With the return of the prodigal son – otherwise known as Robbie Williams - to the Take That fold being compared to the second coming, their first album as a quintet in over a dozen years was always going to be a pivotal moment in the boyband’s 20-year career. It’s certainly a lot different from anything they’ve previously attempted and – as a result – for those who lapped up the Beatles-esque pop choruses on Circus, Progress might prove something of a challenge.
In fact, it sounds a lot like a recent Robbie Williams album (Rudebox anyone?), produced as it is to within an inch of its life by electro master Stuart Price. Every tune here is constructed, layered and processed, with little sense of organic songwriting at play. Thus, while many have already hailed it as a daring, ambitious and, ummm, progressive sounding record, it sounds to me more like a clever, well put together blend of Euro-disco grooves and arena rock textures, with a nod to Scissor Sisters glam (‘Happy Now’) and even some Gorillaz-style experimentalism.
No matter. The single ‘The Flood’, with its compelling chorus, has already proved the enduring appeal of the fab five and Williams takes the lead vocal on several other highlights here, including the catchy ‘Kidz’ and the Pet Shop Boys-influenced ‘Underground Machine’, where he declares unashamedly, “You’re in the room with a rock star/ What a beast, what a man”.
Elsewhere Williams duets with Gary Barlow on ‘Pretty Things’, which works quite brilliantly, while Barlow himself takes the lead on another highlight, album closer ‘Eight Letters’, one of few ballads on a surprisingly upbeat record. As Eamon Dunphy might say: a good record. But not a great one.
KEY TRACK: ‘THE FLOOD’