Lopez Blogs

WESTLIFE - WHERE WE ARE:

Let's face it - you either like Westlife by now or you don't. Despite all the talk of their new album being somewhat of a departure, it's not really going to win them millions of new converts. However, I unashamedly like them - they were on Chatty Man on Thurs night and were quite charming. Mark was looking rather good looking and Nicky was of course stunning. Still, it seems appropriate that they get reviewed in the same post as Take That - not only does the album cover resemble Beautiful World, (a nice synergy after new kids on the block JLS robbed the debut Westlife album cover image!) but along with Gary and the boys, they are one of Britain's premiere grown up boy bands.

If you want a brief assessment of what a new Westlife album sounds like, when it's widely advertised as being a bit more modern and uptodate, well you'd do worse than to compare it to a male version of Leona Lewis. Lead off single What About Now is a bit of a misnomer first single really. It's not particularly representative of the rest of the album. The album is a fairly solid collection of ballads, mid tempo songs and a few anthems thrown in for good measure. They might have been better releasing something a bit more melodic like Sound of a Broken Heart as the first single. It's got a pretty piano riff running through it, some glorious harmonies, a melodic nod to Swear It All Over Again at the start of the chorus and a natural charm that just radiates. Also it would be foolish to beat against anthemic up-off-your-stool songs like How To Break A Heart and I'll See You Again being absolutely corkingly massive singles. The latter is a slow burning torch song that builds into a suitably stadium sized sing a long that is a little bit heartbreaking. The former is a gently shuffling finger clicker with a rather pleasing chorus and soaring vocals - perhaps the most Ryan Tedder moment on the album. Could be massive stateside.

Some of the songs tend to blur together, but there are enough stand outs to make the album a winner over all. Talk Me Down is a big Mark moment (and one of my favourites on the album) and has an impassioned vocal set against a gentle lulling piano. The production seamlessly adds a guitar and some subtle strings as the chorus becomes a restrained emotional moment of beauty. One of Mark's finest moments and a beautiful, lovely song. The Difference comes across (with some banging percussion) like a massive Coldplay meets Take That (with a hint of the more mature Backstreet Boys) moment and No More Heroes is imbued with Irish charm and possibly the best charity single never released - this could be massive. Overall, it's a perfectly enjoyable album and should serve the boys well. Now, if the record company doesn't abandon the singles after 2 releases it could have at least 5 massive hits...
Potential singles: What About Now; Sound of A Broken Heart; How To Break A Heart; I'll See You Again; The Difference/No More Heroes

TAKE THAT - THE GREATEST DAY:

There is absolutely no denying that Take That have come back, filled the world with smart, grown up boy band pop, set the standard for all other comebacks and generally re-established Gary Barlow as a tour de force to be reckoned with and a bit of a DILF. After two glorious post comeback albums, they are filling the void of a 2009 studio release with a rather lovely live dvd of their stupendous tour from earlier this year. It also comes with a nice live cd of some of their finest songs performed at Abbey Road which strips the songs to their most basic levels and reveals how intimate and intricate some of the arrangements are. Acoustically, Shine and Up All Night remain two of Mark Owen's finest moments and I still get a little bit heartbroken that Believe In The Boogie is so overlooked as a solo Mark single yet would fit so perfectly within the Take That pantheon. Balladic anthems like The Garden, Said It All and Greatest Day show that the backlash against Gary Barlow in the 90s was truly undeserved and that he not only knows his way around a soaring pop tune, but has quite a lovely voice too. Jason does orange lovers proud on the should-have-been-a-single How Did It Come To This, which shows he can fill the cheeky chappy Robbie void perfectly well and sound brilliant doing it. Ultimately, it's a new way of presenting a mini greatest hits of their last two albums with a visually stunning dvd performance to go along with it. Be sure to nip out and buy the set because it really is a glorious celebration of the past few years of Britain's premier elder pop statesmen. Long. May. They. Reign.
PS - XO rightly points out there is a lot of take that swag about at the mo. It's costing me a fortune...

PS - Take That night on X Factor tonight! Full review in the morning, but if Stacey doesn't do Rule The World I think I will probably weep.