Release Date: 02 November, 2004
Audio CD
Tracks
- Old Before I Die
- Lazy Days
- Angels
- Let Me Entertain You
- Millennium
- No Regrets
- Strong
- She's the One
- Rock DJ
- Kids
- Supreme
- Let Love Be Your Energy
- Eternity
- Road to Mandalay
- Feel
- Come Undone
- Sexed Up
- Radio
- Misunderstood
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Rating 4.5
After you hear this, you won't be asking "WHO?" anymoreRobbie Williams has got to be the best kept secret outside of the UK. Since leaving the group "Take That", he has notched hit after hit, but try as he might, he just can't scratch the diamond surface of the USA.
Largely ignored by the mainstream pop crowd, Robbie sings to ears that won't hear, and shows his videos to eyes that won't see. A word of advice to music fans - try this album! Borrow it if you must, but give this album a shot.
Listen to the excellent ballad "Angels", and then hop to "Millenium", "She's the One", "Feel", "Eternity" and "Misunderstood" which is new on this album. Go back to "Old Before I Die", "Let Me Entertain You", "Strong" and "Kids" then start dancing around to "Rock DJ" and the quirky "Radio".
Every song deserves to be on a greatest hits album, the one glaring and unfortunate omission being the duet "Something Stupid" with Nicole Kidman.
Don't take my word for it - let Robbie entertain you today.
Amanda Richards, June 18, 2005
Not the greatest singer ever ... but it doesn't matter!There are greater singers than Robbie Williams, there are more talented musicians - but few - very few - has the ability to do a simple pop-song that'll go straight to your head and remain there. Don't underestimate the power of pop: It might not be very refined, but it's all the more enjoyable! And if you want pop, Robbie Williams is perhaps the best Britain has offered in the last 10 years.
This collection gives a chronological overview of his first 5 albums (not all of which have been released in the States). A chronological ordering does not always work very well - in this case, however, is does the job pretty good, though. Still, I'd have vouched for a slightly different set-list, but of course with a compilation CD there'll always be slight disagreements on what should have been included, and what shouldn't.
None of the tracks on this CD are less than good - some are excellent, most are very good, and then there are a couple of good songs, that just doesn't quite stand up to the rest. Opener Old Before I Die is one of them - and opening a CD with a week song is never wise. Second up is Lazy Days, another of the albums weekest tracks. This is perhaps only natural, as this is where we see Robbies career take off, but that shows the weekness of the strictly chronological arrangement. From here things lighten up - Angels has more or less become Robbies anthem, the song is very simple but at the same time incredibly strong. It might be one of the most important british pop-songs of the 90'es!
Let Me Entertain You is actually pretty much a song about what the Robbie Williams phenomenon is all about. Undeniable and catchy. Millenium is another Robbie Williams classic, uptempo and extremely catchy. More somber is No Regrets - according to Robbie with his own favorite lyric line 'I didn't loose my mind, it was mine to give away' - a reflection on what happened during the time upto his exit from boyband Take That. The song is also a collaboration with Pet Shop Boys, an interesting combination, and though the song is not the most accesible on the album, it's an excellent track. More easygoing is pop-rocker Strong and the ballad She's The One, both of which show's his and his writers' undeniable flair for an easy pop-song.
The bouncy Rock DJ introduces a new sound - and first single from his third album. From this point, some songs are starting to be slightly experimental in their sound, moving father from classical pop-rock sound. This deffinitely improves the standard of the music. Kids, dueting Robbie with Kylie Minogue, is perhaps not very experimental, but to match these two stars, both of whoem are huge at this time right after Kylie's 98 comeback, is very clever, and the song is a solid rocker. Supreme features a sample of Gloria Gaynor's 'I Will Survive', another clever move to promote the song to be a massive hit. Not that it's bad, quite the contrary, this is indeed an excellent song. The same is true for the more plain Let Love Be Your Energy - only a minor hit, this song has a fantastic melody - it's to some extent a return to the early Robbie Williams sound, which might be the reason it didn't become a major hit - but it's much better than most of the early material. The same is true of ballad Eternity, which is a very fine love song. The Road To Mandalay double-A-sited with Eternity, and is certainly a less obvious single release. An interesting song, though, hinting at Robbie's next move towards a cameo-career as swinger/crooner. No songs are included from the Swing When You Are Winning album, however.
Feel, lead single from the most recent album, takes us another notch up in musical quality. This song is by far the best Robbie has ever done, and is an extremely intense song. The lyrics are brilliant, and the song is a masterpiece and deserves a status as a modern day classic. Robbies voice is perfect for this piece. Next up, Come Undone and Sexed Up from the same album, and likewise two songs that are far better than what Robbie has done before. The last two songs, that are new for this album, underscore the fact that Robbie is on his way up, and may not have peaked. Radio takes what's needed from the 80'es sound, and offers a solid lead single, while Misunderstood, lead single from Bridget Jones movie soundtrack, is a beautiful power-ballad as good as any. Both tracks were major hits, and avoided the fate often destined for new-on-compilation tracks - that they are below-standards of the old material.
A final note - I miss a couple of songs, most importantly the Nicole Kidman duet Somthin' Stupid - it's very odd that the Swing When You're Winning record doesn't contribute a single song! - and also I miss Something Beautiful from the latest Escapology album. Of course, the cut had to be made somewhere, as there is only room for 80 minutes on a CD. I would have left out Old Before I Die and included Something Beautiful, but that's my oppinion. I also would have made a slight change in track ordering and thrown Let Me Entertain You and Let Love Be Your Energy in as first and second track on the disc, and moved Lazy Days in aster Something Beautiful as track 12 and 13. Of course, that would have messed up with the chonology, but it would have offered a better album in my oppinion.
Still, this is a nearly perfect compilation of an artist that everyone should acknowledge as one of the most important of the late 90'es and early 2000'es. This is where you should start, and I can hardly think of anybody that would go wrong with this CD. I'm confident you'll love it if you have just the slightest flair for pop music.
Overall rating: 10 / 10This is Goodthis has to be an essential cd to add to all the other robbie williams cd's all of his fans own.I don't call myself a fan but i do admitt the man has some serious talent.And the only cd i own of robbie is his last album "Escapology" which didn't do well in the USA but i enjoyed it for his seriousness and he has some great ballads.And its funnier,i have a favorite Robbie song and it has to be "Angels".For a guy like me to admitt this,it's huge.It's a great song,which is why you find it here on the "Greatest Hits" album."Rock DJ" is the most pop i've ever heard him and the ballad "Feel" is also a good Robbie hit although unfortunately i've never seen this video.But it appears the track listing is in chronological order according to what i've read in a previous review so that must be a good thing.But i do say this man has talent and he's a force to be reckoned with and the USA doesn't recognize great talent of any other continent but its own (LOL as if we need more people hating us LOL).But this comes highly recomended even if im not a fan.I've heard plenty of songs than just the ones ive listed and they were worthy of being released.Great Job robbie |
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