Take That
Nobody Else

There are actions that defy all logic. Today I want to talk to you again about the TT. Those who may not like it have two choices: in the top right corner you have a little cross, click it and it will all be over. Or in the top left there’s an arrow labeled "back", click it and you'll have the feeling that this was just a bad dream.

We are in 1995. After a rather poor album ("Take That and Party", 1992) and a more than encouraging second one ("Everything Changes", 1994), comes worldwide consecration. A launch worth of a space shuttle announces that the Fab Five are back in the studio, and "Nobody Else" is released, seen by them as the album of maturity, by me as the swan song of their career. The last collection of studio originals, "Nobody Else" is a more intimate, less shouted CD than the previous two. All the songs bear the signature and voice of Gary Barlow, increasingly the leader of a quintet that seemed to have fingertips made of the philosopher's stone, such was the amount of gold that came forth with each of their touches on anything. Note, not all tracks on this CD are noteworthy; in fact, pleasant listening episodes are paired with questionable pop-dance experiments.

But more than the songs, the genius is in the cover. In it, a single shot encloses their entire story: from the 5 dolls with their likenesses that drove little girls crazy (and not only them), a merchandising experiment later repeated with Spice Girls and Nsync, to personal objects of the five that fans recognize at first glance. There's Mark’s shell necklace that he wears in the "Pray" video and the one Jason wore in the early photoshoots of almost their beginnings, the official fan club badge, and a dolphin pendant that evokes Mark's tattoo. Scattered in a kind of memory box are a series of objects and memorabilia meant to be a bridge to their past. The inner booklet is a photo album, with the lyrics printed on translucent sheets that are placed between the pages. Illegible... but certainly impactful.

11 tracks that follow a fluctuating pattern, from serious to playful. Who among you has never listened once in life to "Back for Good"? This song, which became their manifesto and the anthem of all fans, is here, at number two, after "Sure" which was the lead single (the choreography unforgettable), and before one of their ugliest songs "Every Guy". The title track is Gary's tribute to the concept of eternal love; it was said to have been written in homage to the solid marriage of his parents, seen by him as an example and model. The track that bridges this album and their entire career is number 5, "Never Forget". The video is a declaration of love for Italy, composed of snippets from their Italian tour footage, onstage and backstage. The lyrics are a reminder never to forget one's roots, to always be grateful to life for considering themselves lucky guys. No doubt marketing, more than music, dominated them from start to finish, and many read in these words a "premonition" of Robbie Williams' departure. Precisely to him who, in the final verses before the chorus, punctuates "we’re not invincible", appears to be dedicated "don’t forget where we came from, don’t pretend it's not true, soon this will be someone else's dream". The single that duly came out concurrently with Robbie's announcement of pursuing another life, leaving the suspicion that it was all orchestrated. Surely, it was a bigger advertisement than could ever be had from traditional media, if newscasts went so far as to include in the summary the tears of girls upset by the skirmishes of the 5 Englishmen.

After this, a handful of non-memorable songs until the symphonic, and perhaps somewhat presumptuous "Holding Back the Tears", defined by all as Gary's "Careless Whispers". There’s no mystery that George Michael and Elton John were always his models, and here it shows indeed. Take That bid farewell to fans like this, with eleven "episodes" destined to remain, until today, unique. After this, an unnecessary greatest hits, and the farewell in worldwide broadcast. An apparently impregnable castle that crumbles at the first attack, or the desire to mature alone pushes them on February 13, 1996, to leave the spotlight.

Judgment is left to posterity: fools? Misunderstood geniuses? Pathetic? Irresistible? It’s all a matter of opinions. Unassailable, however, are the gold records, the ocean of people who followed and continue to follow them, the pulverized sales records, the megagalactic tours. Idiots or gods?

For me, friends, companions of a beautiful piece of life, and dispensers of crystal dreams, pure and fragile. Because it's true that sooner or later you grow up, but childhood friends are those you never want to forget.