Release the Stars
Release the Stars | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | May 15, 2007 | |||
Recorded |
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Genre | Baroque pop[1] | |||
Length | 55:09 | |||
Label | Geffen | |||
Producer |
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Rufus Wainwright chronology | ||||
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Singles from Release the Stars | ||||
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Release the Stars is the fifth studio album by
".Wainwright planned to create a more simple piano and voice album originally, but began leaning towards more lush sounds once the recording process started. Guests on Release the Stars include:
Conception and development
"Initially, this was simply going to be an album of piano and voice", Wainwright stated in a May 2007 interview with The Independent's Nick Duerden.[4] That was, however, until he visited Berlin, which influenced the album's lush sound. Wainwright declared, "Basically, a huge wave of German Romanticism descended on the recording process, and almost drowned me."[4] Wainwright cited two reasons for the change in direction and the heightened dramatic flare: the cancer diagnosis received by his mother (folk musician Kate McGarrigle) during the album's genesis, which he found "fueled his creative intensity in some kind of displaced attempt to get her well", and the New York Metropolitan Opera's commissioning Wainwright to write an opera, making Release the Stars a way of training for such a large project.[4] Revealing the overall theme in January 2007, Wainwright declared the album was about opening up and following impulses.[5] "Whether it's the environment, politics or religious warfare", Wainwright stated in an interview with The Japan Times, "it's time to get out there and be a part of the solution, whatever that is."[6]
For his "incredible take on what popular music means in today's world", Wainwright recruited Neil Tennant to advise him, act as executive producer of the album, and assist with the editing process.[7] Parts of the album were recorded at Second Story and Legacy in New York City, Brooklyn Recording in Brooklyn, Saal 4 in Berlin, and Strongroom and Angel Recording Studios in London.[8] Wainwright had his sister Martha Wainwright, half-sister Lucy Wainwright Roche, and mother Kate McGarrigle appear on the album, along with father and son musicians Richard Thompson and Teddy Thompson. Marius de Vries, who produced both of Wainwright's previous albums (Want One and Want Two), worked on the album, as did longtime band members Jeff Hill, Jack Petruzelli, and Matt Johnson.
Singles
"
The album's second single, "Rules and Regulations", was released digitally in the UK on July 30, 2007.[13] The song failed to chart. Petro Papahadjopoulos directed the music video for "Rules and Regulations", which features a group of men performing a choreographed dance around a long john-wearing Wainwright inside a London mansion.[14]
Released in October 2007, "
Songs and themes
"Do I Disappoint You", the album's opener, "sees [Wainwright] present a withering defense of his own human frailties, while one orchestral battalion after another mount their attacks and Martha Wainwright summons 'CHAOS!' and 'DESTRUCTION!' like a marauding Fury".[18] "Going to a Town", the album's lead single, was considered by Uncut's John Mulvey to be among the angriest lyrics Wainwright has written, an "indictment of the country of his birth that hinges on the refrain, 'I'm so tired of you America'".[18] The political track, which Wainwright claimed he wrote in just five minutes on the eve of his departure for Berlin, confronts the Bush administration's perceived damage to the U.S. in the form of a love song.[6][19][20] It was his discontent with America at the time that lead Wainwright to spend some time recording the album in Berlin.[19] "Tiergarten", named after a large park in Berlin of the same name, is a song about Wainwright's German boyfriend, Jörn Weisbrodt.[21] While recording parts of Release the Stars in Berlin, the couple visited the park often.[22]
"Nobody's Off the Hook" is written about the singer-songwriter
"Slideshow" is about Michael Cavadias, a friend Wainwright took to Australia for a Leonard Cohen tribute concert, who failed to include Wainwright in the computer slide show he put together.[25] Wainwright wrote "Tulsa" after meeting The Killers frontman Brandon Flowers at a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After reuniting with Flowers at the 2007 Glastonbury Festival in England, Wainwright said of their encounter that Flowers was "very flattered" and "somewhat bashful".[26]
"Leaving for Paris N° 2",[8] previously released as "Leaving for Paris" on a bonus CD for Want One in France,[27] differs from the first version with the addition of a second verse along with added instrumental effects. In an April 2007 interview with Scotland on Sunday, Wainwright revealed the inspiration for both "Do I Disappoint You" and "Leaving for Paris N° 2":
[They were] actually written for a musical that I was thinking of writing. They're both about the same person. Essentially it's about an extremely beautiful individual, man or woman, who's deathly attractive, who basically lashes out at his oppressors or fondlers or pursuers. And just tells them that, 'you know, the fact that you love me for my physical attributes is kind of a sin, and in fact I'm a lot like you, and that's the truth. Looking at me physically you don't see my soul.' And that was just [written] during the period when I was obsessed with good-looking people and why people liked them.[22]
Wainwright later stated that the musical was Moulin Rouge!:
"[Leaving for Paris]" is a very old song. I wrote this years ago, and I've sung it for a long time. Initially, it was a piece I wrote for Moulin Rouge!, Baz Luhrmann's movie. I thought it would be great for Nicole Kidman to sing, and kind of walk away from her little village and end up a prostitute in Paris. Slowly, Nicole Kidman morphed into me. Because they didn't use it in the movie, I kept it for myself.[23]
"
Cover art and liner notes
The images on the album's front cover, back cover, and
World tour
To promote the album, Wainwright embarked on a tour that lasted for nearly eight months, starting in London in May 2007 and ending in New York City in February 2008.
Critical reception
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 72/100[34] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [2] |
Robert Christgau | [35] |
Entertainment Weekly | B+[36] |
The Guardian | [37] |
NME | 5/10[38] |
The Observer | [39] |
Pitchfork | 6.7/10[40] |
Slant | [41] |
The Times | [42] |
Uncut | [18] |
Overall, reception of the album was positive. In his review for
However, the album did receive some criticism, mostly pertaining to its overly lavish and decadent style. Regarding his attempt at creating radio-friendly music, Petridis claimed that Wainwright "doesn't seem to be trying at all" by employing Neil Tennant (a musician also known for grandiloquence) as executive producer of the album and including extravagant orchestrations.[37] He wrote, "every time Wainwright seems on the verge of making a straightforward appeal for the mainstream, he throws a glittery spanner in the works." He noted the exotic instruments used in "Do I Disappoint You": "It's a marvelous song, but it's lavishly decorated with thundering timpani, fluttering woodwind, pizzicato strings and brass." Petridis questions, "Is this really the way he proposes to win over the punters who pick up two albums a year?"[37] In his review for NME, Priya Elan wrote: "Someone needs to tell Wainwright there's a huge difference between 'epic' and 'over-egged'."[38] Entertainment Weekly's Gregory Kirschling stated that Release the Stars was "adorned with more strings, horns, choirs, and piccolo flute (!) than ever, his melodies — and what melodies they are — are drowned out by the bombast", citing "Nobody's Off the Hook" as an example. "But", Kirschling stated, "he still yearns more beautifully than anyone."[36]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Rufus Wainwright
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Do I Disappoint You" | 4:40 |
2. | "Going to a Town" | 4:06 |
3. | "Tiergarten" | 3:26 |
4. | "Nobody's Off the Hook" | 4:27 |
5. | "Between My Legs" | 4:26 |
6. | "Rules and Regulations" | 4:05 |
7. | "Not Ready to Love" | 5:51 |
8. | "Slideshow" | 6:21 |
9. | "Tulsa" | 2:20 |
10. | "Leaving for Paris N° 2" | 4:52 |
11. | "Sanssouci" | 5:16 |
12. | "Release the Stars" | 5:20 |
Track listing adapted from AllMusic.[2]
Bonus tracks | |
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Deluxe version contains a bonus DVD with album commentary and live performances of "The Art Teacher", "Rebel Prince", "Gay Messiah" and "Vibrate".[45]
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Personnel
- Rufus Wainwright – vocals (1–12), piano (1–3,5,9,10), string arrangement (2,4,7–9,12), acoustic guitar (5–8), piano arrangement (4,9), horn arrangement (6,8), nylon string guitar (11), percussion (3), orchestral arrangement (1)
- David Adorjan – cello (1,2,4,9)
- Gabriel Adorjan – violin (1,2,4,9)
- Carl Albach – trumpet (1,6,8), piccolo trumpet (1,6,8)
- Brad Albetta – bass guitar (11)
- Steven Bernstein – trumpet (1,6,8,12), conducting (1,6,8), horn arrangement (12)
- Jason Boshoff – programming (1,3,5,6,11)
- Rob Burger – organ (12)
- Ozan Cakar – French horn (1,2,5)
- John Chudoba – trumpet (1,6,8)
- Barry Danielian – trumpet (12)
- Marius de Vries – programming (1,3,5,6,11), conducting (7,8,12), breathing (3)
- Dominic Derasse – trumpet (1,6,8), piccolo trumpet (1,6,8)
- Florian Dorpholz – trumpet (1,2,5)
- Lygia Forrest – backing vocals (12)
- Rachelle Garniez – claviola (6), accordion (6)
- Pirmin Grehl – flute (1,11)
- Jason Hart – backing vocals (5), organ (2)
- Jeff Hill – electric bass (5–8), bass guitar (1,3,10), upright bass (2,6), backing vocals (5)
- Smokey Hormel – guitar (12)
- Matt Johnson – drums (2,3,5–8), backing vocals (5), percussion (8), recorder (6)
- Sharon Jones – backing vocals (12)
- Briggan Krauss – baritone saxophone (12)
- Gerry Leonard – guitar (1,5,6,11), electric guitar (3,7)
- Dan Levine – trombone (1,6,8,12)
- London Session Orchestra – strings (7,8,12)
- Kate McGarrigle – piano (7)
- John Medeski – piano (12)
- Raphael Mentzen – trumpet (1,2,5)
- Ronith Mues – harp (3,5,11)
- Jenni Muldaur – backing vocals (3,11)
- Larry Mullins – (1)
- Jack Petruzzelli – acoustic guitar (5,6,11), electric guitar (5,7,8), backing vocals (5), banjo (2)
- Siân Phillips – spoken word (5)
- Anna Prohaska – vocals (5)
- Julianna Raye – backing vocals (2,5,8,11), tambourine (5)
- Rachel Rilling – violin (1,2,4,9)
- Lucy Roche – backing vocals (2,5,8,11)
- Raphael Sachs – viola (1,2,4,9)
- Jorg Sandnar – piano (4)
- Tony Scherr – upright bass (12)
- Louis Schwadron – French horn (5)
- Paul Shapiro – tenor saxophone (12)
- Tom Stephan – additional programming (3)
- loops (1), samples(1), vibes (7), executive producer
- Ian Thomas – drums (5)
- Richard Thompson – electric guitar (2,5,7,8), acoustic guitar (3)
- Teddy Thompson – backing vocals (3)
- Dave Trigg – trumpet (1,6,8), piccolo trumpet (1,6,8)
- Martha Wainwright – backing vocals (1,8)
- Joan Wasser– backing vocals (2,5,8,11), electric guitar (5,8), violin (2)
- Kenny Wollesen – drums (12)
Credits adapted from Allmusic and the album liner notes.[2][8]
Chart positions and certifications
Release the Stars debuted at number 23 on the U.S.
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Awards and recognitions
Wainwright received two
The following table displays some of the 2007 "End of Year" list placements by various publications:
Publication | Country | Accolade | Rank |
---|---|---|---|
Adresseavisen | Norway | Top Albums of 2007 (International)[70] | 12 |
Aftenposten | Norway | Top Albums of 2007[71] | 23 |
Dagbladet | Norway | Top Foreign Albums of 2007[72] | 24 |
Gaffa | Denmark | Top Foreign Albums of 2007[73] | 2 |
Mojo | UK | MOJO Best of 2007[74] | 13 |
Mondo Sonoro | Spain | Top Albums of 2007 (International)[75] | 28 |
The Observer | UK | 2007: The Best 50 Albums[76] | 21 |
Q | UK | The 50 Best Albums of 2007[77] | 10 |
See also
- Kate and Anna McGarrigle
- Martha Wainwright discography
References
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{{cite AV media notes}}
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