Having a famous father – legendary folk rocker Richard Thompson – is no guarantee
for success. Close your eyes and you’d swear this was actually Rufus Wainwright,
who he’d, coincidentally, supported at Kenwood House on July 5.
It’s taken our Teddy eight years and four albums to hit this immaculate peak
of creativity: very much like his American born Canadian raised counterpart.
Funny too, he’s used Rufus’ producer Marius De Vries. Simply put, this is a
truly stunning album, though it’s not exactly been plain sailing reaching this point.
Maybe he cast his eyes (and more specifically his ears) over the pond towards
Wainwright himself, or maybe it was only a matter of time before his dad’s
pedigree eventually surfaced, making it one of the best albums ever from a
British artist - so go out and get it for yourself.
Anyway, before I get really carried away (I’m tingling with excitement as I write
this piece) let me guide you through this audio delight. His mum (iconic Linda)
and dad Richard have, despite critical acclaim, never been big sellers, so maybe 'junior' will eclipse their sterling efforts like Rufus has done over
papa Loudon and mummy Kate (McGarrigle). Dropping a lot of his previous
clutter, De Vries has kept things neat and tidy, exemplified by pop rocker
opener The Things I Do.
He has a propensity for being sort of negative and gloomy, which is evident
here still, on the confident What This?!!, his take on relationship commitment
fears. The throbbing start unfolds into something much grander, much like
Rufus excels at. It’s at this point we hear his vocal range and its very impressive,
holding a clever drone at all the right points.
Things get even better when he hits the single In My Arms (out Aug 18),
a favourite of Radio 2 already. It’s adult pop at its best. He soars vocally
and he’s clearly hit his stride and having a ball t’boot.
For Where To Go From Here he definitely (or even deliberately) goes into
mellow Rufus modus operandi. This smooth and shifting ballad is quite exquisite.
If that wasn’t enough, Don’t Know…is when the album really takes off, propelled
by daddy’s twanging guitar licks – ah. Can’t Sing Straight is a nifty
country shuffle and possible contender as a single…mh... nice.
The brass blasts (and swing) just add to the sense of fun at it goes into overdrive.
Alas, Slippery Slope is typical Rufus moody balladry and it’s wonderful, and
heavenly, adding enough quiver to match Roy Orbison too. On a more straight
forward note, Jonathan’s Book bounces joyously leading nicely to beat heavy
One Of These Days where the brass drop-ins add spectacular colours and
timbre.
Then we’re back to good ol’ crooning for piano lead gem, even gloomy, Turning
The Gun On Myself (Rufus casts along shadow over this again). If you’re
gonna cap a sensational album, you might as well do it in style. The title
track starts pacey enough, building, adding instrumentation like majestic horns
snorting and stuttering to the very end, as if to say there’s more to come
next time. Breathtaking.
File under: Absolutely brilliant … and worth the wait.
1. The Things I Do
2. What’s This ?!!
3. In My Arms
4. Where To Go From Here
5. Don’t Know What I Was Thinking
6. Can’t Sing Straight
7. Slippery Slope
8. Jonathan’s Book
9. One Of These Days
10. Turning The Gun On Myself
11. A Piece Of What You Need
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
