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In interviews, singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright has been exceptionally honest about his problems with addiction and family strife, particularly his volatile relationship with his singer-songwriter father, Loudon Wainwright III. The younger Wainwright's songs are unusually honest, too, though it's not just in the lyrics that he lays bare his soul. He adheres to the centuries-old notion that the music must add meaning to a song's words -- which isn't so surprising coming from someone who claims Schubert and Verdi as his musical idols. Aided by veteran producer Marius deVries, Want One takes the opulent arrangements of Wainwright's first two albums (Rufus Wainwright and Poses) a step further, underscoring the emotional richness and inherent theatricality of these confessional songs. The results are often surprising. Originally conceived as "an angry rock thing," "Vicious World" becomes a deliriously hazy dream (or nightmare?) with gently throbbing keyboard harmonies. "14th Street" is built around the down-to-earth, country-esque refrain, "Why'd you have to break all my heart? / Couldn't you have saved a little bit of it?," yet the music is an unexpectedly elaborate honky-tonk symphony. Not all the songs are so lavishly realized, though. "So Pretty" is an intimate number with piano accompaniment, and "Harvester of Hearts" evokes the low-lit atmosphere of a smoky jazz club. Wainwright's struggles with big issues have always been plain in his music, and though he looks to be on the path to recovery, it's the listener who reaps the biggest bounty: Rufus's poignant, often powerful songs offer themes and melodies that burrow deep into one's consciousness.
Condition:NEW.
TRACK LISTINGS
1 Oh What a World 4:23
2 I Don't Know What It Is 4:51
3 Vicious World 2:50
4 Movies of Myself 4:31
5 Pretty Things 2:40
6 Go or Go Ahead 6:39
7 Vibrate 2:44
8 14th Street 4:44
9 Natasha 3:29
10 Harvester of Hearts 3:35
11 Beautiful Child 4:16
12 Want 5:11
13 11:11 4:27
14 Dinner at Eight 4:33
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