For obvious reasons, there are no Take That songs here. LAUNCH mentions this only because Ronan Keating’s just-released “10 Years Of Hits” necessarily plunders his past (albeit erasing his Boyzone bandmates in a Stalin-esque manner) to fill out 17 tracks. Robbie’s “Greatest Hits” stretches to 19 on solo material alone. That said, where Ronan’s stock-in-trade swiftly and consistently became weepie country covers aimed squarely at the Radio 2 listener/divorcees, Robbie’s releases have only recently found form, flailing around in search of an identity from 1997 onwards.
As with his studio albums, the false start of “Freedom” is omitted. We begin instead with the Oasis wannabe anthem “Old Before I Die” and ’60s-ish “Lazy Days”, swaggeringly obnoxious songs that perfectly capture his slutty, druggie persona of the time. A non-chronological anthology would no doubt open or end with “Angels”, but the singles here fall as released and it comes third [the dreadful “South Of The Border” is absent], showcasing for the first time the sensitive boy behind the leering bravado. Thereafter success and confidence soars on “Let Me Entertain You” and “Millennium”,
but the shy boy is already hiding behind his renewed popularity and gibberish lyrics are the order of the day.
Second album “I’ve Been Expecting You”, recorded during his Appleton interlude, spawns love songs and self-help mantras ( “No Regrets”, “Strong”, “She’s The One”) but offers little in the way of musical development as he publicly struggled with his addictions. (The album title would become poignant in the light of Nicole’s abortion revelations – its release would have coincided with her due date.)
The nonsensical lunacy of “Rock DJ” ushered in “Sing When You’re Winning”, another young, dumb, full of fun mask to hide behind as he began a renewed bout of sobriety. The Kylie duet “Kids” followed suit, a sneering stab at the music industry from two of its most successful products. “Supreme”, strung around an “I Will Survive” sample, offers a hint of the man slowing emerging from the overgrown-teenager persona, his vocals swelling elegantly (the rubbish middle-eight rap excepted). “Let Love Be Your Energy” relapses back to “Life Thru A Lens” territory, however, all expansive Gallagher-style chords and more bland self-help platitudes.
The return of ‘Geri’s song’ “Eternity” to favour, having been conspicuously absent from “Escapology”, perhaps implies a thaw in relations between the former friends. Twinned with the folky “The Road To Mandalay” for a summer 2001 double A-side, it’s simply lovely, the missing link between “Angels” and “Feel” and hence a crucial part of Robbie’s ongoing evolution. Unlike, say, the incongruous and omitted “Somethin’ Stupid”. “Feel” is simply magnificent, the perfect combination of insight (“Before I fall in love/I’m preparing to leave her”), performance and arrangement; would that everything he does in future refers back to this blueprint.
“Come Undone” is lovely if less successful with its overstated self-loathing; “Something Beautiful” is inexplicably omitted. “Sexed Up”, his last word (in song, at least) on Nicole showcases a stunning vocal atop a pedestrian piano part; if you couldn’t understand English, it would sound like a wonderful love song. “Radio” is another “Rock DJ”-style trifle, “Misunderstood” a written-to-order “Bridget Jones’s Diary” ditty (“Trying to be misunderstood/Just a product of my childhood”). Where most Greatest Hits peter out – the best material coming in the beginning, the muse waning as success and indulgence overwhelm the artist – in Robbie’s case, excess came early and talent (rather than charisma) was tardy in shining through.
From “Feel” onwards he becomes the star his performances always implied he was, even when his material didn’t quite make the grade. Another ten years from now, as Ronan reluctantly tours the country with Shane et al on Here And Now 2014, Robbie will – current form suggests – be touting a peerless second volume of hits. For now, his growing pains aren’t always likeable listening but his musical puberty is an ultimately rewarding journey.
