America is still not ready for Robbie Williams.

That's a statement and a prediction, and it says as much about the U.S. and the pop stars it embraces as it does about the talented U.K. singer.

On Escapology, his latest album and attempt at cracking that market, Williams shows off the form that's made him one of his homeland's most popular performers and successful in a great number of countries, including this one.

He has naturally roguish vocals with the kind of bisexual appeal of a Mel Gibson movie.

The songs, for the most part co-written with his longtime collaborator Guy Chambers, are catchy enough, with a handful of very good rock singles dotting the album.

But where Williams is bound to lose the lower part of the West is with his lyrics.

His songs are more suited to the hip hop world.

Much of the disc is about Williams, his image, and his struggles with fame, with him showing a great deal of self-awareness undercut with a sly sense of self-deprecating humour.

Take the exceptional Monsoon, with its twisted and dark To All the Girls I've Loved Before elements, and the track Handsome Man, which takes a poke at his own celebrity and sex symbol status: "Please don't drop me/I'll fall to pieces on ya/If you don't need me/I don't exist/You voted for me/Now let me see a show of hands/Here before you stands the world's most handsome man."

It's unlikely that will translate in the lower half of the West which has only a vague -- if any -- knowledge of who he is.

More likely it's the kind of thing that will be interpreted as arrogance and rub the disposable-income crowd and star-makers down south entirely the wrong way. (More on Robbie Williams)

Track Listing
1. How Peculiar
2. Feel
3. Something Beautiful
4. Monsoon
5. Sexed Up
6. Love Somebody
7. Revolution
8. Handsome Man
9. Come Undone
10. Me & My Monkey
11. Song 3
12. Hot Fudge
13. Cursed
14. Nan's Song