Robbie Williams Is A Rude Boy

Hot on the heels of a court victory that confirmed his heterosexuality, British superstar Robbie Williams is ready to put out... a new album. Rudebox, a mix of new originals and covers, will be released on Oct. 24 by EMI.

Williams' seventh studio album is a quick follow-up to 2005's worldwide multi-million seller, Intensive Care, and sees him collaborating with the Pet Shop Boys and producers William Orbit (Madonna), Dave "Joey Negro" Lee, Soul Mekanik, Mark Ronson, Juan Gabriel, Brandon Christy and Jerry Meehan.

Lily Allen provides backing vocals on Williams' version of Manu Chao's "King Of The Bongo." Rudebox also contains covers of Lewis Taylor's "Lovelight", Human League's "Louise," My Robot Friend's "We're The Pet Shop Boys" and Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy's "Kiss Me."

Victoria Newton, an entertainment editor at the U.K. newspaper The Sun, has already declared Rudebox "the worst record that I have ever heard." In a forum on The Sun's website, several contributors left similar remarks about the title track first single, which is based on a sample of Sly & Robbie's "Boops (Here To Go)."

"'Rudebox' is truly the worst thing since the music of Victoria Beckham," said one.

"I've created more professional sounding tracks on a DJ CD-rom I got free from a pack of cornflakes," remarked another.

Williams is currently on his Close Encounters world tour. For now, no Canadian dates are scheduled.

Here are the tracks on Rudebox:

"Rudebox"
"Viva Life On Mars"
"Lovelight"
"King Of The Bongo"
"She's Madonna"
"Keep On"
"Good Doctor"
"The Actor"
"Never Touch That Switch"
"Louise"
"We're The Pet Shop Boys"
"Burslem Normals"
"Kiss Me"
"The 80s"
"The 90s"
"Summertime"
"Dickhead"