I admit it. I was crazy in love with Robbie Williams back when he was a cheeky chappy in Take That getting his arse mopped. I loved him even when he bought out a cover version as his first single and looked all bloated and drug crazed in the video. And then, much like the rest of Britain, I fell in love with his albums as he became the nation's brightest solo male star (even if Angels is one of my least fave songs by him). Still, by 2005 I was surprised that I didn't love Intensive Care quite as much as I should have (it suffered coming after my fave Robbie album of all time, Escapology; and to a certain extent Mark Owen's excellent How The Mighty Fall was replacing him in my consistent-need-for-post-take-that-output). Then it all went a bit tits up - Rudebox was released as his new single in 2006 and I absolutely did not get it. At all. And I tried. I tried really really hard. Nothing :( Was my love affair dead in the water? I wasn't thrilled that he sort of disappeared half way through his usual album promotional cycle either. Take That returned with the much more accessible Beautiful World, and Robbie was nowhere to be seen :(
In hindsight, Rudebox (the track, and to a certain degree the album) is a natural progression from the sounds he was experimenting with on singles like Radio (a kraftwerk krazy electro tune that sounds like you are playing a slightly warped Human League record) and Tripping. I decided to listen to Rudebox in Florida when I was bored of my usual playlist, and perhaps it was the sunshine, but I started to see it in a whole different light. In fact, Rudebox is exactly what you want from a maturing artist - something new, exciting and different from their previous output, but that still maintains the charm and essence of why you loved them in the first place. My first listen to the title track in 2 years proved that it's a crazy, brave , insane pop-rap track that blows all the Angels style balladry out of the water, with its fresh electro bleeping groove and cheekily ludicrous TK Max referencing lyrics! How did I not love this?! Quite rightly however, I did appreciate in 2006 the excellent covers of Lovelight and Kiss Me. Both eclectic choices and both slightly avant garde choices for Mr W at the time. It's quite strange hearing Robbie sing in falsetto on Lovelight, but it works and the track is totally smooth and insistent as a result.
Of course, everyone knows his single She's Madonna, which was produced by the Pet Shop Boys, which (much like the exquisite GA single The Loving Kind) proved to be the kiss of death and failed to follow Rudebox and Lovelight into the top ten. It was the song that lasted the longest for me on the album however, and it still sounds quite fresh and spunky in today's overcrowded 80s influenced market. It's the arrangements of the songs (like this) on the album that have struck me two years too late. They are all quite carefully constructed, show innovation and veer towards what Popjustice refers to as wonkypop - that whole sound of pop that takes conventional opinion of pop and inverts the stereotypes for something new. Take the should've-been-a-club-hit beats of Never Touch That Switch. Yes it's vaguely reminiscent of Soft Cell and yes, it had that electro pop vibe to it, but it was all put together in a way that was almost outrageously audacious and a little bit "look at what I can do because I'm famous". The very things that put me off the album in the first place were drawing me back in! (And ultimately, this album became somewhat of a style template for Blake Lewis - sort of...)
As an experimental and sometimes jokey album, it doesn't always succeed in hitting the mark. But that is what edited playlists are for, and it can be trimmed down to a mostly excellent 13 track album, finishing with the reminiscing streets-esque 80s and 90s tunes. Plus of course, shortly after Rudebox came out, Robbie featured on Mark Ronson's Version with a cover of The Charlatans "The Only One I Know", which fits very nicely at the end of Rudebox (replacing the quite ridiculous Dickhead). My other alternative for the placement of that track relates to my theory that Robbie should've released a greatest hits AFTER Sing When You're Winning, put Radio and Misunderstood on Intensive Care and released a second greatest hits after Rudebox. You then have two bonza hits collections which look a bit like this (* indicates greatest hits bonus tracks)(PS - thanks to camerashy for helping me see the Rudebox light!):
1 - Freedom
2 - Old Before I Die
3 - Lazy Days
4 - South Of The Border
5 - Angels
6 - Let Me Entertain You
7 - Millenium
8 - No Regrets
9 - You Win Some
10 - Strong
11 - She's The One
12 - It's Only Us
13 - Rock DJ
14 - Kids
15 - Supreme Amour
16 - Let Love Be Your Energy
17 - Better Man
18 - Eternity *
19 - We Are The Champions *
DISC TWO:
1 - Something Stupid
2 - Feel
3 - Come Undone
4 - Something Beautiful
5 - Sexed Up
6 - Love Somebody
7 - Radio
8 - Misunderstood
9 - Make Me Pure (Much better choice than Tripping!)
10 - Advertising Space
11 - Sin Sin Sin
12 - Rudebox
13 - Lovelight
14 - She's Madonna
15 - Kiss Me
16 - Never Touch That Switch
17 - We're The Pet Shop Boys (remix) *
18 - The Only One *
Back tomorrow (or soon-ish) with some new boybands, why Fundamental is suddenly brilliant to me, and Das Pop!
