Click on any of the above highlighted links to access my music chart
analysis for the week in which it was at that position.
The album begins with Let Love Be Your Energy, a mid-tempo effort
that sounds like he's trying to out-Beatles Oasis. However, it
doesn't really seem to go anywhere and meanders along with no real
purpose or knowledge of its direction, with meaningless lines like :
"Daddy where's the sun gone from the sky, what did we do wrong, why did
it die and if you've got no love for me then I'll say goodbye".
Better Man is a slower song and the only possible candidate for a future
single release, but what's with the ridiculous, pandering phrases that make
him sound oh-so-religious like: "Lord I'm doin' all I can, to be a better
man" ? Purlease!
The first single from the album, Rock DJ, which made No.1 in its first
week of release was much-trumpeted because of the video in which he strips
off his clothes and then his skin (that part only shown after 9pm) and
was much-hyped because of his supposed relationship with ex-Spice-slapper
Geri Halliwell. The song itself actually stinks to high heaven and
sounds more and more like he wants to be the new George Michael. The lyrics
are complete bollocks and he admitted this himself.
Not so much overtones of the disco classic I Will Survive are seen
to appear throughout the fourth track Supreme, rather the ripping off
of the instrumental riff from said tune, but it lacks the same energy and
rather plods along.
I had high hopes for Kids, it being a duet with assistance from
Kylie Minogue, but what intends to be a funky affair soon dissipates
into a mesh of bog-standard guitar groans and dance beats to cave your skull
in with.
To close the first half of the album Robbie digs out his acoustic guitar
for If It's Hurting You. It's about dumping someone and although it's
a moderately quiet track, it screams "Tonight Matthew, I'm going to
attempt to be Paul Weller".
Starting into the second half and we're on the home straight. However, all I
can say about Singing For The Lonely was that it was more up-tempo
than most of the rest of the songs on display, it was mind-numbingly repetitive
and I couldn't wait for it to end.
Robbie goes all softly-spoken for the slow Love Calling Earth.
At this point I'm starting to fall asleep.
Knutsford City Limits is a perfect continuing example of how he
just wants to take ideas from other places and turn them around to use them
for his own advantage. A mid-tempo track that's nothing like the Tina Turner
song you thought it would be, not only does it bastardise the name of that
tune, but also a Don Henley one with the chorus line, "New York's
had its minute".
Forever Texas is so-called because of the line, "Give me Texas
wisdom". I presume only he knows whatever that means. Thankfully it
does not go on forever.
Obviously Robbie's had a bitter experience with a woman, as if meeting Geri
Halliwell wasn't enough, so By All Means Necessary declares that to
be the way the girl in question will get whatever she wants. Ho hum.
A simple up-beat number entitled The Road To Mandalay closes the
album and is the only one I'd be particularly fussed to hear again. It's
very much a road-trip-type track, but while it's a far cry from being
outstanding it still kicks the rest of the album into a cocked hat.
Finally - yes there's more - the album length is 76 minutes, but after the
full 52 you'll get nothing but silence until the last few seconds when,
after presumingly having done this beforehand, the tinny words are heard
saying "No, I'm not doing one on this album". Oh, Robbie, you are a
wag.
After hearing this album it makes me wonder who Robbie's trying to appeal to.
It doesn't have endless pop tunes on it a la Steps so that's the teeny
market out the window and he's opted more for guitar-based tunes, but they're
all so generic with about as much originality as a Status Quo song
and today's music lovers are looking for something more than the ordinary.
No doubt Dominic Moron in The Sun has already creamed his
pants over this release, but to me Robbie's showing a complete lack of ideas
and we've heard it all before. So, it should sell millions then (!)
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
