Hold on to your hats girls, Robbie Williams is back, and judging by my facebook pages, there’s a good few people that are excited about his return. I’d be the first to admit, I have long been a Robbie Williams fan, though I wasn’t really charmed by his last release ‘Rude Box’. Had I been asked to review that, I think my honest opinion would have been: ‘below par and not really my thing’. Naturally though, I’m curious about his forthcoming single release, and luckily those nice folk at robbiewilliams.com have put up the single to listen too.
‘Bodies’ begins with a spiritual, almost monastic vocal, before a pulsing electro/synth beat kicks in, and Robbie raps his way through a lyric which mentions themes such as Jesus, appreciating life, and of course the life of a human body. It’s spiritual, sensual, and full of energy. If I’m honest, I prefer the chorus of this track to the verses. Here the strings and instrumentation really stands out, which gives it more of a live sound, and the listener gets to hear the full range of Robbie’s vocal. It’s certainly something a bit different for 2009, and quite catchy, though it takes a few listens to get into.
Overall though it wasn’t quite as exciting as I was expecting, but I think it will do the job as a comeback single. My favourite Robbie Williams tracks still remain the same, but who knows, maybe the forthcoming album release will provide some treats to topple ‘Angels’, ‘Advertising Space’ and a few others off the top of my hit list.
‘Bodies’ is released on October 12th, with the album ‘Reality Killed The Video Star’ out in November. More info @ www.robbiewilliams.com