Customer Reviews

Sing When You're Winning

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

1. Name three hits by Kylie Minogue.

If you answer includes "Better The Devil You Know" and "Spinning Around" score 10. If you answer includes "The Locomotion" score 5. If you answer what's a Kylie Minogue, score zero.

2. In the song "Strong", Robbie says "my breath smells of a thousand fags". What does he mean?

If you answer too much smoking, score 10. If you answer anything else score zero.

3. The game shown on the cover of this album is..?

If you answer Football, score 10. Soccer, 5. Anything else, 0.

4. The end of this album contains a 17-minute gap of recorded silence, then, instead of a hidden track, Robbie announces that he doesn't feel like recording one this time. What's your reaction?

If you roll on the floor laughing, score 10. If you just don't get it, score 2. If you want your money back, score zero. If you immediately play the track again, score 100.

Personally, I love Robbie Williams music. I was championing him two years before his CD came out on this continent. But I just doubt that he's going to ever really become BIG in America. There are many reasons for this, label apathy, radio's reluctance to play anything by anyone over 20 these days, but most importantly Robbie steadfastly refuses to do things in an American way.

He is witty without dumbing down, vulgar without anger, self-effacing when most artists brag, and relentlessly, proudly British. His humour, his references, and his music are styled by a country that is these days as foreign to America as Khurdistan.

Yes, he's also one of the best live artists I've ever seen in my life, but not many have seen him live over here.

I wish Robbie the best, but I'm not holding my breath that this will be his breakthrough album.

But if you score above zero on the test, buy the CD.

The master singer/songwriter/provocateur/rock n' roll bad boy has produced an album that I believe will prove to be one of the greats of 2000. It's an album that increasingly grows on you with each listen. The lyrics this time around are especially revealing, hinting at a Robbie that perhaps we had always suspected was there but is only now coming to light.

On tracks such as "Better Man", "If It's Hurting You", "Love Calling Earth", and "The Road to Mandalay" Robbie reveals a vulnerability that may (or may not) lie beneath the raucous in-your-face veneer that seems to be his trademark.

"Kids" a particularly funky, hard-driving duet with Kylie Minogue is another highlight with a terrific rap ending. The hit single "Rock DJ" is just a great tune.

My favorite track, however, is the disco anthem "Supreme" that takes Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" to new epic - though desolate and plaintive - heights. The Studio 54 orchestrations belie the song's rather downbeat lyrics:

"When there's no love in town This new century keeps bringing you down All the places you have been Trying to find a love supreme A love surpreme"

The song leaves you with the realization that such an idealized, all-encompassing, love is ephemeral. The baroque arpeggiating strings that open the song and continue throughout the song add the appropriate drama.

An album with no regrets, Robbie sings without inhibition about the topics that seem to most affect his life - fame, the quest for love, and (oh yeah) sex in all its dangerous and ambiguous glory.

Sing When You're Winning: charming, contemplative, fun, funny, raunchy, introspective, forgettable, groovy, bland, exciting. In other words, a mixed bag. Robbie Williams' third album has its triumphs and its disappointments, much like any other album. The reason this is a bit disappointing to me personally is because I found his first two albums to be close to flawless - with only one or two tracks apiece that I didn't care for. Here it's the same, but several tracks veer closer to mediocrity. But why am I beating that around so much? There's much to like about this latest effort from one of Britain's brightest pop stars. A track by track review."Let Love Be Your Energy": my personal favorite of the lot. A well-composed, energetic piece, sometimes reminiscent of the Beatles, Oasis and Williams' own "Lazy Days". The song uses a variety of musical elements ranging from trademark background vocals to an array of sound effects, blended together into a symphonic, almost epic sounding composition. "Better Man": the best ballad on the CD. A memorable song with emotional lyrics. A worthy successor to "Angels"."Rock DJ": probably the catchiest track. The lyrics are nonsense, the rap is silly, and the video is outrageous. But it gets to you - the pervasive beat, the undeniably engaging chorus... The fact that it is Robbie Williams singing the song is what ultimately sells it though. "Supreme": a solid, if unremarkable song. "Millennium" made better use of a well-known tune, in this case "I Will Survive." But again, the lyrics are good, and the chorus memorable."Kids:" This song starts off a little surprisingly ("Me no bubbletious! ") - I must admit it was a little painful to hear Robbie spouting off his lines in such a high-pitched voice (it's hard to tell which singer is the woman at some points), but the song gets better with each verse, and the rap and ad lib at the end is great fun. A duet with Kylie Minogue (who is kept fairly restrained, and thus sounds quite good), this song is quite different from most of Robbie's previous songs, and a fairly good direction to take at that."If It's Hurting You:" Quiet and thoughtful.. Very good lyrics, with nice use of an electric banjo. It's not incredibly memorable, but it is a beautiful, mature song."Singing For the Lonely." Not terribly diverse, but also a fine song. Again coming with lyrics that give even more insight into Williams' mind ("I'm so sick of people's expectations/Leaves me tired all the time")."Love Calling Earth." Forgettable. Emotional, pleading lyrics make it read quite well on paper, but as a song it's in need of a bit more polish."Knutsford City Limits." The quintessential pop song. Not incredibly original as such, but it's very fun to play and Williams' lyrical style adds a lot. It's got all the prerequisites to become a pop hit - a catchy chorus, good use of sound effects, a memorable tune to accompany the verses and a rousing breakdown. Love it."Forever Texas." When I first heard this song a year ago I was happy with it, but this strikes me as more of a filler song, which probably would have ended up as a glorified B-side had this album not needed more in the fast-paced music department. Very raunchy lyrics, fun use of the harmonica."By All Means Necessary." The weakest song. Lacking in energy, a memorable chorus and interesting lyrics. Definitely in need of a retooling, definitely better suited as a B-side."The Road to Mandalay." Very personal, sad, well-written and even funny (the chorus). This song captures Robbie Williams' personality quite well - it's a bit depressed, longing and insecure in its lyrics, but at the same time it's charming. I can imagine Nicole Appleton's eyes might have watered when she heard this song, apparently written to her. As a finale, it's a bit lacking, but it's still a solid work of music.So this album has a little of everything. Hip-hop, ballads, bombast, lyrics that range from non-sensical to fascinating and highly affective. As usual, Robbie borrows heavily from a wide variety of artists, but he moulds them together into pleasing forms that are sure to be popular singles in the U.K. Some songs are a bit too repetitive, others feel slightly stale or unpolished. But for the most part, this is a very good CD to own. Special note must be made of the fantastic booklet depicting a World Cup tournament won by a team of Robbie clones, celebrated by a nation of gleeful Robbies. It's a laugh riot.The U.S. market is impossible to figure out, so it's anyone's guess how well it'll be received in the States, but in the U.K. it's a big hit, and since so many of the very best and most popular musicians have come from the British Isles, I know it's only a matter of time until Robbie catches on. It's a pity in a way - I really like being part of a small circle of fans - almost makes me feel a bit smug.Standout Tracks: Let Love Be Your Energy, Better Man, Kids, Knutsford City Limits

Robbie Williams' Sing When You're Winning is a piece of pop gold. Out doing himself yet again Robbie shows a little more of his grown up side on this album. The opening track,"Let Love Be Your Energy", gets things going in fine fashion in the tradtion of songs like Strong and Let Me Entertain You. The second track "Better Man" shows signs of a new Angels. The Lennon-type ballad really strikes a chord in you a will keep you singing it all day. The first single, "Rock DJ" is the album's fun track. In the spirit of Millennium the song is funny, catchy and can be danced to. Next is "Supreme" a "I Will Survive" sampled mid-tempo number that keeps the energy flowing with a great string line and catchy lyrics, "All The Rich Women Are Married, All The Handsome Men Are Gay, You Feel Deprived" "Kids" is a duet with Kyle Minogue and is cheerful and clever with probably the strongest chorus on the entire album. A bit of a country twang and sadness some up the song "If It's Hurting You". The song could be thrown in the same stable as other Robbie ballads like, Heaven From Here and Baby Girl Window. The seventh track is "Singing For The Lonley" another mid-tempo song with sad lyrics but done in a upbeat way. "Love Calling Earth" is a song that sounds like it fell right out of the "I've Been Expecting You" sessions in that it a very tradional Robbie ballad, a great one. The next song "Knutsford City Limits" is reminicent of The Who and a little Bono, with robbie stretching his vocal range to it's peak. Just like the songs "OLd Before I Die" and "Karma Killer" this album has it's big rock song and that song is "Forever Texas". Filled with powerful drums, harmonica fill in's and a wicked solo the song was made to be played live. One of the deepest tracks on the album is the eleventh track "By All Means Necessary" a song about the groupy phenomenon. The song contains some of Robbie's best writing to date, "It all seems so easy, but so are you, that's what I've heard them say" The albums's closer is Robbie's most personal song ever. "The Road To Mandalay" is a deep, depressing song with intensely heavy lyrics, "Everything we've ever stolen has been lost, returned or broken no more dragons left to slay. Every Mistake I've ever made has been rehashed and then replayed as I got lost along the way". Overall this is most likely the best album thus far this year. Completely flawless.

I imported this cd instead of waiting for his US release date. This cd is not as good as I've Been Expecting You but it is on the same level as Life Thru A Lens. First off, Robbie is different than todays popstars. He is a real nature star unlike the corporate creations of pop today. I think he is also one hell of a rock star, he pulls it off onstage with ease and effortlessly; more so then our current rockstars. His third album is great, his lyrics are getting better and better. This is a more mature album than his pervious releases. It might need a few listens to grow on you, but this is the top of pop music nowadays. Robbie's music is the opposite of what Pop has become today. Robbie is what Pop music should be. The best songs on the cd are: Better Man, Supreme, If Its Hurting You, Singing for the Lonely, By All Means Necessary, and Road To Mandalay. The rest are good too. Kids too a little time to grow on me. Kylie is great and all, but Madonna should have done a duet with Robbie instead of wasting her time with Ricky Martin. I will spare you my hate Ricky story, but go and buy the cd. Robbie is the popstar of the future!!!!

I've listened to most of the tracks of this CD on Robbie's site before the release date. Robbie, as always, gives us some great pop. The Rock DJ video is completely amazing, I doubt MTV will even play it.

This is probably the only Robbie Williams album I will buy and I bought it because it was cheap and I knew some of the songs on it.

I'm giving the album four out of five because apart from the few hits on the album, there really isn't a bad song on the album. So, four stars for making a very listenable album which has a few terrific tracks on it.

Best songs on the album? Better Man and Kids. Rock DJ isn't a bad song, but, for whatever reason, I don't like it as much as the other two. These three songs constitute the hits on the album.

Better Man is a classic 'crooner' song-I'm sure Sinatra, Martin, Crosby and Cole would have killed to have recorded this song. Browsing through a record store today my opinion was confirmed by seeing a Williams' cd with nothing but songs made famous by crooners. ANYWAY, this song is really pretty-have some lovely musical and vocal melodies throughout.

Next terrific song-Kids. Features Australia's singing budgie, Kylie Minogue [as dubbed by ex-pat Clive James, I think]. A minor gripe in this song is, I think, Minogue's overly breathy intro to the song. Very minor gripe. This song has a funky introduction, good bass lick and Minogue's and William's voices gel terrifically in the standout, singalong chorus. Features Williams semi-rapping in the outro [I think in other songs his rapping is very 'white'-a bit embarrassing to listen to].

If you're new to Williams, I should warn you that for a pop idol, his lyrics are very much on the fringe. E.g. I LOVE the lyric in Kids' outro for its understated humour: "The press be asking 'do I care for sodomy'. I don't know...yeah...probably". The uncertainty of his delivery makes this line most amusing.

The third hit from this album is Rock DJ. Maybe for some fans this is the standout track of the album. The intro reminds me of the song "One night in Bangkok" by an ABBA member and theatre legend Tim Rice [I think], for the musical "Chess". That song also features the rapping style favoured by Williams but not mastered by him, yet, I don't think. Still, Williams' song is high energy and entertaining in a poppy way.

As for the rest of the album, I think the best of the rest is probably "If it's hurting you". This is another song in the crooner style which has a better melody than most crooner songs I've heard [I'm too young to have had much exposure to crooning]. Has nice vocal melodies and note holding, without the vomit inducing excesses of that style exemplified by Whitney Houston, who I nominate as the most annoying artist of the last thousand years.

To the other songs-I can't say I remember any of them after listening to this album only once a few days ago. I.e. the songs aren't memorable, but you won't find yourself throwing a shoe at the cd player to skip a track. Many of the songs are mellow and crooning or feature accoustic guitars and the piano. I think "If it's hurting you" features the banjo, and a nice banjo melody it is too. Some songs sound sort of show-tuney, or movie sound-trackey.

All in all, a strong album featuring some very good pop songs. But, like I say, Williams' lyrics are unconventional and idiosyncratically personal. I remember seeing one Williams video which had a similarly edgy video...not to all tastes, in other words. So, if you like lyrically edgy pop, this album is a terrific buy. N.B. you can get a sense of Williams' 'cheekiness' by checking out the album notes and photos on the front cover!

With two internationally successful solo albums and one compilation album made especially as an introduction to the US, the whole world has now become acquainted with the former Take That bad boy who nowadays is "loving angels instead".

His new recording, `Sing When You're Winning' features a slightly more mature Robbie than that of his prior offerings. Gone are the days of taking pot-shots at his former band mates, instead we find a charmingly witty young man who's not afraid to admit he can stand a little improvement. The new album also features some very good demonstrations of Rob's ability to be flexible. He can jump from the reflective ("Better Man", "If It's Hurting You") to the sarcastic ("Rock DJ", "By All Means Necessary"), without missing a single beat. It's easy to see why he is the only member of the former That-ers who is still on the charts.

Some of the finer moments on this recording are in the dance floor ready "Supreme" (which pays homage to the Gloria Gaynor classic "I Will Survive"), the charming "The Road To Mandalay", and the aurally pleasing "Love Calling Earth". Also included is his duet with former Aussie soap star Kylie Minogue entitled "Kids".

On easily his best album since leaving the dreaded Take That, Robbie shows his repetoir of blending Pop with Rock. The strength and depth of the album could take FHM's "sexiest man in the world" to new heights.

Every song on this album has a great hook and melody. Very beatlish and left me with the impression that if Oasis made a pop album this is how it would sound. This is his best album by far but I do recommend THE EGO HAS LANDED for the simple fact that it's a greatest hits package of his first two solo albums which were only released in the U.K.