Snooty Brits love to say that we boorish North Americans "don't get" Robbie Williams. Oh, we get him. We just don't find his irony-laden, jack-the-lad pop-star sendup nearly as brilliant as the Brits do. Or at least used to -- this latest disc has been getting mixed reviews back home. We can see why. Musically, Sing When You're Winning doesn't depart much from the formula of The Ego Has Landed, which blended equal parts Britpop bombast, white-boy hip-hop and light-entertainment syrup with production as slick as any boy-pop disc. Lyrically, however, it's a downer, with Williams attempting to expand his mischievous boyo persona with serious, sincere sentiments about love, life and loss in tunes like Better Man and If It's Hurting You. That is, when he isn't dropping trou on the CD booklet. Apparently, the notion that he might have to choose between being a cartoon character and a serious artist is something Williams doesn't get.

Friday, September 29, 2000

Robbie Williams not so brilliant