1994 Take That: Sure

"I'm sitting here waiting for my lover, last time we met I wasn't too sure. Now I'm hoping, maybe dreaming, for a life as one. When she reads this I'm hoping she'll call but I need much more than before, I need positive reactions whenever I'm down" - me me me me me - it has to be Take That hasn't it? Who else would kick off a song of love with a set of personal demands that need to be satisfied? The 'Sure' of the title might refer to the certainty that any boy wants that this girl is 'the one', but the want here is all so much one way traffic and this gal has a number of criteria that need to be ticked off before they're sure she's made the grade.

First up, "It isn't a game so don't play hard to get", so step messing about love because they need to be sure you're "social", "compatible", "sexual" and "irresistible ". Oh and they're going to find out via some "holdin", "squeezin", "touchin", "teasin", "wantin", "wishin", "waitin", "teasin" (again) "blindin", "groovin", "findin", "breathin", "bracin", "breedin" ..."with you girl". Presumably, the more scores on the doors the better chance she has, and if she fails, well there's always plenty more fish in the sea. That's for sure too. The fact that she's sure about the bloke is taken as read and so there's no need to ask.....but do you know what? I've banged on enough about the seventies sit com male world view that Gary Barlow operates in for the time being so I'm going to leave the above speak for itself and let you make your own minds up.

And I'm happy to do so because for once I can afford to - 'Sure' rides in on a rubbery sweat funk groove that overpowers the lyric beneath to make it a secondary concern. It's derivative certainly (mainly of The Isley Brothers' 'Between The Sheets'), but the falsetto swing of the " Sure so sure, that it's heaven knocking on my door" hook of the chorus (which, let's be honest, is all the fanbase is really going to 'hear') and the attendant hip hop flourishes carry a streetdance energy and vitality sorely lacking from any their previous entries ('Pray' is from the same drawer, but it's pale vanilla in comparison). 'Sure' is more a song of its time, albeit in an identikit American R&B kind of way and albeit one that sounds more like a one hit wonder than anything forming part of a complete body of work. Which is where their underlying message of woman as commodity for male happiness certainly belongs, along with the rest of them - "It's gotta be right for love"? Well, as long as you're sure she gives you those positive reactions when you're down then you go for it Gary.