Take That studio reunion has already happened, claims Williams

Robbie Williams has claimed he has recorded again with Take That - and said the tracks are "amazing".

It comes just hours after the singer shared a stage with his former bandmates for the first time since he left the group in 1995.

After weeks of hinting he may work with the quartet again, Williams has now claimed the studio reunion has already begun.

During an interview to be broadcast later this year by BBC Radio 2, Williams praised Take That songwriter Gary Barlow and confessed he had recorded with the band.

Speaking about a Take That reunion, he said: "We'd have to have written some incredibly great songs together for me to be very, very excited about the project."

Williams then added: "I might be 'very, very excited' about a project that's currently happening."

In the programme, to be broadcast on Christmas Day, Williams initially claimed that any studio work would be some time in the future, before making his admission.

He said: "Gaz is an amazing, amazing singer-songwriter, I'm honoured to be in the same studio as him ... erm ...when we do, in the future."

Challenged that he was lying and had already been in the studio, he admitted: "Oh sod it, we've been in and the songs are absolutely amazing."

However fans should not necessarily hold their breath. It is unclear whether he is planning any sort of long-term partnership or whether the recordings will be officially released.

Williams has a deal with EMI, while Take That have a deal with rival record label Polydor, part of the giant Universal group.

Williams had an acrimonious split from Take That in 1995, after famously spending a lost weekend with Oasis at Glastonbury that summer.

When his career soared he would often spend a portion of his live show berating his treatment in the band and ridiculing the band's manager. Williams would also perform a thrash version of chart-topping hit Back For Good.

In the interview, recorded on Wednesday, he told presenter Kate Thornton: "I want to do it because I've always wanted to be in a gang ever since I left that gang. And all the bitterness and resentment's gone now and what is left is a load of love, and watching four guys get together and enjoy each other's company and enjoy the process of writing together. For me, I'm envious of the joy that they're having."

He added: "To make a couple of things clear ... financially I don't need to do this. And neither do they."

Williams and the band - Barlow, Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Howard Donald - have met repeatedly over the past year or so and patched up their differences.

Williams, who is on course for a number one this weekend with his eighth studio album Reality Killed the Video Star, said: "It's been amazing getting to know the boys again, they're just lovely, lovely people.

"We're all a bit wiser, you know, I think. Since Gazza's had kids, he's become a different person. I think I must be different, you know."

Williams said he had no difficulty accepting that Barlow called the shots in the band.

"Gazza's the captain ... (I) absolutely have no problem playing second or third fiddle in that band," he said.