Robbie Williams

[Jockice]

He's only beaten in the looking smug on stage stakes by Jools Holland.

[ASFTSN]

Will never listen to any of his music now I'm no longer stacking shelves in Tesco/Woolworths but if he was genuine about the aliens stuff I can't fully hate him I suppose.

[Panbaams]

I suspect that the passing of the years has burnished both sides' versions of the truth.

Ray would have a stronger claim at a co-writing credit on Sixpence None The Richer's "Kiss Me".

[Icehaven]

No Regrets is a pretty good tune though, always tickles me that it's got Neil Hannon on backing vocals.

It's Neil Tennant not Neil Hannon!!

As a big PSB fan that was literally the only reason I bothered seeking it out and yeah it's actually pretty good, but then I'm quite partial to bitterness in music.

[Panbaams]

It's Neil Tennant not Neil Hannon!!

It's both.

[Icehaven]

It's both.

Fair enough but Tennant is the only one that's distinctly audible. To my ears anyway.

[Panbaams]

No, that's fair too. If ears could blink, it'd be blink-and-you-miss-it! I think Neil Hannon only sings "Goooooooodbyyyyyyyyee" in it, perhaps even only once, and that's it.

[Icehaven]

No, that's fair too. If ears could blink, it'd be blink-and-you-miss-it! I think Neil Hannon only sings "Goooooooodbyyyyyyyyee" in it, perhaps even only once, and that's it.

Was it a deliberate ''Let's get two Neils!'' or were they just both passing by that day?

[DrGreggles]

I think Williams was at his peak at the time, so thought he could ask singers he liked to guest on his song. Fair to say that neither Neil was at his peak at that time anyway so, from their point of view, why not?
Good choices too by the ex Take That funster.

[Panbaams]

Was it a deliberate ''Let's get two Neils!'' or were they just both passing by that day?

The link may be the Twentieth Century Blues: The Songs of Noel Coward album, which was released in the same year as "No Regrets" and its parent album I've Been Expecting You. Neil Tennant was an executive producer of TCB and produced Robbie Williams' version of "There Are Bad Times Just Around The Corner", and The Divine Comedy (although it was really Neil Hannon solo) contributed "I've Been To A Marvellous Party". Of course, Robbie Williams has collaborated with the Pet Shop Boys a few times since.

I've Been Expecting You has (or had) another track with disputed songwriting credits:

In 1998, Williams was sued by Ludlow Publishing over the song "Jesus in a Camper Van" because it lifted lyrics from the Loudon Wainwright III song "I Am the Way", from his album Attempted Mustache. The lyric to "I Am the Way" is as follows: "Every son of God has a little hard luck sometime, especially when he goes around saying he's the way." The lyric to "Jesus in a Camper Van" in question is: "Even the son of God gets it hard sometimes, especially when he goes around, saying I am the way."

Williams claimed that he had heard a young man say the line whilst in rehab, and only found that it was a line from Wainwright's song after he had already recorded it. Williams' agents called Wainwright to notify him about this, but Wainwright had little say in the matter; "I Am the Way" was a parody of the Woody Guthrie song "New York Town"; Ludlow Publishing owned the line's copyright. In 2002, Ludlow Publishing won the lawsuit, receiving 25% of the income that "Jesus in a Camper Van" garnered, and subsequently, the album was re-issued replacing "Jesus in a Camper Van" with "It's Only Us".

[momatt]

The cunting man's cunt.

I might hate him more than I hate Piers Morgan.

[DukeDeMondo]

I think he was pretty interesting for a while. A pop star that detested himself and his audience as much as he adored himself and his audience, that became hugely successful on the back of a string of singles that could barely conceal their contempt for themselves and anyone listening to them ("Let Me Entertain You" being the most obvious example). That performative self-loathing that he indulged in for a good chunk of his solo career - best represented by the sometimes fascinating, frequently excruciating Nobody Someday documentary - when "authenticity" by any other means eluded him. His whole career from leaving Take That to rejoining them in time for Progress is characterised by this ongoing battle with notions of "authenticity" and a relentless tending of his own aura, adopting this stance and the other in a hope that one of them leads him to the kind of respect he's been chasing so transparently since going solo. A need to be adored by all but on his terms, not theirs, even as he's putting out records designed to appeal to as wide an audience as is humanly possibly to reach (albeit in a cake-and-eat-it manner; sarcastic and self-deriding far more often than not). A desire to be "taken seriously" and to be accepted by the people he considered authentic enough to be worth bothering with, and then a petulant, defensive lashing out when that acceptance wasn't forthcoming:

"Any quarter-decent three-chord knobheads could and did get a deal in the 90s. I won't name names because it would be unfair on... Echobelly, Shed 7, Symposium, Menswear, Sleeper, Hurricane Number 1, Ride, The Bluetones, Northern Uproar, Chapterhouse, Curve, Salad, Adorable, Cud, Spacehog, Kula Shaker, The Audience, Powder, King Maker and Geneva.

"Should I go on? Cos I could and they sure fucking did. There were a few special indie bands then just as there are in every generation and just as some pop bands are useless, some are magnificent. I feel sorry for the people who are too bigoted to appreciate the latter. The world's a lot more exciting with One Direction in it and more hearts will genuinely race at a new 1D album than they ever have or will at any Suede album in any period."

And so on and so forth.

I think the received wisdom (or near enough) that Rudebox is a great lost album, the Robbie Williams album it's not only alright to like but actually pretty impressive to like, even, the one that's actually interesting - a kind of electro-pop Nebraska, nearly, some folk would try to tell you - is a bit ridiculous. (I know it's been recommended in this thread already and I'm not taking a pop or anything, I'm talking about the general sort of blather that surrounds it, I'm not suggesting that everyone who recommends it is doing so just because it's a thing to do in certain circles). I think it's every bit as pandering as his more successful records, and a good deal more embarrassing.

I'm not a "fan" or anything, like, I just think he's kind of compelling, or was.

[Steven]

Let Me Entertain You was a stones-cold ripoff of Sympathy For The Devil but with fucking shocking lyrics.

Rock DJ is also unforgivable, and fucking shocking lyrics.

Tripping is probably the only song by him I found listenable, it actually reminds me a bit of this classic 60s track by Wimple Winch for some reason, only with fucking shocking lyrics.

[Phil_A]

I think he was pretty interesting for a while. A pop star that detested himself and his audience as much as he adored himself and his audience, that became hugely successful on the back of a string of singles that could barely conceal their contempt for themselves and anyone listening to them ("Let Me Entertain You" being the most obvious example). That performative self-loathing that he indulged in for a good chunk of his solo career - best represented by the sometimes fascinating, frequently excruciating Nobody Someday documentary - when "authenticity" by any other means eluded him. His whole career from leaving Take That to rejoining them in time for Progress is characterised by this ongoing battle with notions of "authenticity" and a relentless tending of his own aura, adopting this stance and the other in a hope that one of them leads him to the kind of respect he's been chasing so transparently since going solo. A need to be adored by all but on his terms, not theirs, even as he's putting out records designed to appeal to as wide an audience as is humanly possibly to reach (albeit in a cake-and-eat-it manner; sarcastic and self-deriding far more often than not). A desire to be "taken seriously" and to be accepted by the people he considered authentic enough to be worth bothering with, and then a petulant, defensive lashing out when that acceptance wasn't forthcoming:

And so on and so forth.

I think the received wisdom (or near enough) that Rudebox is a great lost album, the Robbie Williams album it's not only alright to like but actually pretty impressive to like, even, the one that's actually interesting - a kind of electro-pop Nebraska, nearly, some folk would try to tell you - is a bit ridiculous. (I know it's been recommended in this thread already and I'm not taking a pop or anything, I'm talking about the general sort of blather that surrounds it, I'm not suggesting that everyone who recommends it is doing so just because it's a thing to do in certain circles). I think it's every bit as pandering as his more successful records, and a good deal more embarrassing.

I'm not a "fan" or anything, like, I just think he's kind of compelling, or was.

Ha, what a prize nobhead. I don't think he's even read the "ALLEGED QUOTE" from Anderson properly, it's clear he's talking about their being no money in the music industry now rather than back in the nineties. "SORRY ABOUT THE TRUTH" - hahaha

[popcorn]

Cheers for the interesting post, Duke.

[the]

Let Me Entertain You was a stones-cold ripoff of Sympathy For The Devil but with fucking shocking lyrics.

Isn't more of a ripoff of the completely awful Shoot Me With Your Love by colon-based act D:Ream?