After hearing
Take That's aptly-titled sixth album
Progress—a set of tracks that finds the lads pursuing more upbeat, dance-pop material than they have since their first record—it's become apparent that the LP's first single
"The Flood" is hardly representative of the rest of the contents. In fact, it falls in line more with the sweeping, lush balladry that Take That 2.0 served up on their previous two albums. And maybe that's the point—a bridge from where they've been to where they're at now.
Either way, the That find themselves in the same predicament in November 2010 that they were in this same month in 2007—held off the
#1 position on the UK chart by a young pop tartlet.
Three years ago it was
Leona Lewis' worldwide smash "Bleeding Love" that kept the man band's
Stardust jam "Rule The World" at bay for several weeks. This time around it's
Rihanna's
"Only Girl (In The World)"—now in the top spot for a second week—that has forced "The Flood" to come in at
#2.
Hindsight is more than often 20/20, but I wish the utterly fantastic "Happy Now," which is set to be the follow-up to "The Flood," had been the first offering from
Progress. It would have at least given Rihanna something a bit more up-tempo to contend with. Oh, well.
Speaking of that November 2007 time period, that was the last time we saw a single from
Shayne Ward—his fluttering handclap-heavy ballad "Breathless"—dent the UK chart. Sadly, while that one
got to #6, Shayne's cover of
Nickelback's
"Gotta Be Somebody" stumbles in at
#12 this week. Even after his
X Factor performance last week.
It will be interesting to see how Ward's
Obsession album performs this coming week after its release tomorrow. The ballads on it are good for the most part, but, Jesus—only three up-tempo songs?
Like I said, it's not a bad LP. In fact, there are some really amazing moments on it (and a few clunky ones, too). Who knows, maybe I'll wax philosophical on them in a proper review post tonight or tomorrow. Or maybe I'll just go look at
this or
this and have a wank...again.
The U.K. Top 10:
1. "Only Girl (In The World)" -
Rihanna *2 weeks* 2. "The Flood" -
Take That *new* 3. "Firework" -
Katy Perry 4. "Shine A Light" -
McFly feat. Taio Cruz *new* 5. "Happiness" -
Alexis Jordan 6. "Cooler Than Me" -
Mike Posner 7. "Promise This" -
Cheryl Cole 8. "Just The Way You Are" -
Bruno Mars 9. "Make You Feel My Love" -
Adele 10. "F**K You" -
Cee Lo Green
