#490 in the UK. :lol:

 

Who was 489 Gareth Gates !!!!!!!!!!! :blink:

Who was 489 Gareth Gates !!!!!!!!!!! :blink:

 

I'm joking, I don't have a clue where it is. I presume 200 and something. <_<

PopMatters finally posted their review for Rudebox:

 

Robbie Williams

 

Rudebox

 

(Chrysalis/EMI)

 

US release date: Available as import

 

UK release date: 26 October 2006

 

Internet release date: 2007

 

by Michael Lomas

 

 

It’s a bit of a strange experience writing about Robbie Williams’ seventh album, Rudebox now, some four months after it was released to deafening howls of critical derision and public indifference. It seems like anyone that has even a passing interest in Britain’s Greatest Entertainerâ„¢ has already made their mind up about the record, and duly written it off as a disastrous experiment in garish electro-pop and awkward, unconvincing hip-hop. Indeed, so overwhelming was the negative noise that greeted the album, it has obscured the fact that Rudebox, far from an epic failure, is by an absolute country mile, the best thing Robbie Williams has done since he sauced up Lulu on Take That’s “Relight My Fireâ€. That is not to say it’s a great album –- it’s at least five tracks too long, and some of the musical ideas Williams gleefully pilfers come across as nothing more that half-baked tributes to superior originals. However, listening to Rudebox, you get the impression that for the first time in his career, Robbie actually gives a $h!t about the music he’s making.

 

Previously Robbie Williams’ music has been the least interesting thing about him. That might sound a little harsh when you consider that, with former writing partner Guy Chambers, the man is responsible for at least a dozen Britpoppy anthems that have found their way into peoples hearts in a way most singers could only dream of. Just try stopping someone in the street between the age of 20 and 40 anywhere in Britain and asking them the words to “Angelsâ€â€”you could bet your life they would swoon and croon the whole thing through. No, he may have had the hits, but the fascination with Robbie has always been the conflict of the man driven to take to the stage, play the clown, and entertain us at all costs, who outside of the spotlight has cut the figure of a desperately sad bloke, addicted to the all of the things that make any sort of normal life impossible for him.

 

Certainly musically, Robbie has never come even close to making a consistently decent album. His last two records in particular were packed full of the strangely anonymous session musician MOR rock that always seemed custom built to crack America, and always failed miserably. Rudebox on the other hand, desperately patchy though it is, at least has a vigour and life to it that goes some way to doing justice to Williams’ larger-than-life personality. Certainly, you suspect that the electro-pop and glaring rude-boy hip-hop (think MC Hammer rather than Public Enemy) to be found on Rudebox is far closer to the music Williams grew up with, and actually listens to, than the turgid FM rock of his previous albums—and even when he’s spending too much time clowning around, spinning tacky raps about the special Olympics and spaceships—at least he sounds like himself.

 

The title track and first single is probably the curveball that killed the albums commercial prospects stone dead—and even now, removed of its shock value, it’s a bloody odd song. A re-jigged cover of a Sly and Robbie track, it’s built around the kind of bleeping, ‘80s gameboy synths that would probably be praised as cutting edge if they came from an American artist rather than a class clown from Stoke on Trent. And perhaps I’m just easily amused but the lyrics—dumb, crass and nonsensical though they are—are actually pretty funny. His affected, jokey street slang and references to TK Max sound like the babblings of someone who has stopped giving a toss about any notions of musical credibility and is revelling in the absurdities of throwaway pop music at its most ridiculous.

 

Trawling through the rest of Rudebox, you’ll come across gonzo country ("Viva Life on Mars"), brooding, slightly demented synth pop ("The Actor") and swinging narcotic rap funk ("Good Doctor"). It’s the musical equivalent of Attention Deficit Disorder but crucially, Robbie Williams isn’t really an artist who has to make a coherent, steady album—he’s a born entertainer, a fantastic pop star making mostly brilliant, fun pop music.

 

“We’re the Pet Shop Boys†is a cover of a My Robot Friend song featuring the actual Pet Shop Boys on vocals, and as a kitsch ‘80s tribute, somewhat bizarrely, it works. “Lovelight†also, may be another cover but it is still a brilliantly produced (by Mark Ronson) neon-lit ballad that recalls Prince at his most throwaway, surely never a bad thing. Even the reworking of the Human League, “Louise†is a surprisingly understated and heartfelt croon made more affecting by the fact it never once threatens to drift into widescreen epic ballad territory.

 

What lifts Rudebox above just being a funny, deliriously schizophrenic pop album though is the presence of two remarkable songs, “The 80’s†and “The 90’sâ€. Such is the shadow they cast over just about everything else Robbie Williams has ever done, it’s almost embarrassing. Inseparable in the running order, it’s impossible not to imagine these barbed, bruised and tender poems to misspent youth not being celebrated were they written by anybody else other than the eternally uncool Williams. “The 80’s†is flecked with the earliest memories of teenage years spent drinking Newcy Brown and fumbling around with girls down the park, that would strike a chord with anyone even vaguely familiar with an English working class upbringing. Better still is the “The 90’s†with its picture of a lost kid, shot to immense fame who’s now “running away from everything that I’ve ever been… pissed and f***ed and only 19â€. Maybe after all this time, beneath all the smirking and winking and empty whinging, Robbie’s had something to say after all… who’d have thought it.

 

Given the critical reaction to Rudebox already, there isn’t much point in dwelling dwell on the songs here that don’t work -– “Bongo Bong and Je Ne T’aime Plus†which is so badly conceived and executed that even Lily Allen’s presence can’t save it. Likewise closing couple of tracks “Summertime†and “Dickhead†are best forgotten, the latter being a f***ing insane, pissed up rap that should never have made available for public consumption in a million years (to be honest I could only manage to sit through to about two minutes of it but it wasn’t pretty).

 

Despite these misfirings, Rudebox is an astounding, brave release from one of the worlds most high profile pop stars. It has already alienated much of his Heat reading fanbase and the folks that only buy two albums a year from Tesco will for the first time not be tempted by a Robbie Williams album. No record company in their right mind will surely allow a star of Robbie Williams’ stature and size to deliver something like Rudebox for a very long time. Which is a shame, because the record displays an edge and a wicked sense of fun sorely missing from most mainstream pop. Whether it’s a one off or not, with Rudebox, Robbie Williams seems to have lost a sizable portion of his audience in return for finding his musical voice. Rudebox is a flawed, stupid, incoherent mess of an album, but like the very best pop music, it isn’t half fun.

 

7/10

 

 

 

Thanks for that, a great, well written review. Although some of the things he says I don't agree with, especially the part about "

Robbie has never come even close to making a consistently decent album. His last two records in particular were packed full of the strangely anonymous session musician MOR rock that always seemed custom built to crack America, and always failed miserably."

 

That is complete bull$h!t, and he clearly has no clue what he is on about. Critics who said Escapology was deigned to break American are insanly deluded. Most of tracks that they said were aimed at the US never even appeared on the American version. :rolleyes: And IC was'nt even released over there. -_- And too say he has never come close to making a consistantly decent album is just plain wrong. Hello - have they not heard his first 3 amazing albums. :rolleyes:

 

Anyway, overall, It is a great review. B)

im not a big robbie fan but i will say escapology was a great album and a consistant album that i still enjoy,i hav ebought a a few of his albums and that wa shis best i liked a few songs on intensive care also but i didnt buy rudebox as i didnt like any of the singles released i hated the first 2 singles but shes madoona is ok

im not a big robbie fan but i will say escapology was a great album and a consistant album that i still enjoy,i hav ebought a a few of his albums and that wa shis best i liked a few songs on intensive care also but i didnt buy rudebox as i didnt like any of the singles released i hated the first 2 singles but shes madoona is ok

 

I don't agree. Escapology is by far his worst and most inconsistent album of his whole career for me. His first three albums (Life Thur A Lens, I've Been Expecting You and Sing When You're Winning), are his strongest and most consistent for me, followed by Rudebox and IC. Rudebox is a an album way ahead of it's time, truely brilliant diverce, innovative album. Most of the public are so fickle and unless something is full of easy listening ballads and radio friendly pop then they won't go near it. Rudebox has got truely brilliant reviews from mags and broadsheets papers who know that they are talking about, but the brainless British press, would clearly had their mind made up on the whole album, the minute they heard the lead single gave it awful reviews, in particular the Mirror. So the public, are constnatly reading all the negetivity everytime anything is written about him in the press, so won't go near it, but that's their own loss.

 

I can understand you hating Rudebox, cause it is so different, but Lovelight is a truely brilliant pop record, as is She's Madonna, both songs would've easily been #1 if they had've been released a few years ago with some actual promotion, when things were'nt so negetive imo. :wub:

 

 

I'm joking, I don't have a clue where it is. I presume 200 and something. <_<

 

 

Scotty... You were Jokiing... well I never... of course I know you were joking.. that is why I was taking the P**s , however guess who's Album I saw advertised again this evening on TV... Yeah... that's right... our one & only JT..... Although I do think that JT needs a bit of promo at the moment after the get up of him on that Kids Choice awards from LA yesterday... downright embarrassing... He was covered in Gunk... how mature is that.. I think that he is gone back to his childhood again... Now if Rob did that it would be all over the papers today.....

 

 

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek :arrr:

 

Do you thing it would do any good if we all sent emails to IE Music Management & EMI explaining the concept of TV advertising ( in case they dont know it exists ) & how many people watch TV every day & night & not everyone is into downloading.

I JUST GIVE UP...... :puke2: :huh:

 

Rudebox got such a raw deal from the UK tabloid press. It was totally undeserved. Articles written by 'journalists' who'd never actually even listened to it but decided to jump on the bandwagon.

I do agree with the bit about it being a real bad decision to issue Rudebox the single first and then to call the album the same name. I said this at the time. -_-

Rudebox got such a raw deal from the UK tabloid press. It was totally undeserved. Articles written by 'journalists' who'd never actually even listened to it but decided to jump on the bandwagon.

I do agree with the bit about it being a real bad decision to issue Rudebox the single first and then to call the album the same name. I said this at the time. -_-

 

Indeed you did, as did I. '1974' would been far more suitable, especially considering the album is exactly 74 minutes :smoke:

Indeed you did, as did I. '1974' would been far more suitable, especially considering the album is exactly 74 minutes :smoke:

 

Hey cotty... that is real clever... 74 minutes....

current charts:

 

Germany: #53

SUI: #88

NED: #50

SWE: #54

ITA: #45

 

out in austria

Total sales ~4.100 Total sales worldwide this week ~7.500

current charts:

 

Germany: #53

SUI: #88

NED: #50

SWE: #54

ITA: #45

 

out in austria

Total sales ~4.100 Total sales worldwide this week ~7.500

 

 

Stevyy... Do you know how many is that worldwide now.... :wacko:

does this help with anything.

 

Rude Box The album debuted at #2 on the United World Chart selling 378,000 copies in its first week.[1]

 

The album has so far moved 600,000 units in the United Kingdom and almost 3.5 million worldwide. [2]

source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudebox_%28album%29

 

 

 

Yes, Stevyy, but it does'nt seem safe to truth Mediatraffic. It seems unless you sell hugely in the UK or US (which Rudebox obviously did'nt), then their estimates are in no way accurate. The US/UK seem to be the only places where actual over the counter sales are made avalable, elsewhere it is just shipments, therefor it makes much more sence to go by shipments only. I mean every album out there today has shipped far more than it has sold, especially albums that were expected to sell alot but underperformed for whatever reason. ^_^

Opps, I went to quote your post, but deleted it by accident. :huh: :rolleyes:

 

I need to wake up. :arrr:

:lol:

 

 

Flop Mod. -_-

:lol:

Flop Mod. -_-

 

Hush, I am hungover <_<

What we have been saying of the downturn in Album Sales in general..

 

Big-selling albums by Amy Winehouse & TT failed to stop UK music sales slumping in the first three months of the year, according to new figures.

Amy Winehouse & TT had the top sellers from January to March, followed by Mika & Kaiser Chiefs.

Excluding compilations, overall album sales were down 10% in the first three months of 2007 compared with last year.

The figures show sales plummeted in March and no album matched the frenzy the Artic Monkeys enjoyed in 2006.

 

Courtesy BBC Teletext....

...............................................................

 

I feel people in general ( unless hardened fans ) are not buying complete albums anymore... they are selecting tracks that they like & buying those or else downloading free of charge off the net. I dont think we will ever again see the large volume album sales that we saw two years ago.... things have really changed in the last two years so I think Rob did pretty well in the UK & elsewhere with Rudebox seeing that he never promoted it there at all & did not even promote the album on the TV as he did with previous albums.

Edited April 10, 200718 yr by TessaT

I agree. I think the days of massive selling albums are over. Unless it's middle of the road fodder aimed at the older market (like me :P ).

Indeed, album sales in the UK and especially on a global scale are gone down hugely. So for Rudebox to have sold near 3.5m having got zero promotion not even be released in the US is remarkable quite frankly. I doubt we'll see an othr album to sell 10m worldwide again, never mind a 10m seller in the US alone. -_-

 

Justin's album for instance is the big thing, a huge success in most places, especially the USA, with well over 3 million sold there, but outside the US conisdering it's huge promo and endless airplay for the 3 singles, it has'nt sold great at all. Even when you add the US sales, overall worldwide sales were less than 5m at the end of 2006, despite being out since September, compare that to Intensive Care 5.5m at the end of 2005, and consider that it was'nt even released it in the worlds largest market the US, then it gives you a good idea I'd say. ^_^