crown heights affair

After a triumphant return to Take That, Robbie Williams will return with "Take The Crown", his ninth solo longplayer on November 5.

It was recorded in Los Angeles with producer Jacknife Lee who has previously worked with rock luminaries U2 and REM.

The first single from the elpee will be "Candy", co-written by Take That cohort Gary Barlow. It will hit the "shops" on October 29.

"Take The Crown" will be issued in two flavors - standard and deluxe. The official tracklisting for the standard version features the following eleven songs.

1. Be A Boy
2. Gospel
3. Candy
4. Different
5. Shit On The Radio
6. All That I Want
7. Hunting For You
8. Into The Silence
9. Hey Wow
 Yeah Yeah
10. Not Like The Others
11. Losers

The deluxified edition will feature two bonus tracks, "Reverse" and "Eight Letters", as well as three video vignettes which document the making of the album and the video for the first single.



Apparently, the goal for "Take The Crown", his first album with Universal after his long affiliation with EMI, was to fill it full of potential singles. Let's hope that is the case since it has been quite some time since RW has come up with a longplayer bristling with pop perfection.

big trouble

Take That are a bit predictable. N'est-ce pas, mes chattons? Second single in from "Progress", their sales busting, Stuart Price produced, number one longplayer, is a glam lite stomper featuring Mark Owen on lead vox with Gazza chiming in on the chorus.

The uptempo retro 70s rocker concept worked for "Shine", the ELO-esque follow up to "Patience". The same can't be said for "Up All Night" which followed the chart topping single, "Greatest Day".

Now that Robbie is back in the fold, will the dark, blustery, menacing, militaristic vibe of "Kidz" go over well in the charts?

The single is poignant and timely in the wake of the student riots in the UK. It reminds me of a time long ago when Duran Duran gave us "The Wild Boys" and Culture Club returned with "The War Song". They were muscular, dramatic, big beat numbers which were a bit harder edged for both bands. However, both Duran and Culture Club pushed the boundaries only four years into their chart run. It took ver That nearly twenty years to give us some rough edges.

With Take That's recent star turn on the this years Brit Awards with a clusterfuck performance of their latest single, the official vid couldn't be far behind. And as if by magic, here it is!



Well that certainly isn't a low budget clip, my darlings. They threw shitloadsamoney around on the production line for it. Where did the label stash the cash for that one?

Anyway, it's a jolly video with the five lads dressed in battle regalia, bringing the joy of song to the "kids" of planet Earth. Take That in the guise of pop warriors, ladies and gents! Is it me or is Robbie even present on the track? He doesn't even bother to lip sync in the vid, instead preferring to mug the camera only a few times.

Robbie's hits and bits revealed

RAWR! Robbie Williams looks delicious in the photo adorning the cover of his forthcoming hits collection, "In And Out Of Consciousness: Greatest Hits 1990-2010. The artwork mimics the sleeve of his most recent elpee, "Reality Killed The Video Star".

"Shame", the first single, is a beautiful duet with Gary Barlow which will be available from all fine "shops" on October 4.

Mr. Barlow makes a second appearance on Robbie's retrospective with "Heart And I" another fantastic Williams/Barlow collab. Seems like these two have patched things up and gotten a little cozy.

The album revisits the last two decades of RW's career in reverse chronological order. In fact, it covers every single he released as a solo artist. That's quite unusual for a most greatest hits collection as, inevitably, something is left off. The compilation is rounded off with Take That's "Everything Changes", the boyband's fourth, consecutive single to go straight in at number one in the UK way back in 1994. Technically, the album covers sixteen years rather than the twenty inferred by the album's subtitle.

With a whopping 39 tracks slathered across two CDs, Robbie's career retrospective finally includes his debut solo single, "Freedom", a cover of George Michael's hit from 1990.

"In And Out Of Consciousness: The Greatest Hits 1990-2010" will be released on October 11. Here's the tracklisting in its full glory.

CD1

1. Shame
2. Heart And I
3. You Know Me
4. Bodies
5. Morning Sun
6. She's Madonna
7. Lovelight
8. Rudebox
9. Sin Sin Sin
10. Advertising Space
11. Make Me Pure
12. Tripping
13. Misunderstood
14. Radio
15. Sexed Up
16. Something Beautiful
17. Come Undone
18. Feel
19. Mr. Bojangles

CD2

1. I Will Talk And Hollywood Will Listen
2. Somethin' Stupid
3. The Road To Mandalay
4. Eternity
5. Let Love Be Your Energy
6. Supreme
7. Kids
8. Rock DJ
9. It's Only Us
10. She's The One
11. Strong
12. No Regrets
13. Millennium
14. Let Me Entertain You
15. Angels
16. South Of The Border
17. Lazy Days
18. Old Before I Die
19. Freedom
20. Everything Changes

It's a truly all encompassing hit collection. It includes "Kids" and "Somethin' Stupid", his duets with Aussies Kylie Minogue and Nicole Kidman, respectively. Surprisingly, it even features the singles from "Swing When You're Winning", considered many to be a side project rather than a proper RW album. Kudos and kisses to the label and RW's management for getting this one right.

Robbie Williams' retrospective perspective

This is the cover image of Robbie Williams' 31st single, "Morning Sun". It's also his first single to miss the top 40 in the UK. It crashed out at an apologetic #45 after two top 10 placings with "Bodies" and "You Know Me", both plucked from his eighth, studio longplayer, "Reality Killed The Video Star".

Robbie has only missed the top 10 three times since he ditched Take That for a solo career. "South Of The Border" and "She's Madonna" peaked at #14 and #16, respectively. The third, "Sin Sin Sin", was his first to miss the top 20 with a quick appearance at #22 before slipping out the bottom end not long after it charted. Perhaps he should think twice before releasing a single with a title beginning with the letter S.

After "Reality Killed The Video Star" delivered a muted performance and Robbie decided to shelve any touring plans, it was swiftly decided that he should release a career retrospective.

To mark the occasion, Robbie Williams has reunited with his former Take That colleague, Gary Barlow, for "Shame", a song which will serve as the lead single for "In And Out Of Consciousness – The Greatest Hits 1990-2010". It will be a 39 track, double CD and will be available from all fine record "shops" and online "retailers" on October 4. A DVD of the same name will be released a week later.

No tracklisting has been announced for the elpee, but as the title suggests, it will include material from both his solo career as well as his time with Take That. His first solo release, a cover of George Michael’s "Freedom", appeared in 1996 and hit #2 little more than a year after he quit the boy band.



It has certainly been a long road since the porky, drug addled days of his youth. Eh, kittens? He sorta disowned his debut, solo single. It didn't even appear on his first hits collection.

Robbie was featured as lead vocalist on three Take That hits - "Could It Be Magic", "I Found Heaven" and "Everything Changes". If these are featured along with his 31 solo singles and the new track he penned with Gary Barlow, that would cover 35 of the 39 tracks proposed for the collection.

And if that's not enough to get your Robbie mojo working, check out this flashy little trailer they created for it.



So where does RW go from here? After twenty years of hits, surely he's at a major crossroad in his career. I guess the full on Take That reunion is expected. But in my opinion, the question surrounding whether they will or won't get back together is far more exciting. Once they cross that line, the sizzle might be good for one album and then it will be old news.

welcome back Mr. Williams

News flash! It was just announced that Robbie Williams will return with a new album and single this year. It coincides nicely with the end of the campaign for Take That's most recent album, "The Circus", and the subsequent tour. How convenient.

The forthcoming album, his eighth longplayer, is called "Reality Killed The Video Star". It will be released on November 9. Ahead of that, the first single from the album will be "Bodies", on October 12. Both the single and album have had its knobs twiddled by Trevor Horn, the titan of all producers. It should sound massive!

Of course, the title of the album is a nod to "Video Killed The Radio Star" by the Buggles of which Trevor Horn was a memeber.


Robbie's looking well rested, don'tcha think?