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Escapology - Robbie Williams
Metascore
53 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 11 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
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  1. Dot Music
    80
    Musically and vocally, there's few surprises but at least lyrically he's moved on from clever-ish wordplay and inane love songs, to tell tales of being generally screwed-up at the hands of the multi-million dollar pop machine.
  2. Stylus Magazine
    68
    More than anything in his career, Escapology is literally riddled with confession and confusion.
  3. Entertainment Weekly
    67
    Occasionally, Williams even manages candor without cockiness.
  4. Q Magazine
    60
    His straitjacket is an entrenched reliance on "lighters aloft" ballads, or, ironically, Oasis-derived anthems. [Dec 2002, p.113]
    All this publication's reviews
  5. Rolling Stone
    60
    While 2000's Sing When You're Winning was a trashy masterpiece that the States ignored, Escapology sounds like a more self-conscious effort to craft a pop-rock blockbuster.
  6. E! Online
    50
    It doesn't help that the best song here, "Feel," sounds like a bad Richard Ashcroft B-side; the worst is a seven-minute mariachi stomp about traveling to Las Vegas with a monkey, called "Me and My Monkey."
  7. New Musical Express (NME)
    40
    Like Eminem, Williams is desperate to give his own spin on tabloid coverage and determined to prove himself as human as the rest of us, but incapable of letting us forget he's a star. Except Eminem is the voice of a generation while Robbie Williams is just the voice of Robbie Williams, and while Eminem has Dre, Robbie has a ramshackle posse of musicians roped in to create this album's (wait for it) 'spontaneous' live sound.
  8. Playlouder
    40
    An unholy brew of overreaching ambition and soul-destroying complacency.
  9. Blender
    40
    Being shallow and immature is both his strength and his weakness. [Apr 2003, p.131]
    All this publication's reviews
  10. All Music Guide
    40
    Backed by stale songs, formulaic arrangements, and mediocre songwriting, Williams is forced to rely on his volcanic personality to bring this album across -- and despite a few strong performances, he sinks into lame self-parody time and time again.
  11. PopMatters
    40
    Probably the weakest Robbie Williams album to date.
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User Reviews

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User Score
7.3 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 42 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 31
  3. Negative: 6 out of 31
  1. riianu
    7
    What's with the low critic score? After 9 years, this is still an album I remember. OK, there are a lot of self-indulgent and self-deprecating songs in here, but that's how Robbie is. I really do feel bad for him for having all that pressures to "break in America". The U.S. was never ready for someone like him, and it's their loss.… Full Review »
  2. najia
    10
    its amazing
  3. KillaBen
    8
    This is a great album to sing along to if you're trying to learn. Especially 'Love Somebody' and 'Some Kind of Beautiful'. Definitely go with the UK vesion, though- U.S. version omitts some great tracks.… Full Review »
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