Prior to the release of
Odyssey,
Gary Barlow declared the days of the standard-issue Greatest Hits album were "over," which is why this 2018 compilation deliberately doesn't follow a straight path. Instead,
Take That hired a bunch of remixers to give their old hits a fresh coat of paint, sequencing so the double-disc set flows seamlessly and feels vaguely modern. The amount of tinkering on
Odyssey isn't limited to the rhythm tracks: there are tweaks in the vocals and the arrangements, all turning the original versions into music that could be played in any high-end lobby around the world. And that's the rub about
Odyssey: It's not quite about what
Take That was about, but what they aspire to be in 2018. There's enough of the old boy band to provoke a bit of nostalgia, but there's not anything new (or daring) enough to make this exercise anything other than aural wallpaper. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine