There's Progress now...

It's confession time.

Take That are my guilty pleasure. I had been waiting for this album delivered at home via Amazon for weeks (yes, I'm a real saddo!) and when I finally found it on my doorstep on Monday morning I was overjoyed (it doesn’t take much to make me happy!). Unfortunately the case was cracked (oh dear!) but the CD played without any problems, and the nice people at Amazon are sending me a replacement. I had my reservations about Progress, but was quite impressed after the first listen. It is probably Take That’s must relevant and mature record and definitely a change from the ballads and Gary’s vocals of old, but the stomping anthems of SOS (no, it’s not an Abba cover!) and Kidz make up for that. The quality of lyrics on the album is increasingly mature and even profound - who'd have thought it! The Flood, Pretty Things, Flowerbed and Eight Letters are beautifully written with some rousing piano and strings and the former. What do you want from me, is probably the most surprising track, reminiscent of Marks solo material. All in all a real surprise, I wasn't sure about Robbie Williams coming back into the fold but he adds an extra dimension tonally which somehow completes the sound!

Saying that, I can understand why some fans might be disappointed. Take That fans are used to a particular style, a particular sound - upbeat pop, lush sweeping ballads - and those are few and far between on this album. But the title is apt - Take That as a band HAVE progressed, and are still progressing. Their latest mature sound is a lot way from the cheesy pop of their very early days. This album seems very much an attempt to position themselves in a more indie/rock scene, and I for one like it.

The BBC described it as "the strangest, most ambitious and most exciting record its creators have ever been involved in" and I'd say that pretty much sums it up for me.

This Is It!

I was so lucky to win Michael Jackson's last “performance”, This Is It, on blue-ray disc from notSupermum. I missed the movie at the cinema as I was in Italy and I couldn’t wait to watch it on dvd. But on blue-ray it is even better! I watched it on Saturday evening together with my daughter and it was fantastic. The quality is amazing, the editing and sound were even better and the story telling was truly extraordinary, the only downfall was knowing that the concert was never going to happen!! I couldn't refrain my tears every now and then thinking he was no more. But it wasn't a sad show. Not at all. I was expecting a frail man, maybe ridden by prescription drugs but I was totally wrong. To me, MJ looked fresh, full of energy and enthusiasm and quite ready to give his fans a show beyond their wildest dreams. He did look a little thin, but apart from that, certainly no signs of illness or tiredness as have been suggested. Michaels attention to detail, his love and care, all show through in this unique look behind the scenes. I love the way the film portrays his wonderful sense of humour too, not often shown to us. His voice and dancing were great as usual, the choreography and background scenes were perfect and those were just rehearsals! A true entertainment. Thank you, notSupermum, for your generous and to Michael, of course, the king of pop forever!

Missing the Sea

After today’s depressing showers and cold wind, I feel I miss Italy more than ever but above all I miss the sea. That’s why I remembered this beautiful song that you will probably know in the English and/or French versions.
This the original version and my favourite one as well. Enjoy!



[Thanks to Donha Urraca for the video]

La mer
Qu'on voit danser le long des golfes clairs
A des reflets d'argent
La mer
Des reflets changeants
Sous la pluie

La mer
Au ciel d'ete confond
Ses blancs moutons
Avec les anges si purs
La mer bergere d'azur
Infinie

Voyez
Pres des etangs
Ces grands roseaux mouilles
Voyez
Ces oiseaux blancs
Et ces maisons rouillees

La mer
Les a berces
Le long des golfes clairs
Et d'une chanson d'amour
La mer
A berce mon coeur pour la vie.
(Charles Trénet)

(Translation:)
The sea
which we see dancing along the clear gulfs
has silver sparkles.
The sea
has changing sparkles
Under the rain.
The sea
To the summer sky's confuses her white sheep
With angels so pure.
The sea,
Shepherdess of infinite sky.
See
Next to the ponds
Those tall wet reeds.
See
Those white birds
And those rusty houses.
The sea
Has rocked them like a baby
Along the clear gulfs
And with a love song
The sea
Has rocked my heart for life.

An evening with Coldplay ...

...passing through the Manchester Christmas Market!

We’d been waiting for this day for ages, but did not start in the best way. After buying the tickets on ebay ages ago, they never turned up …[Hopefully we will get a refund from paypal!!! Fingers crossed. Beware of buying tickets on ebay!!!] Anyway, my two friends and I decided to go to Manchester MEN Arena and try our luck with a “friendly tout”….Bad weather conditions, roads as frozen as ice rinks, all trains to Manchester full (perhaps because of the concert?), but our “love” for Coldplay is too strong to get stopped by these small details…We decided to park at a Metro Station in Greater Manchester to avoid the traffic in the city centre (the MEN Arena is exactly in the city centre of course!!!). After 45 minutes trying to find a parking space near a Metro station finally we got on a tram towards the city centre.





In spite of not having any tickets yet, we headed toward the Christmas Market. Just to relax and not to waste the day totally. Fantastic! German, Dutch, French stalls offering any kind of merchandises ….




…but above all lovely food!!!!

Dutch cheese(s)...

German Wurst ...

French/Belgian chocs!

Here we are sharing a Super Bratwurst (don't be fooled, we had already a German Flammkuchen…)…

But this one was too tempting to share (for your information, Mini Dutch pancake with Nutella and cream)….

With a full belly and in a better mood we even got lucky with the tickets and went in….and we had quite decent seat positions…



Then finally the Coldplay…..what can I say…..divine!!!!!!!!!

Chris Martin, Coldplay’s frontman and dazzling performer…singer, composer etc etc.

Large globes were suspended over the stage; in them were projected colors, patterns, and footage of the band members appearing in dizzying montages, like here in the title song “Viva la Vida. “Viva la Vida” is their forth album inspired by the (French) Revolution but at the same time celebrating life, freedom and condemning the futility of all wars…

The high points were Yellow with large yellow balloons full of confetti and then Parachutes. As the songs built momentum, what seemed to be millions of multicolored paper butterflies fluttered down from above, a brilliant display that left the crowd's eyes as overwhelmed as its ears.

A performance with a great heart, deep soul, energy and even intimacy from a band often knocked for being expertly bland. We did get all the somehow predictable arena rock tricks – giant balloons bouncing around during Yellow; an acoustic interlude which saw all four members appearing on a podium at the back of the hall. But that’s what I like in a concert, it is not only the good music that I can always listen to from a CD, but show, “spettacolo”, being blown away by colours, music, dancing, singing ….

An evening to remember…

The Boys Are Back!

…. And they’re getting better with age…

Having being pretty blown away by Beautiful World, I was wondering if Take That could top it. And yes, they can. Being an avid fan might make me bias, but this is a stunning album. Admittedly, it took a while to get past the first track The Garden which I played repeatedly - it's awesome. The album as a whole carries on where Beautiful World left off, albeit with slightly more emphasis on developing their 'new sound', which does mean a further move away from 'cheesy pop'. All the vocals are strong, Gary being fantastic as usual, Howard always consistent and with even Mark & Jason sounding credible. I think this could well be an album that is huge, not just with existing fans, but that large group of skeptical 30 somethings, who until now, refuse to believe that Take That are anything more than a manufactured boy band.
I’m here listening to it and cannot stop. Maybe - sadly enough - TT are the only ones than can cheer me up at the moment, except for my children of course

…And today I really need cheering up!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zHzMLGH1Rfs

(Greatest Day video)