Robbie Williams, still riding the wave created by his return to Take That and the chart-topping success of ‘Take The Crown’, has revisited the scene of one of his greatest successes on ‘Swings Both Ways’, the follow-up to his phenomenally successful ‘Swing When You’re Winning’ album.
Dialling up the camp and cheeky charm, Williams has put pen to paper with long-time songwriting partner Guy Chambers on a string of new tracks and many of them stack up nicely. Shine My Shoes has a little dose of sneer that largely works, while Go Gentle is a sweet, honest message to his daughter, Teddy.
As they did back in 2001, a host of guest performers drop in to add a little extra glitz to proceedings. Lily Allen is a fine foil to Williams on a version of Dream A Little Dream and Kelly Clarkson stops by for a decent take on Little Green Apples, but the star of the show is Rufus Wainwright, who adds his own wit and style to the title track, crooning: "Face it, Robbie, you're a little bit gay."
Michael Buble and Olly Murs make less of an impression on Soda Pop and a cover of I Wan'na Be Like You, from The Jungle Book, but Williams is generally able to carry this whole swing thing off, laughing his way through Cab Calloway’s Minnie The Moocher. Whether we needed further retreads of some of the songs here - Putting On The Ritz for example - is debatable though.
This is a Christmas jumper of a record - a little gaudy and outdated, but fun all the same. The real successes are Williams and Chambers’ originals, hinting that there’s plenty left in that particular songwriting tank.
Fri June 13 2014 - BELFAST Odyssey Arena
Mon June 16 2014 - LEEDS first direct Arena
Sun June 22 2014 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Metro Radio Arena
Thu June 26 2014 - GLASGOW The SSE Hydro
Sun June 29 2014 - MANCHESTER Phones 4u Arena
Mon June 30 2014 - MANCHESTER Phones 4u Arena
Sat July 05 2014 - BIRMINGHAM LG Arena
Tue July 08 2014 - LONDON O2 Arena
Wed July 09 2014 - LONDON O2 Arena
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