Life Thru a Lens

Monkey guy

My initial impression is that this is some damn fine window dressing; Williams has a solid enough voice and the production is *great*, so much so that I'm tentatively slapping this with a 3.5-star rating despite not being sure if there's a lick of good songwriting here. Most of the lyrics I observed were questionable to one degree or another, though Williams pretty much always sells the vocal performance. I plan on going back to most of these anyway, but this one will definitely require further listenings to determine how I really feel about it.

3.5/5

I was expecting much worse from this tbh. Going into it, I only knew Angels and Let Me Entertain You. I think the latter is great, but the former was on a Christmas compilation we had when I was a kid, so in my head it's purely a Christmas song. There are a few other good songs on here though, particularly the last 3. The rest is a bit bland and full of silly lyrics, which is fine I guess. Also owes way too much to Oasis. I never really connected Robbie Williams to the Britpop scene before, but I guess he was part of it.

Paint by numbers brit pop. Ugh, this was a tough one to get through.

Wtf is Robbie Williams doing on this list?
Sounds like knockoff Oasis at times.
I get that leaving Take That was a culturally significant moment in the UK and Ireland but that doesn't mean a mid album belongs on the list of albums to listen to before you die.

Angels and Let Me Entertain You keep this from being a 1.

2/5.

I've heard the name Robbie Williams a few times in tabloids during my life and I always thought he was one of those corny celebrities known by shallow people who never really had that much talent to show to the world but had enough money to back it up.

After listening to one of his albums it's good to know that I was mostly correct

Give me Robert Dimery's address.

I JUST WANT TO TALK

I’m an American, and Robbie Williams really didn’t hit over here. I couldn’t find out how high the album charted in the US, but I did learn that his highest ranking single only reached 53 before I got bored of looking.

I’m nearly 600 albums in at this point, and I feel like this project has a slightly British bias in some of the album choices, but this may be the most egregious. It was MASSIVE, apparently, in the UK, but didn’t really hit in many other countries.

Anyway, I used to think I didn’t like 80s music, but what this project has shown me is that there are some incredible 80s albums, it’s really just 80s pop music that I don’t like.

I’m a 90s kid. It brings warm feelings, even if it’s music I didn’t really connect to at the time, like the Alanis Morrisette album.

But what this album has showed me is that I just don’t like pop music for ANY decade, because this is pretty shit.

Better than I anticipated. As an American, the only RW I know is Angels. Loved that this one wasn't all ballads and had some distinct Britpop feel to it. 3/5

I'm feeling generous, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would

"Angels" and "Let me entertain you" on here. The rest sounds quite similar.

I never bothered with this when it came out (because I wasn't a 13 year old girl) but it's surprisingly rather good.
A lot of humour (to be expected, but it's clear from some reviews that non-UK reviewers dont get it). Angels and Let Me Entertain You are great songs and well known (in UK at least). Ok so maybe there isn't the same familiarity and knowledge ouside the UK. I suppose I feel the same way about Elliot Smith (who?), but at least I gave that miserable twat a chance.

I particularly liked the 'fuck you' poem to his teacher at the end.

Well done, thingy!

Never thought I'd see a Robbie Williams album here, especially this one, it's just so painfully dull outside of 1 to 2 ok songs ("Angels" (which doesn't seem as good some 18 years later) and "Let Me Entertain You" which is probably and alright party starter)... Everything else is bottom of the barrel musically and lyrically (outside of his dated line about being clean with Charlie Sheen)

Would he get better? Debatable....

For those who don't know, Robbie Williams originally rose to prominence as part of the 90s UK boy band Take That before leaving the group over his behavior. He started pursuing a solo career, taking influence from the then-current Britpop trend, thus leading to this debut album. I will say I didn't have many expectations going into this album, because this could have been either good or a niche relic from when Robbie dominated the British tabloids. What did we get with Life Thru a Lens?

Well color me impressed, because this was a pretty great solo debut. It's evident from Robbie's songwriting evoked from his struggles with fame, coupled with top-notch production from Guy Chambers and Steve Power, that they were pulling all the stops to make this work outside of Take That. He's able to play well with a few different styles, from the funky "Ego Agogo" to the ballad "Angels" and the more straightforward rocker "Old Before I Die". Even if it's apparent that Robbie spent a lot of time with Oasis, he's largely effective in taking influence from them.

Granted, this is not a flawless album. I did not care for the swampy bass-leaden tread of "South of the Border", and while it was a respectful note to end on a poem where Robbie got to lash out against a former schoolteacher that didn't believe in him, having it as a hidden track ten minutes after "Baby Girl Window" was not a smart decision as it hurt the replay value of the former track.

Still, I'm amazed at how solid Life Thru a Lens turned out. I'm glad Robbie made amends with his old mates in Take That, but he was able to carve his avenue effectively.

Robbie is like a modern day George Michael... Or he trys to be anyways. Like a more upbeat James Blunt.... Or a shittier Oasis.

Here are my favourite lyrics from the album:

From the song Ego Agogo...

"Hide away in your ivory tower
And cover me in your golden shower"

He wants someone to piss on him, lol.

Favourite songs: Angels, Let Me Entertain You, South of the Border, Ego Agogo, Life Thru a Lens

Least favourite songs: Clean, Baby Girl Window

3/5

Some decent ballads. I listened to this immediately after the Paul Simon album that was previous in the list and whenever I had to pause the album Paul Simon's songs would pop back into my head. Overall not bad, not great.

I recognize this guy’s name from reading celebrity magazines: gossip columns over the years. Hadn’t heard his music before. Pretty generic bubblegum pop. Kind of like off-brand George Michael.

Hah! The self indulgent hidden track at the end! Good Lord.

Not so painful from its Oasis influences that the album falls into bottom of the barrel territory, but this album still suffers from being so incredibly dull and stereotypical, not to mention derivative of the rock sound that came from across the pond at the time, that it fails to have any memorable identity of its own. I couldn't tell you anything about the instrumentation, or Robbie Williams' voice. It'll always pick the route you expected melodically, it'll always hit you with the easiest rhymes, which leads to some truly terrible lyrics, and it'll always make you groan with each track, without fail.

Better than I remembered, and I knew more songs than I expected. Obviously the singles were a pretty big deal in the UK, but a few of the other tracks were also either staples on the radio, or part of his widely televised live shows at the time and after.

Life Thru a Lens is starting strong, surprisingly entertaining. I can see why this was popular. I can do without the power ballad "Angels." "Old Before I Die" definitely trying to sound like Oasis, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Still, pop sentiment, it's all pretty shallow. It didn't hurt me to listen to this and now I am familiar with Robbie Williams.