Robbie Williams: come and have a go if you think you are hard enough

Robbie Williams is coming back. November sees a new album called, with characteristic annoying wordplay, Reality Killed The Video Star, preceded by a single, Bodies. That's good news for the fans, who have been on hold since 2006's Rudebox album.

 

Back then, we'd had 10 years of nonstop cheeky, angsty, eager Robbie Williams that felt like it would never end. Since then, it seems as if he's disappeared.

Naturally, he denies that: "A comeback record? No it isn't. It's the next record after the last one... but alas... it looks like I'll have to follow the script that has been written for me in my absence… If you find a way of not getting papped, they think you've died."

 

Robbie avoided the limelight by moving to quiet San Fernando Valley, not far from Hollywood, for several years. With that simple unfashionable act, he disappeared from the world's radar of tabloids and gossip magazines.

The Robbie machine is ramping up again (and he's returned to Blighty), but it will take a little more than having dinner on "the other side of the big hill" to bring things back to 2006. Robbie 2009 is a difficult sell, because of ‘the Rudebox problem'.

 

When pop music blog Popjustice asked readers for comment about the new album recently, they received responses in roughly equal numbers from two contradictory camps.

 

There are those who want Robbie to build upon Rudebox's brand of surprisingly-credible retro electro rap.

 

Then there are those who found it unlistenable, the self-obsessed ramblings of an ego gone mad, and hope the next album is anything but more of the same. The Sun referred to the title track as "the worst song ever". His publicist has a big job ahead of them.

I'm in the pro-Rudebox camp. My sympathy will always lie with an artist who is trying to express something and push at limits over those who watch their target market and push the buttons they need to satisfy it.

 

Rudebox was quickly recorded with quality collaborators (Pet Shop Boys, Mark Ronson, Lily Allen) and thrown together lyrics and revelations. A lot of it was shoddy, throwaway and personal. But, as Mike Skinner, who clearly influenced the record, shows, sometimes what appears to be casual production and irrelevant anecdote can become something worth keeping.

The album centred on two songs - The 80s and The 90s. The 80s documents Robbie's childhood, messing with girls and having his bike stolen. Then suddenly he's leaving school with nothing, joining and then being kicked out of Take That.

 

Much was made of the lyric, "met the other guys, one seemed like a cock. I think it's gonna be like New Kids on The Block". This was seen as Williams opening a new feud with his old band.

 

I don't think that's right. With those two songs, he was reaching for authenticity and honesty. It's hard to doubt he went home to Stoke and said exactly that to his mates.

 

Gary Barlow ought not to be offended.

Now back to 2009, and the rise of Take That. There's a very simple narrative about Robbie and Take That which is hard to resist. It says that Williams was booted out of the group but then surprised everyone by becoming the enduring solo success.

 

Gary and Mark were briefly successful with Take That fans, but Robbie was free and mature and writing for a much bigger adult audience. Slowly, the other members faded into obscurity and Robbie became our biggest star.

He stuffed it to his mentors Oasis by bettering their historic Knebworth shows with an extra sellout date. Then he took £80 million of EMI's money.

A strange thing happened. Riding a wave of 90s nostalgia, Take That reformed and became our biggest band again, selling more of comeback album Beautiful World than any Robbie record, at just the time Rudebox was showing itself to be a comparative failure. Robbie made encouraging noises about helping with a documentary or playing a one-off show, but never followed through with any of them.

Since Take That's giant success, he's been keener every day. It's been Gary Barlow's turn to brush Robbie off. Is Gary enjoying the victory? It's difficult to say with him; he's too professional.

I doubt Robbie wants more money. I'm sure the success is a draw for him, but that isn't all of it. Maybe we have to take what he says about it at face value: "The thing that struck me the most was how much fun they're having. It's more rewarding when you're a gang. Ever since I left Take That I've wanted to be in a band."

 

It makes sense that Robbie, who joined Take That so young and has never seemed completely at ease up there alone, should pine for others to share the experience and the burden.

It's not going to work though, is it? Robbie on stage with the band would be fun for a few special shows, but long term? Can you really see them recording an album together? They're light years apart nowadays. Robbie has certainly shown he can be whatever entertainer his audience wants him to be – but he's also shown that doing that makes him very unhappy indeed.

I certainly hope Robbie's new album is a success. It's produced by Trevor Horn – the title is a nod to Horn's smash hit with The Buggles, Video Killed the Radio Star – and it sounds like he's trying to sort the Rudebox problem by appealing to everyone.

 

Robbie says: "My Album's a killer.. Old Robbie, new Robbie and a Robbie that neither of us have met... I really hope it's as good as I think it is".

So do we, Robbie, so do we.