Music : I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too

Rating: - Nothing to match BMFA
The press has been very kind to this record. Here's the key question, though - does it have any songs as bracingly fantastic as the unprintable 'BMFA' from her debut? Brutal answer: no. Martha has grown up in a big way here, but that's not a compliment. Some of these tracks are so AOR that they could be Sheryl Crow.

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Rating: - Martha Does It Again
Well at least the "Album Title of the Year" title can be wrapped up early in 2008.

Martha Wainwright's debut album was one of the best debut's that we've had this century; it may have been a difficult listen at times, but in many ways that made it all the more compelling. If there's one singer-songwriter out there at the moment willing to tell us what she really thinks, without filtering out too much of the interesting stuff, it's Wainwright.

I Know You're Married... is, lyrically, more of the same, but with an added commercial surety. Whether or not this is seen as a good thing depends on your point of view. Me? Well I've never seen anything wrong with wanting to sell more records. Especially when she's kept what was so great about her in the first part largely intact.

Whether it's nailing unrequited love on Bleeding All Over You, putting 911 into perspective on The Tower Songs or chronicling her mother's recent battle with cancer on In The Middle Of The Night, Wainwright is never less than a compelling narrator.

Her strengths of course will be labelled as her weaknesses by some critics, and that is fair enough. I've said before that Wainwright, like all of her family clan, is somewhat of an acquired taste. But whatever way you look at it, this album is breathtaking and is further proof that Martha may well prove to be the best Wainwright of them all.

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Rating: - Really not to be encouraged
Banal. Overrated. Self-regarding. Tepid. Makes Suzanne Vega look like Leonard Cohen, and I don't just mean visually. Awful x 3.

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Rating: - Just not sure

At the moment I've only listened to this three times, but it's nowhere near as good as her first album. Maybe my view will change after further listenings, and after seeing her as the Festival Hall, we'll see.

I feel a bit cheated that UK listeners don't get "Love is a stranger'.

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Rating: - Fun, provoking - everything a pop album should be?!
Having only had this a week, maybe i'm not qualified to write this review yet, but I feel compelled to act, because if this album gets lost it will be nothing short of a travesty.

Following a great first album was always going to be tough, but I think Martha Wainwright has walked a fantastic tightrope here. She has produced an album of varied moments, at times skirting close to straightforward pop (at which she puts to shame most of her contemporaries), whilst also producing more introspective and intriguing tracks.

'Tower Song' is a great example of the latter. It sits on a bed of prickly strings and feels dark and menacing. It articulates a very 'here and now' sense of loss and desperation and feels compelling because of it. 'In the middle of the night' recalls a slightly heavier Neko Case, all full of backyard incidents and night drama.

Openers 'bleeding all over you' and 'you cheated me' are charming, memorable affairs, full of fantastic lyricism, while reflecting the breezier side of this disc. 'Niger River' is just beautiful and haunting, two adjectives that describe Martha Wainwright's music at its core. This is a logical step forward, but its not safe and it showcases a talent that is more than ready to step out from the already illustrious pedigree of the other Wainwright's.

Also, have we seen a better album title this year? I think not.