Life Thru A Lens

This book of albums sure places British mediocrity on a pedestal.

Sounds like the debut album from your mom’s favorite American Idol Finalist.

How is this even remotely close to qualifying for this list? Incredibly generic and overall pointless album.

‘Life Thru a Lens” by Robbie Williams (1997) Hyper-produced pop—the kind of thing you’d expect from a boy band member gone solo. Pleasant enough to listen to, but not seriously. Williams’ voice is a high throat mewl, desperately chasing the melody, with varied quality across limited range, and incapable of either of mellow lows or powerful highs. Lyrics are too dependent on forced rhymes, and lack depth. Overall, so-so. But a nice collection of cameras on the album cover. 2/5

Really? "Hide away in your ivory tower and cover me in your golden shower"... Feel like my ears have just been covered in piss after listening to this one. Awful pop rock from someone trying to come across as a bad boy. Cringe. Angels stops it from being 1*. 1.5*.

Let's get this statement out of the way- "Angels" carries this and gets the album up to 2* almost by itself. It's an undeniably great pop song that deserves its place in the canon. The rest of the album has the air of "pop artist trying to prove his worth as a solo-act by going rock", channeling all sorts of influences from the current scene and beyond to see what would stick. "Let Me Entertain You" is a rip-roaring ride and the Beatles-esque "Clean" is enjoyable if slight. The rest ranges from decent balladry to cookie cutter 90s Britpop. Good for background but doesn't hold up to much scrutiny (especially those lyrics). Also, what on earth was he thinking with Hello Sir? It's laughable.

generic, boring, not notable in the slightest. Let me entertain you was almost decent but I still wouldn't listen to it again.

I got the feeling this album wanted to make me go out and buy rubbers. I did not go out and buy rubbers. Instead, I learned this dude was in the band called Take That, who had a hit song in the states that everyone except myself loved for a hot minute. This dude surely thought he was the second coming of George Michael. He wasn't George Michael. He wasn't even Andrew Ridgeley.

“You’re not a middle aged white lady who wants to sleep with him,” my wife replied to my derision at this album. Formulaic and tired, this thing has all of the hackneyed 90s music production tropes on garish display.

Monkey movie guy

No

What a great and uplifting album. Robbie can sing just about anything, fronted by two of his biggest hits, each song belongs on the album and has a unique edge, definitely no standard, boring pop

Not at all what I'd expected - in a good way. I've always been aware of Robbie Williams in that "oh right, he's always been huge in the UK ... former boy band guy?" way but I don't know that I'd ever heard anything by him. A bit of reading about this album shows that he wanted to break away from his previous career and was heavily influenced by the Britpop that was so prevalent/popular at the time. After even one song I'd say that's mostly accurate - I like a lot of that mid90s rock subgenre but find a lot of negatives in most of it...some combination of overly compressed loudness and constant whinging (Oasis at their worst, although they were great at their best... I digress). This is ... better? This has a good mix of instrumentation - layered guitars (but not too thick), heavy drums, cool keyboards, the occasional piano (on the semi-cheesy ballad "Angels" in particular), the vocals are mostly not annoying me - tons of melody overall... "Killing Me" has a really great chord progression - might be my favourite. Negatives: when/if I start listening to the lyrics I start to question my judgement ("Angels") which is exactly why I try to ignore lyrics if possible. So yeah, they're a little distracting to me at times - simplicity, cliched, etc (god help me if #$@$ Bon Jovi is anywhere on this list). So some of the songs are probably skip-worthy (e.g. "South of the Border") but even on that one there are a few cool instrumental parts (i.e. the funky organ post-solo). Anyways - for the most part this is a good and fun rock album I'd never have given a look at before. 7/10 4 stars

Que vous le croyiez ou non, quand Robbie Williams ne fait pas de doigts d'honneur à la Coupe du Monde ou n'intervient pas de façon totalement injustifiée dans une émission de télévision dédiée aux Inconnus, il conçoit des albums. Et qu'est-ce que ça donne, alors ? N'en déplaise au père de mon compagnon d'écoute eltrapeze dont les goûts sont ouvertement critiqués par une majorité de musicologues en exercice, cet album nous donne la sensation d'être retenu prisonnier d'un interminable épisode de Glee ou d'High School Musical. Seul point positif au milieu de cette pagaille : mon apparition sur la pochette du projet tout en haut à gauche. J'étais en effet ce jour-là en train de faire la queue à la pharmacie où je me rends habituellement pour acheter un shampoing anti-pelliculaire lorsque, survenant de nulle part, surgit Robbie Williams accompagné d'une foule de journalistes et de photographes. Ledit Robbie se posta rapidement devant l'une des caisses, le regard dirigé vers les sachets de pastilles mentholées avant d'exiger qu'on l'y prenne en photo dans cette position. La pharmacienne, dépassée par la situation, tentait tant bien que mal de prendre ma commande mais je n'osai pas demander mon shampoing devant pareille assemblée. Je posai donc mes lunettes de soleil sur mes yeux pour demander mon shampooing sans être reconnu, et ce moment fut immortalisé par la photo qui sera choisie pour être la pochette de cet album.

mediocre british monkey man

Corporate britpop

You know when a song hits you in a totally different way and you start to have familiar, comforting feelings? That's what happened today. I knew the name Robbie Williams, because I've been a huge fan of Oasis and the Gallagher brothers since I was a teenager, and apparently they didn't get along very well in the late 90s, trading public barbs and shit. And like the stupid fan I was, I wore an Oasis shirt as if it were a football team and I've never heard a single Robbie song to this day, at least as far as I know, and I'll explain why. There is a Brazilian forró band called "Nostalgia do Forró" that recorded a Portuguese version of Angels, which I listened to exhaustively when I was a child. So the moment Angels started playing, it was like coming home, to simpler days and away from problems. Other than that, all the prejudices I had regarding Robbie died today listening to this album. This is more than enough reason to give 5 stars!

What really sells this album is his incredibly versatile voice. The songs maintain a consistent pop sound while branching off into various genres. Their production and instrumentation was done so well to really highlight what a top class vocalist Robbie is.

Overall non-offensive sound; sounds perfect for either the intro or outro credit for a movie depending on the track. Makes me want to stare out of a window of a bus as I take a long journey. Lazy Days and Angels are Outro, South of the Border and Let Me Entertain You are Intro credits. Old Before I Die is the where the kids ended up 35 years later in the coming of age block buster of the summer.

2.6 - Get this mediocre Britpop shit off this list. Get your shit together, Dimery!

What an absolute cunt

Soft boring generic rock. Just not my thing.

I’d think I’d hate Robbie Williams but this album won me over - it’s balanced well and it’s got some hits that have proven to stand the test of time and general a pleasant and well paced collection of songs. Even though I had dismissed him as boy band nerd back in the day - Wiiliams has proven time and time again to actually be relevant and sometimes cool and give an interesting twist to things. I can’t believe I’ve written this.

Jolly good time

Much of the album is a pop reimagining of the Rock fundamentals from back in the '60s-'70s (I don't know about you, but I was reminded of a few distinct bands by some of the tracks). The modern sound comes from the clean production and the lyrics that are simultaneously sensitive and direct. And mixed in is some classic romantic and goofy boy band fare, as expected given Williams' background.

01) Lazy Days - 8,0 02) Life thru a Lens - 7,0 03) Ego A Go Go - 7,0 04) Angels - 10,0 05) South of the Border - 7,0 06) Old Before I Die - 9,0 07) One of God's Better People - 7,5 08) Let Me Entertain You - 10,0 09) Killing Me - 7,0 10) Clean - 7,0 11) Baby Girl Window - 7,0 12) Hello Sir - 7,5 TOTAL: 7,83 (78/100) Current ranking: 122/306 Let's be honest, this is a bit boring and average pop rock most of the time. But there is a but... Thanks primarily to "Angels" and "Let Me Entertain You" and to a lesser extent to the other singles from the album, this album rises by one star and becomes a four star album. Throw in a pinch of '90s nostalgia, spice it up with all the other hits Robbie had later in his career, and that's it. Four stars!

Enjoyed it more than expected

Better than I remembered, and I knew more songs than I expected. Obviously the singles were a pretty big deal in the UK, but a few of the other tracks were also either staples on the radio, or part of his widely televised live shows at the time and after.

A rebellious but good-natured attitude combined with a grandiose sound defies expectations and sticks the landing.

This album absolutely bops! I'm from the U.S., so I've never heard of this guy. Great energy in this album and super poppy without feeling dumb. Reminds me of Dishwalla but better (and I love Dishwalla). The songs have some variety and definitely emotion. My favorite songs are: Old Before I die, let me entertain you, Lazy Days, and 100% Angels - that's the best song on the album. I'm giving this an 8/10, but it could be higher due to the fact that it is hard to find all these songs in my country. I'm sure this album is good though and highly recommend it.

So, this is the debut of Robbie Williams, who had been dubbed as the fat dancer of Take That, a boyband group that did not reach me, maybe because I was born just as they were peaking and split just as I was just a toddler, I have heard tracks by them but if you ask me(guy from South America) they weren't memorable. Life Thru a Lens destiles what was popular in the UK over 95 to 97 and sold it in a pretty package. However if you can have the real thing, why get a imitation? Angels follows the balladry roadmap made famous by Oasis and if they weren't so much into the mirror and the razor blade they could have had a big hit like that on that year(Don't Go Away and Stand By Me are the ballads of their 1997 album Be Here Now, which are killed for public consumption by too many guitar overdubs and over length). Let Me Entertain You is a nice change of pace later in the album, but this project is not one that I will listen to very much after writing this review. Maybe my review is too harsh, but I went into it knowing the best tracks and the others were just ok. https://youtube.com/shorts/NkElJrwC3_k a lighthearted moment non monkey man related 5/10

3.5! Quite enjoyed this! Solid British pop! Might go see that movie where it’s a biopic of Robbie Williams but he’s played by a CGI monkey for some reason!!

Guy Chambers wrote a few great pop songs for this and I do like Robbie’s cheeky chappie, bad boy persona. The whole thing smacks a little bit of a desperation for authenticity and breaking away from his boy band baggage. It comes off as too manufactured for me. But hey, it’s a pop album - a decent pop album.

2.5 Popular does not equal essential. This is a prime example.

If there was a Mt Rushmore of biggest twats in the music business then Robbie Williams’ face would be on it four times. Just a huge horrible obnoxious twat. Best keywords I would use for this album would be Smug, Tedious, Obnoxious, Wanker, Useless, Twat, Shit, Wannabe, Oasis, Tryhard, Britplop, Untalented, Fat, Dancer, Crap, Annoying, Petty, Tiresome, Attention-Seeking, Knobend. Guy Chambers can write the odd good song though and with Angels and Let Me Entertain You the album does have to its credit two of Robbie’s biggest and more acceptable hits. And Old Before I Die is kinda good and positive even though it’s a bit of a slick n smarmy inversion of The Who’s My Generation. The rest of this album is just really lousy tryhard ultra-processed Britpop twaddle with crap melodies, crap lyrics and crap singing. Ego Agogo is a complete no no and Clean where Robbie is friends with Mr Sheen, meets the Queen and won’t be obscene is the foremost graduate of the She’s Electric school of shit songwriting. 2 stars because Angels is a good song and it doesn’t have Rudebox I guess.

You’re telling me a monkey sung these songs?!?

I will not listen to this monkey man

No. Just no.

1.5

Pass

Some 720 albums in and just over a year left to go in this project, I find myself thinking about the albums that I know and I’m already a fan of, but haven’t been generated yet. The problem is, I forget about the rest of the 360-some albums that I’ll have to listen to. Like, I’m here wondering when Machine Gun Etiquette or Emperor Tomato Ketchup or Daydream Nation will get generated, completely ignoring the fact that there are apparently Robbie Williams records on the list. So, yeah…surprise! There’s a Robbie Williams record to talk about today. That’s exciting. Not really. Do you wish that more of the Britpop records on this list had the sheen of an overproduced pop album? Well then, this might be the record for you. I guess if there was an American analog for this, it would be if one of the New Kids on the Block (whichever one was the main one, I guess) quit the band and then put out a grunge record in like summer of 1995 when grunge was still popular, but not far from being passé. It’s pretty obvious that this record is the product of a pop star trying to insert themselves into a moment.

Never heard of this guy, apparently he was in some boy band and this was him breaking out, like a Harry Styles or Zayn or whatever. It's '90s pop music with not much to speak of in terms of style or substance. The Wikipedia shows mostly warm reception, but nothing to warrant inclusion here. Some critic said the following: "There's nothing here... sure, Robbie Williams is as fascinating a hapless goon as we're ever likely to come across. But this album feels more like a press release than an album – and that's not what I call music." I second that. Listen to "Ego Agogo" if you need confirmation. Nothing is terrible here, it's just....well it's nothing. And nothing sucks, especially on a list of albums that should be something. Maybe the author of this list was a family friend. Favorite tracks: Angels. Album art: This picture is pretty much exactly what I'd expect from a boy band singer breaking out into a debut. "Ooooh, I'm in the limelight, but I'm still a bit of a mystery. I've lived life through the lens, and finally that lens is turned on me and me alone. Brace yourself, world!" Funny to contrast his face on the cover with the poppy music that he made. 1.5/5

Robbie never made it in the states.

I can’t give 0 stars, so Robbie gets to have one.

Omg this album lol

Stunning album

Life Thru A Lens by Robbie and his friends is a kick butt debutt! Every song is crafty and entertaining. Album starts out strong and keeps getting better with each song. It peaks at Let Me Entertain You, but the finish is equally as good as the start. Other than the ten minute wait and the hidden track Hello Sir (worst song.) Tough to select a best song ‘cause there’s so many good ones. Will be listening to this album again as well as checking his other works. (4.7*s)

I love Britpop, I love Robbie, I will watch the monkey film

Angels AND Let Me Entertain You- on ONE album!

Robbie Williams is the most criminally underrated artist of the 90s and early 00s.

Being famous is shite

Loved it!! Would listen to it again!

Loved this album, great Debut by Robbie. All killers no fillers

A great brit and chamber pop inspired effort.

Angels. They just dont teach that. Generational talent.

Realized I had no idea what Robbie Williams sounded like, and was just vaguely aware of him being a British cultural icon. I started playing this, forgot, and had to double check the artist because of how much I was enjoying Ego Agogo. Why did I think it'd be awful? I just watched the infamous Rock DJ video for the first time and don't know how I should feel. I think I'm a Robbie Williams fan?? Should I listen to Take That?? None of this made it to America, so wasn't a part of my formative years. One reason I'll probably never truly feel British, even after living in the UK for nearly a decade. Great mindless 90s/00s pop.

Review pre me realising Let Me Entertain You is on this album: Oh boy the Brit pop detractors will absolutely hate this. To be fair to them this is very bad. "Hide away in your ivory tower, and cover me in your golden shower" is a particularly early highlight of some generally horrific writing that permeates the whole thing so far. Can't deny Angels is a fucken good karaoke song though. It does also take me back to listening to mums best of Robbie CD in the study. Really can't tell if this is a one star or five star. Sounds like the bloke was having a few concurrent identity crisises throughout, some even mid-song (South of the Border is particularly wtf worthy). This is Robbie on a bad day. Review post me realising Let Me Entertain You is on this album: Oh fuck yeah Let Me Entertain You is on this album! Easy five. The secret track also points toward my recent Discovery of Robbie's Instagram where he demonstrates some genuinely funny, macabre and existential thinking which for whatever reason I feel is important to flag here as well.

This gets the rare 5 stars solely for the song Angels. One of the greatest songs from the 90s

One the best pop albums ever.

Нежно люблю тембр Робби ещё с детства, обволакивающий такой. Новые для меня песни понравились больше старых при этом:)

Stunning debut. Well deserved five stars

Love this album. Robbie Williams at his post boy band best

What a wonderful solo debut

Surprisingly quite good. Full of poppy attitude and really representing the late 90s perfectly. Loads of hits.

cool

Robbie Williams, have I heard of this dude? Maybe... Oh, I guess I am familiar with "Angels"...but nothing else seemed familiar, and at first run through, I didn't find any interest in becoming familiar. However, as I worked on my grading, I repeated the album 3 or 4 (or 5 or 6) times and it really started to grow on me. This one is a keeper for me!

On our honeymoon in London, we had dinner with an old friend who was living there. The conversation turned to music and he sheepishly admitted to being a fan of Robbie Williams even though his flatmates made fun of him for it. When I returned to the US, I ran across Williams' The Ego Has Landed in a used CD store and picked it up out of curiosity. It quickly became one of my favorites and it still evokes strong and specific memories of where I was living and how I spent my time that year. I only today found out that Ego is a compilation of songs from prior albums, including Life Thru a Lens. So today's listen was a fun mix of songs that I know well and songs that were new to me. I love it!

Most of the album isn't available on Spotify, but found a decent chunk on YT. Actually a really great voice, soothing and upbeat. New artist for me that I really enjoyed!

I really enjoyed all of this album.

Some big Robbie songs on here - Angels and Let me Entertain you. I prefer some of Robbie's later stuff but really enjoyed this throwback of an album.

Il caratteristico timbro vocale di Robbie Williams aggiunge un tocco interessante a canzoni che non lo sarebbero troppo di per loro. Bello il finale di 'Lazy days' e la successiva 'Life thru a Lens'. Le prime 3 sono belle cariche, poi si arriva a 'Angels', un capolavoro, che non scopro ora, che dà una bella svolta all'album. Non è facile ripartire dopo questa e la successiva perde qualcosa, soprattutto a livello del ritornello. Piccola nota curiosa: in 'Old before i die' RW si augura una vita lunga, il contrario di molti suoi colleghi. 'One of god's better people' ha sicuramente un bellissimo testo, ma non comprendo molto la canzone in sé. 'Let me entertain you' ok, fallo, sei bravo (non sono ironico). Le ultime tre dimenticabili, tranne la bonus track 'Hello Sir': wow! Le canzoni sono tutte scritte dallo stesso cantante, non pensavo. Il massimo se lo merita tutto.

I loved every minute of this one!

pretty pretty dope

A nostalgic classic - the man's a great poet

Solid album

I loved this album when it came out, and still a classic. I remember being entirely sceptical of Robbie, being as he was a former Take That member and initially feeling validated in that by his awful cover of Faith (thankfully not on this album). But his brash take on Britpop was infectious and I always felt his arrogance was somewhat tongue-in-cheek.

Nothing revolutionary but I liked all songs.

ich fühle mich glücklicher starker erster Song namensgebender Song gefällt mir nicht wirklich ich will party machen angels ist unfassbar stark "one of gods better people" - underrated (nur 1 millionen plays auf spotify?) LET MEEEE ENTERTAIN YOOUUU!!! It's killing me, slowly Die Bläser sind so stark eingesetzt wow das ende von clean? wtf? baby girl window auch sehr schön kiss my ass

liked his upopular stuff, liked his popular stuff less

This was an important album for Robbie Williams, his first and best chance took define himself as more than the boy band background that made him famous. The sound overall identifies this as belonging till the Britpop era. Lyrically, he shows a lot of vulnerability and introspection. Angels is if course the standout. You can hear the desire to kick back against the media driven fame machine. It works, and for musical snobs, try to forget that Williams was in a boy band and just listen to, for example, the title track for the brilliant bit of pop songwriting that it is.

Good, def has some bangers

Fun pop. A few great tunes

Still surprising

This was a fun one

This one surprised me. I was ready for cringe, but it turned out to be kind of a hangover cure in album form. Breezy, cheeky, and self-aware in just the right ways. It’s big '90s Britpop energy, but lighter, shinier, with a bit more smirk and personality. There's confidence all over this, even when the actual songs get a bit messy. It’s got that “look at me” attitude of a solo act who really wants you to forget they used to be in a boy band. I won’t overthink it - this was a good time. Honestly, if you’re mildly hungover and looking for something caffeinated without being aggressive, this slaps. Spins: 3 Playlist Additions: - Lazy Days - Angels - Old Before I Die - Let Me Entertain You

I liked it!

Might be a sign to watch Better Man.

A música mais conhecida não diz nada sobre o que é esse disco!

i might have gone into this knowing more about robbie williams had i not been going thru Pretty Bad Movie Burnout for many a month and therefore i have not watched the unjustifiably awesome looking monkey biopic. it wasnt necessary to enjoy this tho, this is tbh kind of awesome FHJSHJFHFSJ rather than pure smarm like can wear on me w/ a lot of britpop and adjacent, theres a lot of theatrics and big brash moves on here that rly hook me and make me feel like im actually listening 2 someone who cares about their music. great melodies all around too...rly solid combination of surprising and reassuring. the biggest pull tho is the production from guy chambers and steve power!!! just huge meaty power, super super fun to listen to. gotta be an all time great album cover too lol! i struggle to say much beyond just Listing Out The Traits like a boring book report FHJFSHSJF which is not usually what i wanna do but this just strikes me as obviously wonderfully good music with a lot of stadium power, yet slightly vulnerable all the same. im sure ill watch the monkey movie someday

I never bothered with this when it came out (because I wasn't a 13 year old girl) but it's surprisingly rather good. A lot of humour (to be expected, but it's clear from some reviews that non-UK reviewers dont get it). Angels and Let Me Entertain You are great songs and well known (in UK at least). Ok so maybe there isn't the same familiarity and knowledge ouside the UK. I suppose I feel the same way about Elliot Smith (who?), but at least I gave that miserable twat a chance. I particularly liked the 'fuck you' poem to his teacher at the end. Well done, thingy!

Life Thru a Lens is a nice slice of 90s pop if you’re in the mood. https://open.substack.com/pub/richcain/p/project-1001-life-thru-a-lens-by?r=4ztyq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

For those who don't know, Robbie Williams originally rose to prominence as part of the 90s UK boy band Take That before leaving the group over his behavior. He started pursuing a solo career, taking influence from the then-current Britpop trend, thus leading to this debut album. I will say I didn't have many expectations going into this album, because this could have been either good or a niche relic from when Robbie dominated the British tabloids. What did we get with Life Thru a Lens? Well color me impressed, because this was a pretty great solo debut. It's evident from Robbie's songwriting evoked from his struggles with fame, coupled with top-notch production from Guy Chambers and Steve Power, that they were pulling all the stops to make this work outside of Take That. He's able to play well with a few different styles, from the funky "Ego Agogo" to the ballad "Angels" and the more straightforward rocker "Old Before I Die". Even if it's apparent that Robbie spent a lot of time with Oasis, he's largely effective in taking influence from them. Granted, this is not a flawless album. I did not care for the swampy bass-leaden tread of "South of the Border", and while it was a respectful note to end on a poem where Robbie got to lash out against a former schoolteacher that didn't believe in him, having it as a hidden track ten minutes after "Baby Girl Window" was not a smart decision as it hurt the replay value of the former track. Still, I'm amazed at how solid Life Thru a Lens turned out. I'm glad Robbie made amends with his old mates in Take That, but he was able to carve his avenue effectively.

Solid work here, and only the beginning of Robbie defining himself as an artist in his own right

After taking that level of fame in the U.K. to its eventual yet unexpected conclusion, Robbie Williams felt the need to break out and become free. Life Thru a Lens finds the once seemingly indistinguishable boy band member now rather inscrutable solo singer dipping his toes in the Cool Britannia/Britpop waters and begin to establish his own identity. And, as the musical vision shows throughout the album, it appears as though Robbie would be heading on the right path. Now if only there could be a CGI created monkey to reenact this arc and have it shown to the indifference and confusion of American moviegoers... Favorites: Lazy Days, Life Thru a Lens, Ego Agogo, Angels, Old Before I Die, One of God's Better People, Let Me Entertain You, Clean.

Reminds me most of an English George Michael. The tracks are either incredible, or forgettable. No bad songs, but definitely an album buoyed by the singles. But those singles are some of the catchiest and head-bopping songs I've ever heard, so all in all very good. Top tracks: Lazy Days, Angels, Let Me Entertain You

Never really heard him before. I enjoyed it!

Fantastic pop. really need to start on British music

I liked this. I wasn't expecting to like it, I had never heard of the artist, assumed he was some UK flash in the pan, but musically it's solid. Reminds me of Elton John in places, also some more edgy electro pop feel in places.

Elegant 💅

Excellent debut album