I’m getting a bit fed up of constantly being behind on the old album reviews, not giving me much time to post about anything else. To solve this problem, I’m going to do two albums in one quick, short post. It doesn’t mean I love them any less, I just don’t have the time to write as much as I usually do about them, without getting even further behind in more recent albums. I mean, Modest Mouse’s new album was released way back in March and I’m only just getting round to mentioning it (granted, I didn’t buy it on the exact week it was released). So, here they are.

‘Release The Stars’, Rufus Wainwright: 8.5/10

Rufus Wainwright isn’t the most familiar artists to me; it’s difficult to be ‘familiar’ with every single artists out there but after hearing him perform on a TV program, I got round to buying his latest album, ‘Release the Stars’ and was very impressed. The album varies from song to song but each one keeping a very strong sense of theatre about it. The most theatrical of the lot being Between My Legs; my personal favourite and one which comes complete with sound clips snipped from the Phantom of the Opera to finish things off. It’s just a great fun song.

Most of the slower songs, too, are just as amazing when sung with Rufus’ fantastic voice. Sadly, I feel that some of the later tracks fail to grip me in the same way as others, with Leaving for Paris No.2 dragging a little and not being the most memorable track on the album. Still, the rest of the content more than makes up for this, with such beautiful pieces as Sanssouci and Slideshow. I’ve really enjoyed this album and after reading that it’s not quite up to the standard of some of his previous albums, I’m excited to hear what the singer’s back-catalogue has in store for me.

‘We Were Dead Before…’, Modest Mouse: 7.5/10

Elsewhere, I bought Modest Mouse’s new album, ‘We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank’ and have enjoyed that too, but not quite to the same extent as the previous album mentioned. In stark contrast to ‘Release The Stars’, the singing from Isaac Brock is sometimes a little too raw and the album clearly doesn’t possess the same vocal talents but that’s not to say it’s lacking in talent completely. With new addition to the line-up Jonny Marr providing some input, albeit a bit less noticeable on certain songs, the album feels fresh and full of energy.

Energy being the operative word, too, as lots of the stuff will be required to make your way through this album in one piece. It has its fair share of catchy numbers and interesting songs and unlike other albums, rather than falling to pieces towards the end, it seems to just get better and better; my four favourite tracks all come in the second half of the album. Still, the album runs in at over 60 minutes and is sometimes a little tiresome - I think that some songs could have been easily relegated to B-side status. On the other hand, a rather pleasant surprise comes in the form of Spitting Venom, an 8-minute epic that you’d expect to be dragged out and dull but one that turns out to be one of the highest points on the album.

I’m glad I forked out the money for this album and it’s certainly one of the more imaginative and different albums I’ve bought so far in 2007. The album flows wonderfully from start to finish, even though it does take a while, and there’s enough little gems hidden amongst the few filler-style tracks to make it a more-than-worthwhile listen.

B.