NOBODY could accuse Rufus Wainwright of being a colourless sort. If there is a top to be surmounted, he will leap over it in dazzling style; if there is a statement to be made, a pose to be struck, he will do so with a strut and a flourish, soaring higher than just about any other singer around.
You don't turn to Rufus for understatement or subtlety, although he can, in quiet moments, do both. But what he really does, and does in astonishing fashion on this opulent, show-stopping follow-up to 2004's Want Two - itself a benchmark of dripping over-the-topness - is sing his heart out in swooning, operatic show tunes that fit neatly with his recent Judy Garland impersonation.
While it can take a while to love that voice, with its rich male diva tones, so perfect and yet so emphatically there, Rufus sings beautifully, with a winning mixture of tenderness and arrogance.
There are 12 songs here, and not a single one disappoints, although the cumulative effect of such indulgence can leave the listener reeling a little, and in need of something less ornate.
The opening Do I Disappoint You is a huge ache of a tune, while the following Going To A Town sees Rufus taking a political, anti-Bush stance ("I'm so tired of America"). Tiergarten, Nobody's Off The Hook so the tune-loaded songs roll out, only to be interrupted by the joyfully rude antics of Between My Legs, a winning spot of sexual mischief.
The musical calories continue until the closing title track rises even higher than anything heard before in a tune worthy of a Bond film.
The production, by Rufus with Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant, is bombastic, magnificent and beguiling.
No one else is making albums like this - no one else could.
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