Product Description

The fifth full length album from the prolific Canadian-American singer-songwriter is the follow up to 2004's criticallyacclaimed 'Want Two'. Executively produced by Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant, 'Release The Stars' sees Wainwright strivingto mature as a composer and performer, yet the album still retains his trademark musical mixture of unsurpassed grandeur and haunting simplicity. Features guest appearances from Richard Thompson, Joan As Policewoman and Sian Phillips.

Track Listing

1. Do I Disappoint You
2. Going To A Town
3. Tiergarten
4. Nobody's Off The Hook
5. Between My Legs
6. Rules and Regulations
7. Not Ready To Love
8. Slideshow
9. Tulsa
10. Leaving For Paris No. 2
11. Sanssouci
12. Release The Stars/Non-Musical Silence
13. Do I Disappoint You

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1274 in Music
• Released on: 2007-05-14
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 60 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Recorded in Berlin and executive produced by the Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant, Rufus Wainwright's fifth album offers an ounce of restraint from the man that dressed up as Sir Lancelot's crossed girlfriend Lady Shallott on the cover of his last. Well, not really. Having fallen in love and curbed his self-destructive streak, the New York-born singer-songwriter has certainly sharpened his wit on Release the Stars but the songs remain as ornate and over-the-top as ever, drawing as much inspiration from opera and the musical theater as the desire to purge personal demons. So while Wainwright spends considerable time here pondering the state of the world ("Going to a Town") and his own battles with drug and sexual addiction ("Sanssouci"), every note is punctuated by a choir, orchestral swell, or big burst of brass. It wouldn't be Rufus with anything less. --Aidin Vaziri

Customer Reviews

21st Century Renaissance Man
Restraint is a quality not easily ascribable to Mr.Wainwright.

"More is More" rather than "Less" shall be his epitaph.

With an ego the size of Manhattan this precocious infidel long
ago convinced me that there are fewer greater songwriter/performers
on the planet than he.

His album 'Release The Stars' has not confounded this belief.

There are some truly astonishingly good songs here.

His capacity for gravitas has deepened with time, experience and
(one suspects) fewer mind eroding substances.

Highpoints would certainly have to include 'Going To A Town', a
sharply focussed critique of American political shame; the gorgeously
limpid 'Nobody's Off The Hook', written for his friend Teddy Thompson,
with it's technically accomplished string arrangement; the languidly
(nobody does languid better than this boy !) beautiful 'Not Ready To Love';
the roller-coaster excesses of 'Slideshow' and 'Release The Stars';
the exquisite, shifting, foggy, soundscape of 'Leaving For Paris No.2',
for me one of his very finest compositions.

Melodically and chromatically complex. This fine collection of songs
is carried impeccably and never less than convincingly by the very
fine instrument which is Mr Wainwright's voice.

The bubble shows no sign of bursting just yet.

Where to from here ? Ever onward and upward I guess.

I'm perfectly happy to follow to see where next he lands.

Does anyone know when Rufus will be touring the UK again?
I first time heard Rufus Wainwright was at the end of Brokeback Mountain, where they play "The Maker Makes". The beauty of the song and how appropriate it was to the film just blew me away, so I went online, found Rufus and fell in love. Why had I not heard of him before? For me it was like discovering someone who has that rare talent of taking you out of yourself and throwing you right bang smack in the middle of the fleeting, spiritual, mystical world that I personally like to (try to) retreat into, be it through film, literature, music or dancing. I love the way his music is so layered and sometimes takes completely unexpected twists and turns. It is also sometimes almost unbearably and painfully beautiful that you can find yourself in tears but feeling totally at peace with the world. My personal favourite on this CD is Sanssouci - if you are an addict or in recovery, you will understand. RUFUS, I LOVE YOU!!!!!

Five out of Five
Can't believe some of the reviews here. I've been a fan of Rufus since Poses and this CD is every bit as good as his previous 4. From the traumatic Do I Disappoint You through Going to a Town, Between My Legs and the title track to the less immediate but ultimately brilliant Nobody's off the Hook and Leaving for Paris No2 Rufus's songwriting gift is almost overwhelming. The rest of the tracks aren't exactly fillers either.
This is the second time this year I've felt obliged to stick up for poorly reviwed albums that I've felt are really good. The other was Norah Jones - Not Too Late.