Rufus Wainwright - 'Rufus Does Judy Live At Carnegie Hall' (Universal) Released 21/01/08

“I’m, err, gonna speak here because on the album Judy speaks here,” mutters Rufus Wainwright nervously, three songs into the opening night of his portrayal of Judy Garland’s infamous performance at Carnegie Hall in 1961. Met by a warm comfort blanket of applause from the audience, he goes on to nervously explain his “big Judy Garland story”. It’s about, perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly, the impact that her acclaimed appearance in The Wizard of Oz had on a young, camp Wainwright. Although lusciously entertaining, it’s the words that the tale, which involves dressing up and “melting” into his mothers clothes, ends with which are most poignant: “life’s great.”

Life couldn’t have been anything but “great” if Rufus Wainwright was to attempt reviving Garland’s performance in New York. Described as one of the greatest nights in show business history, it was, and still is a contemporary modern masterpiece that when released as a 2-Record topped America’s Billboard chart and didn’t fall from grace for thirteen weeks. You could ask then why no one has attempted to restore it before Wainwright – surely the nostalgia alone would sell copies? Well the answer in short is that there have been few who could do Garland – an insecure artiste – as much justice as Wainwright – an equally as insecure singer songwriter.

‘Rufus Does Judy’ is taken from the first of Wainwright’s two night stint at Carnegie Hall in June 2006 and is, in every sense, a recreation of Garland’s masterpiece. Backed by a 36-piece Orchestra, Wainwright gradually reignites the razzamatazz that Garland so beautifully crafted, and single-handedly created, throughout the course of her career. From the tongue rolled “rrr’s” which open ‘Putting On The Ritz’ to the way his baritone voice plummets to aggressive depths during ‘Rock-A-By Your Baby With A Dixie Melody’, Wainwright effortlessly lives up to person he once described himself as: “The male Judy Garland.”