After a very tumultuous time in the boy band Take That, Robbie left the group, recorded an album and went in to rehab. Robbie’s drug problem and ego problem was too much for Take That. He was tired of his creative input being ignored and was ready to branch out on his own. And branch out he did. His first album, ‘Life Thru a Lens’ was released on September 29, 1997 and though it started off slow, it would go on to great heights hitting #1 on the UK charts and selling over 3 million copies in Europe.
Now, we peasants here in the States, knew nothing about Robbie and sadly that would continue throughout most of his career. He had some moderate success with a few songs, but for the most part, the U.S. missed out on a hugely talented guy. I’m glad to say, I didn’t miss out. I discovered him a few years later with the songs “Millennium” and “Rock DJ” and I was hooked. But we aren’t here to talk about the albums those songs were on. Nope. We are here to talk about the 25th Anniversary Edition of his debut album, ‘Life Thru a Lens’ and what a box set he put together. This box set I bought when Udiscovermusic.com had a 50% off sale and I couldn’t pass it up.
What we get with this Box Set are not one, but 7 different 7″ singles. There are so many great songs on here. While Take That was pretty much ballads, Robbie was all Britpop! And he does it pretty fucking well. Not only do you have the five great singles of “Old Before I Die” (written with Desmond Child and The Hooter’s own Eric Bazillian), “Lazy Days”, “South of the Border”, the beautiful ballad”Angels” as well as the Queen-esque “Let Me Entertain You”. All fantastic songs, but the best song on here wasn’t even a single which is the angry, funtastic song “Ego A Go Go”. The box set even has the hidden track “Hello Sir” which is Robbie reciting a poem telling off an old teacher who told him he wouldn’t amount to anything…boy was he wrong. You get the whole album over the singles plus 2 bonus tracks all in the order of the album. Some day I’ll do a proper review of it, but for now, these are the Seven Singles.
SINGLE 1: “LAZY DAYS” / “LIFE THRU A LENS”
“Lazy Days” was the second single off the album went to #8 on the UK charts but failed to chart due to lack of promotion from Robbie as he was in and out of rehab at the time. They did let him out of rehab to shoot the video. That was awfully nice of them.
SINGLE 2: “EGO A GO GO” / “ANGELS”
“Ego a Go Go” was not a single and was one of my favorite songs on the album, but “Angels” was the song that probably broken Robbie in to the big time. His album was not doing well, he had a meeting with the label as his future was in doubt with them and then the song came out as the fourth single off the album. The song went to #4 in the UK going 2X platinum and selling over 2 million copies worldwide. Except the states, where he didn’t make the Top 50 stalling at #53. Stupid yanks!! LOL!
SINGLE 3: “SOUTH OF THE BORDER” / “OLD BEFORE I DIE”
“South of the Border” was the third single released, but it didn’t do very well only going to #14 and no real international impact. Can you believe, this caused pause with the label and his future was in jeopardy going to only #14. Stupidity runs amok in the record industry. “Old Before I Die” (written with Desmond Child and The Hooter’s own Eric Bazillian) was the first single on the album and went to #2 not a bad start to a solo career in my book.
SINGLE 4: “ONE OF GOD’S BETTER PEOPLE” / “LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU”
The B-Side here, “Let Me Entertain You” was the fifth and final single off the album and went to #3 in the UK becoming one of Robbie’s signature songs. I believe he opens most, if not all, of his shows with this song. And another personal favorite for me especially since it has a very heavy Queen influence to the song. You can’t miss it.
SINGLE 5: “KILLING ME” / “CLEAN”
No singles on this disc, but these are great songs nonetheless. Both reference his turmoil with his former boy band, Take That. Drugs and so much more were really screwing him up. Thank goodness he had music to express himself at this time.
SINGLE 6: “BABY GIRL WINDOW” / “HELLO SIR”
Again, no singles here but we have the last two songs of the original album. The second one being “Hello Sir” which was a hidden track on the CD and a great poem giving the middle finger to a school teacher that told him he wasn’t good enough and he’d never make it in the music business. Yeah, he was wrong. And F U to any teacher that would tell a student such. What an asshole.
SINGLE 7: “FREEDOM” / “AVERAGE B-SIDE”
Then we get a couple of bonus tracks that you can get on the Deluxe Box Set. First is the George Michael cover of “Freedom”. A faithful, fun cover. This was actually his very first single as a solo artist…yes, prior to the debut album coming out. The other song “Average B-Side” is a song that pokes fun at a relationship saying it was nothing great, just an average B-Side. Kinda funny!!
BOOKLET:
You also getting a little booklet of about 6 pages with lyrics and credits as well as a handful of pictures. Nothing special, but nice to have this info if you are like me and enjoy reading the stuff while listening to the album.
And that is it! A nice little set if you collect singles or anything Robbie Williams. Now, I didn’t think it was worth the $54 being asked for it. But at 50% off and only $27…yeah, I’ll take that. A great collectible to an amazing debut album by one of England’s pop sensations. Too bad the U.S. missed out on his wit, charm and music.
