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Apr 19, 2012It's full of breathtakingly beautiful harmonies and spiralling narrative lyrics that balance complex emotional subject matter with pitch-perfect delivery and hummable melodies
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Apr 26, 2012If Out of the Game sounds old-fashioned, Wainwright's words feel like postcards from now.
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May 1, 2012On Out of the Game, Wainwright does not disappoint: whirling string sections and a chorus of women exhale grief behind the brash songwriter who knows no shade of blue that eludes him.
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May 1, 2012This ability to maneuver through complex emotions is one of Wainwright's strengths and makes "Out of the Game" an essential recording.
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Apr 24, 2012Out of the Game is melodically smart and consistently rewarding.
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May 1, 2012Out Of The Game is one of the latter, joining Poses and Release The Stars as the Wainwright album most likely to disarm listeners less inclined to appreciate his occasional forays into the operatic, theatrical, or maudlin.
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May 15, 2012Not every moment is seamless, but the results are fascinating and, more importantly, enthralling from beginning to end.
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May 3, 2012This album is one of his most classicist, not classical, pop records and in that sense, Out of the Game is definitely a winner.
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May 2, 2012He's got it all here: fun pop trifles, moody love songs, masterful opuses of mourning and love.
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May 1, 2012Masterful... this new album marks a return to the pop chops and killer hooks that initially made Wainwright so celebrated.
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Apr 30, 2012It's his best since 2003's ornate Want One.
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Q MagazineApr 25, 2012At 38, Rufus's star moment appears to have finally arrived. [May 2012, p.108]
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Apr 24, 2012A surprisingly effective 21st century take on the Seventies singer-songwriter album, with tight band performances from the likes of the Dap-Kings and sympathetic production from the king of the trumpets.
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Apr 23, 2012This is jouncey, mostly R&B-derived pop with a keen ear for what supports a melody. It's good.
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UncutApr 20, 2012Rufus reins in his extravagant tendencies for a subtly shaded, seductive album that radiates warmth and contentment. [May 2012, p.84]
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MojoApr 20, 2012Ronson and Wainwright have dressed these songs to kill, not just to impress. [May 2012, p.84]
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Apr 20, 2012It seems churlish to complain about songwriting and production as madly ambitious as this – filled with nuance and detail, sweeping and dizzy in its self-absorption, it builds at moments to an operatic grandeur.
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Apr 19, 2012The tracks where he and Ronson contribute equally can be stunning. Rashida, for one, is a gem, in which Ronson's Dap-Kings horn section finds perfect, sleazy symmetry with Wainwright's louche vocal.
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Apr 18, 2012Wainwright and Ronson come together with a well-mannered tightness and proficiency that, at best, astounds.
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May 1, 2012Thanks in part to retro-modern producer Mark Ronson, it never feels too arch.
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Apr 19, 2012Out of the Game is very much a master class in restraint. Rather than straining for the big choruses, here Wainwright intones over smooth backings, horns and the gospel harmonies of Brooklyn soul-stirrers The Dap-Kings.
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Apr 18, 2012When Wainwright falters, it's for familiar reasons, usually some combination of overindulging and oversharing.
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Oct 9, 2012Mark Ronson's production keeps the theatricality tight, surfacing in the skittered beats of "Perfect Man," but Out of the Game presents Wainwright shedding some of the foolishness of youth, even if somewhat reluctantly.
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MagnetMay 30, 2012Wainwright shows that his pop legs, while shaky, haven't lost their footing. [No.87 p.60]
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Under The RadarJul 9, 2012Out Of The Game is a pretty mellow affair, and although it's hard not to miss Wainwright's "ponderous, pseudo-genius" extravagance, one can't help but be charmed by how lucid and relaxed he sounds. [Jun 2012, p.156]
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Apr 23, 2012The results are undeniably classy.
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Apr 20, 2012It's audaciously hit and miss, inevitably, but 'Out Of The Game' is anything but shy and retiring.
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Apr 19, 2012Rufus Wainwright believes this to be "the most pop album" he's ever made, and he's probably right, so long as you're thinking 1970s pop.
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Apr 19, 2012A record that leaves no seam un-burst in its insatiable quest for mainstream adoration and success.
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Jul 31, 2012What really makes this album the disappointment that it is is not the songs that wallow in the background. It's relistening to his earlier work that puts it into perspective.
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Apr 30, 2012His most ridiculous and worst album to date.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 10 out of 11
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Mixed: 0 out of 11
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Negative: 1 out of 11
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Jun 16, 2012
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May 12, 2012
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May 2, 2012