Want One
- Rufus Wainwright
- Band Name: Rufus Wainwright
- Record Label: DreamWorks
- Release Date: Sep 23, 2003
- Critic Score
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If Sondheim had been reared on old Van Dyke Parks records, he might sound like this. [26 Sep 2003, p.94]
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90Takes his lush, orchestrated pop to staggering new heights. [Nov 2003, p.124]
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90The musical scope is breathtaking. [Dec 2003, p.139]
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This is a record of breathtaking, eccentric opulence.
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83More scattered than his past works, Wainwright's skills bubble to the surface here only after repeated listens.
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80Whether you listen closely, for the sonic textures, or in a cursory fashion, scouting out the allusions galore, with each listen you'll likely appreciate something different.
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80Despite such flamboyant touches, the songs here are more caustic than camp. [Oct 2003, p.120]
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80It's a staggeringly ambitious album with an emotional complexity the like of which is rarely seen in pop music of any era, never mind this one.
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Want One blows his music up to Cinemascope size.
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Painful as the backstory gets, the work itself remains lovely and luxuriant.
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70Rufus is self-effacing and clever enough to keep the music from becoming totally insipid.
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Wainwright’s powers of observation recall both Morrissey and Cole Porter.
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69A top-heavy album, with his best material-- the more operatic and unconstrained works-- all unfolded within the album's first half hour.
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Want One matches the eclecticism of Poses and his eponymous debut, but suffers from a lack of memorable songs.
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Unlike his previous two releases, Wainwright's musings seem less focused and a little meandering on a handful of the songs.
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42The arrangements are so ponderous, the vowel-masticating vocal languor so excessive, you almost wish he'd go whole hog and cover "Ave Maria." [Nov 2003, p.117]
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40He lays it on so thick, the music all but drowns in pretty surfaces. [Oct 2003, p.129]
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It would seem Wainwright has traded his operatic sensibilities for Broadway flair, which is as tired as swapping stilettos for orthopedic loafers.
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All but a couple of tracks here are dipped in the melodramatically thick strings of the opener- and the sum result is that it’s almost too much to take the whole LP in one sitting.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 26 out of 29
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Mixed: 2 out of 29
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Negative: 1 out of 29
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DaveV9If it were not for a couple of clunker tracks, the album as a whole would have been a perfect work of art.
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GeorgeC.5
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RobbieC10Grandiose, tragic, dramatic, beautiful, and HONEST. A wonderful achievement.