, a bit more folky. I'm not really a fan of the lyrics, but I like how the beat is guiding the song and how their voices blend nicely with one another. It is quite a mellow song, but will a lot going on (confusing I know!).

The fourth song, 'Lucky Stars', is very retro/dance, and it is obvious that the type of music in the charts now had some sort of influence over it. However, I would also say it had an old Take That vibe to it. A personal no-no I have about it is the electronic voice in the middle, I just don't like it at all.

The fifth song, 'And The Band Plays', sounded like a classic boy band/Take That song. There is a lot of production, again, but it is similar throughout, for example, the tune and when they sing 'yeah yeah yeah'. However, it is really catchy and I really like the instrumental bits.

'Superstar', the sixth song on the album, is very dramatic. It certainly isn't one of my faves.. the vocals do not sound clear, I wasn't really keen on the electronic type beat as it doesn't really suit the music and it has a sort of rock effect to it that just sounds a bit weird. However, I do like the sense of a narrative to the lyrics.

'Hope' is another song that made me feel like I was listening to a musical soundtrack. It has a very sad/dramatic feel to it and I like the guitar in it. But.. I'm not quite sure about the vocals and it got a bit boring after a while. 'River' is a funky, fast paced song and I really liked Mark's vocals in it! 'The Last Poet' is a sort of ballad and is typical Take That. I really like the rock vibe to it (this time!) but after a while it got quite repetitive.

The tenth song, 'Every Revolution', reminded me a lot of one of their previous albums, 'The Circus'. I loved their voices together, they compliment one another so nicely. The lyrics are great and the beat is different, but good.

Probably my least favourite on the album is 'It's All For You'. Again, it is very dramatic, but I didn't like the vocals or music in the beginning and I felt it was kinda boring compared to the rest of the album. However, I am glad it picked up. Another one I had similar thoughts about was 'Don't Give Up On Me'. I thought it sounded very similar to another song on the album, it had a nice beat but was very repetitive and overall I just wasn't fond of it.

'Up' is a more mellow/slow song. I really like Mark's voice on it, and how it builds as they are singing 'up'. I also really liked the bridge/verse in the middle, it was much more faced paced. However, I felt like there needed to be something else after the build up, like a huge explosion of noise to pick it up.

The fourteenth song, 'Come On Love', is a bit more fast paced, which I like, however, I don't like the high notes in it. I feel it would be better without them. There is a nice build up but it doesn't go anywhere, which is a bit annoying. It is also a bit repetitive, and I feel like they have copied/sampled the song 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' by Simple Minds, as it sounds strangely similar, but that may just be me. At the end of the song, it suddenly changed to a piano playing, and became more of a ballad. This may have been alright if it wasn't such a quick change from the fast paced music.

The last song on the album, 'Cry', is a nice one to end the album with. It is catchy and the song does pick up, which I was very glad about after 'Up'. Part of me was thinking that their music has been heavily influenced by what has been in the charts the last year or so, but, this song especially, suits them.

Overall, I quite enjoyed the album! I'm not saying I will have it on repeat but it's decent. I really liked that all of them had solos, instead of just Gary and although sometimes I don't like it, this time I enjoyed the musical feel to it.

So with my new 'star system', I am going to give this album a 4/5 stars.