Music Album: Take The Crown by Robbie Williiams

After a massively successful album and record-breaking tour with Take That, Robbie Williams returns to his solo career with a this brand new quirky album, a follow up to 2009's Reality Killed the Video Star. While 'Star' was an improvement in terms of musical style and sonic direction, he returns to his brand of addictive, catchy pop rhythms on Take The Crown, a style that has made him one of the biggest pop pioneers in the UK music industry.

The album starts off with the anthem-ic Be a Boy, which sounds like it is sure to be a crowd-pleaser and set-list filler on his just announced UK stadium tour, from the lyrics to the football-style chants, it is sure to have fans in a frenzy. It then transitions into Gospel, a rock and roll-styled song about love and all its effects, and then eases into the next track, the catchy Gary Barlow-penned first single Candy . After listening to the first three tracks, the rest of the album pretty much follows the same pop or rock and roll theme, as judged by the use of loud drums and horns, and guitar influences through out the album. Other highlights of the album include the pseudo-ballad and second single, Different, the soft rock-styled Into The Silence and the enchanting Hunting For You.

Robbie delivers yet another impressive pop album - vocally he is at his best and musically he is more confident than he has ever been. It might not have the musical brilliance that albums like Life Thru a Lens, Escapology or even Reality Killed the Video Star had, but the music on this still sounds solid and creative. I wish he had a ballad or two (think Angels or Feel) on this because I think that is when he is at his strongest, but instead we get rock-star Robbie - who still delivers.