Life Thru a Lens

I hadn't realised this was quite so Britpop, but you can hear that influence from the off. However it feels quite safe in the delivery, which is maybe a hangover from being in a massive boy-band..? It feels very clean and without many edges in the production. It's a perfectly fine listen, but it's kind of light and fluffy. Angels is a big hit for a reason.

I've heard a few of his songs and saw the movie and couldn't really figure out how he never broke through to the us but listening to this album it is painfully clear. He is soooooo British. He clearly did not want to break through. He had zero interest in American culture and that's fine. He's British. But man. It feels so corny coming from am American.

Robbie Williams’ Debüt ist ein freches, charmant überdrehtes Pop‑Feuerwerk, das seine Unsicherheiten mit maximaler Attitüde kaschiert. Zwischen Britpop‑Restwärme und boybandfreiem Befreiungsschlag zeigt er schon hier die Mischung aus Ironie, Verletzlichkeit und Stadion‑Ego, die später seine Marke wird.
Ein Album voller Ecken, Kanten und catchy Selbstbehauptung – überraschend rund für einen Neustart.

It was just so incredibly boring. It wasn't even interesting british pop! It's just mediocre. Angels isn't even particularly good?

Listened before? No

Familiar with the artist? Yes

Thoughts:
- Ok, this is the album with Angels on it so that'll get it a decent score from me.
- Other than that and "Let Me Entertain You," there isn't much I'd come back to though.
- it reminds me though that I still want to watch the monkey biopic 😅

Favorite track(s): Angels

monke man

oasis za siromašne

Well, this has the 2 hits. The rest of the somgs are just fillers to be honest. It sounds like every mediocre song from that period. I gave this a 2 just because of Angels and Let Me Entertain You, those 2 are actual bangers.

Not as awful as I thought it was going to be. Still bad though.

36 year career and he has 3 good songs.
Baffling how famous this knobhead is.
Angels is a belter though isn’t it.

Life Thru A Lens was far better than i was expecting it to be. I know Robbie Williams from a few songs, mainly stuff like Something Stupid (the one he did with Nicole Kidman) and Candy. I was expecting this album to be your typical pop album, with all the synthy sounds like Mariah Carey or something but this turned out to be far more rock oriented than i expected. The guitars are actually really strong here and the melodies are all really good too. Williams' vocals are very strong as well and the voice hidden song was especially beautiful. I don't really have too much to complain about so all i'll say is that it is a really good album.
Best Song: Ego Agogo
Worst Song: Killing Me

Haha, the opening drum salvo could be ripped right off a mbv record. But after the first few seconds, Life Thru a Lens evolves in a very different direction (still, a lot of it is firmly rooted in the polished shoegaze sound of late-90s Britpop), of course. But I mean, Robbie's solo debut is… fine? Yeah, yup, it's fine (that is, if you manage to look past the schmock of the two singles, Angels and Let Me Entertain You). Ok, I just said that: The *deep cuts* are absolutely fine. Just take Old Before I Die. Wouldn't be out of place on "Definitely Maybe" or "What's the Story Morning Glory?" Noel, did you have a hand in this record? Decent pop songwriting, the instrumentals are catchy, with some well-cooked-up chord progressions. The lyrics… well. The record has lyrics. Let's leave it at that. Still, despite my initial skepticism, I had a "jolly good time" listening to this.

Great, so a British ex-boy band member I've never heard of is essential listening now? Surprisingly, it wasn't mostly boy band-like pop, but rather generic Britpop/jangly rock. It's not bad, but it is very mediocre. The hooks are generic, the guy has a generic voice, the lyrics are generic(when they aren't terrible). It literally sounds almost exactly like the La's album that came out 7 years earlier. Because it is just a straight La's ripoff by a boy band guy probably trying to court a collegiate rock audience, I have to regard it as utterly worthless in terms of artistic merit. Why was this even on the list?

This album is ranked #21 of 25 albums for 1997. Other 1997 albums rated by me:
Either Or(4/25)-3
In It For The Money(8/25)-2
Let's Get Killed(22/25)-3

this was a mistake, Dimery

Some fun, carefree late-90s pop. The cover photo is pretty great. To think this guy would go on to become a monkey......

Standouts: Life Thru A Lens • Ego Agogo • Old Before I Die

Not a one of these songs needed to escape the production studio. All of them are the diarrheal dribbling of a staged comeback from a boy-band percentile claiming a relevance via the backing of significant marketing.

Robbie is talented and has used that significant talent to no avail. I enjoyed none of this. I tried. Even approaching it with my pop hat on I can only say it was well crafted slop, devoid of heft.

pop rock britânico bem medíocre, né. de fato angels eh uma PEDRADA CLÁSSICA da rádio, mas tirando isso eh meia boca demais
meio doideira esse mano ter ganhado uma biopic como MACACO (?) btw

1/5. As a person born in the U.S. after the year 2000, my introduction to Robbie Williams was his 2024 biopic where he is a CGI ape. Robbie has a pretty typical artist story for his time, a former boy-band member who made it big on his own, in this case thanks to this albums biggest hit “Angels.” As for the music, at least on this debut, it is nothing. It feels completely void of anything compelling. kinda Brit-poppy, kinda alt-rocky, kinda poppy, but never good no matter the style being tackled. The big epic tracks feel unearned and the slower emotional cuts feel insincere.

Sure, this has his biggest hit, but Escapology is the better album and it's not particularly close.

Surprised to see this on the list.

It was a decent pop album in its day, but there is nothing particularly groundbreaking going on.

2.5