Published on Sep 14, 1999
When it came time for me to review
The Ego Has Landed, the first solo effort from former Take
That singer Robbie Williams, I found myself asking, “What was I
thinking for taking this disc on?”
It’s understandable; I absolutely hated Take That. Every time I
heard the song “Back For Good”, my hand made a dash to the radio
faster than the Cubs could spiral down in the National League.
(Hey, I love ’em, but I gotta speak the truth.) Then, a funny thing
happened: I heard the track “Millenium”… and
liked it.
In reality,
The Ego Has Landed is a very solid effort from Williams, who
shows he’s more than one-sided in his musical approach. But it
sometimes shows that the title is pretty accurate.
Right now, three songs are very well known off this disc.
“Millenium” is a track that challenges you to forget everything
that Williams has done in the past, and forces you to take him on
in today’s musical environment. The thing is, it works, and it
works well. The song is catchy enough and well written, though I’d
question if this track would have any staying power once we cross
over to the third millenium.
If you watch television in America at all, you know by now that
NBC is using one of the tracks, “Let Me Entertain You,” as promo
music for their new fall season. The first exposure I had to it was
courtesy of one bizarre video on MTV; that one viewing alone almost
soured me on this track. Fortunately, once you separate it from all
the other fluff, it turns out to be a pretty good track, though it
might disappoint some people expecting another song like
“Millenium”.
For them, there’s always the beautiful (if not slightly
understated musically) “She’s Th One”. On this track, Williams
transcends any of the prejudices one might have going into this
album, and makes his case solidly. If there is one track that
hasn’t gotten its justice (yet) from
The Ego Has Landed, this is my selection.
There’s more to
The Ego Has Landed than the three singles, of course.
There’d have to be, or this album would be as interesting as a bowl
of goldfish. Songs like “Strong,” “Jesus In A Camper Van,” “Old
Before I Die” and “Killing Me” all show that Williams was a flower
waiting to bloom on his own. Now that he’s free from Take That,
he’s turned into a virtual garden with this one album.
This isn’t to say that everything on
The Ego Has Landed is perfect. Things tend to get a little
stale by the time you hit “Karma Killer” and “One Of God’s Better
People”, and things begin to sound a little more pompous, living up
to the album title. If this weren’t enough, the “hidden” track some
10 minutes after the last song, solidifies this. I don’t know if
Williams wrote it, but the author publicly makes his statement to
someone who didn’t believe they’d make it. (Alright, I’ve been nice
long enough: death to the next person who pulls this “ten minutes
of silence” shit before the hidden track. You’ve been warned.)
The Ego Has Landed is still a very enjoyable disc that
proves Williams was born to be a solo artist. If you can get
through a little of the “dig me” attitudes that come in near the
end, you’ll discover the same thing.