Robbie Williams Rudebox CD

Canadian pressing CD/DVD NTSC Region 0. EMI. 2006.

Personnel: Charmaine Baines (vocals, background vocals); Marsha Thomason (vocals); Mark Ronson (guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, percussion, scratches); Brandon Christy (guitar, Fender Rhodes piano, keyboards, programming, background vocals); William Orbit (guitar, keyboards, bass guitar); Craig Russo (guitar, keyboards, programming, background vocals); Fil Eisler (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Jerry Meehan (acoustic guitar, keyboards, bass guitar, programming, background vocals); Neil Taylor (electric guitar); Mark Ralph (dobro); Terry Earl Taylor (banjo, harmonica); Ian Hendrickson-Smith (baritone saxophone); Nichol Thompson (trombone); Raymond Angry (piano, electric piano, Fender Rhodes piano, organ); Dave Lee (keyboards); Danny Spencer (synthesizer, Moog synthesizer, programming, background vocals); Vaughan Merrick (Moog synthesizer); Andrew Levy (bass guitar); Sam Koppelman (drums, percussion); Adrian Meehan (drums, drum programming); Geoff Holroyde, Steve Sidelnyk (drums); Karl Miller (percussion); Chris Lowe, Pete Gleadall (programming); Lily Allen, Bailey Tzuke, Kristina Paraskeva, Richard L. Scott, Laurie Mayer, Leona Naess, N'Dea Davenport, Neil Tennant, Katherine Ellis (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: John Paterno; Paul Lani; Serban Ghenea; Tim Weidner; William Orbit; Jeremy Wheatley.
Recording information: Allido Sound, New York, NY; Chillout Studios, Berlin, Germany; Chung King, New York, NY; Guerilla Studios; Rockband Studio, Los Angeles, CA; Roundhay Park, Leads; Sarm west; The Actors' Studios, Los Angeles, CA; Wendy House Studios; Z Records Studio.
Director: Hamish Hamilton.
With 2006's RUDEBOX Robbie Williams moved from adult-alternative pop-rock to unabashed dance-pop. It was a welcome change of pace, given the lackluster nature of the album's predecessors. Part bouncy club set and part new wave rave-up, RUDEBOX finds Williams sounding freer and more fun than he has in a long time. The synthy, hip-hop robo-groove of the title track that opens the album wastes no time getting the party started.
One of the album's pleasant surprises, however, is its sense of variety. For starters, Williams chooses an intriguing array of covers, ranging as far afield as Manu Chao, the Human League, and My Robot Friend. "Kiss Me" is 1980s-flavored dance music with a dash of disco, whereas "The 90s" is a dreamy downtempo tune that has Williams recounting his days in the boy band Take That. RUDEBOX missteps a time or two, but overall it is a breath of fresh air in the artist's discography.
The careers of most music celebrities are like passenger ships, able to steam along nearly indefinitely without the least chance of modifying course. With his work of the 21st century, Robbie Williams appeared to have set himself on a course that was guaranteed to keep him working for decades, remaining important to thousands of fans, but never varying from the type of adult alternative singer/songwriter material expected of him. Then came Rudebox, which proves he's not that simple -- or at least, not that satisfied with himself. It may be a good album because it says little about his inner life and emotional troubles, which are unceremoniously dropped in favor of hyper-sexualized or sarcastic dance music and ironic laugh-getters ("Make your body shake like you stood on a land mine," "Dance like you just won at the Special Olympics"). It may be a good album because it has some of the best productions of his career, usually amped-up electro-disco from the duo Soul Mekanik or goofy hip-hop soul from Mark Ronson (which makes him come across as Justin Timberlake at some points and Gnarls Barkley at others). It's certainly a good record in comparison to its two predecessors, which suffered from a lack of vitality. (For example, while 2005's Intensive Care desultorily attempted to rewrite the Human League's "Louise," Rudebox simply covers the song, with much more feeling.Mojo (Publisher) (p.101) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A]n intriguing, funny an inventive listen. The highlight is the Pet Shop Boys collaboration 'She's Madonna'..."