Poor Robbie Williams. In Europe, he's the biggest pop star next to Kylie Minogue, he sells out stadiums in record time and he does it all while getting away with snarky lyrics like "give no head, no backstage passes." But in America, the most airplay he ever got was Take That's lame boy band ballad "Back For Good," released nearly eight years ago.
Williams is handsome, accented, cheeky, talented, successful with the ladies in a scandalous, tabloid-happy way, and noe he wants to conquer America. The formula works -- or at least, it works for Colin Farrell. But Williams has barely made a dent in the American market with his two biggest quasi-hits, "Millennium" and "Rock DJ."
Now the pressure is on with Williams' second American release, "Escapology." At 29, Williams' pop star shelf life is running low, not to mention the fact that he's carrying the weight of his record label on his shoulders. The New York Times headline says it all: "Struggling EMI Pins U.S. Hopes On Over-The-Top British Singer."
With an $80 million deal from EMI, Williams had better hit a homer. "Escapology," already a huge success in Europe, is chock full of Williams' trademark prickly humor delivered over songs writ large with oohing choirs and swelling orchestras. And it doesn't have a snowball's chance on American radio.
You could argue that it's just that Williams' distinctly British detachment doesn't translate to the American ear. But the song with the most Top 40 potential, "Monsoon," has Williams' typically brazen lyrics: "Don't want to piss on your parade," he sings, "I'm here to make money and get laid." "Monsoon" is the best of the bunch, but it's not because of the acidic lyrics. It's an anthem, pure and simple, and you can play it in the car with the windows down or hear it in a stadium and enjoy the hell out of it.
But much of "Escapology" is disappointingly bland. Sure, Williams' confessional lyrics are more interesting than a certain mousey-voiced American former boy-bander who shall remain nameless. When he endorses drug use in "Get A Little High" -- "it's just a little light entertainment," he argues, not to mention, "it may save your life" -- he puts a new spin on the "poor me, I'm such a lonely pop star" affliction that's been going around radio waves. And he's not faking it. Ever notice a long scar under his close-cropped hair? That's from the time he got wasted and dove into an empty water fountain. Yeah.
"Escapology's" problem doesn't stem directly from Williams' songwriting. It's the producers. Someone take the sequencers away from them now! The music is so arranged, so layered, so damn pretty that when Williams screams "f--- you all!" on "Come Undone," the tinkle of the piano negates the venom of his words. The climax of "Come Undone" finds Williams lamenting, "We sing love songs -- so sincere! so sincere!" over a cookie-cutter guitar solo. You've just gotta ask: is anyone who works for Williams listening to him?
Maybe if Williams played an instrument he could lend some of his personality to the music, but as it is, "Escapology" drags under the weight of its own dull musical sensibilities. That's a shame, because Robbie Williams is anything but dull.
Williams and his crew rouse themselves with some stereotypical flamenco brass on "Me and My Monkey," an epic about, well, Robbie and his monkey. It's like "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream," except no one cracks up laughing in the beginning. In this case, Williams is so sincere in his irony that he almost forgets to be ironic. "Me and My Monkey" won't make anyone laugh, but the vision of a monkey in rollerblades and dungarees is pretty amusing in a perplexing, is this pop music? kind of way.
It's not that "Escapology" is a bad album. A singer who asks the question "Have I gone up in the world, or has the world gone down on me?" deserves all the ridiculous amount of attention he gets, and clearly knows how to handle it. It's just that "Escapology" misses its mark. It's hard to imagine any of the songs taking over American radio, especially when so many songs deal with the peril of fame -- Williams isn't established enough in America to complain about it. Better luck next time, Robbie.
3 stars
Read More
The best albums of 2014
By Noah Zeidman | December 4, 2014Across genres, it has been a pretty great year in music.
Top 10 movies of 2014
December 4, 2014This has been an excellent year for film, offering everything from gripping blockbusters to innovative personal films.
Iggy Azalea is “Reclassified”
December 4, 2014It has become common practice among music artists to repackage their albums in an effort to simultaneously boost single sales and dish out new content by slightly renaming the album or slapping “Deluxe” onto the title.
