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Personnel: Rufus Wainwright (vocals, acoustic guitar, nylon-string guitar, piano, percussion); Anna Prohaska (vocals); Si?n Phillips (spoken vocals); Gerry Leonard (guitar, electric guitar); Smokey Hormel (guitar); Jack Petruzzelli (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo, background vocals); Richard Thompson (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Joan Wasser (electric guitar, violin, background vocals); Ronith Mues (harp); Gabriel Adorj?n, Rahel Rilling (violin); Raphael Sachs (viola); D?vid Adorj?n (cello); The London Session Orchestra (strings); Pirmin Grehl (flute); Rachelle Garniez (accordion); Matt Johnson (recorder, drums, percussion, background vocals); Paul Shapiro (tenor saxophone); Briggan Krauss (baritone saxophone); Dominic Derasse, Carl Albach, Dave Trigg (trumpet, piccolo trumpet); John Chudoba, Raphael Mentzen, Florian D?rpholz, Steven Bernstein , Barry Danielian (trumpet); Louis Schwadron, Ozan Cakar (French horn); Dan Levine (trombone); J?rg Sandner, John Medeski, Kate McGarrigle (piano); Jason Hart (organ, background vocals); Rob Burger (organ); Neil Tennant (keyboards, synthesizer, vibraphone, loops, sampler, background vocals); Larry Mullins (vibraphone, marimba, glockenspiel, bass drum, bongos, castanets, cowbells, cymbals, shaker, tabla, tambourine, timpani, triangle, wood block, bells); Jeff Hill (upright bass, electric bass, background vocals); Tony Scherr (upright bass); Ian Thomas , Kenny Wollesen (drums); Julianna Raye (tambourine, background vocals); Jason Boshoff, Marius de Vries, Tom Stephan (programming); Lucy Roche, Sharon Jones , Lygia Forrest, Jenni Muldaur, Martha Wainwright, Teddy Thompson (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: Marius de Vries; Andy Bradfield.
Recording information: Angel Studios, Islington, London, England; Brooklyn Recording, Brooklyn, NY; Legacy Studios, New York, NY; Saal 4, Berlin, Germany; Second Story, New York, NY; Strongroom, London, . England.
Photographers: Rufus Wainwright; Lucy Roche; Jorn Weisbr?dt; Sam Taylor-Wood.
Arranger: Steven Bernstein .
As the son of confessional singer-songwriters Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, it isn't exactly surprising that Rufus Wainwright's previous albums have read like diaries set to music, but the sometimes almost embarrassing level of personal detail in his lyrics set a new standard for lyrical intimacy. RELEASE THE STARS continues Wainwright's open-book approach to songwriting, but where his previous epics WANT ONE and WANT TWO were concept albums about addiction and emotional frailty, this album is considerably more hopeful.
Recorded in Berlin with the Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant, whose unambiguously gay-themed lyrics and musically expansive ambitions were an obvious inspiration for Wainwright's own music, RELEASE THE STARS finds the singer-songwriter in a mood of wary optimism, balancing love songs with rueful social commentary and a few playful looks back at his dissolute past. Musically, RELEASE THE STARS is Wainwright's most ornate, operatic album yet, with a use of musical theater and modern classical music not seen since Van Dyke Parks' heyday. And yet Wainwright's often overlooked gifts as a melodicist are on full display, too, giving the over-the-top arrangements a sturdy underpinning that keeps the album well-grounded.
