Description

The Take was an American melodic hardrock band that evolved from an earlier band called Joker, that existed between 1978 and 1980. The first five tracks were recorded in 1980 as a trio but before they entered a studio again, in November of 1981, they were a full band. For that second studio session the band recorded eight tracks and at this point the band were already headlining shows and getting local attention. After some line-up changes the band produced a music video for their song, She’s Got What It Takes, were aired on Salt Lake Music Television (Utah’s equivalent to MTV) where it received great reviews. So the band were contracted to do a show in Provo, Utah and over one thousand people showed up and the venue management were thrilled by the popular sellout and wanted the band to do a second show. More line-up changes occurred and then it was time for the band to enter the Forrest Production Studio to lay down more tracks. More videos were shot something that really set the band apart from other local acts. After a reconstruction of the band in 1984 the band finally had some new financial backing to launch them to new heights. So a five track tape called Get Taken was recorded in the autumn of 1984 and the band recorded it with Sam Foster (who had worked with The Osmonds) and the sound was fuller than their previous recordings. Tension had now grown within the band as founder Mike wanted to go back to singing when seeing vocalist Chris taking up more and more of the spotlight so Chris left and formed the band Soldier. 1985 saw the band opening up for Coney Hatch with Michael back on lead vocals. This was also the year when the band added more pink and more frills to their wardrobe. 3 tracks were recorded in the winter of 1985 and another three tracks session was done in the spring of 1986 (all six of these tracks can be found on the Pink And Proud compilation). 1986 was also the year that Utahs biggest band The Jack broke up and The Take were able to get their local guitar legend EJ Bell to join The Take. So with him they wrote three more tunes and recorded them in the summer of 1986 (also on Pink And Proud). With enough material for an album most of the band set out west to Los Angeles to make it big and get a record deal. However the band had problems getting gigs on the hot Sunset Strip and had a hard time even finding day jobs so instead of breaking it big on the hottest hardrock scene at the time they started to fall apart. Dan moved to back to Utah and joined the band Vamp that later became Harlot. The two original members Michael and Arthur got back together in 1993 and recorded some demo songs true to the bands roots and called the recordings Second Wave. Then in 1997 they brought in some of their past members to re-record some of their old songs with both Chris and Michael sharing vocal duties. After losing a band member in 2006 the band thought it was a good idea to go through all tapes and no less than 3 cds (one of them even being a double album) was put together and released in May of 2021. These three albums Get Taken, Pink And Proud and the double album Hard Wave Heroes features material recorded back in the early days of 1980 up to the re-recording of the old tracks that were done in 1997. This is a great tribute to a long lived and popular band from Utah that could sell out clubs but unfortunately never got their album out to put them on the hardrock map at the right time. A nostalgic trip for those who heard them at the time and a great chance for the rest of the world to explore The Take and think of what could have been if only…

Track list:
1. She’s Got What It Takes
2. Don’t Blame It On Love
3. Breakdown
4. I Will Survive
5. Rock ‘N Roll Romance
6. Looking For A Girl Like You
7. The Beat
8. Calling Dr. Love
9. Someone To Love
10. Drive Another Nail In My Heart
11. Bad Reputation
12. Talk Of The Town
13. She’s So Shy
14. Turn Away Eyes-original version
15. That Kind Of Girl
16. London Girl
17. Boys Will Be Boys
18. It’s My First Offense Of Love
19. Champagne And Cigarettes
20. Hold On
21. Is It True?
22. I’ve Got A Social Disease
23. Love Me In Leather
24. You’re My Specialty
25. Headed For A Breakdown
26. Take Me Back To Tokyo
27. All Those Crazy Nights
28. Separate Lives
29. United We Stand
30. I Will Wait In Heaven
31. Call Of The Wild
32. We Are The Young
33. Without You
34. Oh Caroline
35. China
36. Inside A Lonely Heart-demo
37. Straight Through The Heart-demo
38. China-demo