Out Of The Game

Rolling Stone (p.68) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "'Barbara' is an ace take on Michael McDonald yacht-rock fluff, while the title track disses mainstream 'suckers' in lush harmony over a Steely Dan-ish strut." Entertainment Weekly (p.70) - "Wainwright's words feel like postcards from now. On the title track, he ponders modern celebrity over a Steely Dan-style shuffle..." -- Grade: A- Uncut (p.84) - "Rufus reins in his extravagant tendencies for a subtly shaded, seductive album that radiates warmth and contentment." Magnet (p.60) - "On OUT OF THE GAME, Wainwright returns to his roots in pop songwriting; still gaudy, still orchestral, but tastefully done. 'Welcome To The Ball' struts to a snappy bed of Beach Boys-style harmonies, while 'Montauk' is classic Wainwright..." Q (Magazine) (p.108) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[Ronson] buffs these songs to a pop sheen. At 38, Rufus's star moment appears to have finally arrived." Mojo (Publisher) (p.84) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he super-charged baroque-disco of 'Bitter Tears' and 'Perfect Man' prove Ronson and Wainwright have dressed these songs to kill, not just to impress."

Rufus Wainwright's 2012 studio effort, Out of the Game, is a '70s singer/songwriter album with some soft rock and disco and elements that bring to mind a mix of Boz Scaggs, ELO, and Todd Rundgren. Produced by Mark Ronson, the master of making retro new again, Out of the Game has a vintage, organic aesthetic featuring horns, old-school keyboards, strings, and the occasional fuzzed-out guitar. In that sense, it is a return to the more straightforward pop/rock style of Wainwright's early albums, although some of the opera and classical influences of 2007's Release the Stars are still evident. Similarly, the stark personal style Wainwright investigated on 2010's All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu is also still here, albeit in a much more pop-friendly and melodically palatable form. Wainwright, who has always been a deeply intimate songwriter (he confronted his crystal meth addiction and recovery from it on 2003's Want One, dealt directly with the death of his mother, Kate McGarrigle, on Lulu, and has never shied away from addressing his homosexuality), here details his life since becoming engaged to his partner in 2010 and fathering a child in 2011 with Lorca Cohen (Leonard Cohen's daughter) on the impressionistic "Montauk." In the song, Wainwright croons to his future adult daughter, "One day you will come to Montauk and see your dad wearing a kimono and see your other dad pruning roses/Hope you won't turn around and go." Later in the song, he summons the ghost of his mother with the line, "One day years ago years ago in Montauk lived a woman now a shadow/There she does wait for us in the ocean." It's a terribly bittersweet moment and a kind of apotheosis of all the events that inform the mood on Out of the Game. As moving as that song is, Wainwright and Ronson balance out the more introspective songs with such immediately engaging cuts as the Rundgren-esque soft rock title track anthem, the soulful baroque pop of "Jericho," and the T. Rex-meets-'60s girl group-sounding ballad "Rashida." Elsewhere, "Barbara," "Bitter Tears," and the languid "Song of You" evince a kind of Giorgio Moroder Europop vibe and also compare favorably to works by such similarly inclined Wainwright contemporaries as Ron Sexsmith and Richard Hawley. Although Wainwright's private life may have taken him out of the pop game for a time, this album is one of his most classicist, not classical, pop records and in that sense, Out of the Game is definitely a winner. ~ Matt Collar

ルーファス・ウェインライトの新作の中心となるのは母親である故・ケイト・マクギャリグルへ捧げられたルーファスらしい名曲だが、アルバムの大半を占めるのは「3 分間のポップソング」。売れっ子プロデューサー、マーク・ロンソンの影響もあってか、ジェンダーを主題にした耽美で批評的なアプローチは鳴りを潜め、持ち前のポップネスを存分に発揮、ブルーアイド・ソウルの赴きも。今までにない作風だが転機となるか。ニルス・クラインの参加も嬉しい。
intoxicate (C)杉山文宣

マーク・ロンソンをプロデューサーに迎えたことで、これまででもっとも開かれたポップ作に仕上がった新作。娘の誕生や母親の死、パートナーとの婚約などを経ていまのルーファスがこのような境地に至ったことを思うと感慨深い。親しみやすく、明るいトーンの曲が並ぶ。ロマンティックで、どの曲もキラキラ輝いていて、人生とは美しいものなのだと思えてくる。本作に影響を与えた人物としてエルトン・ジョンやフレディ・マーキュリーの名前が挙げられているが、なるほど、肯定力が漲っている。そのうえ、まるでマーク・ロンソンと恋に落ちたかのような無邪気な昂揚感も感じられる。ダップ・キングスのメンバーやショーン・レノン、ウィルコのネルス・クラインらが参加。不朽の名作入り確定でしょう。
bounce (C)内本順一