The album opens with ‘Be A Boy’, a sombre-ish opening that kicks off with a fun saxophone solo and boasts a catchy bridge and chorus with elements that come together for a strong finish. Building to a cocophany of main and backing vocals with a faster-paced middle-verse (the “Be somebody” section) it’s an almost five-minute track that never outstays its welcome, and lyrics such as ‘the magic is leaving me? I don’t think so’ summing up the comeback of Robbie after his dalliance away with Gary, Mark and Co.
Follower ‘Gospel’ takes a playground-chant style verse with a catchy, rolling beat and builds a song around it, unfortunately not quite matching it with the chorus that is a little bit muddy and less impressive than the very promising verses. Lyrics that include ‘Be A Man’ follow neatly from the introductory track and the mix of Robbie and Lissie’s vocals on the breakdown work really well, Lissie being a guest artist who appears multiple times on the record and adds a fun element to the piece. That all said, the chorus does get better at the end even if the closing statements focussing on the phrase ‘go fuck yourself’ undermines the strong and mature sound of the record so far.
Lead single ‘Candy’ comes next, a catchy nursery-rhyme sounding pop classic that’s incredible addictive thanks to its fast-paced vocals and well orchestrated backing. It might get a little too sickly-sweet after many listens but this is Robbie at his poppy-best and it speeds along in a blur of pop sweetness with an immediately singable chorus and a backing that matches the witty, addictive lyrics.
Supposed follow-up single ‘Different’ comes next, a balladic and emotive tune with an expressive guitar solo and sounds like it will be a live classic. In the vein of ‘Sexed Up’ and ‘Come Undone’ it’s a lighters out classic and should do well in the charts, especially in contrast to the poppiness of its predecessor.
‘Shit On The Radio’ is up next and is a more electronic number with a memorable poppy beat and profession and, explicitness aside, is one of the more commercial numbers on the piece. It’s just a shame that the key synth work and progressive lyrics are undermined by the repetitive and awkward chorus but it’s catchy enough and actually one of my favourites on the album. In the end it’s a big song repressed by a clunky title repeated in the chorus that damages its pop credentials.
‘All That I Want’ is track six and, along with ‘Hunting For You’ make up two more ballads, both a little middle of the road but keep the pace up nicely. ‘Hunting For You’, like track five, is hampered by a chorus that is memorable, but memorable because of its overt repetitiveness, but it is a big grower. ‘Hunting For You’ is a very well produced track, a feeling throughout the album thanks to the work of Jacknife Lee, with some pleasant atmosphere but is crying out for a little extra something in the chorus.
‘Into The Silence’ is another powerful ballad and ticks the stadium-rock box but once more a little bit average. Its successor ‘Hey Wow Yeah Yeah’ is the most intriguingly produced and most experimental track on the piece, mostly built around disjoined words built over an eccentric tune. With a fuzzy effect on the vocals it sometimes sound a bit odd, but with its ‘clap your hands now’ hook and a fast, fun pace that is matched by Jacknife Lee letting go a little, I enjoy the track.
‘Not Like The Others’, the penultimate track proper, boasts a pounding drum beat and again a poppy feel and has one of my favourite verses on the album and is the biggest one to grow on me after multiple listens, and brings the quality of the piece back up.
‘Losers’, with a credit this time for Lizzie, is a slow duet to round off the album and a smooth conclusion with an effective duet.
Tagged onto the deluxe edition of the album we get ‘Reverse’, another middling ballad with a few highlights, but definitely worth hearing, and then a Robbie-sung version of ‘Eight Letters’ from Take That’s ‘Progress’ album that strips back the album closer to a straight-forward piano accompaniment. Robbie’s voice really suits the song and though there isn’t a huge difference between this and the original, it’s as good in a different way and, perhaps, ever so slightly better, but there’s room in the world for both interpretations.
Also in the deluxe edition we get a DVD with three equally lengthed featurettes totalling fourteen minutes: a two-part behind the scenes look at the ‘Candy’ video which are concise but equally detailed looks at the process and pack a lot into the time, but weirdly not the full video itself, and a snapshot of what went into creating the album which was very interesting but I would loved to have seen more of it, but it did give a good impression of the work that went into creating the album.
Overall, ‘Take The Crown’ is another great album from Robbie but I wouldn’t say it’s his best. It’s not quite as good as ‘Reality Killed The Video Star’ which, alongside its three singles, had other big numbers that stood out. ‘Take The Crown, has many songs that have stand-out potential – ‘Be A Boy’, ‘Candy’, ‘Different’, ‘Shit On The Radio’, ‘Hunting For You’ and ‘Not Like The Others’ but there are also less exciting tracks that weren’t present on his last LP. The production on the piece has to be acknowledged as very strong and almost up there with a thoroughly enjoyable ‘Progress’ and the two bonus tracks and DVD of the deluxe edition are worth the extra pennies.
A down-step from his previous album but only slightly and well worth picking up, and a welcome return from Robbie.
(6.5/10)
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