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| The sound of sucessful old bands |
Boy bandTake That have made theircomebackcomplete with their first UK number one single in more than a decade.
'Patience' climbed to the top spot after landing at number four a week ago based ondownload salesalone.
The group's first number one was the hit 'Pray' in 1993. Take Thatsplit upthree years later but not before they hadamasseda hugefan base, sold more than 15 million records andscoredeight number one hits.
Robbie Williams went on to become even more successful as asolo artistafter he left the band but, for the others, their days as Take That members continued to be their mainclaim to fame.
Today, Take That joins a growing number of bands who havere-formedor who arere-releasingprevious hits. Inthe album chartsthis week, Irish boy band Westlifefended off competitionfrom Oasis, U2 and the Beatles to take the top slot with The Love Album. All four of these bands have been together (or in the case of the Beatles were together) for many years. In fact, together, these bands have been making music for almost 50 years.
The rest of the current top ten featuresgreatest hits collectionsfrom Jamiroquai, George Michael and Girls Aloud, meaning that Razorlight'sself-titledalbum is the only top 10 album consisting of new material.
So what's the attraction of all these re-worked and re-released songs? Why do people buytracksthey've bought before? For many fans it's a chance to relive their teenage years, to remember and celebrate the early years of their music buying lives.
But why do the singers keep performing the same material year after year? Thecynicsamongst you might think it's all just another way for them to make more money for less work. But 61 year-old Rod Stewart, whose latest album has recently gone to number one in the USA, disagrees. He continues to sing the same songs that he's sung for more than 20 years because, he says, "it's like swimming underwater, it's like diving. You know total freedom. Theoutlet, the emotionaloutletwhen you're singing is the most wonderful feeling."
