Watch The 1975 Cover Take That’s “A Million Love Songs”
Here in the US, Take That were never a particularly big deal. The UK boy band had one hit over here, 1995’s “Back For Good,” and they became grist for charming rogue Robbie Williams’ backstory when the former Take That member made a brief stab at American stardom in the late ’90s. In the UK, however, Take That were a phenomenon — a chart-topping leviathan all through the ’90s that then launched both Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow to solo stardom. So when the 1975 cover Take That in the BBC’s Live Lounge, that means something.
The 1975 are a few days away from releasing their new album Being Funny In A Foreign Language. Naturally, they recently stopped by the Live Lounge, were they played a live-in-studio version of their recent single “I’m In Love With You.” In keeping with Live Lounge traditions, the 1975 also busted out a cover song. They took on “A Million Love Songs,” one of Take That’s first major hits.
Take That leader Gary Barlow wrote “A Million Love Songs,” and the boy band included the ballad on their 1992 debut Take That & Party. The single was a #7 hit in the UK. It’s a sincere, starry-eyed slow-dance number with at least a bit of “Careless Whisper” in its DNA. (There’s a lot of smooth-jazz sax on that record.) In the Live Lounge, the 1975 did a stripped-down, heartfelt version of the song, with nothing but piano and Matty Healy’s voice. Below, watch the 1975’s Live Lounge versions of “A Million Love Songs” and “I’m In Love With You,” and check out the original Take That video.
Being Funny In A Foreign Language is out 10/14 on Dirty Hit/Interscope.