Take Me Home

One Direction seize the day

The times of boy-bands like Backstreet Boys, or Take That seemed to have passed, and listeners of our days should not be really interested in a group of good-looking boys, some even capable of singing. However, the example set by One Direction shows that even here there can be exceptions. The breathtaking rise of the British five-piece assembled by a wise and experienced producer, has a lot in common with worn-out stories of mediocre movies. Yet this is no movie, and these lads intend to be far better than mediocre. And while enthusiasts and defenders of highly intellectual music and big time art state that One Direction is but a project, a well arranged and well executed one, this very project is marching triumphantly. They have developed a quick and steady pace, and in the two years that the band has existed, they have turned into stars of not only national, but global scale. Therefore the quick release of a sophomore long player called Take Me Home looks like the only reasonable decision here, based on the traditional seize the day principle.

Take Me Home is a certificate of the band growing up

Musically, Take Me Home is a close relative to its predecessor, Up All Night, and only few really counted to something else. If you expect any revelations, discoveries, surprises, look for them in the lads themselves, because they have of course learned a lot in this past year. In particular, the young talents have gained an experience that taught them how their material can and should sound, considering it is written to be performed live. So a good half of Take Me Home are ready-to-use hits rushing to the tops of the charts and stages, where they definitely will be. These boys, who have yet to grow both personally and professionally, demonstrate a lot more confidence and firmness, they have got used to the starship status quickly and have a good idea what they are expected to offer. Another aspect concerning those few innovations you can find on the album, is that One Direction members have co-written some of the songs here. To some degree, you may hope to find amongst clichйs and patterns something that was penned from the bottom of the heart. On the other hand, when tracks have run-of-the-mill titles like Summer Love, or Last First Kiss, it gets pretty tough to believe in the sincerity of the performers.

One Direction did everything right

The catalogue of the songs presented on Take Me Home consists of everything essential the record needs to be a first class pop album. The opener Live While We’re Young does a good job setting up the right mood, and practically every second song here is made by its image. The most impressive one from this category is Kiss Me, the number one candidate to the best highlight of the set. C’mon, C’mon offers an upped tempo, getting close to a more dynamic, club kind of music, yet this is a rare thing here, an exception. Following the present day tendency, in strict accordance with the procedure, guitars are added to pop music. In Rock Me they sound bigger and louder, and the singers even dared utter ‘heavy metal’, which is already something new. In the opening and closing parts of the album there are quite fine ballads Little Things, and Over Again, but One Direction don’t have the age or the image to get too melancholic. The set is completed powerfully, by a beautiful mid-tempo piece called Summer Love boasting both interesting lyrics and sweet music. On the whole, Take Me Home is a totally predictable work from an ensemble that aims at a very large audience. Mature producers, talented lads do everything the laws of the genre prescribe to grant the record a huge success.