The Circus (Take That album)
| The Circus | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Studio album by Take That | ||||
| Released | 1 December 2008 | |||
| Recorded | 2008 | |||
| Studio | SARM Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Pop rock | |||
| Length | 46:36 | |||
| Label | Polydor | |||
| Producer | John Shanks | |||
| Take That chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Singles from The Circus | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 64/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| BBC Music | (positive) |
| Daily Mirror | |
| Digital Spy | |
| The Evening Standard | |
| The Guardian | |
| The Sunday Times | |
| The Times | |
| Yahoo! Music UK | (7/10) |
The Circus is the fifth studio album by British pop band Take That. It was released in the United Kingdom on 1 December 2008. The album was their second, and also their last, as a four-piece, as founding member Robbie Williams returned for their sixth studio album Progress (2010), before both Williams and Jason Orange departed prior to the release of 2014's III.
The Circus debuted at number 1 on the UK Albums Chart and was the second best-selling album of 2008 in the UK, selling over 1.5 million copies. The album's lead single "Greatest Day" became Take That's eleventh number one. Four further singles were released which failed to match the success of "Greatest Day": "Up All Night", "The Garden", "Said It All" and "Hold Up a Light".
In the United Kingdom, the album was released in direct (albeit unintentional) competition to Britney Spears' sixth album, also titled Circus, released on the same day. Take That's manager said the album's title choice was a coincidence, and that the band had worked 'months in advance' and would not be changing the title.
Take That released their first single from the album, "Greatest Day", on 24 November 2008, which peaked at number one in the UK. The second single "Up All Night" was released on 2 March 2009 and peaked at number 14. The third single "The Garden", was released in Germany, the Netherlands and Australia on 20 March 2009, though it also peaked at number 97 in the UK on download sales. The video for the song was shot at the Greenwich Maritime Museum, South London. The fourth single to be taken from the album, "Said It All", was released in June 2009 and peaked at number 9 in the UK. "Hold Up a Light" was the fifth and final single taken from the album, released to promote Take That's first live album The Greatest Day – Take That Presents: The Circus Live.
...
Wikipedia