Released just over a year apart, Rufus Wainwright's third and fourth albums,
Want One and
Want Two respectively, were drawn from the same sessions and were both produced by Marius de Vries, whose impressive resume includes work with Bjork, Madonna and Massive Attack. The albums marked a transition for Rufus as his music became ever more ambitious, realising his visions of lush arrangements, using a wide variety of instrumentation in doing so.
The album cover is the first insight we are given into the album's contents.
Want Two follows the theme of
Want One, where the latter depicted the singer as a fairytale knight, the former depicts him as a fairytale princess. The albums can be loosely taken as explorations of his masculine and feminine sides, and the feminine certainly makes itself known in the subject matter of
Want Two. According to Wainwright, this album contains "the more daunting tracks, the operatic, weird stuff, some heavy numbers that relate to my classical sensibilities."
This theme is most starkly evident in the piano-driven ode,
The Art Teachers. A live recording, altered only slightly for inclusion of the album, it's a first-person account given by a girl who married into money of her first encounter with an Art Teacher she instantly fell in lust with. Featuring typically witty lyrics, and a supremely delivered vocal, The Art Teacher contains perhaps the barest mix of any song on the album, allowing Rufus' considerable talent as a pianist to show itself. (No gay jokes...)
"He asked us what our favourite work of art was/Never could I tell him, it was him."
Little Sister and
Old Whore's Diet further explore the issue of femininity. The former is a seemingly quaint song aimed at his little sister, with a lively rhythm and warm lyrics.
"Little sister come and sit beside me/And we'll play a tune on this old piano forte" but soon takes a dark turn, Wainwright exclaiming,
"'Til your hair becomes a powdered wig/And I become a total bastard" His troubled relationship with his sister is the inspiration and Rufus points out his flaw as a suggestion of cause,
"Remember that your brother is a boy" The jumpy string arrangement recalls Mozart, possibly the inspiration for the "powdered wig" image.
Old Whore's Diet is the album's 8-minute closing track, and features the unique vocal talents of Antony of the Johnsons(Rufus returns the favour, performing a track on Antony & The Johnson's
I Am A Bird Now). Hingeing on the lyric,
"An old whore's diet/Keeps my going in the morning", the song builds from an acapella introduction to an Ace Of Base pastiche which, somehow, works, and is perhaps one of the album's strongest tracks.
It is important to note that Wainwright has not abandoned his pop sensibilities in his rush to artistic realisation, and he produces two potentially strong singles. The first is the album's second track,
The One You Love. The song is an anomaly of sorts, a well-produced pop song with lyrics cutting and witty enough to rouse Oscar Wilde in his grave.
"Lets fuck this awful art party/I want you to make love to me/And only to me in the dark." Disgust at the casual use of the word 'love' is all too apparent in the sarcastic chorus-line,
"I'm only the one you love" TRL couldn't handle s
hit this hot. Watch out for the dulcimer-like guitar stabs which make the song stand out from the very beginning.
Next is the Hansel & Gretel inspired tune,
Crumb By Crumb. Featuring beautifully orchestrated backing vocals courtesy of sister Martha, the song features a confused lyric, with Rufus wondering exactly where he can place his trust, whether to invest it in another or to keep it to itself, to take things
"Crumb by crumb in this big black forest" Props to Rufus for the awesome cake reference.
Other songs of note are the Jeff Buckley-ode
Memphis Skyline, so named as Memphis was the site of Buckley's tragic drowning in 1997. The song describes the events that led to his death, the pair having become friends shortly before.
Peach Tree contains a beautiful short lyric, expressing Rufus' confusion as to whether he is in love or note etc., a similar theme to
Crumb By Crumb. The song also features a wonderful slightly-slurred vocal and sparse arrangement.
Hometown Waltz is exactly that, an understated, waltz where Rufus reminisces about his adopted hometown, Montreal, focusing on the negative(
"You may ask why I want to torch my home town
Partly it's bitterness") and the postive(
"Will you ever ever ever go/Ever ever ever find a way?").
This Love Affair is another of the album's treasures, featuring a long, drawled vocal, again pondering his uncertainty in love. It's a "Should I stay or should I go?" type situation.
Waiting For A Dream is the album's second-to-last song, and features an impressive change in tempo, lifting it from a dreary beginning into a tune that can be danced to. Also worth noting is the album's only politically-charged lyric -
"There's a fire in the priory/And an ogre in the oval office".
Finally,
The Gay Messiah is a cheeky celebration of Rufus' open homosexuality, packed with numerous blasphemous innuendo.
"Better pray for your sins/Cause the gay messiah's coming".
"Someone will demand my head/And then I will kneel down and give it to him"
Want Two is a fine effort from Wainwright. The album contains superb arrangement, wonderful dynamic and a high standard of musicianship. Bar the opening track, the stangant
Agnus Dei, the standard of the songwriting is continuously high, and proves that the album is not merely the leftovers from
Want One.
