SINGAPORE – Robbie Williams’ 11th No 1 album in the United Kingdom is a collection of old-timey swing music as well as a new original music down old-timey swing style. And guess what, it’s the latter group of songs that really stand out.

What we’ve always like about Williams is that he appears not to take things too seriously, and it’s pretty obvious he’s having fun as he runs through songs such as Shine My Shoes, Swing Supreme and the mock-West End-ish No One Likes A Fat Pop Star. Like Williams’ previous swing album, Swing When You’re Winning, there are guest performers on this album. Unlike that album, which featured appearances by actors Nicole Kidman, Rupert Everett and others, this time he is accompanied by a squad of singers this time round, including Michael Buble (on Soda Pop), Rufus Wainwright (on the title track) and Lily Allen (on Dream A Little Dream).

The covers themselves are palatable at best, with his take of Cab Calloway’s Minnie The Moocher and the country track, Little Green Apples (with superb subtle performance by Kelly Clarkson), being the cream of the crop; while the Olly Murs duet, I Wanna Be Like You, is probably the worst cover of that Disney song I’ve heard in a long while (fun factor notwithstanding). Does this album deserve the No 1 spot? Well, it doesn’t quite trump some of his previous works, but going by what’s out there right now, why not?