There was always going to be another Robbie Williams swing album, wasn’t there? He was just born to sing that stuff. Sometimes I feel he belongs to another era completely, he is so absolutely authentic “Rat Pack” on stage. I have seen him live a few times, and he is amazing. One of the best, if not the best live performer I have ever seen. My only regret is I didn’t see him live at The Royal Albert Hall when he performed there after releasing his first swing album “Swing When Your Winning” in 2001.
“It was written by me, Guy Chambers and Rufus Wainwright in a room in the Chateau Marmont hotel in Los
“Swings Both Ways” is a wonderful feel good album. I listened to it the other evening whilst catching up on some work on my laptop, and it instantly put me in a good mood. It has a wonderful mix of new classics like the Robbie and Rufus Wainwright (love Rufus!!) written “Swings Both Ways” and the edgy “Shine My Shoes” amongst older evergreen classics.
“Shine My Shoes – It’s in the spirit of a Sammy Davis Jr. song. The smugness will infuriate the haters and the people who kind of like me will just think that it’s sweet”.
There’s a fun duet “I Wanna Be Like You” from the Junglebook with Olly Murs but the biggest surprise to me was the Robbie and Kelly Clarkson duet “Green, Green Apples”. It’s a song I have never heard before. I immediately googled it and found out it was a big hit in 1968, which is the year I was born, so no wonder I don’t remember it! Kelly and Robbie have real chemistry and currently it is my favorite track on the album. (As well as the most played track on my Spotify playlist.)
“I had no idea, until Olly came in to sing this with me, that he first auditioned for the X Factor with I Wan’na Be Like You and he didn’t get through. Not that long later he’s in the studio recording it with me. That’s a lovely side story.”
Robbie’s long-time producer Guy Chambers is back at helm and the magic is back! They worked together on all of Robbie’s biggest hits until they parted ways in 2002 after the “Escapology” album. Some partnerships are just written in the stars and Chambers really is the Lennon to Robbie’s McCartney. If you need more convincing here are my 3 favorite tracks from the album. Now I’m going to go listen to “Green, Green Apples” again. I bet my neighbours are *happy*.
Find out how Robbie made chart history this week
Guy Chambers tells the secret to writing a hit song
Rare photos of The Rat Pack- Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.
Image source: Robbie Williams.com, The Daily Mail, Chateau Marmont, The Graham Norton Show
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