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32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The ultimate troubadour of the 21st century ?!?, May 21, 2007
Is it too fanciful to call this pop opera? Here we have tragic themes of self-loathing and unrequited love, delivered in a rounded tenor frequently dripping with life's sorrows, set amid some of the most ambitious orchestral arrangements since George Martin got busy with the Beatles Love
Up to now, there just hasn't been enough French horn in pop, and Rufus is the chap to put that right.
Of course, you cannot do stuff this big without help.
Executive producer is Neil Tennant - a man well used to crafting camp, glorious pop - and there is a small army of arrangers, as well as guests such as Richard Thompson on guitar and Rufus's mother and sister Kate McGarrigle and Martha Wainwright.
What this congregation of talents produces is something which refines yet further the formula of his Want One and Want Two (CD/DVD combo) albums.
Here we have a new millennial gay Edith Piaf baring his soul with rare elegance.
Standout tracks include "Tulsa", the Oklahoma city hymned with oh-so-European piano and strings, "Release The Stars", a peculiar big band affair concerned not with galactic goings-on but the contractual arrangements of Hollywood actors, and "Do I Disappoint You", a magnificent brassy overture which elevates self-doubt almost into something noble and celebratory.
But two songs make this a mini-masterpiece. "Going To A Town" is a wistful condemnation of his home country, distilled into the ennui-laden line "I'm so tired of America".
But there is a whole opera contained in "Between My Legs", which begins as a strange bubblegum rock song, mutates into something Phil Spector-ish, then features a dramatic spoken-word tract by Sian Phillips before a finale right out of Phantom of The Opera.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Wainwright's Baroque Sensibilities Seem to Get the Best of Him This Time, June 12, 2007
As I look at the unexplained lederhosen he wears in the booklet photos, I'm never quite sure how to describe Rufus Wainwright's singularly idiosyncratic musical style, as it seems to change with his shifting moods. After all, this is a performer who has the audacity to replicate Judy Garland's legendary 1961 Carnegie Hall concert note for note in Carnegie Hall. This time around, the singer-songwriter finds a broad canvas to show off his ornate Baroque sensibilities with lush orchestrations and sophisticated melodies, even though he sometimes gets carried away by the fulsome aural quality like in the Teutonic melodrama of "Tulsa", which seems inspired by the excessive theatricality of Kurt Weill. He starts out strong with the sonic opener, "Do I Disappoint You", which shows Wainwright's gift for propulsive melody, and the piano-led ballad, "Going to a Town", a new-fangled protest song with a decided Harry Nilsson-like vibe over a most morose chorus ("I am so tired of America").
Wainwright is most successful when he layers the instruments into virtual mini-symphonies, as he does with the strings on the romantic "Nobody's Off the Hook" and the full horn section on the swinging 1960's-styled "Rules and Regulations". At other times, however, Wainwright seems stuck in a melancholic quagmire, for example, the spacey, faraway feeling of "Not Ready to Love" and the equally lugubrious "Slideshow", an ode to paranoia that builds into a series of Beatlesque crescendos. The relaxing arrangement of "Sanssouci" travels along on an infectious beat and Brad Albetta's dexterous flute, while the minimalist "Leaving for Paris No. 2" evokes a Gallic-style sense of melody.
My favorite tracks are "Between My Legs", which actually catches fire with its percussive beat; the loping "Tiergarten" accompanied by the legendary Richard Thompson on the guitar; and the title tune, a sweeping epic which closes the album by melding various music genres into a fitting crescendo. Yet, for all his admirable efforts here, Wainwright fails to bring a unifying vision to his recording whether through theme or style, and the disc ultimately feels like an alternately impressive and befuddled hodgepodge of over-the-top highs and stultifying lows. This self-produced effort showcases an often brilliant musician who sometimes caters too much to his own indulgences.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rufus continues to Wow me, August 27, 2007
As a fan of Rufus Wainwright since the release of Poses, Rufus pleasantly continues to impress and entertain me over and over again with each new release.
No one in pop music today writes, arranges and sings music as Rufus does. His lyrics are witty and moving. How many times do you hear a song which makes you smile every time you hear it? How many times do you hear a song where you keep discovering hidden layers of thought and musical composition? His music is melodic, lush, and often operatic.
The complex structure of his musical composition draws one into his music on both an emotional and intellectual level. Sure, at times he can go over the top with a little bit of overproduction and self-indulgence, but it is over production and self-indulgence with a little wink of self-acknowledgement to the listener. Unlike so much of the interchangeable pablum of popular music we get today, this is one artist's uniquely personal artistic statement set to music.
I am surprised by the reviews which criticize this cd as more over the top than previous cd's by Rufus. To me, this album is more accessible and more toned down than that of Want Two (although I greatly enjoy Want Two.)
This cd is as good as any Rufus has released (With Poses perhaps being my favorite.) If you are a Rufus fan, buy this right away. If you are new to Rufus, my advice would be to start by purchasing Poses.
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