Escapology [PA] - Robbie Williams > Reviews > You either love him or you hate him!

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money

Advantages:	Typcial Robster music  .  .  .  chilled out and easy to listen to
Disadvantages:	How long can the Rob phenomenon possibly last?

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This is Robbie's last album with Guy Chambers apparently, and you do get the feeling that Robbie had more control over this one than some of the previous ones. More than most artists, Robbie's a very autobiographical writer, and whilst others might stick with the old mainstays, like love and relationship break-ups, Robster can get away with singing songs about monkeys in Las Vegas (me and my monkey ... really good surprisingly enough) because we all actually believe that he was daydreaming about it at the time, and no that he's just being a tad pretentious.

Compared to some of his other albums, this one is perhaps the most consistently tongue-in-cheek, and you get the feeling that Robbie may have worked through most of his angst enough to let his more humorous side oout for the majority of this record.

Robbie's music does tend to have some similarities with George Michael's more tongue in cheek songs, such as Outside, and, just like George's songs, Robbie's do manage to get people dancing. This album is filled with lots of really cool lyrics and tunes, but you get the feeling that most of the songs on this album mean something to Robbie beyond what the rest of us pick up from listening to them.
Which makes the album all the more fun! Nan's Song is particularly poignant, and it's a symbol of Robbie's growing confidence that this was a labeled track, and not hidden at the end of a thirty minute pause, like Robbie's poem Dear Sir, and some of his other deep songs.

This album includes the single Feel, as well as How peculiar, Something beautiful, Monsoon, Sexed up, Love somebody, Revolution, Handsome Man, Come undone, Me and my monkey, Song 3, Hot fudge, Cursed and Nan's song. However, it's sad to note that some of Robbie's B-sides from his singles didn't make the cut, especially the touching demo Nobody Someday.

This album is worth a whirl, if only to find out the affect America's had on our home-grown bad boy turned good!