Album Review: Robbie Williams - Intensive Care (4/5)

What is it about Robbie Williams that makes you want to bring him home, knowing full well that he's the kind of guy to deliver both amazing nights of sex and sleepless nights of worry? He's the hot guy in the bar you know is trouble, but still, somehow, irresistable. Every Robbie Williams album has presented itself as an event release, a must have. Even if the last one wasn't quite as good as you wanted, you're really hoping the next will be better. Intensive Care lives up to this, better certainly than Escapology, but still falling short of the brilliance you know (or suspect) that Robbie is capable of.

Brilliance does show itself here, particularly in second track and first single, "Tripping," one of Robbie's best ever. "Tripping" is upbeat, fun, mysterious, and backed by an unusual blend of sounds that work well together: Caribbean rhythms, orchestra, even horns! Holding it together is Robbie's new songwriter/producer partner Stephen Duffy, who takes the helm after the apparent falling out (now subsequently mended) between Robbie and longtime creative partner Guy Chambers, who is not suffering, given that he's gone on to work with Brian McFadden, Delta Goodrem, Charlotte Church, James Blunt, Beverley Knight, Will Young, and Natasha Bedingfield.

"Make Me Pure" invites us to sit back and relax as Robbie unspools his famously contradictory lyrics over a laid back swirl of twangy guitars and choir voices that swell at just the right moment. "Spread Your Wings" sounds like great nostalgia rock. "Advertising Space" begs to be this year's Christmas #1 (although it will have to settle for being #1 the week before Christmas, boo hoo): Epic sound, piano chords, and swelling choruses. "Please Don't Die," is another pleasing mid-tempo number, apparently about death. "Your Gay Friend" jumps with energy as Robbie insults a former lover, with whom their relationship soured. "Sin Sin Sin" sounds like it was born from the Chariots of Fire theme.

Like the guy in the bar, Robbie is great at opening lines, like the one that launches album opener "Ghosts," "Here I stand victorious--the only man who made you come." Another song, "Spread Your Wings" opens well too: "I Used to Live round here. I was the boy with the flash clothes. She was the girl with the acid stare." Can't you picture a couple of self-obsessed adolescents pretending to ignore each other, while both hoping to bed each other? Complain all you like about Daniel Powter's and James Blunt's lyrics, but don't tell me Robbie isn't good at great lyrical imagery.

Charm you though me may, Robbie still lets you down sometimes. "Ghosts" opens great, but that's the best it offers. "A Place to Crash" is a bit of a mess, and closing number "King of Bloke and Bird" is a little too mellow. Robbie's lyrics, even with their purposeful contradictions, attempt to be more personal this time. But how much of himself is he actually revealing? Will we really know the real him? Do we want to? Like the hot guy from the bar, probably best to just take Robbie home to bed and not think about it.