Rufus Wainwright

About this product

Working with producer Marius deVries, Want One takes Rufus Wainwright's love of classical music and Broadway show tunes and goes for broke.

The rollercoaster ride of emotion that is a Rufus album is this time set to a remarkable range of tunes including Bolero-quoting single, 'Oh What A World'.

This CD features the previously unreleased bonus tracks, 'Es Mus Sein' and 'Velvet Curtain Rag'.

Lyrically Want One goes furthest to prove Rufus is a master of the confessional. Two songs address his crystal meth addiction and rehab: 'I Don't Know What It Is' as jaunty orchestral pop and, more directly, 'Go Or Go Ahead' as guitar-driven rock.

Most shockingly, the caustic, visceral 'Dinner At Eight' confronts his absentee father head on, "I'm going to break you down and see what you're really worth to me" and yet it's not too much. This is unsentimental, lyrical, brutal tough love.

Rufus is not one to pull the 'woe is me' card for effect, he writes from the heart and gut and lives with the consequences.

The operatic unconstrained melodrama of 'Beautiful Child' ("I wanted it to be uplifting. It's a happy apocalypse! It's about redemption!") and the heartfelt filigree gems 'Vibrate' and 'Want' round out an album like no other.

Sonically adventurous, "this is probably the first time where I really came up with trying to imitate those Brian Wilson-esque harmonies" and lyrically, stridently unique, Want One is testament to an ambitious songwriter determined to outdo himself and succeeding.