It's good and (very) bad

It is said that all publicity is good publicity, but some of the stories that circulated before Robbie Williams's new album Rudebox was released make you wonder.

For example, Victoria Newton, the showbiz supremo of influential British tabloid The Sun, went ballistic, describing the title track as "the worst song I've ever heard".

Nevertheless, when the album was released, it shot straight to the number one position in Williams's native UK, albeit with first-week sales well down on those of the former Take That singer's last long-player, Intensive Care.

So, now that it has hit the record shops of the UAE, what is Rudebox the album really like? Is it a work of genius or, as some have said, a career-destroying disaster?

Well, you could say it is a bit of both.

Catchy rap

Rudebox the song is a bizarre, self-indulgent but catchy piece of rapping. It doesn't seem to have any meaning, but in a strange way it works. The nonsense words and the stupid line "why you so nasty?" spoken in an electronically-enhanced voice, keeps running through your head long after your CD player has been switched off.

But there are plenty of other tracks on Rudebox that are similarly self-indulgent but lack the lead-off single's charm. They are simply annoying and seem to be the product of a big artist, who no one in his record company or management can tell him when things have gone wrong.

Another track, The '90s, has Robbie in self-absorbed mode, going on about his time in Take That and no doubt thinking his witticisms are biting satire. They aren't. They are tiresome, the sort of drivel that only die-hard fans or 12-year-olds will be interested in hearing.

And the 17th and last song — it is not listed on the sleevenotes but you will hear it if you keep listening — is disgusting. It's in fact, that it wouldn't be appropriate to even tell you what it's called. It'ss little more than a string of swear words and bad jokes. It beggars belief that this would get released by any artist, let alone by arguably Europe's biggest pop star.

Not totally lost

Rudebox has some tracks that show that Williams hasn't completely lost the plot.

Viva Life On Mars has a soaring chorus and a good harmonica effect, while Summertime is a nice, unpretentious ballad.

Other highlights include Lovelight, one of several cover versions. On this one, Williams sings a falsetto that could easily be mistaken for a woman's voice.

There are two songs produced by the Pet Shop Boys, She's Madonna and We're The Pet Shop Boys.
But whether these good songs are enough to balance it, well, it is doubtful.

The writer is the travelling bard of Gulf News