Take That "hate" greatest hits compilations.
The ‘Back for Good’ hitmakers are set to celebrate their 30th anniversary with ‘Odyssey’, which features new takes on their classic singles, and they admitted they deliberately set out to do "something different" that would reflect how they’ve changed over the years.
Gary Barlow said: "All bands hate greatest hits albums, and we wanted to do something different.
"We wanted to reflect who we were at the start of this journey and who we are now."
Mark Owen agreed: "All our albums are like our babies, something we’ve created together. We want people to love it."
Since the band formed, Gary, Mark and Howard Donald – who were previously joined in the group by Robbie Williams and Jason Orange – have had children and that has completely "changed" who they are as people and how their life in the group works.
Gary told Event magazine: "It’s what we talk about in the dressing room. That’s our lives. We’ve changed. We’re not boys, we’re men. We’re all dads.
"It completely alters everything, from the way you tour to the songs you write to the conversations you have – how long on the iPads, worrying about social media, the usual preoccupations.
"At the moment it’s a lot about Howard and his baby duties. He moans and Mark and I just laugh because we’re both past that stage. He does love to go on about it."
And for 46-year-old Mark – who has Elwood, 12, Willow, ten, and six-year-old Fox with wife Emma Ferguson – his songs have taken on a new meaning thanks to his children.
He said: "When I put my daughter Fox to bed at night she has always asked me to sing a lullaby. Apart from ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’, I don’t know many kids’ songs, so I’ve always sung her Take That songs like ‘Pray’, ‘Shine’ and ‘Giants’ – because obviously I know all the words.
"At the moment she asks for the song about the lights going out, which is ‘Everlasting’, so that’s what I sing. It’s something the two of us have together and I realise that not only is it special to her, but it has actually changed how I feel about those songs when I go out and sing them on stage. It makes it even better. She has made it even better.
"So if you want to know what it’s like being a musician when you become a dad, the answer is it can be hard, you can miss your kids. But then there are these moments when you get to share what you do with your children and that makes it all mean a whole lot more. That’s when it all becomes pretty magical."
Take That didn’t want typical greatest hits
