This came out in 2001 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
“Seems like everything I like’s … a little bit harmful for me,” croons Rufus Wainwright on Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk, the cheeky, jauntily tuneful opener to his long-awaited second album Poses. I’m not sure I want to get too acquainted with Mr. Rufus’s vices — but whatever he’s doing, it sure seems to be working.
Like his self-titled debut, Poses is another superlative set of Rufus’s poignant, theatrical pop, smartly decked out in tastefully lush arrangements anchored by his rolling piano style and operatically soaring vocals. Between memorable cuts like Greek Song, Shadows, California and Rebel Prince, you’ll get a bit of Ben Folds, a dash of sunshiney pop, a sampling of torch balladry, some strummy jazz-pop, a whole lot of bittersweet beauty — and even a taste of his old man’s twinkling wit on his folksy cover of dad Loudon’s One Man Guy. If it keeps albums like this coming, give the guy all the chocolate milk and cigarettes — and anything else — he wants.
