Robbie Williams

Sing When You're Winning (Capitol)

If you've lived in America all your life, there's a fair chance that you've never heard of British pop-rocker Robbie Williams. It seems strange that the man who has sold over 5 million albums around the world should be relatively unknown here. Even The Ego Has Landed, his critically acclaimed 1999 release, failed to appeal to the U.S. in a megastar way, although with the help of singles like "Angel" it did manage to sell enough here to achieve gold status. But all that could change with the release of his new record, Sing When You're Winning.

Williams has the reputation of being a bad boy in the British rock scene, earning his name with outrageous live shows and crazy antics. The video for his first single, "Rock DJ," shows Williams performing a strip show at a roller disco. But of course Williams takes the idea too far-he strips naked, then pulls off his own skin, muscles and intestines, throwing them all to the women who caress his body parts adoringly around his dancing skeleton.

It is pleasantly surprising, then, that Williams' ego doesn't play a larger role in this album. Apart from the occasional knowingly cocky lyric ("Don't hate me 'cos I'm handsome" and his favorite, "Get on your knees"), the songs are on the whole intelligent, perhaps the sign of a maturing artist.

Williams seems to have found a very productive method for assembling the basic rock song. He has the catchy chorus thing down pat while his verses, whilst not that interesting harmonically, are so full of attitude it forces you to listen. The opening track, "Let Love Be Your Energy," is a great example of this aspect of Williams' songwriting. But more impressive than the writing is Williams' diversity. "Supreme," loosely based on Gloria Gaynor's classic "I Will Survive," is a short diversion into a mainstream pop sound. The ballads "Better Man" and "If It's Hurting You" demonstrate an impressive songwriting ability and unexpected emotional intensity. And the first single, "Rock DJ," is a funky, slick track with an insistent beat that takes hold of you and doesn't let go.

To give an indication of Williams' level of stardom, readers of a women's magazine in Britain recently voted him the sexiest man alive, over such luminaries as Brad Pitt. Whether he will gain the same popularity over here remains a question, but Sing is definitely a winning piece. A- -Daniel M.S. Raper

Scarface

Last of a Dying Breed (Virgin)

"I appreciate y'all, all right? I'm gone" intones an eerily candid Scarface at the close of his "farewell" album-but is it a farewell to rap or to life in general?

Whether stated or implicit, Scarface's mortality drives The Last of a Dying Breed, lending a desperate sense of urgency to the album. The first and last tracks are even titled "11-09-70" and "11-09-00," respectively-obviously a reference to Scarface's 30th birthday, but strangely reminiscent of tombstone inscriptions. At the same time, this former Geto Boy struggles to make sense of himself, often to little avail. He nonchalantly disowns flashing Rolexes and popping Cristal champagne on "It Ain't Part II," only to extol the virtues of casual sex on "In & Out." But the moments of genuine introspection, however subtle, always seem to outweigh the contradictions.

Fortunately, the music is up to the challenge of supporting such weighty content. Guest producers such as Erick Sermon and Joe N.O. inject vitality into the increasingly formulaic sound of Southern rap, particularly with the unsettling keyboard whistle of the title track. Guest rappers such as Jay-Z and Too $hort deliver solid turns on the mic, though their verses pale in comparison to the urgent booming of Scarface himself.

Whether simple contemplation or a eulogy for a living man, The Last of a Dying Breed captivates as it chills. No matter what Scarface means by "gone," he sure won't be forgotten.

A- Tom J. Clarke

Sarah Cracknell

Lipslide (Instinct)

When the other members of British cult pop sensation Saint Etienne took a little break to launch their own record label, their lead singer built on her songwriting experience with the band and worked her vocal magic, giving the world of pop her first solo album, Lipslide. An expedition into a world of '60s girl pop mixed with some electronic production, Sarah Cracknell's dreamy vocals grow and grow on you until you're forced to surrender to the album's subtle yet straightforward sound.

Her publicist praises her work as "classic timeless pop," and those who are already fans of Cracknell's work with Saint Etienne would probably agree. Everything that shone about her vocal work for that band is even more obvious on her own album. Charmingly subdued and perfectly mellow at times, her voice calms and soothes you into a pop-induced bliss. Is Lipslide really "pop precision," as the press release would have you believe? There's nothing precise about it; you might even complain that all the tracks blend too much together, leaving you with nothing but pop amnesia. But Lipslide's soothing and undeniably cool style and Sarah's sweet but edgy voice are terribly hard to complain about. B+ -Patty Li

Mest

Wasting Time (Warner)

Punk-ska lives! Although their sound was threatened with being lost in the doom, gloom and anger of alternative-rock, the Chicago band Mest scored a summer hit with "What's the Dillio?" However, the catchiness of the song also brought about a significant backlash, as the mantra of "What's the Dillio?" constantly spilling from the radio made the band seem inane and ultimately very lame.

However, surprisingly, on their debut album, Wasting Time, Mest's derivitative punk-ska style works. Their music, despite a cookie-cutter resemblance to other punk-ska outfits such as Blink 182, still shares the same exuberance of a life preoccupied with drinking and chasing after girls. Thus, the quartet plays quick but ultimately very melodic songs about longing ("Richard Marxism"), about more longing ("Random Arrival") and finally about more longing, with a dash of self-destruction thrown in for good measure ("Lonely Days"). The album's best track, the title track, also deals with the theme of love and loneliness. But what makes the album fun and catchy is that this longing could very well be for a multitude of women found in one summer day on a beach. The playful guitar-laced ballads leave the listener with a smile and a jig in the step. And ultimately, that is what Mest wants to accomplish and does so with aplomb: mixing punk, ska and reggae with some interesting production values from John Feldmann (of Goldfinger fame) to make music fun again. B+ -Jimmy Zha

Various Artists

This is Jungle Sky Vol. VII

(Jungle Sky)

America invented hip-hop, the UK countered with drum 'n bass, and America now unites the two with This is Jungle Sky Vol. VII. It all sounds very Hegelian, doesn't it?

Philosophical implications aside, this two-disc compilation from New York label Jungle Sky explores the intersection of speed-addled Bristol drum patterns, Manhattan cosmopolitanism and South Bronx block-party aesthetic. The hands-down (or hands-in-the-air) high point is the nightmarish groove of DJ Karlos & Evil Nice's "No Doubt." Equally impressive is Yellow Note's "The World is a Jungle," a charmingly scruffy union of tricked-out reggae and hard-step.

That's not to say that the artists of Jungle Sky have the magic formula fully figured out. They occasionally run into difficulty integrating rap and spoken-word into their tracks-MCs such as TC Izlam and Steele, however talented, simply fail to impress with the same regularity as many of their British counterparts. And, as with any cutting-edge Manhattan release, a certain degree of pretension is to be expected. Tracks like Drum FM's "Bach & Bass," an uninspired rehash of strings over appropriately hyperactive beats, come off as warmed-over stabs at originality. A mixed bag? Certainly. But as long as they subscribe to the philosophy of filling dance floors, Jungle Sky's DJs and MCs offer junglists more than enough to think about. B -Tom J. Clarke