Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 28/11/05
Label: SonyBMG

Sadly, pop bands never come to a happy end. And the bigger the band, the more painful the split. Anyone watching the recent Take That documentary, couldn't help but feel at least a twinge of sadness. Robbie Williams didn't attend the reunion admitting that ten years on he still couldn't be in a room with Gary Barlow. Gary flinched every time Robbie's name was mentioned and the others - Mark, Howard, Jason - looked lost, like they'd never really gotten over it.

It was a depressing way to celebrate the band which changed the face of the UK charts. And a decade on, with Williams now an omnipresent national treasure, it's easy to forget just how big Take That actually were. Remember, when they split The Samaritans had to set-up a hotline to console suicidal fans. How many bands can claim that?

So as much as it's a timely cash-in on the anniversary of Take That's passing, "Never Forget: The Ultimate Collection", is a reminder that there's more to their legacy than just discovering Britain's favourite entertainer. In a depressed post-Stock Aitken And Waterman world, overloaded with faceless Euro-dance, they provided a focus and excitement not seen since Wham! Yet, like Wham!, their catalogue of credible pop wasn't always quite so credible.

Gary Barlow may have matured into the songwriter who penned the undeniably perfect "Back For Good", but their Best Of isn't without painful moments. Listening to the hideous hi-energy naffness of early singles "Promises" and "Once You've Tasted Love", Barlow's talent is, at best, hard to spot.

Thankfully such embarrassments are few and far between. Barlow's writing improved just as quickly as Take That's star rose, and for the most part "Never Forget" is a pop master class. At the time the likes of "Pray", "Babe" and "Why Can't I Wake Up With You", may have been tainted by the tweeness of hysterical girls waving "Mark I Love You" banners, but ten years on they all still stand-up. Even the dated production and Gary's overly earnest delivery can't get in the way.

But it's the tracks from third album, "Nobody Else", which are the true musts. As well as "Back For Good" and penultimate single "Never Forget", the album provided one of pop's most underrated songs, "Sure". A slick swing beat groove which cruised to their most contagious chorus, it's worth the price of "Never Forget" on its own. Which is more than can be said of unreleased track "Today I Lost You". Written as the follow-up to "Back For Good", it suggests that they were right to call it a day when they did. To go out on a high.

No doubt Gary Barlow would gladly swap his career high for Robbie's, but he should take solace in the fact that, while many boybands have tried, none have come close to a collection of songs as good as this.

    by Dan Gennoe