Search - Rufus Wainwright :: Want 1 & 2

The Greatest Double Album Of The Last Decade

Dan Mohr | Lynnwood, WA, USA | 02/10/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Although still not a household name (with exception to the gay community), an extremely strong argument could be made for Rufus Wainwright being the finest songwriter of his generation. Now that his previous two albums, `Want One' and `Want Two' have finally been brought together in a single package - titled, appropriately enough, `Want' - it only goes to show the (quite literal) embarrassment of riches that Wainwright is capable of creating, in what is probably the finest double album since Prince's masterpiece `Sign Of The Times.' I truly believe that this 2-CD set will come to be viewed as one of the great (unsung?) classic double albums in pop-rock music history, right up there with `Exile on Main Street,' `The Beatles (aka The White Album),' 'Songs In The Key Of Life' and `Physical Graffiti.' (Previous-decade double albums by the Smashing Pumpkins and Bruce Springsteen don't hold a candle compared to the magic and majesty of Wainwright. If the comparison to the Beatles seems bold and/or brash, consider that while John Lennon is and will always & only be Lennon, whose songwriting gift might have only been matched by Kurt Cobain, it seem a very viable argument to me that Rufus Wainwright is every bit as good a songwriter as Paul McCartney ever was - whose musical repertoire also delves into Tin Pan Alley and romantic balladry. Case in point: Wainwright's `Greek Song' is as purely beautiful a ballad as McCartney ever wrote in his lifetime.)



The range and breadth that Wainwright displays over the 2 discs of `Want' is astonishing in its unwavering (almost frightening) ambition. A classically-trained vocalist/pianist at heart, Wainwright is proud of claiming his main `genre' as modern pop-rock, but over the course of this album he proves himself to be equally (if not more) at home in old-world chants, operatic hymns, seemingly Middle-Eastern-influenced takes on classical arias (`Agnus Dei'), folk-tinged ballads, and of course the patented "rock opera" form `ala' Queen or Elton John; just when you think you might have him pegged, he tosses in a brilliantly inspired Philip Glass pastiche (`The Art Teacher') that has you grinning from ear to ear at his stupefying level of sheer musical virtuosity. The immediate visceral effect of all this intense musical sensuality is a lot like spending an afternoon in the most ornate and resplendent vintage-art-and-furniture store you've ever been in, with hot tea, lit incense, bottles of absinthe and glorious candleabra beckoning from every peacock-feather-tiered display cabinet; yet at the center of all this resplendent beauty resides a well of emotional melancholy and longing, which might be the fundamental complexity that explains the essential Wainwright mystique.



Wainwright can trot out killer pop singles seemingly effortlessly (`I Don't Know What It Is,' `14th Street,' `The One You Love,' `Crumb By Crumb'), but it's his balladry that houses the deepest reserves of emotion and musical vision. Wainwright is a master of storytelling in songwriting, and the stories he has to share throughout `Want' seem like the musical equivalent of a brilliant young writer's compendium of short stories. At first, `Vibrate' seems like a witty and intentionally shallow toss-off, a quick postscript to a one-night stand, but the more you listen to it, do you marvel at the universal theme of desire for contact and communication that Wainwright is capturing in the (only superficially superficial) specifics. `Go Or Go Ahead' chronicles the recovery and (autobiographical) perspective of a methamphetamine addict's descent into & return from hell. In its conveying the unrequited love of a female art student for her professor, as well as her subsequent and predictably - and maddeningly - compromised marriage to "an executive company head," `The Art Teacher' has the brilliant tragic-perfectionist dimensions of a short story by the late American storyteller Richard Yates. Perhaps most impressive of all is Wainwright's tribute to the late singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley, `Memphis Skyline': over mournful and impassioned piano and strings, Wainwright rages at himself for having disparaged Buckley out of professional jealousy while he was still alive - "always hated him for the way he looked in the gaslight of the morning!", and then the music turns to grief and, ultimately, reconciliation with life as Wainwright exhorts in his incomparably beautiful and rightfully famous voice, "turn back and you will stay/under the Memphis Skyline..."



The two songs added onto this collection, a cover of Leonard Cohen's `Chelsea Hotel No. 2' and new original `In With The Ladies,' are enjoyable enough, but it's a pity Wainwright's absolutely stunning epic romantic-existential ballad `The Maker Makes' (now to be found on the `Brokeback Mountain' soundtrack) wasn't added onto this set, much less his glorious covering of Harold Arlen's `Paper Moon.' Oh well - even the Beatles' "White Album" didn't have their very best version of `Revolution No. 1." Yes, even career-high masterpieces can be flawed.



(BTW, if you in fact seek out a copy of this album, I highly recommend checking it out on amazon.com.uk, thereby saving yourself an additional $25 in the process.)"

Amazon.co.uk

josh12345 | 01/02/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I SUGGEST BUYING THIS FROM www.amazon.co.uk...SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY $53.49!!!



It doesn't cost as much. It will cost approx. $18.47 with shipping."

TY for the suggestion to buy from amazon.uk!!!

housewench | Oregon | 02/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love this 2 cd set, and appreciate it even more since I followed the suggestion in another review to purchase the set from the amazon.uk website. I bought the same cd set for a fraction of the US price. It took about a week to arrive in Oregon from the UK, and is the exact same music that the US site is selling for $53+. My final purchase price was $18.10 (US dollars)which included the shipping.



I adore Rufus Wainwright's music, and eagerly await his next album. In the meantime, it's interesting to keep up with what is going on with him on his website- www.rufuswainwright.com, where you can also hear his thoughts on the two Want albums, along with some interesting tidbits, stories, and insights on his brilliant songs.



Thank you Rufus! You are nothing less than spectacular!"