Track Listing

Disc 1:

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
13. Do I Disappoint You

Disc 2:

1. Track By Track Interview
2. Art Teacher
3. Rebel Prince
4. Gay Messiah
5. Vibrate

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61378 in Music
• Released on: 2007-05-14
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: CD+DVD

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

CD 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.

Customer Reviews

The Gay Messiah returns to convert us all once again
Back in April, Rufus was reported in 'Q' as saying that with Release The Stars, the follow-up to 2004's Want Two, he was "going for the sound of cash registers". This uncharacteristically mainstream-minded approach should make even the most casual of Rufus Wainwright fans look longingly towards their shelf at the New York-born singer-songwriter's back catalogue and prepare to never again hear the musical bombast of 'Oh What A World', the lyrical cheek 'Gay Messiah', or anything as beautifully tender as 'Poses'. I will admit to being incredibly nervous myself.

Thankfully, none of us had anything to worry about. I even half-wonder whether he was joking, because at a time when fellow New Yorkers Scissor Sisters and the once interesting Snow Patrol - whose brilliant previous albums were both critical and commercial successes - now appeal to the sort of people who buy their records from Tesco, Rufus is always going to Rufus. Thank the messiah.

Release The Stars sits somewhere between Poses, with its mature songwriting, and the Want albums, with their penchant for the epic and grandiose. The perfect examples being 'Not Ready To Love', a gorgeous, etherial ballad that swoons and shimmers like the best songs off that beautiful second album, before falling seamlessly into the next track 'Slideshow', with a brass section the size of Jupiter invading the chorus. Rufus hasn't lost his sense of humour either and 'Tulsa' is proof of that; a dramatic whurlwind of a song written about Killers frontman Brandon Flowers (no, seriously) and a night spent together in a bar, complete with the biting line "and that poor girl who waited in the rain for hours to meet me (not you baby)".

Release The Stars also sees Rufus developing as a composer, tackling arrangement duties for the first time on all but the title track, which he shares with American trumpeter Steven Bernstein. An incredible achievement, since the string and horn parts on these songs are utterly brilliant. The gorgeous string ensemble on 'Nobody's Off The Hook' is a highlight, as are the Motown/Bacharach flavoured trumpets on 'Rules And Regulations'.

The DVD that accompanies this set is a rather wonderful addition, unlike a lot of companion disks that merely contain a few videos. There's a 22 minute interview in which Rufus talks about each track individually and a 16 minute live performance (for something to do with MSN, in a rather sterile, audienceless but nicely lit room) of four songs; Vibrate, The Art Teacher, Gay Messiah, Rebel Prince. The interview is cut up into 12 shorts which is a little frustraiting, despite the 'Play All' option, but Rufus is his charming self and tells some truely insightful, interesting and humorous stories that are great fun to listen to. The performances of the old songs, all solo except for the Art Teacher, offer little that hasn't already been seen on the 'All I Want' documentary DVD but are a welcome inclusion. It's a shame that there's no footage of the album being recorded; Rufus tells of live sessions with both small chamber groups and full orchestras that would be great to see, but you can't have everything!

Let's be clear about this, Release The Stars hasn't bettered Rufus' back catalogue, but it has added to it a whole new cannon of wonderful songs that any other artist would kill for. It's a brilliant achievement that will please the old fans and hopefully make a few new ones. To award it five stars feels generous, but to award it four feels stingey; this is, let us not forget, a Rufus Wainwright album and that man writes songs like no one else does, has or ever will. Whether it will make a star out of him remains to be seen. The messiah, or just another naughty boy?

Great album - DVD probably just for fans
I can't really add much to the very fair review by Ben below. I would probably differ from him on two counts: first, the DVD doesn't provide enough to warrant paying much over the basic album price. Although Rufus does provide a brief comment on each track, he did this much better (and for free) on his website for 'Want Two', and in in Rufusly absurd detail to boot.

As for where this album stands in relation to his previous work... I think many long-standing fans may not be blown away, but I do think this is a more assured, consistent and enjoyable album than anything he's done before. It's certainly a great album.

for Tesco Man and Tesco Woman
this is a great CD- I too was worried as to whether it would live up to the 'Want' albums. It does, and is a more superficially commercial record. Is that such a bad thing? Would Ben of Ashbourne think it a bad thing if Tesco sold squillions of copies? Rufus deserves mainstream success- he is simply too good to stay on the sidelines.