"RELEASE THE STARS" BY RUFUS WAINWRIGHT; GEFFEN

Rufus Wainwright says he set out to make a stripped-down, straightforward record, but his penchant for theatrical songcraft in recent years tarnished his credibility on that score.

Indeed, his latest is operatic from the start: Lead-off track "Do I Disappoint You" resonates with the plucked strings of violins, dramatic flourishes from woodwinds and a full-on brass crescendo as the song nears its end.

"Release the Stars" doesn't get any lower key from there. It's a glorious tangle of excess as Wainwright indulges himself on a dozen songs about friends, lovers and contemporaries. A simple piano intro on "Nobody's Off the Hook" soon swells with pastoral orchestration, and busy strings chase other through "Tulsa" as Wainwright sings in a lush vibrato.

He permits himself a moment of reflection on "Going to a Town," which mourns an increasingly strident current of intolerance in American life, and he sings from the perspective of someone whose beauty is mistaken for character and soul on "Do I Disappoint You."

Mostly, though, "Release the Stars" feels like the equivalent of an idyllic summer garden party, where the host is charming and the music is verdant and rich.