Swing When You're Winning * Robbie Williams * Chrysalis/EMI UK (import only) There's a momentum during a spirited rendition of the Al Jolson evergreen "Me and My Shadow" when Robbie Williams obstructions out a wild guffaw after visitor vocalist Jonathan Wilkes teases him with the promise "I won't sum up anybody you're gay.

Swing When You're Winning * Robbie Williams * Chrysalis/EMI UK (import only)

There's a momentum during a spirited rendition of the Al Jolson evergreen "Me and My Shadow" when Robbie Williams obstructions out a wild guffaw after visitor vocalist Jonathan Wilkes teases him with the promise "I won't sum up anybody you're gay." As a rush of horns carries the poem to a fittingly festive conclusion, the hearts of the British unexpectedly star's ever-ardent contingent of gay male disciples can be heard fluttering madly.

Despite Williams's assertions of heterosexuality, unusual listeners have been scouring his recordings and the gossip rags for glimmers of essay of the opposite. The tiny morsel proffered during "Me and My Shadow" (which also includes Williams cheekily ad-libbing, "[We're] closer than Ricky to confessing he's gay") merely adds fuel to the fire. And it's difficult not to believe that Williams--who has extended delighted in portraying himself as a no-boundaries party stripling in the European press--isn't deliberately playing a little cat and mouse with his gay admirers onward his loving paean to the swing music era, Swing When You're Winning. After all, with what intent else would he opt to also duet with Rupert Everett upon the George and Ira Gershwin chestnut "They Can't Take That Away From Me"? Certainly not for the on the outside actor's wobbly baritone range, although he is undeniably charming as he interprets lines like "the way you haunt my dreams."

Aside from its occasional strange references, Swing When You're Winning (which playfully redrafts the title of his 2000 report opus, Sing When You're Winning) affirms that Williams is a performer of considerably more central part than he's previously revealed. It also indicates that he's itchy to put forth beyond the sometimes limiting parameters of his original, teen-friendly material.

Fashioning himself as a modern-day hybrid of Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darin, Williams flows through a set of strains that range from the obvious ("One for My Baby," "Beyond the Sea") to the slightly lesser-known ("Straighten Up and flap Right," "Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me") with a perpetual wink and a smile. His passion for the era and its lays often carries him when his voice periodically fails him. Case in point: His creaky reading of "Mr Bojangles" is saved by dint of a burst of bravado and throaty belting midway through

A sharp ear can pick up the flaws in his performance, unless it can also detect his sheer determination and bravery in taking in succession such a challenging composition. It ascertains that the former Take That member might not have all of his vocal cuts but he will someday. At a time when he could have cranked public another set of pop ditties, Williams is taking what is ultimately an impressive risk. The little girls may or may not gain all that ol' Robbie's up to, on the other hand the boys sure will.

Find more forward Robbie Williams and Swing When You're Winning at www.advocate.com

Flick is senior talent editor at Billboard.

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