Want One by Rufus Wainwright

Want One, Rufus Wainwright's third album, came out on DreamWorks on September 23, 2003, and it's as lavish as pop records got that year: Marius de Vries produced, Andy Bradfield mixed, and the ornate chamber-pop arrangements wrap around Wainwright's lazy, luxurious voice like he's staging an opera in a ballroom. It was meant as the first half of a double album called Want, with Want Two following a year later.

It's a family affair, too. Sister Martha Wainwright sings on it, along with Joan Wasser, Teddy Thompson and Linda Thompson, and his mother Kate McGarrigle takes a banjo solo on "14th Street". "I Don't Know What It Is" and "Oh What a World" were the singles. The album won him Outstanding Music Artist at the GLAAD Media Awards and Best New Recording at the OutMusic Awards, and it was nominated for the 2004 Shortlist Music Prize.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.