This was one of my favorite records when it came out and will always be remembered as the soundtrack to a very specific period of being young and stupid and feeling invincible.
Very difficult to choose but probably either the title track or "Grey Gardens".
― cwkiii, Friday, 22 March 2019 01:00 (five years ago) link
I prefer Want One but do like a lot of this! Votes “Poses”
― flamboyant goon tie included, Friday, 22 March 2019 01:39 (five years ago) link
― flamboyant goon tie included
Pretty much all of this. The title track is one of the most beautiful songs in his back catalogue. When I first got into him when Want One came out, I was drawn to his bigger pop songs like I Don't Know What It Is, California, April Fools and 14th Street. Now my favourites are some of his more low key ballads, Poses, Going To A Town, The Art Teacher, Memphis Skyline, Vicious World and Natasha, especially Natasha. That song is absolutely devastating.
― kitchen person, Friday, 22 March 2019 01:51 (five years ago) link
i'll poll want one next! i truly love it though i think it flags a little toward the end and i still think "vibrate" sucks
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Friday, 22 March 2019 02:03 (five years ago) link
"natasha," "beautiful child," and "dinner at eight" are still all 10/10 masterpieces
and "go or go ahead" is the sound of falling in love for me
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Friday, 22 March 2019 02:04 (five years ago) link
(and is the best rufus song and is what i would vote for in that poll a thousand times over)
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Friday, 22 March 2019 02:05 (five years ago) link
I'm afraid to relisten to Want One, partly because his voice was a risk I took even when I loved his songs.
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 March 2019 02:07 (five years ago) link
― jolene club remix (BradNelson)
Ooh, yeah Dinner At Eight is such a perfect ending to the album. Probably his best vocal.
Shame he had such a drop off after Want One. Want Two is half a great record, but there's some filler on there too. After that I'm pretty much out apart from Going To A Town which still gets me. Release The Stars was a heartbreaker for me at the time. It just seemed so empty. I can barely remember anything about the albums after that.
― kitchen person, Friday, 22 March 2019 04:02 (five years ago) link
"Dinner at Eight" is beautiful. "Natasha" was unfortunately forever ruined for me by (of all things) its disgustingly on-the-nose deployment in an episode of Nip/Tuck.
― Simon H., Friday, 22 March 2019 04:05 (five years ago) link
Ha, I remember that! Wasn't it when Christian was dating a blind woman?
― kitchen person, Friday, 22 March 2019 04:15 (five years ago) link
....named Natasha.
― Simon H., Friday, 22 March 2019 04:23 (five years ago) link
now i'm listening the album for the first time in years (?) and is 'shadows' the best song?
― Nourry, Friday, 22 March 2019 09:37 (five years ago) link
yes
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Friday, 22 March 2019 10:02 (five years ago) link
Release The Stars was a heartbreaker for me at the time.
Yeah, same here. I've not listened to his albums after that one, but all the ones before are great to fantastic, with Want Two probably being my fave of the lot. Poses is so good though; it is a great 'write bad poetry to' album. Voted 'Shadows'. 'Out of these shadows comes a light"
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Friday, 22 March 2019 14:02 (five years ago) link
I've always wanted to love Want Two more than I have. The Art Teacher, Gay Messiah, Memphis Skyline and This Love Affair are up there with his best songs. But then you get songs like Little Sister, Hometown Waltz and Old Whore's Diet which really grate on me.
― kitchen person, Friday, 22 March 2019 14:22 (five years ago) link
I agree the first three albums are his high water mark - each one a little better than the previous. All the other albums have incredible moments though. “Going to a Town” is easily a top 3 Rufus song.
The last straightforward album he put out—wow, 7 years ago!—was pretty good. “Montauk” is another song that I’ll just never get tired of. Chokes me up every time I hear it.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, 22 March 2019 15:31 (five years ago) link
I liked Out of the Game a lot at the time, haven't played since fall '12.
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 March 2019 15:34 (five years ago) link
Yeah, aside from “Montauk” I haven’t really returned to it much but I do recall enjoying it overall. It was refreshing at the time because it felt like he’d scaled his ambition back—no double album, no opera, no sonnets. Just a dozen or so pop songs. In that way it felt like a return to the Poses mindset.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, 22 March 2019 15:44 (five years ago) link
was really disappointed with his albums after this one and have never really taken much interest since :-( but saw him in a tiny (100 capacity?) London show a few months before Want One came out, when he was just starting to get some proper media attention and 90% of it was stuff from this and a few from the debut (which i prefer) and it was excellent. in fact i've probably still got the bootleg i made on my pre-ipod mp3 player around somewhere. anyway I would probably go for Greek Song or Grey Gardens.
― Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Friday, 22 March 2019 16:11 (five years ago) link
havent listened to this in over ten years i dont think.
but going with The Consort cos the back half is perfect.
― but I can't let Trae do it I got Huerter on my mind (Spottie), Wednesday, 27 March 2019 17:31 (five years ago) link
Love the part of "Greek Song" where it goes from all that lush imagery to
When I get backI will dream in Barnes and NobleOh leave me hereOh leave me where angels fear to tread
― ... (Eazy), Wednesday, 27 March 2019 18:02 (five years ago) link
Hey Hmmmmm i wouldn't mind hearing that bootleg!
― piscesx, Wednesday, 27 March 2019 19:17 (five years ago) link
Hey I love this version of Poses by Dave Douglas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIp52a5om0Q
― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 27 March 2019 19:24 (five years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Friday, 19 April 2019 00:01 (five years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Saturday, 20 April 2019 00:01 (five years ago) link
Even the songs that got zero votes are super terrific.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Saturday, 20 April 2019 00:05 (five years ago) link
"Grey Gardens" has his most straightforward hook, y'all are insane, including me for not voting for it.
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 20 April 2019 00:11 (five years ago) link
If you haven't heard 'Grey Gardens' live, throw Rufus a few bucks next time he rolls through town and thank me later. That piano melody has burned itself into my own self.
― Sammo Hazuki's Tago Mago Cantina (Old Lunch), Sunday, 9 February 2020 01:22 (four years ago) link
oh what a coincidence i just did “cigarettes and chocolate milk” at piano karaoke
― american bradass (BradNelson), Sunday, 9 February 2020 04:08 (four years ago) link
Another top-notch tune, live or otherwise. And relatable, to say the least.
― Sammo Hazuki's Tago Mago Cantina (Old Lunch), Sunday, 9 February 2020 04:25 (four years ago) link