- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Los Angeles TimesDemanding and artful, he just may be this generation's Joni Mitchell. [5 Dec 2004]
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His voice is beautiful, his phrasing adventurous and his arrangements intense.... But the material could stand a bit of pruning
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Entertainment WeeklyIt didn't seem possible, but Wainwright gets more florid and over-the-top with each new album. [19 Nov 2004, p.82]
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Watching such an undeniably talented artist blindly follow such an errant muse can be endlessly compelling, and the failure of these two albums to capture his visions and ambitions with any adequacy possesses the pull of true tragedy.
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Wainwright's fanciful songs about love and faith place him in the rarefied company of Bjork and Brian Wilson, whose audacious Medulla and SMiLE his album most resembles.
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It's more focused than Want One and as such packs more of wallop both musically and emotionally.
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Two is his most highbrow effort yet.
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A quieter, more intimate, and more demanding set than its predecessor, Want Two offers few of Want One's sweeping pleasures, but it cultivates a creeping beauty that's as satisfying in its own right.
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Want Two disposes of almost all of the commercial elements that had been blamed for One's downfall without revealing a satisfying work in the process.
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SpinSounds like the morning after, confused and calm all at once. [Jan 2005, p.100]
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BlenderThe mood is so uniformly droopy it seems to be affecting Wainwright's drowsier-than-ever vocals. [Jan/Feb 2005, p.113]
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Want Two is a serviceable collection of songs that glimmer with Wainwright's former élan, but still wants for that old intimacy.
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Another broadsheet rock critic waxing rhapsodic may be the last thing Wainwright needs, but here goes: Want Two is a stunning album.
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The songs that are good are amazing, but the songs that aren’t quite as good could end up being skipped over, which is a shame, seeing as how there isn’t a bad song, per se, on the album.
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What niggles is that many of the songs aren’t whole enough or, if we’re honest (and it’s hard because he’s just so darn loveable and charming), good enough for an album. Even superior compositions like “Art Teacher” suffer under this record’s careless construction.
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Where Want One emphasized his ability to soar, Want Two drowns him in costumes; his range actually sounds restricted when you hear the same droopy-lidded croon against such varying backdrops.
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Q MagazineWant Two isn't an immediate album, but what it lacks in pop hooks in makes up for in ambition. [Mar 2005, p.92]
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Certainly Want Two is the weaker and less tuneful of the siblings, strings, horns, pipes and choirs distracting attention from the occasionally dirgey and indulgent (but still grandiose) melodies.
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UncutMore, and even better, of the same--one of the dead-cert Albums Of The Year. [Album of the Month, Apr 2005, p.96]
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This is too classical, too romantic, and too I-yam-what-I-yam all at once.
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A bold, brave, and beautiful record.
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'Want Two' is simply in a league of its own.
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MojoA little too much. [Apr 2005, p.90]
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New Musical Express (NME)Showcas[es] Rufus as one of, if not the best songwriters of his generation. [19 Mar 2005, p.59]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 26 out of 30
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Mixed: 1 out of 30
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Negative: 3 out of 30
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RobbieCNov 10, 2007
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PhilippeDJul 24, 2007
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AliceAliceMar 3, 2007It's like a magical musical mystery journey...I love it.