Music Banter - Huge Demand For Robbie Williams Albums In China

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Unsold copies of Robbie's dreadful Rudebox album are being shipped to China - to be used for resurfacing roads.

Industry insiders revealed yesterday that more than a million Rudebox CDs will be crushed and then used in street lighting and road projects.

That will be the first time Robbie's name has been up in bright lights for quite some time.

Blobby Williams, 33, released Rudebox, his 10th solo album, in 2006. But the 17-track CD sold just 500,000 copies in the UK, a massive disappointment following the two million sales of his previous album Escapology.

A source said: "EMI often ships out unwanted CDs to China so they can be recycled.

"It's the ultimate kick in the teeth for him. He loved this album, but going by all the unsold CDs he was obviously the only one.

"Now there's no better use for them than to be crushed up and trampled on."

Since last year Robbie, who admitted piling on the pounds eating mince pies over Christmas, has well and truly slipped out of the limelight.

He was in the running for two Brit awards - Best British Album for Rudebox and Best British Male Solo Artist - but failed to make the shortlist in either category.

And now, to top things off, it seems that his record label agrees with the public's view of Rudebox.

Emi is launching the recycling scheme in a bid to cut costs after losing £263million in 2007.

The firm already plans to axe 2,000 jobs to save an annual £200m after last year's takeover by private equity group Terra Firma.

Meanwhile, EMI's new boss Guy Hands yesterday denied that the Angels singer is on strike in protest over the job losses.

It had been claimed the ex-Take That star, who has an £80m deal with Britain's most famous record label, was withholding his new album.

But Mr Hands said: "Robbie is still working in the studio, but he's working at a slower pace, which is appropriate to producing the best music he can, and that's something we at EMI support him in."

Take as long as you like, Rob. Something in time for the next Millennium will be soon enough for us...

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