Rufus Wainwright: Out of the Game – review

We've already had Wainwright's brazenly hit-seeking record – 2007's Release the Stars – so when he describes this as his "most pop album", he means something different: a smooth, easygoing collection, informed by 70s soul and MOR and given a sympathetic vintage gloss by Mark Ronson. Some will miss the high drama of his earlier recordings – compare "Montauk"'s philosophical and largely affectionate take on family dynamics with Want One 's bruised "Dinner at Eight". But restraint is a relative term with Wainwright; "Rashida" builds to a big showtune coda and here, as elsewhere, the results are undeniably classy.