Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best CDs I've heard in years, May 21, 2000
I only became aware of Robbie Williams a few short weeks ago, when I caught a snippet of him performing a song on VH1. Looking to try/buy some new music from an artist I'd not heard before, I picked up William's latest. Wow. This CD is simply great. I'm not aware of Williams' background but he certainly learned how to write songs with HOOKS. I love almost every song on this CD. "Lazy Days" starts the music out on a great note, this is currently my favorite song. "Millenium", "No Regrets" and "Strong" are all very fine. "Angels" is a beautiful ballad and "Let Me Entertain You" is a wild, loud rocker that will more than remind you of Elton John is his hey-day just a bit. All the rest of the songs are worthy of mention, but I'd just be repeating the word: great too often. There is, in my opinion, not one weak song on this collection of 14 songs. THAT is quite an accomplishment. I've been playing this CD almost non-stop since I bought it. In an age when artists put out collections where you can find two or three songs you really like, Robbie manages to pull it off FOURTEEN times. This one is not to be missed!
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pop music doesn't get much better than this..., July 29, 2000
In today's pre-fabricated and, ahem, downright corporate music scene, rare is the pop album that can affect the jaded listener. Rarer still is the pop artist who actually can entertain, both on-stage and off. Rarest of all are pop albums whose every constitutent could be spun off into massive singles of excellent quality.Robbie Williams and his "The Ego Has Landed", a compilation of two UK albums, are exceptions to the afore-mentioned rules. Granted, perhaps this album works so effectively because it casts off some of the filler from his two UK-only releases, but that's a small detail. Recent pop music hasn't seen much better than the likes of the balladry heard on "Angels" and "She's The One", the sheer brilliance of "No Regrets", and even straight-ahead Oasis-type rockers "Lazy Days" and "Old Before I Die" - not to mention the general insouciance of "Man Machine" and "Let Me Entertain You", which offer the perfect antidote to the dancing moppets that provide most current pop. Even the weaker tracks lyrically here ("Millennium", the one single US listeners may actually have heard) deliver on the musical level - the incorporation of the strings from "You Only Live Twice" is nothing short of sheer brilliance (well, at least in my book). Maybe Robbie will never get the airplay he deserves in the US, but this is perhaps because one cannot classify what he does under one single category, which seems to be what one needs to get chart positioning. Nonetheless, this is nothing to be ashamed of - who wants to be on the same chart as some of the currently popular US acts? This is a brilliant album with something to offer every listener, and one that will remain in a multi-disc player for quite some time - proof positive, I would say, that "pop music" need not be a derogatory term...some of the time, at least.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
BRITAINS BRIGHTEST STAR!!!, November 20, 2001
Having just watched Robbie Williams live concert at London's Royal Albert Hall on Saturday evening, I just felt I had to come on line and give you all a review of his only US release so far. Robbie Williams formerly of Boy band Take That graduated to the forefront of the British music scene with his single "Angels" and has never looked back since. Several number ones and many many hits later he is not only established as a credible singer/songwriter, he is quite simple Britain's biggest and brightest star. He regularly plays to sold out stadiums and arena's around the world and the only two nuts he still has to crack are America and movies. For both it is only hopefully a matter of time because he is the ultimate showman and a modern rarity, an allround entertainer. Even Elton John has said so (but don't let that put you off)! Robbie Williams cd "The Ego Has Landed" is an amalgamation of his first two UK album releases "Life Thru' A Lens" and "I've Been Expecting You" which is no bad thing. Basically what you are getting here are the best bits (14 tracks) of his first two albums with the usual and inevitable couple of weaker tracks removed. In other words this is a very good album which includes eight UK top ten singles and two UK number 1's. My favourite tracks are "Angels" (which has become something of an anthem in this country, everybody knows the words), "No Regrets" and "She's The One" but no doubt you'll have different favourites. "The Ego Has Landed" refers to Robbie's sometimes brash public statements about himself, which if you take at face value suggest that he is a bit of an ego-maniac. However, despite much of his rhetoric, he is in fact quite the opposite and has in the past turned to both booze and drugs to conquer his fears and self-doubt. Thankfully he seems to have conquered both or we would have been deprived of the world's greatest showman. For he really is that good and if you don't believe me you have to watch his videos and see him live. Still cynical? So was I until I saw him perform live at a festival a few years ago, alongside Indie bands such as the Prodigy, and steal the show from what should have been a hostile audience for a pop performer. Since then I've tried to buy tickets to see him live on several occasions but such is his popularity and reputation for putting on a great live show they are always sold out in hours. His last hit album in the UK was the massive selling "Sing When You're Winning" and in typical Robbie style his new album out here now is the similarly titled Swing When You're Winning, an astonishing album of vintage classics from the '50s, originally sung by Robbie's heroes, namely, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jnr and of course, the legendary Frank Sinatra. Swing When You're Winning features several duets, including the first single from the album; the unmissable 'Somethin' Stupid', recorded with Nicole Kidman (check out the ace and slightly raunchy video) and thanks to the miracle of modern technology, a duet with Frank Sinatra himself. Now that's class. Take my advice, buy "The Ego Has Landed", import "Sing When You're Winning" and "Swing When You're Winning" and check out the videos from 1998's Millenium onwards and see if you can get his concerts on video or DVD. The guy has got a great sense of humour, a great sense of style and a great deal of class. America, you don't know what you are missing!!!
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