2007 is the year of the crappy album title. From Arcade Fire's Neon Bible to The Shins' Wincing the Night Away artists have had a lot of trouble coming up with a decent album title this year. Rufus Wainwright's 5th studio album is no exception. Release the Stars is a horrible name. It conjures up an image of Rufus shooting stars out of his genitals (which would have been a pretty cool album cover, though). Why? I don't know.
The album itself rises above the terrible name. Rufus is a master of blending a a lush operatic style with pure pop sensibilities. It is not quite as lush as the disappointing Want Two but not as pop as Poses or his self titled effort. The album produced Neil Tennant (of the Pet Shop Boys) and Marius De Vires, at times suffers from the layer upon layer effect, muddling the song into a mass of orchestral movements and lazy enunciation. And really parts of some songs are wholly unnecessary. (ie the part from Andrew Lloyd Weber's Phantom of the Opera.)
The biggest complaint of the album as a whole is Rufus' enunciation. I think lyrically Rufus is one of the best song writers out there, his songs have a sly wit which make you think, laugh and cry. Most notably on this album is, Between my Legs, which suffers from over production, is lyrically a master peice. If I casually listen to the album I am hard pressed to understand what the hell he is saying half the time. This album demands several listens. Each time you will pick up nuances each time.
It is nice to see Rufus return to the more pop of his earlier work. I think many Rufus fans were afraid that he might turn his back on pop entirely and try to make it big in the Met's revival of La Boheme. All in all a nice solid effort by "The Tit Man".
This post updated while listening to Icky Thump by the White Stripes and Release the Stars by Rufus Wainwright.
1 comment:
Where did you get Icky Thump?
Post a Comment