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.
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TRACK LISTINGS
Disc 1
1 Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk (4:44)
2 Greek Song (3:56)
3 Poses (5:02)
4 Shadows (5:35)
5 California (3:23)
6 The Tower of Learning (4:47)
7 Grey Gardens (3:08)
8 Rebel Prince (3:44)
9 The Consort (4:25)
10 One Man Guy (3:31)
11 Evil Angel (4:43)
12 In a Graveyard (2:22)
13 Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk (Reprise) (4:00)
14 Across the Universe (4:10)
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