We hate it when our friends become successful... again

Take That have just had their second number one single in just under three months, a platinum selling album and just sold out a nationwide arena tour later this year in about an hour. It's just like it's the mid 90's again.

Robbie Williams is currently in rehab. It's just like the mid 90's again.

Sometimes it's hard to feel sorry for Mr Williams but let's face it, things are not going as well as they have been in the past for Rob, whereas his ex-colleagues in Take That are currently undergoing an astonishing comeback, partly fuelled by nostalgia but also with some bloody good tunes. So what's gone wrong for him?

I won't go over his early career, you all know it off by heart - there's one thing you can say about him, every thing's been out there, there's no secrets - but I'll start with the dissolution of his writing partnership with Guy Chambers in 2002. The "Escapology" album yielded massive hits such as "Sexed Up" & "Feel", and Williams was at his commercial peak, selling out Knebworth, but at this point he felt that he needed to change and didn't really need Chambers anymore. Personally, I don't know if this was the correct decision but the writing had become a little samey. I mean, how many more songs can you write about how rotten it is being a popstar?

"Out with Chambers, In with Duffy"

So out goes Chambers, in comes one of Williams's heroes, Stephen "TinTin" Duffy, and formerly of press faves The Lilac Time. Now, it's a bit odd really that he seems to keep collaborating with people who he admired when he was younger. Guy Chambers was a member of World Party, a fave of Williams's and also he always loved The Lilac Time. Hmmm. Never mind.

It wasn't immediately obvious that a change in direction was coming, as although his promotional single for the Greatest Hits album "Radio" was a bit odd, he'd released odd one-off singles before, such as "Rock DJ" so there was no indication that this was to be the norm. Indeed the second new single from that album "Misunderstood" was a typical ballad which you'd expect to find on the soundtrack of a "Bridget Jones" movie or something. Oh, it was you say? There you go.

His next album "Intensive Care" was the first full outing without Chambers, but despite of Duffy's involvement, still wasn't light years away from his previous records. The reggae-stroke-Police influenced "Tripping" single and the radio friendly "Advertising Space" sold well and were regular staples on the radio playlists for months, but the album sales, whilst impressive for an ordinary artist, were disappointing in comparison to Williams's other albums, especially bearing in mind the new megabuck contract he'd renegotiated. The final single "Sin Sin Sin" didn't even reach the top 20, as it was badly promoted by the company and Williams. Something was up. Had parting with Chambers been a big mistake? Still, his 2006 Summer Tour was announced and sold out almost immediately so it was obvious that he was still a big live draw.

Let's remember at this point that Rob had now decided to give up on being a success in America. They were immune to his charms, with only minor hits so far, so publicly he said that he wasn't bothered about cracking America, and had decided to live there instead, as he could be inconspicuous there. Something which I'm sure EMI would have been happy with. Not.

Meanwhile, four blokes he used to be in a group with in the 90's had decided, after a favourable reaction to an ITV documentary and reissued Greatest Hits album, to announce a comeback tour. Which sold out immediately. Take That were back, and the rumours started flying about that Robbie would get back together with his former bandmates.

Now let's fly back a few paragraphs to that "Radio" single. It was noticeable different to his other releases. In the excellent Chris Heath "Feel" book, which followed Rob around for over a year and gave a candid and frank insight into the life of this troubled star, Williams mentions that he had these ideas for songs which he felt were soooo not "Robbie Williams" that he'd thought about releasing them under a different name or pseudonym. "Radio" was one of these, and the idea of him releasing an album of songs, which were based on his influences and would possibly not be what his audience wanted, had been there lurking in the background for a while. It would be a risk, but surely he now had the clout to take that risk?

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... "Rudebox".

Originally scheduled to be called 1974 (the year Williams was born) on first listen to this album, you'd think that he's lost the plot altogether. What the hell is going on? It looks as if it's an album of b-sides and demos, as there appears to be no cohesion at all. However, you'd be wrong. This is one you've got to persevere with.

However, many people haven't bothered to purchase it in order to persevere, a chief reason for which would be the lead single from the album, "Rudebox" which frankly is shite and would put anybody off. Yes it was a hit but it really is rubbish. Based as it is around the tune from Sly & Robbie's 80's hit "Boops", it features some lame lyrics and rapping from Williams. Now, some say that this bloke from Stoke shouldn't rap (hi Karen!) and on this evidence they'd be right. The press judged this single as a failure. He responded to the criticism by joking about it, telling an audience at his concert in Leeds on September 8th that the song was "number one... in Germany". He also made the comment "be honest" at the end of performing the song at Roundhay, possibly indicating that even he wasn't that sure about it.

However, once you've got past that track (hurrah for the skip button) you'd be pleasantly surprised. Honest. The album is made up of collaborations with hot producers and artists such as William Orbit , Mark Ronson and Lily Allen, cover versions of The Human League's "Louise"and Stephen Duffy's "Kiss Me", and two efforts with the Pet Shop Boys.

Williams had made no secret of his love for 80s hip hop and electro, as well as his love of the Pet Shop Boys "Behaviour" album as well as the work of the late Ian Dury, and this comes over strongly on the album. there's nothing on this album that would have fitted comfortably on his previous ones. It's "wonky pop" as he says himself. His rapping actually works in the context of the album, especially on the autobiographical "80's" & "90s" tracks, the latter of which is another timely outburst about his time in "his first band". I personally think it's a very brave and interesting album, not necessarily good all the way through but very very listenable and quite possibly the best thing he's done, and surprisingly not in the least bit self indulgent. So there. And his cover of "Kiss Me" is done exactly like the original version, not the version that was the big hit. Which is uber cool.

The excellent PSB collaboration and current single "She's Madonna" was hoped to be the one that would lift sales of the album, but this idea appears to have gone tits up, as currently Williams is unable to do any publicity for the track being in rehab, and the video for the single is a bit weird featuring him in drag. A shame really, as this is classic PSB and deserves to be a big hit. Currently the single is sitting in the midweek chart on the first week of release as a physical single at number 17. Take That's "Patience" is at number 18... and that's been on release 17 weeks.

("She's Madonna" was apparently inspired by a conversation Williams had with Guy Ritchie about the way Ritchie left his ex-girlfriend for Madonna. According to the UK tabloid newspaper The Sun, Williams wanted Madonna to star alongside him in the video, but when Guy Ritchie realised the song was based on the line he used to leave Tania Strecker for Madonna — "I love you, baby, but face it, she's Madonna," — he dropped out of the project altogether! I wonder why?)

The album was unusually well reviewed by the music press, with many publications who'd previously never given him the time of day giving glowing reviews, and it has so far moved over 800,000 units in the United Kingdom and almost 3.5 million worldwide. However these sales have been seen to be a bit of a flop and allegedly it's cost two execs their jobs at the record company. If they'd only have looked at releasing something less... shit as the lead single, like "Viva Life On Mars" and I think they'd be on to a winner commercially.

As it is, yes the singles went Top 10, but only briefly, and just before Christmas, Take That released their first single in over 10 years which went straight to number one, as did their album. And stayed there. On the morning of the Brit Awards, a press release came out informing that Robbie Wiliams had entered a rehabilitation centre in the US on the 13th of February 2007 (which is also his 33rd birthday) and was receiving treatment for addiction to the anti-depressant Seroxat and Xanax, although he did enter of his own accord.

Later that night, Take That won the Brit Award for best single.

Ouch.

I'm really reading inbetween the lines here, but it's not unreasonable to suppose that the commercial reaction to something that was a personal labour of love, added to the fact that his former band were back and doing far better than him, may have been just two of the factors leading to Williams's current predicament. Publically he has been said to be happy about the reunion and on good terms but who knows how he really feels? It could have been enough to push someone who is already a bit fragile over the edge.

Looking through Wikipedia, I notice that he's got another "swing" album scheduled for release later in 2007. Now if this is true or not I don't know, but if it is, it would indicate an artist who's been badly burned by alleged failure and is under pressure to deliver commercially by his record company, so what better than to play safe and record a sequel to his number one "Swing When You're Winning" album. Everybody will love that, oh yes. I hope that this isn't the case and he's doing it because he genuinely wants to.

Get well soon.