New album leaves listeners wanting

Rufus Wainwright -Want Two
Geffen
Nov. 16, 2004

Sequels are often just retreads of tired themes, dressed up with bigger production and empty special effects, designed to recapture the magic of old hits without ever giving them a new dimension. But when listening to Rufus Wainwright's new album Want Two, the follow up to last year's Want One, you'll find he's not just up to his old tricks.

Want Two could just have easily been entitled Want None, the darker opposite to Wainwright's grand, saccharine and somewhat overproduced first entry in the series. Where One paired elaborate orchestra arrangements with Wainwright's vocals ("Oh What A World" is sung to Maurice Ravel's "Bolero") to create vast soundscapes, Two uses arrangements to create somber dirges, much more focused and subtle in intent. The first track "Agnus Dei" is the best example of this: six minutes of wails sung entirely in Latin, surrounded by a whispering string orchestra and some instrument called a cimbalom.

This ultimately allows the focus to center on Wainwright's vocals, the orchestra surrounding him acting as a scalpel, rather than a broadsword. But unfortunately, Wainwright's enthusiasm for utilizing this motifs do not to match the opportunity.

Lyrically, Wainwright has traded in his usual witty, insight for the opportunity to entertain his whinier side. He laments the passing of his youth ("Hometown Waltz"), of a missed chance for love ("The Art Teacher"), the direction of gay culture ("Gay Messiah") and modern day America ("Waiting for a Dream"); all beautifully sung and written, of course, but not very much fun.

The album ultimately sounds like an extended impressionistic dreamscape. It's no accident that Wainwright's album art shows his lyrics set against a Turner landscape, between pictures of him sleeping. But for an artist as talented as Wainwright, great background music is a bit of a disappointment.

All this being said, Wainwright's live performances have always been his best showings. But if you want to gain some exposure to his catalog before this Friday's show, Poses or his self-titled debut would be better choices.