Robbie Williams Intensive Care Review

Intensive Care opens with Robbie shouting, cocksure and desperate, "Here I stand victorious, the only man to make you come". The sixth album from Williams is overwhelming in its pureness of personality. It couldn't come from anyone else, dysfunctional, showy, telling stories about women he doesn't understand, relationships he can't function in, paranoia and isolation, all with a strangely positive and exciting spin.

Williams is putting more self reflection and understanding in his music than ever before, and he's a rich seam of material. As you would expect, he's not short of the hi-budget surrounding support of cellos, gospel choirs, and brass. But it would be unwise not to mention his writing partner in the unlikely and credible shape of Stephen Duffy: surely the reason behind the new honesty and eloquence, and more interesting and inventive songs that convincingly capture about 50 different genres. Gloriously imperfect, the personality makes the album, and it's his best yet: almost worth the 80 million.