FEATURE:
Bigger Than The Beatles
IN THIS PHOTO: Robbie Williams celebrates his sixteenth chart-topping album, BRITPOP, and holds the record of scoring the most chart-topping albums in the U.K. Williams surpasses The Beatles, who set the tally in 2000 with their 1s album
Celebrating the Record-Setting Robbie Williams
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THOUGH he himself…
PHOTO CREDIT: Jason Hetherington
(I hope) would not claim to be better than The Beatles – no artist who has ever lived is as good! -, he has claimed the honour of setting a record that sees him overtake the band. Robbie Williams’s BRITPOP has gone to the top of the charts and is another major success for one of our greatest artists. There are a couple of interesting anniversaries to tie this moment to. Thinking of The Beatles, John Lennon’s "more popular than Jesus" quote was originally published in The London Evening Standard on 4th March, 1966, in a profile written by Maureen Cleave. Almost sixty years ago, there was this massive controversy. Not to wander off course too much, but the point of Lennon’s quote was that The Beatles were more relevant than Jesus and religion. That they were affecting and influencing young people more. It is hard to sympathise with Lennon and the band, as there are some effective and really horrible quotes in that interview. However, as Robbie Williams has toppled The Beatles in terms of number one albums, I did want to bring that in. Also, his former band, Take That, had their own unfortunate and ‘controversial’ moment almost thirty years ago. On 13th February, they announced their split to the world. Fans were distraught and it was this huge event. Williams departed from Take That in 1995. He released his amazing debut album, Life Thru a Lens, in 1997. It will be interesting seeing what he does to mark its thirtieth anniversary next year. I wanted to celebrate this record-breaking moment from Williams with a career-spanning playlist. Some of his very best solo cuts. I will end with a positive review for BRITPOP. An album that got a lot of critical praise. First, The Guardian highlighted this massive moment for a legendary Pop artist:
“Robbie Williams has scored his 16th UK No 1 album, surpassing a tally set by the Beatles in 2000 to become the all-time chart record holder.
Britpop, Williams’ homage to the lairy and zeitgeist-setting guitar music of the mid-1990s, went straight to No 1 in its first week of release. All but one of his studio albums have now reached the top – except 2009’s Reality Killed the Video Star, kept off the top by boy band JLS – plus three greatest hits compilations and his soundtrack to the biopic Better Man. Not counted in that tally are two other No 1 albums Williams recorded as a member of Take That.
Williams had clearly longed to break the record, moving the release date of Britpop back from its intended date of October after realising it was going to compete with – and inevitably lose out to – Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl. With Britpop then lined up for a 6 February release, he suddenly brought the release forwardto the relatively uncompetitive week of 16 January.
He has described Britpop as “the album that I wanted to write and release after I left Take That in 1995”. The Guardian’s chief pop critic Alexis Petridis praised it, writing: “There’s a swagger and sparkle to the melodies that shift these songs past the realm of pastiche, and the results are hugely enjoyable.”
The Beatles set the previous record with their greatest hits album 1, one of four chart-topping albums released since the band split. They have come close to adding further No 1s on numerous occasions, reaching No 2 or No 3 a total of 10 times.
Pop fans will debate whether Williams is truly “greater” than the Beatles, though he certainly reached his record tally quicker: 29 years versus the 37 years it took the Beatles’ to notch up their 15 No 1s”.
Regardless of whether you think Robbie Williams is more enduring, relevant and better than The Beatles or it is just this notable and impressive feat, the fact is that his latest album not only shows his enduring and enormous critical and commercial appeal. He also shifts and evolves. BRITPOP is really about him making the kind of music he could not in the 1990s. It evokes some of the sounds of the mid-1990s and that heady time of British Pop dominance. However, he adds something modern and unique into the mix. It is an epic and wonderful album from an artist who has had this incredible career. Take That’s debut single, Do What U Like, turns thirty-five in July. That fresh-faced and unknown artist has accomplished so much since then. Had quite the ride!
I do hope that we get a lot more music from Robbie Williams, as everything he releases is fascinating and excellent. Even albums that some are a bit mixed towards have their moments. I will get to a playlist very soon. However, before that, Rolling Stone UK published a four-star review of BRITPOP:
“By Robbie Williams’ own admission, his 13th studio album sees the national institution and now firmly mellowed hellraiser offer up the sound he wishes he had released upon notoriously leaving Take That in 1995. He’s bigged up the fact that guitar god Tony Iommi makes an explosive cameo on the lead single ‘Rocket’, while claiming it to be “raw – there are more guitars and it’s even more upbeat and anthemic than usual.”
All of this is true, and the result is a record which sees Robbie sounding more liberated and delivering some of his best songs in years. It’s unrepentantly mad, as illustrated by the swirling guitars on ‘Rocket’, but this constant sense of unpredictability is a strength. Here’s Robbie leaning into what he’s always done best: not giving a fuck and dancing to the beat of his own drum.
On ‘Spies’, he offers a swaggering, guitar-driven anthem that shares sonic DNA with fan-favourite ‘Monsoon’, but it touchingly comes from the perspec-tive of this zen family man reflecting on a misspent youth. “We used to stay up all night / Thinking we were all spies / Praying that tomorrow won’t come,” comes Robbie’s salvo on the chorus.
Elsewhere, the bolshy edge of ‘Cocky’ sees him boast that “you get to talk to Jesus, I get to talk to God” and – funnily enough – offers a bold guitar line which doesn’t sound a million miles away from Depeche Mode’s ‘Personal Jesus’. He’s yet to confirm if he’s started a war of words with the 80s icons, but it’s something we’d certainly be here for.
If you thought that was weird, you haven’t heard anything until encountering ‘Morrissey’, which sees Robbie team up with old pal/sparring partner Gary Barlow for a song written from the perspective of someone who is “completely obsessed and in love” with The Smiths icon, so takes to stalking him. It’s ironic, then, that this maddest of premises actually turns out to be one of the record’s best songs – a glittering synth pop banger indebted to Erasure.
And by the time things wrap up with ‘Bite Your Tongue’ (let’s conveniently ignore ‘Desire’, the misfiring FIFA anthem which closes the record), Robbie’s talk of guitars and anthems has largely rung true. It’s unrepentantly bonkers and will do little to win over his detractors, but who cares when the rest of us are having this much fun?”.
Robbie Williams plays Glasgow’s Barrowlands Ballroom on 4th February. I am sure there will be a lot of live dates this year. The next steps from him will be incredible. BRITPOP is an album he always wanted to make so it seems like the closing of a chapter and this look back. What will his next album contain? We will wait and see. In honour of Robbie Williams besting a chart record held by The Beatles, I am focusing on his solo work (sorry Take That fans!) and the brilliance he has produced since the 1997 debut, Life Thru a Lens. Now in his fifties, this amazing artist still has this energy, creativity and relevance. Long may he reign! Robbie Williams is an artist that I…
ALWAYS love to see succeed.