Life Thru a Lens

Had no idea what to expect with this
Did not expect some pop punk tho lol (title track)
Range of genres on this

Fave tracks:
Lazy Day
Angels - actually can’t unhear the big ange version anymore
South of the Border
Let Me entertain you

I wasn't expecting this to be anywhere near a top 1000 albums list.

Angels is a drunken karaoke banger but the rest of the album is flat and uninspiring. I wouldn't even say this is Robbie Williams best project.

I am sitting here laughing my ass off while listening to the godawful spoken word. This album has such an awkward sexual identity.

This takes Oasis' singalong Britpop and infuses it with megabudget production and pop sensibilities. It's completely inauthentic, utterly shallow, and wholly unadventurous (especially "Angels"), but it just about gets by on charm alone, and it's totally evocative of its time.

It's a pop album, but it's a decent pop album. Nothing I found really wrong here and I wouldn't turn it off if it was on again.

I’m feeling a 4.

I don’t really understand the criticisms this album has been getting on the site – yes, it’s very radio-friendly safe pop, but what’s wrong with that? Not everything has to be this absolutely blowout balls at the wall album. Sometimes, when pop is good, and it clicks, it just… clicks. This album clicked for me; I thought the instrumentation was pretty good, I really like the tone of his voice, and I thought the tempo and the vibes were pretty varied and entertaining throughout. Lyrically, I caught a few things that were dumb as hell, but overall, I’d say this is good, and worth giving a 4 to.

Let me put it this way: I’ve heard worse on some of the previous 121 albums we’ve done before this. To me, this is pretty fun. It’s not blow-me-away incredible, and it breaks the streak of 5’s I’ve been giving (4 albums in a row and 5 out of the last 6 is pretty good), but I definitely enjoyed it, and I’d recommend it. I’d say that makes it worthy of being on the list.

Really did not enjoy it. All of it felt like filler run of the mill pop content. Even Angels, normally a pretty good song, didn't stand out much because it was right in the middle of the album.

If you don't think mid-career Oasis is bloated and bland enough you'll love this album. I always thought he was more of a post boy band ballad singer and didn't realize he had this much of a rock sound, but this is basically a low effort brit pop album with a touch of blink 182 and smashmouth. Angels is laboratory engineered to manipulate the mawkish sentimentality English people confuse with emotion.

Very solid britpop. Didn't care for it.

Wasn’t expecting a Robbie album to be on the list, everyone’s mum in the UK in the 90’s probably bought this album. So it probably has some merit. To be fair the singles from the album are strong, old before I die, angels, let me entertain you.

But the rest of the album is generic pop/rock filler. So I can’t agree with the statement that you should listen to this album before you die, so 2 out of 5.

Plääh tulee mieleen autokyydit ja radio nova. Vaikeaa jotenkin ottaa omana taideteoksenaan. 2/5

No. You're being silly.

Guilty pleasure or serious pop-rock artist? Or a little bit of both? And does it really matter?

Life Thru A Lens is a good first album by Williams and Chambers. The seemingly Oasis and Britpop inspired music by Chambers goes well with the clever lyrics from Robbie. And it makes for a fun listen, with some very underappreciated songs ("South Of The Border", "Old Before I Die") and a single that in the time never made it further than the tip parades ("Let Me Entertain You") but which I still appreciate and has been the opener of many of my DJ sets.

The album after this one ("I've Been Expecting You") was a step up from this one with the writing skills of both Chambers and Williams taking a massive step forward, and the songs "Karma Killer" and "No Regrets" made Robbie Williams fully in the spotlight for me.

It's a 3* album. But I'll mark it as 4* for the non-inclusion of his (better) sophomore album.

Oh boy britpop but poppier. That'll fix it.

This has kind of a Blur vibe, which is pleasant. In fact all this aims for is pleasant. One Of God's Better People has some nice acoustic guitar work.

I'm not British so I've not listened to Robbie Williams before. I was vaguely aware of his existence being generally interested in music as a teenager in the late 90s. I probably saw reviews of his records in magazines and the like, but never took the time to investigate any further. Now, all these years later, I now know I made the right choice.

a do angel la

Robbie ontsnapt met dit album zijn boy-band-stature. Binnen het genre pop laat hij zien dat hij met uitersten kan omgaan. Zelfs de nummers met meer stem-geweld lijkt hij heel ongeforceerd te zingen. Wat dat betreft is hij wat ondergewaardeerd. Misschien omdat het buiten de hit Let me Entertain You (sterk nummer) zich net niet genoeg onderscheidt. Er zit voor het gevoel telkens net iets meer in. We krijgen vast nog een volgend album van Robbie. Ik ben benieuwd of de potentie waargemaakt wordt. Voor nu: 3,5 ster.

This was played to death by mates during my Uni days. As far as 90s pop albums go, this is fine, consistent and well produced. Although the real talent of the album was co-writer/producer Guy Chambers.

oh no. the robster.