I'll admit, I had my initial worries with Love Love - and they were two-fold. Firstly, I was a little disappointed to see the brilliant Happy Now glossed over so quickly, instead of it receiving the full attention and exposure it deserves. But then again, in an increasingly digital world - single releases like that become ever more a reality.
Secondly, on first hearing, Love Love felt just that bit too similar to previous single Kidz. That same marching-band stomp, that same threatening buzz of electronics. But on seeing the track accompanied by its video - all eerie neon glow and the band standing around what looks like a mis-shapen heap of metal off-cuts - the glorious sci-fi swagger of the track hit me.
In a way, the Kidz comparisons aren't a bad thing, chiefly because Kidz was an amazing record. And whereas it was cold, menacing and affected with a dictatorial chill; Love Love is very much the flip side - the same sounds, but this time channelled into a force for positivity and good. The chorus of 'why don't you teach your heart to talk' captures that essence Take That have always managed to strike so sweetly - singing about love with real passion, but never tipping over into that pit of overly-sentimental guff.
It's all suitably epic fare, of the sort Take That always do so well. There's even a hint of Pet Shop Boys Go West anthemic-ness to it all, the kind of rousing tune that is simply made for stadiums. Fitting then that it's this month that sees the TT boys taking to their mind-bogglingly immense UK tour, with those very same Pet Shop Boys in tow.
X Men - First Class is the movie this track accompanies (and a bloody good one it is too - I saw the film earlier this week and had a thoroughly enjoyable time watching it - a real classic bit of big-budget Hollywood action) - and while it didn't seem so at first, this is most definitely another first class track for Take That.
