Robbie Williams: Swing When You’re Winning

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * )

Not satisfied with being the Elton Jagger of the new millennium, our favourite pop tourist has decided to join the swing revival (three years late) just in time for Chrissy.

While you'd think Williams' urge to indulge his Rat Pack fantasies might at least be an entertaining sidebar, it's as much a monument to himself as last year's pop effort despite being "dedicated to Frank, Dean and Sammy".

Frank briefly interrupts rolling in his grave to posthumously duet on It Was A Very Good Year and wipes the floor with the young pretender. But there are real live celebrities too: Nicole Kidman on Somethin' Stupid, comedian Jon Lovitz on Well Did You Evah, Jane Horrocks on Things, and Rupert Everett on They Can't Take That Away From Me all help spread the demographic appeal and help distract from Williams' ill-fitting American accent and crooning, which while managing to hit the notes sounds like it's interpreting those classic lyrics with the help of the Speak Las Vegas Like A Native phrase dictionary.

And as for the only original, the Lloyd-Webberesque opening I Will Speak and Hollywood Will Listen ("Mr Spielberg just look what you're missing"), the real fear is not that it's a truly awful song but that it's only the beginning of Robbie: The Musical. Unintentional comedy album of the year.

Label: Chrysalis