Product Description

Second album of folk-pop from the son of Loudon Wainwright III. More stripped-down than his self-titled 1998 debut, butstill showcasing his classic songwriting style. Features a collaboration with the Propellerheads' Alex Gifford and a cover of his dad's 'One Man Guy'.

Track Listing

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1078 in Music
• Released on: 2001-06-04
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 53 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Poses, Rufus Wainwright's second album, is a modest work in comparison with his self-titled 1998 debut. For all its baroque qualities, particularly Van Dyke Parks' arrangements that made Pet Sounds sound like a tossed-off exercise, his first album was an instant favourite for those attuned to its uniquely knowing romanticism. Poses seems to present a Wainwright less interested in showing off. Along with that self-effacement, unfortunately, comes an occasionally dulled sense of melody, with the ironic result that the new disc's stripped-down approach isn't likely to add many new fans to the club. The magic isn't gone, but it is attenuated; Propellerheads' Alex Gifford's meld of strings and beat-boxing on the one track he produced, "Shadows," ends up more of a diversion than a fully engaging trek off Wainwright's previous path. Poses is a not-bad album with some nice touches (a cover of dad Loudon III's "One Man Guy", the mocking of his own decadence on "California"), but its competence hardly reflects Rufus Wainwright's full measure of style and substance. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews

A must have
I simply adore this Album. It was the first of his albums i purchased, because of such good reviews in music magazines, and it really doesn't disapoint. One of my favorite albums! Buy it!!

A revelation!
I am ashamed to say i knew nothing of Rufus until the closing credits of a certain episode of Queer As Folk (U.S.) and was reduced to tears by Poses! I was blown away and haven't recovered yet! I got the album the next day, then the next album, and the next! - and then the DVD... I couldn't get my head around the music or him, and it's that 'unassimilateability' that keeps me hooked. I find him and it to be full of contradictions: he'll write a turn of phrase that makes me think of the Mamas & Papas and then follows it with a phrase of sheer inspiration. He'll write something that i would send back in a GCSE composition but follow it up with utter profundity. (Track 1 starts with utter triviality and becomes a song i'll never forget!) He does things that shouldn't work musically but put a hole in your heart.
In short, what a breath of eternally fascinating, honest and touching fresh-air. The colour he brings to my life i would not be without.

If you want to try something new!
What an unusual album - and all the more refreshing and interesting for it. It's hard to compare it to anything else currently doing the rounds and put me more in mind of 1970s cabaret singers - reminiscent of Billy Joel's Piano Man, with a touch of Jeff Buckley. That's not meant to put you off - Rufus' voice is gorgeous and the opening song, Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk, is a piece of genius.
The album deserves more than one listen - it's not an immediate grabber but it's definitely got potential as a grower.