All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Observer Music Monthly

Complex, melodramatic, ambitious, vain, beautiful and frequently magnificent - Release the Stars may not yield many chart hits, but it feels like an album that will endure.

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100

musicOMH.com

It is different in many ways, but never neglects the melodic, vocal and lyrical genius that has established, and will continue to establish, his status as one of the all time greats.

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Filter

A record that leaves the listener teary-eyed, standing and utterly, breathlessly inspired. [#25, p.92]

Hot Press

It’s as warm and forgiving and generously tender a collection of songs as you’ll hear all year.

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Uncut

Possibly [his] best album. [Jun 2007, p.84]

Mojo

Like [Brian Wilson's] Smile, it extends the language of pop, setting a fearsome standard for anyone equal to the challenge of matching his limitless invention. [Jun 2007, p.98]

Dot Music

This is so rich, so intelligent, so feeling, that most of us will throw our hands limply in the air and join voices with mum Kate McGarrigle who, according to the dedication on the back, "still whispers in my ear that I'm great".

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Lost At Sea

Release The Stars swoons and sweeps until the final curtain and Rufus Wainwright has delivered music perfectly suited for the elaborate set of the world around us.

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Entertainment Weekly

His melodies — and what melodies they are — are drowned out by the bombast. But he still yearns more beautifully than anyone.

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The Guardian

A wonderful album, packed with stunning melodies and brilliant lyrics.

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BBC collective

He’s an acquired taste, perhaps, but a distinctive and extraordinarily talented songwriter.

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Sputnikmusic

Release The Stars, if not a step forward, is at worst a side-step en route on to a knockout album.

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The Phoenix

His music always offers an emotional complexity to mirror its melodic sophistication.

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The Onion (A.V. Club)

It's another strong effort, but someone might have checked the orchestral excesses, which sometimes get in the way of the songs.

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Stylus Magazine

The results are often wonderful.

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PopMatters

Release the Stars is a coherent, sophisticated exposition of the usual Wainwright themes, but it won’t be the shooting-into-mainstream pop-rock opus Wainwright was potentially hoping for.

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Spin

The songs are actually strong enough to hold the weight of the over-the-top arrangements. [Jun 2007, p.96]

Blender

The songs are more blustery than ever. [Jun 2007, p.108]

Hartford Courant

It's a glorious tangle of excess.

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Slant Magazine

It feels more like a collection of tracks than a cohesive work.

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The New York Times

Remarkably, Mr. Wainwright infuses “Release the Stars” with enough honest emotion to overcome the grandiosity, or at least undercut it a bit.

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Billboard

Though the final third of the album drags a touch as Wainwright lets up on the heart-pounding melodrama, the highs here are exceptional. [19 May 2007]

Pitchfork

Such frequent attempts to elevate the banal into the meaningful ultimately keep Release the Stars from achieving any significant momentum and only add weight to the notion that Wainwright's shaky aim-- rather than his lack of talent-- might be his biggest downfall.

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Prefix Magazine

The real problem with Stars is that the most poignant, affecting songs sound like natural, and somewhat neutral, follow-ups to his other songs.

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Rolling Stone

Only a slight improvement [over Want Two]. [14 Jun 2007, p.102]

All Music Guide

While these songs are lushly produced, often with full orchestration, and while Wainwright has a knack for pretty, lilting melodies and concrete imagery there is nonetheless a distinct lack of pop hooks here.

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Playlouder

As a whole, the album feels less definite, less driven, than the 'Want…' albums, which is both a strength and a weakness.

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New Musical Express

Someone needs to tell Wainwright there's a huge difference between 'epic' and 'over-egged'.

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Under The Radar

Most of Stars ends up feeling like a sleight of hand; pay no attention to the lack of accessibility, but instead be distracted by the unecessarily grandiose 'I'm Not Ready to Love.' [Summer 2007, p.86]

Austin Chronicle

[A] black hole.

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Village Voice

Beneath the haughty schmaltz of his fifth LP—embodying Herb Albert one moment and a particularly peach-scented Little River Band the next—there are only momentary flashes of the high-quality torch songs we fell for so long ago.

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Boston Globe

It's an ornate, dizzying affair, where all his interests and talents collide in one brazen gesture. It's impressive in scope, but where does that leave the listener? Possibly with a headache.

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NOW Magazine

The outlandish baroque-cubed excess here, from the warbling chorales to the bleating woodwinds, weighs down track after track after track after track.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 72 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Adam W gave it a9:
Exce[tional - a real grower of an album - sounded like a bit of an albatross on first play but now I just can't get enough of it. The grandiose "Slideshow" and the exuberant "Do I Disappoint You" are standout tracks, but the tender and vulnerable "Not Ready To Love" is also exceptional. Production-wise, a shower of an album. Musically, a definite grower. Give it a chance.

S Yanoff gave it a6:
It's no Poses (his previous album, which is just excellent). There's a couple of skip-able songs on here, some go on too long, and nothing that grabs you the way Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk or Tower of Learning do. Rufus shines on the politically-charged spots (Going to a Town) and risque (Between My Legs).

matt a. gave it a6:
the results are very mixed. Slightly better than Want Two (which is his worst easily), a little bit below Want One, and not even close to the revelations that his debut and Poses were. Those albums still sound great several years later and they give me hope that maybe Rufus can get his shit together again someday (hopefully soon) and put out a complete album again.

Jim K. gave it a9:
very good album, touching and emotional.

Jason V. gave it a10:
I think music lovers so respect and revel in Rufus' music, that many of them desperately want to see him reach the level of what the media tells us is great. I'm personally glad he's not Rob Thomas, or Fergie. 40 years from, when the pop mainstream as we currently know it is lumped into a genre of the time, Rufus Wainwright will be noted as a genius and standout, who's work will continue to intrigue and inspire musicians and music lovers for generations to come. I don't think we'll be able to say the same for Maroon 5, but man they sure do know how to get on the charts!!!....who cares? Rufus is one of the greatest composers of our generation...try and enjoy it.

Nick E gave it a10:
Basically this is not a pop record; if you want a pop masterpiece out of Rufus check out "Poses". This, in the complexity and direction of the arrangements, is more reminiscent of classical music, where arrangements are an art in and of themselves. That said, the music is really lovely. My advice to anyone who didn't like this on the first pass is to listen to it for a couple of months; once all the random-sounding melodies start to gel in your mind, you might be very impressed.

Robbie C gave it a5:
Pretty much disappointing. There are definitely stand out tracks, Going To A Town is pretty awesome. But the album as a whole lacks cohesion and is much less compelling than Want Two, which was slightly less compelling than Want One. Overall, this is his worst album.

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