Captured during their enormo gigs from earlier in the year, Progress Live is the live album recording of (one of) the Manchester dates from the Progress tour, which shattered records, and blew minds in equal measure, as all five of the members of Take That reunited and returned on stage together for the first time in about 15 years.
Much anticipated, and much heralded, the shows were a very special moment indeed, a sight that many thought they would never get to witness. The importance of the tour cannot be understated, especially considering that it may well never happen again, especially on this sort of scale.
Progress Live as an album is nothing more than an accompaniment to the DVD of the live show, which is much more entertaining. It is hard to really appreciate the magnitude or the excellence of the show from the live recording only, and while it is still worthy of a listen, it is not as captivating as seeing the show in all its glory.
A lot of the finer intricacies of the production are lost, and the sound recording fades in and out at times which isn't as noticeable on the DVD, but is rather pronounced on the CD.
Songs such as Back For Good, Relight My Fire and the phenomenal Pray are all huge moments on the audio CD, but the newer material sounds as poor as the studio output in places, really failing to live up to the finer moments in the bands catalogue. Robbie's solo slot falls a little flat on record also, whereas it is electric on the DVD, much like it was live. His vocals seem way off in places on the audio recording too, which, yet again, was never particularly noticeable before. The other four members who take to the stage pre-Robbie sound as on point as ever, reaffirming just why they were a stadium act in their own right prior to his return, as version of Patience, Hold Up A Light and The Greatest Day sound massive.
A solid, if unspectacular listen, which pales in comparison to the excellent footage on the DVD.
7/10
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