Robbie Williams

Rudebox is the product of a boy who grew up in England's playgrounds of the 1980s: fixation on the pop of the Top-40, wonder at the emergent sounds of hip-hop and a list of insults so puerile they'd make a baby blush. That Robbie Williams is the boy in question means that the Pet Shop Boys ("We're the Pet Shop Boys"), Sly & Robbie ("Rudebox") and Mark Ronson have indulged him, but whether his fan base will is another question. There is some great music here (see Lewis Taylor's "Lovelight"), but, sadly, the only lyric delivered with any conviction is, "No feeling in your heart."