Every tear that you cry will be replaced when you die

April 25, 2018 6:12 AM

British pop star Robbie Williams had his third album released in the bizarre format of 45rpm double vinyl. Regardless, Sing When You're Winning is a very strong album which charted high around the globe. Side A: Let Love Be Your Energy [animated video (possibly NSFW)], Better Man, Rock DJ [video]

Side B: Supreme [video], Kids Featuring Kylie Minogue [video link], If It's Hurting You

Side C: Singing For The Lonely, Love Calling Earth, Knutsford City Limits

Side D: Forever Texas, By All Means Necessary, Road To Mandalay [video link]

posted by hippybear (17 comments total)

Releasing an album on 45 is rare, but the reasoning for it is that 45 rpm vinyl will have better audio quality than 33 rpm.
posted by tclark at 6:25 AM on April 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

the bizarre format of 45rpm double vinyl

Blue Note has done some reissues of classic albums in this format
posted by thelonius at 6:31 AM on April 25, 2018

Rock DJ is always one of those music videos I remember. Watched it when it hit VH1 back in the day, and just really dug how it was shot. Might be a teensy bit NSFW itself due to blood and naked man chest, but I might just be picky this morning.
posted by deezil at 6:33 AM on April 25, 2018 [3 favorites]

12" 45s are (were?) also DJ friendly.
posted by carter at 6:34 AM on April 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

But is it as good as Swing When You're Winning? Because that album is so wonderful.
posted by timdiggerm at 6:41 AM on April 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

I really enjoyed his jazzy albums, Swing When You're Winning and Swings Both Ways. There was never any doubt that the man is immensely talented but those two albums really showcased his versatility, not to mention his confidence.

Rock DJ has always put a smile on my face and a dip in my hip.
posted by ashbury at 6:43 AM on April 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

Rock DJ is one of the few music videos that always makes me laugh out loud. Plus, it's catchy as hell!
posted by kimota at 6:56 AM on April 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

By the time this was released, it felt there was no escaping RW - from very high rotation on music channels, being on FIFA 2000 (where he basically haggled writing the title track in exchange for Port Vale FC being in the game) to the video of Rock DJ making it into the news here, although I don't remember why, likely reporting on some moral panic over the most ambitious strip-tease event in history.
posted by lmfsilva at 7:12 AM on April 25, 2018

The Ego Has Landed will always be my definitive Robbie Williams.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 7:40 AM on April 25, 2018

Thanks hippybear, I really needed this today.
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 7:44 AM on April 25, 2018

The single thing fixed in my memory about Robbie Williams is that the entire album seemed NSFW. Quite apart from Rock DJ, Kids is pretty obviously about fucking, so finding there's an animated video where a runner who looks suspiciously like Robbie Williams fucks his way around the world is not surprising.
posted by Merus at 7:54 AM on April 25, 2018

I always liked Robbie Williams and appreciated his self-deprecating music videos (Supreme was a particular favorite). I just really wished he had resisted the urge to rap.
posted by AndrewStephens at 7:55 AM on April 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

If you watch the making-of video for Rock DJ, it shows him pumping gas in his muscle suit. The first two albums are pure Brit-pop gold (emphasis on pop), but both the Sing and Swing albums are top-notch as well.
posted by saintjoe at 7:55 AM on April 25, 2018

But is it as good as Swing When You're Winning? Because that album is so wonderful.
We've long nicknamed that one "duets with people Robbie's probably banged." The concert video from Albert Hall is also a delight.
posted by librarianamy at 8:01 AM on April 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

A 45 rpm 12" record is called a "12-inch single". It was the standard fornat for dance singles in those days, but a pair of those is admittedly an odd way to package an album. Blue Monday was the biggest selling 12-inch single of all time in the UK, and the combination of the format and the fancy packaging meant that Factory Records lost money on every sale and the huge chart success herded them towards bankruptcy.
As TDark says, it's a format that allows great sound quality.

If you want to talk weird formats, the various dodgy bands I played bass for in the 80s released an EP (33 1/3 rpm 7"), a ten inch album, and a 45 rpm EP (a regular single with two tracks on the B side).
posted by w0mbat at 9:42 AM on April 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

It felt very uncool to admit to liking Swing when you're Winning in a London in 2002 (at least among people I knew) so I'm glad to find its OK now :-)
posted by altolinguistic at 10:58 AM on April 25, 2018

Robbie's collaboration with 1 Giant Leap on My Culture has always been a weakness of mine. You could put the song on an endless loop and it would probably be days before I needed a break.
posted by JaredSeth at 5:06 AM on April 26, 2018 [1 favorite]