Poses [IMPORT]

Rufus Wainwright

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 5, 2001)
• Original Release Date: June 5, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Dreamworks UK
• ASIN: B00005IBGQ
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (106 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #69,726 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk

2. Greek Song

3. Poses

4. Shadows

5. California

6. The Tower Of Learning

7. Grey Gardens

8. Rebel Prince

9. The Consort

10. One Man Guy

11. Evil Angel

12. In A Graveyard

13. Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk (reprise)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

The scrutiny of success that came early on--being named Best New Artist by Rolling Stone in 1998, the year of his debut album, for example--would have smothered many another emerging talent. But it failed to stopper the singular, unclassifiable, ranging gift of singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright. His sophomore album, Poses, advances beyond the earlier, cabaret-inspired effort with a suite of songs marvelously varied in arrangement and texture but linked by Wainwright's characteristic theatrical panache. "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" catalogs excess with playful self-censure, but Wainwright's whimsical ironies often take a bruising, poignant turn, whether in the pseudo-upbeat "California" or, most movingly, on the title track. The dying fall of Wainwright's lusher melodies--echoes of "Across the Universe" as well as ultrachic Beatles tunes such as "Michelle"--meshes remarkably with the poetic substance here as he explores a landscape of wistful self-knowledge caught between longing and decadence. Yet even through all the layers of picturesque, postmod observation, Wainwright conveys a sense-filtered experience that gives urgency to his hauntingly mumbled opacities. With Poses, the young artist proves his authenticity. --Thomas May

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rufus Wainwright's Brilliant Journey of Self Discovery, June 13, 2001

By	cdset "cdset" (Saylorsburg, PA United States) - See all my reviews

"Poses" continues Rufus Wainwright's brilliant and insightful journey of self discovery that he began in his compelling debut CD. While, on the first CD, he saw the world through an aching, burning romantic haze with an almost unbearable intensity, "Poses" mutes that intensity just like adulthood tones down youthful passions and replaces them with realistic insight as to how the world truly functions.

"Cigarettes and Choclate Milk" is the perfect song with which to frame this journey. It is precisely the "cravings" mentioned in the song that lead him to the heartbreak and emptiness that he so poignantly expresses in the remainder of the tunes on the CD. "I suggest reading of a 'lesson in tightropes' or 'Adios Kansas', he cries, as the world he has seen on his journey is not what he expected or wanted.

The song "Poses" beautifully articulates the emptiness he feels in the world in which he has found himself. "I did go from wanting to be someone...now I'm drunk and wearing flip flops on Fifth Avenue..." In "Shadows" he laments, "I could be a great star..I'm far from happy."

Although his romantic spirit has been dampened by the harshness of the world, he has not lost it entirely. Deep down inside he knows that love is the "copious prize". "The sights of Paris pale inside your iris..I saw it in your eyes what I'm looking for..," he croons in "The Tower of Learning"- sentiments as unabashedly romantic as any lyrics on his debut CD.

"One man Guy" serves a double purpose. This beautiful folkish melody written by his father illustrates the self reliance he was forced to learn all through his journey, but it also reinforces the romantic ideal that he truly has not lost.

Rufus Wainwright is undoubtedly one of the most gifted musical artists of his generation, and this extraordinary CD, with its lush musical arrangements and penetrating, reflective lyrics just serves to confirm this. I think he has only just begun to mine his enormous talent.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good music is good music, January 22, 2002

By	John C. Lynch (Chapel Hill, NC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I had never heard of Rufus Wainwright before I saw him singing
with Sean Lennon in the John Lennon tribute concert on TV
(fall of 2001). I was impressed by the strength of his voice,
and that he was singing with Sean Lennon seemed like a strong
endorsement to me. So I went on line and read the reviews of
his disks and picked this one up based on the the rave reviews.
I am not disappointed.

I mean, wow.

There is incredible talent here. The songwriting is beautiful
and as well crafted as anything Ben Folds, Elvis Costello, Michael
Penn or Aimee Mann (just to name a few of the songwriters I like and
who might be crafty in a vaguely similar way that Wainwright
is). And the arrangements are simply astounding. Is
Wainrwright entirely responsible for everything on this album,
or do Alex Gifford, Ethan Johns and Damian Legassick deserve
a share of the credit? I don't know, but the whole thing works.

It's deep. It lush. It's grand. It pops. It rolls. It sticks
in your head. Great great stuff, this.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars About the Chelsea Boy, July 12, 2003

By	Stephanie E. Weiss (NY, MA, Ireland.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Pick up any Britmag and the phrase "singer-songwriter" is tossed around carelessly; THIS is a singer-songwriter. Rufus Wainwright has an ear for a great classic melody, the talent to arrange and orchestrate it, a voice that is unique (and may take getting use to for some the way Morrisey's did in the 80's); his range is wonderful, control exquisite, and taste impecable. I've been listening to Rufus for a month now and his albums (this and his first, plus some singles) haven't left the player. Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk strikes you right away and gets richer with the playing; So too does Greek Song and Poses. Each song in turn reveals itself to be durable to repeated listening. I've been looking for a new great "band" for some time now and Rufus is the real thing.