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| Rufus Wainwright "Want One" Reviews and Insights by Penny Ella Vodka of Amazon.com |
| Very rarely do you hear music that has this depth and arrangement. "Want One" is reminiscent of Queen's "A Night at the Opera". Lush vocal tracks and so many of them that there's a new level of discovery with every listen. "I Don't Know What it Is" is pure brilliance. A song about soul-searching and hope this masterpeice is thickly layered with 4 or five guitar parts that change during verse and chorus and continue to build, harmonies in fifths and vocal pads that rival any Broadway arrangement. String pads creep in in the b-section, "so I knock on the door and I am on the train, going God knows where to"... a virtual train ride that takes you to a different emotion with every section..the middle break is truly like the sun breaking through the clouds as it build to a gorgeous crescendo..."I was hoping the train was my big number" ....re-sampled vocal parts that are layered so deeply and placed in the oddest places..."...dunaway by the crossing" metered so strangely, they almost sound like another instrument. Finally Rufus begs "...you gotta do it, you gotta be there...." with a warm delay on his voice that is just dreamlike. "Go or Go ahead" is got to be one of the best songs I've heard in 20 years, by anyone. Period. A sublte and steady build starts with acoustic and voice with the occasional harmonic on the guitar... a backward guitar creeps in, heavenly vocal inflections on single words...then a weird "doo doo vocal part" sounds like angels on LSD, but if they werent enough, there's even another vocal part under that. Chunky guitar starts to creep in, then finally the crash begins...steel-eyed vampires of love....Rufus sings his bloody heart out in this song...the line "surprise me"...is done with about 38 vocal tracks...The middle 8 on this one is mind-blowing. It's almost too much to grasp the first ten times...when you finally understand what he's doing, you just can't believe the work this man and Marius Devries put into this album. "Natasha"...makes me weep every time I hear it. I'm not afraid to admit that. It just kills. "Beautiful Child", sounds like it should be named just that... sometimes titles and lyrics don't match, this song makes me feel young & cleansed like I'm viviting a carnival. Again, Rufus mesmerizes with vocal arrangements. Vocals that emulate a rollercoaster with their sweeping motion followed by horns that sound like your at the circus...you can smell youth, cotton candy, but all in a bizarre way. The carefully crafted lyrics are just intense at times. I've found myself sitting with headphones on and weeping with emotion. "Dinner at Eight", the final track, is a story of Rufus' lifelong struggle with his father. His leaving Rufus for the road when he was younger, leaving him in the ..."drifting white snow". This is a bittersweet tale of a boy's love for his father, no matter how much he was hurt by him. The haunting string section makes you feel the blustery and stirring snow being swept up around you...Rufus' heartfelt delivery tugs at every heartstring, and just when he seems to have some resolve, that his father loves him in his older self, he revisits the first stanza and re-affirms that they may always have some differences. I can't say enough about this album. You'd be out of your mind not buy this. Buy seven copies and give them to friends you really care about, and who know their s---t about music. They will thank you like all of my friends did. And make sure you do not copy this album for anyone. Please buy them and support this great artist. home |