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| Bbc |
 We should really cherish the likes of Rufus Wainwright. Sure, he may divide people, but while there’s hardly a lack of confessional singer/songwriters, few would apply their talents to writing an opera or painstakingly re-enact a full Judy Garland concert while also wanting a crack at being a pop star at the same time. You get the impression that if he was born 200 years ago, he’d be revered like a Mozart – something that he’d quite happily go along with – rather than duking it out with Glee soundtracks for a satisfying midweek. Sometimes you think he just wasn’t made for these times; other occasions, you wish more artists would challenge themselves in such a fashion.The follow-up to 2007’s commercial breakthrough Release the Stars, All Days Are Nights is Rufus literally stripped back to just piano and voice. Intimate, intense and up close with the openly flamboyant Wainwright as he offers up himself with no full band to hide behind. It works, too. Much of it sounds not unlike material from his triumphant Want One and Want Two sets: the elegant fluid opener Who Are You New York?, the playful cantering of Give Me What I Want and Give It to Me Now. However, with the three sonnets (written for a Shakespeare production in Berlin), the graceful Les feux d'artifice t'appellant (the final aria from his Prima Donna opera), and opulent closer Zebulon, we’re in culture supplement territory. That said, pop does shine through: Martha is a continuation of the Wainwright clan’s tradition of airing their dirty laundry in public, with Rufus berating his sister for not answering the phone, while The Dream is begging for a big orchestra to perk up behind it....full text |
| Clashmusic |
| Universal Never one to hide his emotions previously, Rufus Wainwright offers a sparse but staggeringly heartfelt collection of songs for voice and piano, influenced, at least in part, by the long-term illness and recent passing of his mother. After the suffocating arrangements that dogged parts of his last album, the relative simplicity is welcome. While three Shakespearean sonnets set to music are successful without being showy, Wainwright saves the very best till last. Lyrically, album closer ‘Zebulon’ is endearingly direct, “My mother's in the hospital, my sister's at the opera, I'm in love, but let's not talk about it,” and home to his best vocal performance to date....full text |
| Musicomh |
| Rufus Wainwright's career to date has covered so many genres and styles that it's almost impossible to keep up with him. He's veered from folky pop through to the magnificently opulent concept albums of Want One and Want Two, taking in Judy Garland showtunes and even an opera. For his sixth album, it's a decidedly 'back to basics' approach for him. Featuring just a piano and that famously theatrical voice, All Days Are Nights is a bleak, downbeat listen, all the more so when you consider that his mother, Kate McGarrigle, was dying of cancer when it was written and recorded. The ghost of McGarrigle looms over the album, producing some of Wainwright's most personal lyrics in years, although this isn't an out and out confessional record. There are three tracks adapted from Shakespearian sonnets, and Wainwright has also recorded Les Feux D'Artifice T'Appellent, the closing aria from Prima Donna, his opera which had its world premiere in Manchester last year....full text |
Rufus Wainwright lyrics
