I worked with Take That around ‘Back for Good’ and was there at the press conference when they announced they were calling it a day.They had continued for about a year after Robbie left and there was a lot of love for them but they were feeling they had taken it as far as they could and retired gracefully. When Robbie left Take That I don’t think he acted the same and then went on to have some extra digs at Gary. All the while Gary retained a dignified silence and didn’t enter into any war of words choosing to concentrate on his solo career.

Mark Owen also released his own album around the same time as Gary, brave in itself and was always very supportive of Robbie. When people were looking for a quote or more likely looking to see if Mark would have a dig at his old mate he was genuinely supportive of him and would mention how much he missed him. As the two youngest in the band they shared a lot in those formative years. Not of the band ever showed any animosity towards him even when Robbie was making a fool of himself, tagging on with Oasis at Glastonbury and doing anything just to get noticed.

When he first released his own solo album it bombed and it wasn’t until ‘Angels’ that anyone gave a toss and then for some reason he was propelled in to the stratosphere. And all from just that one song. Everyone around him worked brilliantly to convince the public of his immense talent when it was just this one very good song. England has always championed the ‘cheeky chappy’ yet here in the US they couldn’t see it, they didn’t know what all the fuss was about. I find it quite amazing to see how he has become the most successful UK male artist ever! Just think of the names he’s been compared with, George Michael, Elton John. I can’t say I agree.

Not even close.

Great shops manned by great staff made our lives easier. Their vast knowledge would help me maximize my spare time, they knew what I’d be interested in and were only too happy to help. I wrote a while back about walking in to a record store in Ybor City in Tampa and feeling the thrill all over again, of picking up a record and scrolling through the credits to see who appeared on it, what label it was on. That kind of buzz never goes away and you start to realize how the business kind of ruined it for the fans, how they took away the excitement from those who were their livelihood.

As the industry changes, evolves, disintegrates, call it what you want, the more you grasp on to what made it so unbelievably exciting for us all. Records, like nothing else put you in a particular place at a particular time and with somebody. And it all becomes so clear. Whenever I think of a record special to me it’s ‘Life in Mars’ I’m back there dressed in the same clothes doing the same things. We all remember where we were when 911 happened and for people my age where we were when when Kennedy and John Lennon were shot. But that’s always surrounded with sadness. Music makes us rejoice, makes us happy, it makes me reach for that record, and it really pisses me off if I no longer have it!

I thought it would be worth taking some time out to rediscover some of those magical moments and to re visit some records from my collection. The reason for this blog was I remembered Leonard Cohen, quite why I haven’t a clue but then again what reason do you really need to write about one of the most incredible artists of our time. And that’s what I intend to do the moment I get up in the morning.