After spending three years in the Nevada desert waiting for us to forget his rapping on Rudebox, Robbie Williams returns with a more conventional record.

 Guy Chambers’ song writing attempts to recreate the expansive ballads that formed Williams’ popularity.  Unfortunately they no longer reflect the increasingly bizarre, mental world of the man singing them. The results are bland songs that have a tendency towards overlong tunelessness.

There are successful moments. Williams’ high tenor on ‘Morning Sun’ channels Bowie but is laboriously slow. The close harmony on ‘You Know Me’ evokes 50s pop but is drowned in sickly string arrangements. The incoherent paranoia on ‘Bodies’ boasting panicky delivery and an incongruous chorus has the record’s most successful melody.

Robbie should embrace his madness and stop trying to resurrect the past.