| 100 |
Entertainment Weekly
With Broadway-worthy new standards, and a strong supporting cast, Wainwright delivers a flawless, flip-flopless performance. [8 June 2001, p.76]
|
| 88 |
Spin Cycle
Part torch song, part Broadway, part cabaret, "Poses" is as theatrical as its animated creator is in performance.
|
| 86 |
Pitchfork
An epic album that speaks with grand gestures and a refined eloquence rare in young songwriters.
|
| 80 |
Launch.com
With an elastic talent--lyrically witty, vocally gifted, compositionally unusual--and a vague hyperactivity that keeps all the beach balls in the air simultaneously, Wainwright likes nothing more than trying on playful exteriors to match his churning insides.
|
| 80 |
Q Magazine
It's full of clever rhymes and couplets, overflowing with wit and evocative charm, all set to the kind of arrangements that Harry Nilsson always dreamed of. [Aug 2001, p.142]
|
| 80 |
Dot Music
'Poses', his second terrific album, is a collection of 12 songs in search of a musical; arch tales that mingle snapshots of boho life with arch allusions to courtly love.
|
| 80 |
Alternative Press
Although ever so slightly more modern in feel than his critically adored 1998 self-titled debut, Poses is still built upon Wainwright's mastery of highly composed, early-20th-century popular-song styles. [July 2001, p.86]
|
| 80 |
Magnet
While there's certainly nothing on Poses so riveting as to signify a rock revolution, there's something to be said for the virtue of a simple crooner operating at the top of his game. [#51, p.122]
|
| 80 |
The Onion (A.V. Club)
As before, absolute consistency eludes Wainwright. Some mid-album selections suffer in comparison to standouts like the title track and the future sing-along "One Man Guy." But, also as before, his unique gifts make it difficult to mind.
|
| 80 |
CDNow
Indulging in various vices, imagining exotic locales, and pining after the bad boy, he is now more worldly and wise; it makes for a more textured -- if not as immediately winning -- album.
|
| 80 |
Sonicnet
Overall, Poses is more daring (and, at times, more mellow) than its predecessor, mostly because Wainwright has densely packed images and sounds in a way that is less immediately catchy and more complex.
|
| 80 |
HOB.com
It's impressive enough that Wainwright doesn't have the whole orchestra playing at once. But his well thought out arrangements are only the finishing touches on songs that would have held up even if he was given little more than a guitar and a pocket tape recorder to work with.
|
| 80 |
New Musical Express
Like the works of other great swooners from Cole Porter to The Divine Comedy, 'Poses' is held together by its maker's maniacal attention to detail and conceptual strength.
|
| 80 |
Rolling Stone
Despite Poses' multiple producers, there are more clean, clever ideas of arrangement here than on Wainwright's cluttered debut.
|
| 70 |
Mojo
On first listen Poses feels diffuse and unfocused. [Jul 2001, p.108]
|
| 70 |
Spin
Wainwright never runs short on clever conceit. [Jul 2001, p.130]
|
| 60 |
Blender
His ornate, piano-driven arrangements cite a wide variety of musical sources, from indie pop to Gershwin to trip-hop and back again. [Jun/Jul 2001, p.116]
|
