Description
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.
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.
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Product Details
- Artist
- Rufus Wainwright
- Recording Environment
- Studio
- Label / Studio
- PID
- CD WOW! Sales Rank
- #4893
- Media Content Format
- Album
- Original year of release
- 2003
- Media Format
- Audio CD
- Year of release
- 2004
- Number of Discs
- 1
- CD 30days Sales Rank
- #3750
- Cast & Crew
- Rufus Wainwright (Music Performer)
Press Reviews
[A] sweeping, dramatic, big, broad and brash record - it's grand in its aspirations, and it delivers quite beautifully... Dirty Linen (p.51)
...A gorgeous meditation on emotional displacement, on finding yourself adrift when you want to love and be loved....If Sondheim had been reared on old Van Dyke Parks records, he might sound like this..." - Rating: A- Entertainment Weekly (9/26/03, p.94)
Ranked #21 in Mojo's "The Best of 2003 Mojo (01/01/04, p.58)
4 stars out of 5 - "...Regret-filled ruminations like '14th St.' and 'Vicious World' perfectly evoke his old man's early Atlantic work... Mojo (10/03, p.120)
Lush, orchestral pop magic. NME
4 stars out of 5 - "...This is an exuberant return to gorgeous melodies, dynamic arrangements and a sharper focus on life and love. The musical scope is breathtaking... Q (12/03, p.139)
4 stars out of 5 - "This is a record of breathtaking, eccentric opulence....WANT ONE is a valentine to monogamy - craving it, not getting it, not quite giving up... Rolling Stone (10/16/03, p.88)
Included in Rolling Stone's "50 Best Albums of 2003 Rolling Stone (12/25/03, p.111)
Ranked #37 in Uncut's "Albums Of The Year 2003 Uncut (01/04, pp.84-7)
4 stars out of 5 - "...WANT ONE takes his lush, orchestrated pop to staggering new heights... Uncut (11/03, p.124)
Tracklisting
Disc 1:
-
Oh What a World
-
I Don't Know What It Is
-
Vicious World
-
Movies of Myself
-
Pretty Things
-
Go or Go Ahead
-
Vibrate
-
14th Street
-
Natasha
-
Harvester of Hearts
-
Beautiful Child
-
Want
-
11:11
-
Dinner at Eight
-
En Mus Sein (Bonus Track)
-
Velvet Curtain Rag (Bonus Track)
