Grown Man - Loudon Wainwright III

Advantages: A requiem for the jilted generation
Disadvantages: Not as brilliant as previous offering 'Want One'

...Bring the son of Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle young Rufus was probably born with a silver guitar in his mouth, while someone used the teaspoon to heat up crack. With sister Martha wooing audiences up and down the UK and his star in the ascendancy it is time for the enigmatic older brother to make another stab at commercial success. Want Two is his mellow and long-awaited follow-up to the orchestral and sometime operatic epic that was the critically fawned-over Want One - a hard act to follow. The well-groomed song suite, his third long-player, combined the bombastics of the Bollaro with stories of straight men wearing moisturiser and confusing poor gay Rufus. We had Freddie Mercury-esque piano intros building up into crescendos of strings and stories of staunch personal battles and demons being slain with a good... Read review

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Advantages: New, real, gorgeous
Disadvantages: Sweary

...I've pretty much given up buying new CDs. I get sent them occasionally for doing banal things online, but it's been a while since I shelled out for one. At the same time, I think I'm listening to more new music today than ever before. I try to listen to Mark Radcliffe's excellent evening show on Radio 2 every night and I keep my office computer tuned to the BBC most of the day. I first heard Martha Wainwright on Radcliffe's show a couple of months ago. He was broadcasting from Austin, Texas at the South by Southwest music festival and she was on playing live. At this point I have to plead a certain amount of ignorance about her family background. I remember her father Loudon Wainwright III as a guest on Jasper Carrot's show or something similar from about 20 years ago. The name Rufus Wainwright has been floating around the periphery... Read review

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Advantages: A truly spectacular voice.
Disadvantages: One or two weaker songs.

...Martha Wainwright's self-titled 2005 debut album is, in the words of Beth Orton, "Truly amazing." Daughter of Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, and sister of Rufus Wainwright, she is pure musical pedigree. She has no doubt been influenced by such a strong musical background and though she manages to combine all the best elements from these commanding figures, she does so in a way that is completely her own. As Uncut magazine said of her sound, "Her song-writing combines something of her mother's grace, her father's wit and her brother's artful, cabaret-pop sophistication, delivered with a rock 'n' roll spirit all of her own." The special-edition album is comprised of 13 spellbinding tracks with 3 additional bonus tracks making it a masterpiece of somewhat epic proportions. The album opens with the breezy, dream-like 'Far... Read review

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