Want One (CD - 2003)

Personnel: Rufus Wainwright (acoustic guitar, recorder, piano, Fender Rhodes piano, keyboards); Charlie Sexton (electric guitar); Simon Clarke (flute, piccolo, alto flute, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone); Kate McGarrigle (accordion); Tim Sanders (tenor saxophone); Roddy Lorimer (trumpet); Annie Whitehead (trombone); Nick Hitehens (tuba); The Kick Horns (brass); Marius De Vries (piano, vibraphone, programming); Jimmy Zhivago (piano); Jeff Hill, Bernard O'Neill (bass); Sterling Campbell, Matt Johnson, Levon Helm (drums); Alexis Smith (programming); Martha Wainwright, Jenni Muldaur, Linda Thompson (background vocals).

Recorded at The Maid's Room, Bearsville, Loho and Looking Glass, New York, New York; The Strongroom Studios, London, England.

U.K. edition features two extra cuts, "Es Mus Sein" and "Velvet Curtain Rag."

CD contains 2 bonus tracks.

Rufus Wainwright croons and cries through another set of obscenely lush and opulent pop operettas on his third album Want One. As is to be expected, the songs are meticulously layered and richly textured, with full orchestral passages and many-throated harmonies. Producer Marius deVries (Björk, Massive Attack, Madonna) didn't mess with the already successful Wainwright sound, allowing for the young singer/ songwriter/multi-instrumentalist to explore his familiar themes of love, loss, and "singin' about places" with the anticipated fanfare and flourish. The album's strongest segment comes in the middle, beginning with the intimate-to-epic "Go or Go Ahead," barreling through the wildly spinning rock opera "14th Street," and landing softly on the gently chiming "Natasha." Oddly, unlike his previous two releases, Wainwright's musings seem less focused and a little meandering on a handful of the songs. The lazy, loping "Want" is much more stream-of-consciousness than anything else he's recorded, and the slightly goofy "Vibrate" (with its references to Britney Spears and electroclash) may sound dated before the album is played a second time. The sessions that produced Want One were apparently so prolific that another volume (Want Two?) is in the works, but it could turn out to be that distilling both albums down to one would have made for a more complete overall work. Who knows, this new looseness to his rigid pop constructivism may end up being a good thing, and, frankly, Wainwright could be singing lists of names out of the phone book and it would still be more exciting and inventive than 99 percent of the other albums out there. ~ Zac Johnson

After his sophomore album, POSES, sailed critically but failed commercially, Rufus Wainwright fell into a pattern of hard drug abuse. Luckily, the support of friends and family landed him in rehab. Emerging newly sober and clearheaded, Rufus threw himself into his work. The result is WANT ONE, an unabashedly honest, musically sprawling record that finds the vocalist reaching a new level of maturity.

It becomes quite clear during the borderline satirical album opener "Oh, What a World" (which goes so far as to reference Ravel's "Bolero") that Wainwright has met his musical match in producer Marius de Vries (U2, Bjork). Rather than reigning in the singer/multi-instrumentalist's vision, de Vries understands that the sincerity and conviction in his voice keeps even the most over-the-top of tracks grounded. Standout moments include the epic "Go or Go Ahead," "14th Street," and the stunningly candid "Dinner at Eight." WANT ONE is the work of an artist who is, above all, determined to live life to the fullest. minimize