REVIEW: Robbie Williams, The Ego Has Landed (Capitol)
- Bob Gajarsky
As a member of a boy band in his teenage years, Robbie Williams and Take That conquered Europe and won the hearts of the usual screaming girls all across the continent. But in America, widespread success somehow eluded the teen group. That 'failure' to break in America a la the Backstreets and New Kids may turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to Robbie Williams.
Williams' debut album, The Ego Has Landed (a combination of his two European solo efforts), is merely outstanding. Robbie had already burned some of the teen bridges behind his unceremonious booting from Take That - after all, eschewing the virtues of ecstasy is a sure way to lose the support of the mainstream machine responsible for teen idol bands.
The fickle British press initially dismissed Williams' solo career. However, when the poignant ballad "Angels" captured the hearts of the United Kingdom's music fans (think an updated version of Elton John's "Empty Garden"), even the critics were converted to the 'new' Robbie. Still cocky and not afraid to take the piss out of reporters, Robbie became celebrated rather than castigated.
Samples from James Bond ("You Only Live Twice") on the lilting first single "Millennium" might cloud the admiration of first-time American fans, but this is one album which truly deserves to be looked at as the sum of all its parts.
When Robbie sings "Let Me Entertain You", you know he means it. Harder rocking than most of his other tracks, memories of Gene, Ace, Peter and Paul are brought back to life from their made-up days as Kiss. And on the introspective and confessional "Strong", Williams admits that "Early morning when I wake up / I look like Kiss but without the makeup / And that's a good line to take it to the bridge".
There's a few ballads thrown in - "She's The One", and the Embrace-esque "No Regrets", which features backing vocals by the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon and the Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant. It even includes a PSB-esque ending, where the song just 'drops' and ends - no gentle fade-out, as Tennant was prone to do on tracks such as "Opportunities".
Other highlights on The Ego Has Landed include the down and dirty, rocking "Man Machine" (from Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, but not on the soundtrack), the anti-Who song (I hope I'm) "Old Before I Die", in which Robbie half-seriously asks if he's straight or gay, and wants to live to see the pope gets high...and for those looking for the spoken word Robbie, there's a hidden message at the end of "One of God's Better People" to those who naysayed Williams, culminating in "Bollocks! You can kiss my ass."
A standout from start to finish and better than 99% of the schlock released these days, finally, The Ego Has Landed - and Robbie Williams proves that self-assuredness, balls, and brilliant music are still a precious commodity. Take That, suckers!
