Beautiful World (Take That album)
Beautiful World is the fourth studio album by the British pop group Take That. Released on 24 November 2006, and was the band's first studio album in 11 years; it was also the band's first album to be released as a four-piece instead of classic five-piece, which without Robbie Williams, who had quit the group in 1995 and did not rejoin them until 2010. Five singles were released from the album: "Patience", "Shine", "I'd Wait for Life", the European-only single "Reach Out", and "Rule the World", which appeared on the deluxe tour edition.
Beautiful World | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 24 November 2006 | |||
Recorded | 2006 | |||
Studio | ||||
Genre | Pop rock | |||
Length | 47:46 | |||
Label | Polydor | |||
Producer | John Shanks | |||
Take That chronology | ||||
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Singles from Beautiful World | ||||
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Album information
The album features what Take That describe as "a throwback to the 90s, but with a modern twist". Beautiful World is their first album in which every member of the band sings lead vocals on at least one song. The album was number one in Ireland and the UK and was very well received critically. To date the album has sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide (including 2,850,000 in the UK alone, as of July 2016).[1] The album was the 2nd best selling of 2006 in the UK, after only being on sale for one month. The album was also the 4th best selling album of 2007, and 33rd best selling of 2008.
The album has spent a total of 132 weeks (2 years and seven months) in the UK top 100.[2] The album has been certified 9× Platinum in the UK, and as of 2014 is the 32nd best selling album in British music history.[3]
Critical reception
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [4] |
BBC Music | positive[5] |
Digital Spy | [6] |
Entertainment.ie | [7] |
The Guardian | [8] |
The Observer | [9] |
Two weeks before the official UK release of Beautiful World, iTunes UK made the album available for pre-order. It immediately shot up the online music store's Top Albums list, peaking at number 1 on the day of the release. In December 2006, Take That became the only act to secure a #1 position in the download chart, UK albums chart, singles chart, airplay chart and the video chart.[10] The album received overwhelming positive reception from across the media, all praising the new musical direction that Take That had taken.
- InTheNews.co.uk
The album doesn't try for anything too dramatic and oozes with their obvious joy and gratitude at being back at the top of their game. Hearing Gary's voice on the majority of the tracks is a comforting reminder of times past, but having the other three as lead singers provides a refreshing change, with Jason Orange's Wooden Boat standing out particularly.
- MusicRemedy.com
The songs are varied and more reflective than their previous work evoking the struggles to stick together and time passing. Their amazing comeback single 'Patience' jostles for prominence amongst a string of epic opening tracks including 'Reach Out' and 'Hold On' (Mark on lead vocal). Then there are the beautiful ballads 'Like I've Never Loved You At All', stand out track 'I'd Wait For Life' and the pensive 'What You Believe In'. The album gets its really interesting twist with the Beatles-esque 'Shine' and the folk-tinged 'Wooden Boat', with Jason taking his first lead vocal.
Accolades
The lead single from the album, "Patience", won 'Best British Single' at the 2007 BRIT Awards[11] and the second single "Shine" won 'Best British Single' at the 2008 BRIT Awards a year later.[12]
Singles
- "Patience" was released on 13 November 2006 as the first single from the album. The single peaked at the top of the UK Singles Chart, and also topped the charts in Germany, Spain and Switzerland, as well as peaking with the top ten of the charts in Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Austria and Sweden. The song also won the Best British Single Award at the 2007 BRIT Awards and was voted The Record of the Year for 2006, polling 15.5% of the final vote.
- "Shine" was released on 26 February 2007 as the second single from the album. The single peaked at #1 on the UK Singles Chart, and also peaked within the top ten in many other countries.
- "I'd Wait for Life" was released in the United Kingdom on 18 June 2007. The song became the band's first single to miss the top ten since 1992's "I Found Heaven", and ended the band's streak of six consecutive number ones. One week before the official release, the single charted at 109 on the UK Singles Chart, but jumped to number 17 after the single's official release. It slipped out of the Top 40 the second week. Since, it is rarely played during the band's live shows.
- "Reach Out" was released as the album's fourth single on 22 June 2007. The track was released exclusively in Europe, as an alternative to the British-only single "I'd Wait for Life". It performed well across Europe, peaking inside the top twenty in the Danish charts and narrowly missing the top ten in the Italian charts, peaking at #11. No official music video was produced for the release, although, the Italian division of Universal Music ran a competition for people to produce a music video based on the song, and the winning entry, directed by Alisha Antylla, was aired once on Total Request Live on MTV Italy.
- "Rule the World" was released on 21 October 2007 as the fifth and final single from the album, appearing on the Deluxe tour edition as one of three bonus tracks. The song was recorded for the soundtrack of the 2007 film Stardust. The single peaked at #2 on the UK Singles Chart, being held off the top spot by Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love", it became the fifth best selling single of 2007.
Track listing
All tracks are written by Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Howard Donald and Jason Orange, and produced by John Shanks, additional songwriters are noted below.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Reach Out" | John Shanks | Barlow | 4:16 |
2. | "Patience" | Shanks | Barlow | 3:20 |
3. | "Beautiful World" | Steve Robson | Donald | 4:25 |
4. | "Hold On" | Shanks | Owen | 3:56 |
5. | "Like I Never Loved You at All" | Shanks | Barlow | 3:44 |
6. | "Shine" | Robson | Owen | 3:31 |
7. | "I'd Wait for Life" | Barlow | 4:34 | |
8. | "Ain't No Sense in Love" | Billy Mann | Barlow | 3:51 |
9. | "What You Believe In" | Anders Bagge | Owen | 4:32 |
10. | "Mancunian Way" | Eg White | Donald | 3:48 |
11. | "Wooden Boat" | Mann | Orange | 3:07 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
12. | "Butterfly" (hidden track) | Shanks | Barlow | 3:42 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
12. | "Butterfly" | Shanks | Barlow | 3:42 |
13. | "6 in the Morning Fool" | Mann | Barlow | 3:36 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
12. | "Butterfly" | Shanks | Barlow | 3:42 |
13. | "Beautiful Morning" ("Patience" B-side) |
| Barlow | 3:37 |
14. | "We All Fall Down" | Robson | Owen | 3:47 |
15. | "Rule the World" | Barlow | 4:58 |
No. | Title | Director | Length |
---|---|---|---|
16. | "Patience" | David Mould | 3:22 |
17. | "Shine" | Justin Dickel | 3:31 |
18. | "I'd Wait for Life" | Sean de Sparengo | 4:33 |
19. | "Rule the World" | Barney Clay | 4:58 |
20. | "The Making of Beautiful World" | Sean de Sparengo | 30:00 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
21. | "Trouble with Me" ("Shine”/“Patience" B-side) | Shanks | Barlow | 3:22 |
22. | "We Love to Entertain You" ("Shine" B-side) | Shanks | Barlow | 3:14 |
23. | "We All Fall Down" (acoustic) ("I'd Wait for Life"/"Reach Out" B-side) | Robson | 3:50 | |
24. | "Stay Together" ("Rule the World" B-side) | Shanks | Owen | 4:00 |
Personnel
Musicians
- Gary Barlow – vocals, piano
- John Shanks – bass guitar, guitar, keyboards
- Jeff Rothschild – drums
- Jake Davies (track 3), Jamie Muhoberac (3, 8, 13 "Beautiful Morning") – additional keyboards
- Grace Donald (Howard's daughter) – additional vocals (track 10)
- L. Shankar – electric violin (track 11)
- London Session Orchestra (except track 15), Millennia Ensemble (track 15) – strings
- Gavyn Wright – leader
- Steve Robson – piano (track 23)
- Luke Potashnick – guitar (track 23)
- Karl Brazil – percussion (track 23)
- Matthew Ward and Phil Shepherd – strings (track 23)
Production
- John Shanks – producer
- Shari Sutcliffe – production coordinator
- Jeff Rothschild – recording and mixing engineer
- Robin Baynton, Chris Bolster, Andrew Dudman, Jake Jackson, Lewis Jones, Sam Jones, Mike Horner – assistant engineers
- Will Malone – strings arranger
- Steve Robson – producer (track 23)
- Richard Flack – recording and mixing engineer (track 23)
- Lars Fox – digital editor
- Ted Jensen – mastering engineer
Charts
Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
|
Certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[34] | Platinum | 40,000^ |
Germany (BVMI)[35] | Platinum | 200,000^ |
Ireland (IRMA)[36] | 2× Platinum | 30,000^ |
Italy (FIMI)[37] | Gold | 40,000* |
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[38] | Gold | 15,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI)[39] | 9× Platinum | 2,850,000[1] |
Summaries | ||
Europe (IFPI)[40] | 3× Platinum | 3,000,000* |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Release history
Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalogue # |
---|---|---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 27 November 2006 | Polydor | CD | 1715551[41] |
Taiwan | 27 November 2006 | Universal International | CD | U171651-0[42] |
China | 27 November 2006 | Universal International | CD | TY0191C[43] |
Japan | 27 November 2006 | Universal International | CD | UICP-1078 |
United States | 4 December 2006[44] | Universal | CD | – |
United Kingdom | 12 November 2007 | Polydor | CD + DVD | 1747133[45] |
References
- Myers, Justin (7 July 2016). "Flashback: Take That's comeback album Beautiful World is 10 years old". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
- "The Official Charts Company - Beautiful World by Take That Search". The Official Charts Company. 6 May 2013. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014.
- "Queen's Greatest Hits becomes first album to sell 6 million copies in the UK".
- Beautiful World at AllMusic
- "Music – Review of Take That – Beautiful World". BBC. 27 November 2006. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- "Digital Spy review". Archived from the original on 4 April 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-11.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
- "Entertainment.ie review". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-14.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
- Petridis, Alexis (24 November 2006). "Take That, Beautiful World". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
- "Take That, Beautiful World". The Observer. 10 December 2006. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
- Take That Biography 2007 | Take That|Biography Archived 7 April 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- "Brit Awards Winners 2007".
- "Take That win Best British Single award at the Brit Awards , News". NME. UK. 20 February 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- "Australiancharts.com – Take That – Beautiful World". Hung Medien.
- "Austriancharts.at – Take That – Beautiful World" (in German). Hung Medien.
- "Ultratop.be – Take That – Beautiful World" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
- "Danishcharts.dk – Take That – Beautiful World". Hung Medien.
- "Dutchcharts.nl – Take That – Beautiful World" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
- "Hits of the World - Eurochart". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 16 December 2006. p. 59. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
- "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
- "IFPI.gr – Take That – Beautiful World". IFPI Greece. 5 January 2007. Archived from the original on 5 January 2007. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
- "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 45, 2006". Chart-Track. IRMA.
- "Italiancharts.com – {{{artist}}} – {{{album}}}". Hung Medien.
- (in Japanese). Oricon Oricon Archive -=ロビー・ウィリアムスのアルバム売上ランキング http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/106788/ranking/cd_album/ Oricon Archive -=ロビー・ウィリアムスのアルバム売上ランキング Check
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value (help). Retrieved 1 July 2014. Missing or empty|title=
(help) - "Norwegiancharts.com – Take That – Beautiful World". Hung Medien.
- "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100 - Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com.
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- "Swisscharts.com – Take That – Beautiful World". Hung Medien.
- "Western Weekly Top 20, Week 2, 2007" (in Chinese). G-Music.com. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
- "Take That | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart.
- http://www.bpi.co.uk/assets/files/Yearly%20best%20sellers%20-%20albums.pdf BPI Best Selling Album Archive.
- "Offizielle Deutsche Charts - Offizielle Deutsche Charts".
- "End of Year Album Chart Top 100 - 2007 | Official Charts Company".
- "Guld og platin i november | ifpi.dk" (in Danish). IFPI Danmark. 12 December 2007. Retrieved 23 July 2011.
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- "IFPI Platinum Europe Awards – 2008". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
- "Take That Beautiful World UK CD ALBUM (380442)". Eil.com. 6 November 2006. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
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- "Beautiful World: Take That: Music". 4 December 2006. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
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