Robbie Williams: Sing When You're Winning

But maybe Europeans, like Canadians, Japanese and much of the record-buying world, just have better taste. Foreigners have a long history of taking bad American musical ideas and making them better: the Beatles' transformation of popular music comes readily to mind.

And then there's Robbie Williams. After quitting the dead-end British boy band Take That and turning himself into London tabloid fodder for years, he released two solo albums that took Britain by storm, as well as a U.S. compilation album, The Ego Has Landed, which hardly registered here. With his new album, Sing When You're Winning, Williams wants to finally hit it big in the States, and he should.

There are three reasons: Williams is good looking, sings pleasant pop ditties of both the ballad and pop-funk variety, and puts on exuberant live shows in which he dances. No different from 'N Sync or 98 Degrees, right? Not quite. Williams has a mischievous twist: he doesn't believe in what he's doing. He doesn't have the self-righteous indignation of the American boy bands, nor does he actually think that the music on Sing When You're Winning is actually worth caring about. To the non-teenybop ear, the rock songs on the album, like "Kids" and "Let Love Be Your Energy," are too over the top. Meanwhile ballads like "Better Man" are too schmaltzy, but they're all infectious enough that it doesn't matter. If there was any doubt about Williams' commitment to irony, he kills it with self-mocking celebrity worship songs like "Rock DJ." It's bad pop music, but refreshingly self-aware bad pop music.

The challenge for Williams is that he's in on the joke while the surprisingly non-cynical American pop fan isn't. The U.S. music-buying public likes its sugar-pop delivered with the sincerity of a soap opera, so if Robbie Williams never hits it big in the States, it's probably better that way. He's too damn smart to stoop that low. (Capitol)

—Dan Feder

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