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BuzzJack Music Forum _ Robbie Williams and Take That _ Favourite Era by Take That

Posted by: pippa Oct 5 2016, 06:31 PM

I have bundled releases and repackages into one essentially in this vote. For example Progress/Progressed/Progress Live were all of the one era. What is the best era from the above for you?

I ask you to base your vote on the album quality, the singles, the promotion, the tours, the interviews, DVD releases, everything really.

I look forward to reading the various opinions, thoughts, agreements and disagreements.

Posted by: dylan62 Oct 5 2016, 06:44 PM

This is an easy decision for me. As much as I love the Circus era - fab album and an amazing tour, BW wins hands down. A brilliant comeback album full of wonderful songs, great promotion/marketing, a fantastic tour /DVD and a brilliant initial release in Patience. At this point they were also releasing quality B sides.

2006 was when I became a TT fan and for me the period when all four appeared strongest as a unit, to such an extent I never imagined that within 6 years the 2012 Olympics would be Jay's last public performance:(

Posted by: pippa Oct 5 2016, 08:10 PM

This is a tough decision as some of the era's were handled so well and executed brilliantly.

Beautiful World has great memories, the huge success of Patience was such a huge return to form and marked what was the start of a huge and memorable comeback. The ITV show (An audience with style) was excellent and what a fantastic way to promote the album. I remember Shine been performed and loving it and was so excited when i heard it would be the follow up to Patience. Shine going to number 1 showed that Patience was not a fluke success or successful for nostalgic reasons. Shine, again was a huge hit. The roaring success of the album cemented one of the greatest comeback ever and the demand for the tour cemented it even further. Excellent tour but looking back the staging was not as strong as what was to come down the line. Promotion was handled brilliantly, CD singles with excellent b sides, videos released in line with promotion and all was great. Then the questionable decision to release Id Wait for Life was a bit of a dampener on what was perfect up to that point.

The Beautiful World re-release was successful in its own right, catapulted what were already wonderful sales of the album and the killer single Rule the World to kick things off. Once again the era was back on track and ended in such great style with Rule the World becoming their most successful UK selling single ever.

The Circus was another great era but some cracks started to show in what would be long term future problems. The singles were starting to get a bit messy, promotion not tying together as strong as it had been with singles from Beautiful World. Greatest Day was handled very well but Up All Night could have been handled better and had this occured it would have reached top 10 status. Credit to the handling of Said it All, the different CD single versions greatly boosted its chart position, although i do believe it has a higher peak than Up All Night but sold less. No official fourth single although Hold Up a Light could have added to their collection of Top 20 Hits. The Circus album and live and unplugged version are wonderful, the Circus as an album is their best, the tour was amazing but the promotion and handling of singles was much weaker than Beautiful World.

Everything Changes again a wonderful era. The album that was their first Number 1 album and the album that housed their first UK number 1 single and 3 further chart toppers. Take That really became a household name in this era and Take That mania hit. They really promoted as much as they could for this era. Singles were much easier to handle back in these days as streaming, downlaoding wasnt around so i cant compare that fairly to the above two. The tour was excellent and from their first era together as band this was huge for them. I put this on the list as i felt some of the points needed to be mentioned but it doesn't hold the same place in my heart as Beautiful World and Circus era.

Now i must decide from Beautiful World and the Circus which i will vote for.

Posted by: dylan62 Oct 5 2016, 08:31 PM

Surprised you went for BW, Pippa. For some reason I expected you to vote for The Circus era. I'd forgotten about the Abbey Road release, wasn't that wonderful? If the Abbey Road DVD had aired on TV I've no doubt it would have had a massive impact on their album sales.

The reason I love the BW tour is actually the simplicity of it. Whilst there were some stand out moments the music took centre stage, and aside from the 'lap dance' section I adored every bit of that concert. The centre stage part with EC and CIBM was quite beautiful. I loved the production for RTW and in spite of my general dislike of RLMF the BW production is in my view their strongest live performance of that song. If you remember they also did the New Year show at the 02 which aired on TV - good promotion yet again. I loved An Audience With - my only issue was the dance routine for Shine. I thought it was cringe worthy and they certainly didn't look comfortable performing it. The show itself was fab and they all came across so well. That era was marketed superbly - I do wonder what's gone wrong since then?

Posted by: pippa Oct 6 2016, 01:25 PM

For certain the Beautiful World era was marketed superbly and i forgot to mention the New Year show at the 02 in my post. And again you have a very valid point about if the Abbey Road DVD had aired on TV it would have had a massive impact on their album sales, had this happened sales of the Circus would have increased a lot i believe.

You are jumping the gun dylan62!! wink.gif about me voting for Beautiful World Era, i still have not placed my vote as i am having an overall think as i have such great fondness for both era's from very different perspectives.

Posted by: milly Oct 6 2016, 02:27 PM

Beautiful World for me too. III may be my favorite album, followed closely by BW, but BW is definitely my favorite TT era, for a few reasons: the CIBM tour performance - mind blowing! -, An Audience with TT and the dvd documentary - the best and funniest they ever did. It helps that they won a couple of Brit Awards too, during that time smile.gif
I think they got everything right with the BW tour - the perfect balance between music and staging. It's with the Circus tour that they started to overdo it, in my opinion.

Posted by: dylan62 Oct 6 2016, 05:09 PM

Sorry Pippa. Someone voted and I assumed it was you because of your post. smile.gif

When it comes to tours TT have made a rod for their own back. The balance was right for the Ultimate Tour and BW Tour and The Circus tour was such a magnificently well constructed show that it didn't necessarily over shadow the music. The problem did however stem from that tour. Because the production was so immense they assumed that people would expect bigger and better with each tour and they're now stuck with a dilemma. Do they go for a massive production because many come to see them for that very reason, or do they tone it down and possibly risk the wrath of those expecting a big show?

The balance wasn't right with Progress and in hind sight I don't think it was for III either. Hyde Park demonstrated that they could perform to a large crowd without a huge production. That show was rather muted production wise, some dancers but limited dance routines. What they did very cleverly was to up the light show which looked so beautiful as night fell.

I think the anniversary show will have a huge production. If they tour before that I'd like them to go for a more simple acoustic set /production as a contrast to other tours. The SISYL tour proved that fans/general public will love the show if the music is right. Gary's show was understated aside from the gorgeous suspended lights - it goes to show they don't need an elaborate set.

Posted by: pippa Oct 7 2016, 01:43 PM

After much consideration i voted Beautiful World as the all round package with everything considered was the best really. I do believe they will go all out for the anniversary tour with production, staging, set list and entertainment value. I would hope Robbie does not get as much influence as he did with the Progress production.

Posted by: milly Oct 7 2016, 03:30 PM

QUOTE(pippa @ Oct 7 2016, 04:43 PM) *
After much consideration i voted Beautiful World as the all round package with everything considered was the best really. I do believe they will go all out for the anniversary tour with production, staging, set list and entertainment value. I would hope Robbie does not get as much influence as he did with the Progress production.


I don't think we have to worry about that too much:


"Robbie says when he tours he will take his family on the road but on the topic of his old Take That bandmates, he says he’s not sure when he will return."
“I’m agoraphobic so I’m a lone wolf — which sounds appealing but isn’t. I do have an email relationship with the boys but a friendship? There’s an eternal bond that will go on until we all pass away but I’m not friends with anybody apart from the wife and the kids.”

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/1928046/robbie-williams-speaks-about-his-battle-with-depression-and-drugs-ahead-of-new-album-release/

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever Oct 9 2016, 12:20 AM

Some great points and great to read and while i do agree Beautiful World was handled excellently the Circus era just pips it for me. The album itself for me is stronger as was the tour but it was the live and unplugged release that sealed the vote for me as i love that album and i totally agree had it been televised the album could have got even more sales.

Posted by: pippa Oct 10 2016, 01:09 PM

I wonder did they try to have any of it televised. If it had been televised in prime time viewing it would have had a hugely positive effect on the album. The Circus era as Beautiful World were just so strong and they were riding on the crest of a wave. Their is a part of me that misses those glory days but i always knew it would come to an end as that level of success can only last so long.

Posted by: jay727 Oct 11 2016, 09:46 PM

This is difficult, but I went with Circus. Their promotion, the singles, album and the tour were all magnificent.
I feel this is the album where they all started to feel at ease with each other and relaxed knowing they had a fan base out there still. Sales were incredible across the board too, and the live album and DVD were record breakers.

BW was close, but for me, Circus edges it.

Posted by: pippa Oct 12 2016, 01:16 PM

Excellent point about the Circus era and the guys been very comfortable with each other. Beautiful World in a sense took them by huge surprise but with the Circus they had a chance to cement their popularity and they did that magnificently and were also more used of been back in the limelight on a huge scale.

The Circus was such a wonderful era but the handling of the singles slightly annoyed me outside of Greatest Day. I really felt and still believe if the singles were handled slightly better they would have been bigger hits, i make special reference to Up All Night.

Beautiful World album outsold The Circus, i feel Beautiful World had more TV exposure than the Circus did. That said, the Circus DVD remains their biggest selling DVD by far and was a massive success for them and to my knowledge is one of the biggest selling music DVDs of all time.

Posted by: jay727 Oct 12 2016, 02:35 PM

Absolutely. I also like what they did with Said it All, releasing 3 versions of the single with different perks on each. Very clever marketing!

Posted by: pippa Oct 12 2016, 04:30 PM

Indeed Said It All was handled wonderfully well. Said It All seems hugely popular with many fans and is always welcomed greatly on tour, i like the song but i thought there were other songs that would have been better single choices.

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever Oct 16 2016, 10:52 PM

I like Said it all a lot more than i used to but i would still have picked Hold up a light as single over it. Julie is also another song i love of the album that i rate above Said it all but said it all has aged really well, its a song that sounds like its still very modern and could have been released this year.

Posted by: milly Oct 17 2016, 05:07 PM

For me, the Circus era would have competed with the BW one if it hadn't been for the album itself. I know I'm in minority here, but I think that's their weakest album since their comeback. Said It All is easily the best song on the album, for me, followed by You, Sleepwalking and Circus; I do enjoy Hello, The Garden and She Said as well, but I feel like the tracks on other albums are better than the ones on The Circus.
In terms of sales and success, however, it's easily one of my favorite eras smile.gif

Posted by: pippa Oct 17 2016, 07:00 PM

It would have been lovely if the people that voted for Progress, Three and Nobody else left some opinions and points explaining why they voted for those particular eras.

Posted by: milly Oct 18 2016, 06:18 AM

I think Elizabeth voted for Progress biggrin.gif Because Robbie was in TT tongue.gif

It would be nice to see why some people voted for III.
As you all know, III is my favorite TT album, but it was definitely not my favorite TT era. Aside from the lead single and the tour, everything else was a mess.

Posted by: Laura130262 Oct 18 2016, 12:56 PM

No I voted for Progress. smile.gif i didn't own any TT albums before it and yes because of it I bought Beautiful World smile.gif which i also enjoyed.

The Progress era for me was very special. Two fanbases coming together in celebration of a real "moment" in UK pop music. I loved the era for the friendship, the forgiveness, a brilliant show on the tour and an album which I absolutely love. Wait, The Flood, Kidz and the exquisite Eight Letters wub.gif are my favourite. I play Progress often. smile.gif

Posted by: pippa Oct 18 2016, 03:23 PM

Laura130262, thank you for posting your reasons behind your vote. I can understand all your points as it was a big occasion that they had finally re-united after all that happened through the years.

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever Oct 20 2016, 12:38 AM

The hype around progress was huge and also the same for the single before we knew what it was. I loved their first performance of the Flood on the X Factor, it was really epic. Progress has some great moments but the album is great in parts and not so great in others for me, its an album i feel has dated very quickly with the exception of a few songs. I have to say the flood is one of my favourite songs ever by them.

Posted by: pippa Mar 2 2017, 05:19 PM

Can the upcoming Wonderland ever get a look in, in the future in polls like this, based on how everything is going far, the most likely answer is no cry.gif

Posted by: slowdown73 Mar 2 2017, 10:55 PM

Three is my favourite era. The album is great from start to finish. No fillers.

Posted by: jay727 Mar 3 2017, 09:07 AM

I just love BW. Every song is classic TT, and to have Patience, Shine and RTW on it shows it's something special

Posted by: mr_pmt Mar 3 2017, 12:01 PM

BW would have been such a perfect era if they'd released 'Reach Out' instead of 'I'd Wait For Life'. I still can't believe that. blink.gif Mindless.

Posted by: milly Mar 3 2017, 12:29 PM

Slowdown, in terms of the album, III is my favorite era as well - I love most of the songs on that album and especially WYBTFM. But, like I said, in terms of promotion and everything else, BW beats it for me.

Pippa, I think if we had a poll of worst TT era, at the moment, Wonderland could top it laugh.gif I'm hoping it can only get better, cause I can't see how it can possibly get any worse- is there something less of 0 promotion? The only saving grace for me, so far, has been the b-side, Loving or Leaving (although I'm still trying to figure out the lyrics biggrin.gif ).

Posted by: pippa Mar 3 2017, 04:59 PM

Yes i would fear the same for Wonderland as it has got off to such a bad start with the performance of Giants. That said, Sure was a terrible start to Nobody Else and looked what happened after, 2 of their most iconic singles. Until i hear the new material i will hope something like this will happen.

At this point, i am not even confident the album will make number 1. I partially expect it to enter at number 2 behind Ed Sheeran holding number 1 for a third week.

Posted by: jay727 Mar 4 2017, 12:00 PM

In fairness, Giants (although it should and COULD have gone higher), still went in at top 15 with zero promo, but I am starting to be a little worried for Wonderland's position.

Realistically it should have 40k already in the bag from the presale. Are there signed copies being released too? I'm hoping Ed is very front loaded this week and then is around the 50/60k mark when TT release

Posted by: milly Mar 4 2017, 01:35 PM

Yes, Gary said there are signed boxsets of Wonderland - well, I remember him saying something about the boxset, I might have imagined the signed part tongue.gif

I'm worried too about Wonderland sad.gif

It seems Ed has sold over 200k in just one day blink.gif

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever Mar 4 2017, 06:14 PM

I expect Ed sheeran to have huge sales this week so that should help Take That when they challenge for number 1. Im hoping they can get another number 1 but its hard to know if they will do it, i really hope they have some promotion for the album release week.

Posted by: jay727 Mar 5 2017, 11:47 AM

Good to see that progress still holds higher first day sales than Ed though.

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever Mar 5 2017, 07:40 PM

Ya and not many will ever beat that.

Looking back, the beautiful world and circus eras were just so great, i kind of miss the days of Take That been huge.

Posted by: TomboOnBroadway Apr 25 2018, 04:30 AM

I agree with Laura, it has got to be Progress. It was amazing having all five members in the band and I enjoyed the singles that were released.

Posted by: Sydney11 Apr 25 2018, 06:12 AM

Progress for me also... I am not really familiar with any of the others .... best song for me is Never Forget

Posted by: jay727 Apr 28 2018, 08:56 PM

Circus was the best era I think. Everything came together for them during it: the album, singles, tour, live performances, etc

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever May 1 2018, 03:27 PM

The ultimate collection era was great too as it's success was so unexpected,at the time I was expecting a possible top 10 and fall and at most sell 100,000 largely nostalgia sales. How wrong I was and then the BW era came and was even bigger,hard to believe that both combined raked up 5 million UK sales.

Posted by: pippa May 3 2018, 04:02 PM

The sales for both those albums and the 2 follow ups were really incredible.

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever May 23 2018, 01:34 AM

Ya I miss the days of them getting such huge sales.

Posted by: pippa May 23 2018, 03:03 PM

We all knew it could never last but the sharpness of the decline was what i found the hardest.

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever May 31 2018, 01:02 AM

Ya it was sharp I really did think it would be a case where sales would drop to a million then 600,000 type drop not 2.3 million down to 500,000 and even worse that wonderland has sold less than the live albums.

Posted by: nirvanamusic May 31 2018, 12:58 PM

Obviously I'm a fan and don't mean to re-open old wounds, however I really feel it was all down to the Tax avoidance publicity in 2012. I had also thought they would naturally go to 1 mill or 600,000 but not such a drop.

To give them some credit they are doing okay within the actual current sales climate, as by far there are fewer acts going platinum than in previous years. Wonderland just missed the year end top ten though has sunk like a stone since.

Posted by: pippa May 31 2018, 06:09 PM

When the overall picture is reviewed they are still doing extremely well. The decline in sales did occur around the tax avoidance time and it is likely to have an affect. For others Take That as 3 didnt work. These factors mixed the natural decline in sales does account for a lot of the lost sales. That said, their last 2 albums have been missing the big ballad single which is something i strongly feel has contributed to less interest in their albums.

Overall they are holding up well and their tours are still a big event.


Posted by: Feel_The_Fever Jun 2 2018, 09:40 PM

The big ballad was really needed for the wonderland album, i do like Giants but it wasnt a strong enough song to capture big album sales.

Posted by: ebae Jun 3 2018, 03:16 PM

The thing is I think a lot of people would rather pay less tax so if some one was presented with a way to pay less tax, I reckon most people would take it.

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever Jun 3 2018, 09:32 PM

That's very true but I think people took offence due to the credits Gary in particular got for his charity work.

Posted by: pippa Jun 4 2018, 02:08 PM

That mainly does seem to have been the problem, as some people wanted Gary stripped of his OBE.

Posted by: jay727 Jun 5 2018, 07:36 PM

I also feel the journalist framed the story around Gary, where there were a lot of other people involved.

I also agreed about Giants - a big balled could have done wonders. I cant see the next single from GH being a ballad either though.

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever Jun 5 2018, 10:52 PM

If its not a ballad it needs to be anthemic like never forget or the flood.

Posted by: pippa Jun 6 2018, 08:31 PM

Yes either would be wonderful but it is likely if Robbie is back for the new single to promote the Greatest Hits it will be something experimental is the direction i see it going in. The last few releases from Take That are all very different and i feel that trend will continue.

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever Jun 9 2018, 02:29 AM

I hope not, i really want a good strong ballad for the next single.

Posted by: pippa Aug 30 2018, 11:53 AM

Close vote with the 3 of the albums unless we have any further votes to come.

Posted by: Tawdry Hepburn Aug 30 2018, 12:16 PM

I’m tempted to say as an era Beautiful World, but releasing ‘I’d Wait For Life’ instead of ‘Reach Out’ completely and utterly marred it.

Posted by: All★bySmashMouth Aug 30 2018, 01:02 PM

'Progress' era. Partly because of the music but the moment of having to see all 5 together in 2010 (the only era since reforming) was also a wonderful time for TT fans and it can never be forgotten.

Edit: Ah, just realised this thread was almost two years ago. Oh well, 'Wonderland' won't be my favourite era.

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