Lady Gaga has risen to the peak of the pop star world in just two years. Managing to generate staying power and interest within the highly dispensable genre, she’s somehow found a way to charge two hundred dollars for her sold-out arena shows despite having only one and a half albums to her name. The wet dream of gossip columnists, and flamboyant champion of the flamboyantly gay, what the hell is it about her heavily synthesized music that’s turned her into such a juggernaut?
It’s part inspiration, part liberal borrowing, and part her being a good pianist; Gaga’s one-off performances of her songs on talk shows and radio programs (check Youtube) are far more interesting to listen to than the songs as they appear on her albums. Fame Monster is a much more polished and pleasing product that its predecessor. Straight away, the first three tracks are criminally catchy, sappily romantic dance songs, one of which was strikingly familiar on the very first listen…
I was fortunate enough to spend my entire childhood listening to the records of ABBA, easily one of the best pop groups that ever was. And the second track of Fame Monster, Alejandro, is a composite song of several of ABBA’s singles and melodies, and feels much like electronic re-creation of ABBA’s style, and if ABBA hadn’t fallen by the wayside a decade ago, I’m sure some kind of stink would have been raised over this, but alas.
Speechless is both refreshing, and a sore thumb juxtaposed to the rest of the album. A piano/rock ballad doesn’t fit very well on a sexualized dance album, nor does the use of acoustic piano and drums, and electric guitars with weeping riffs. And it’s after Speechless that the album kind of falls apart. Dance in the Dark and Telephone feel like a rehashed return to the styles of the first three tracks, in a not-so-good sloppy seconds kind of way. So Happy I Could Die almost gets it right, but oddly emphasized masturbation references and an out of place hook of ‘Aay’s’ and ‘Yay-hah’s’ interrupt the slow and mellow groove of the song. Lastly, Teeth is a strange country-gospel-blues song that manages to have a full brass section playing above the synthesizer bass that Gaga seems unable to leave home without.
Fame Monster is half great and half unsuccessful experiment. Fortunately, the good and bad parts are already neatly organized from the start to save you the trouble. It’s kind of sad though, because nothing on any of these songs is as good as this bare-bones variation of Paparazzi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3R3KqrJAI4 She doesn’t need all these programmed beats and overdubbed vocals to play great music, and her album works are definitely performing below her potential. Hopefully her future work will show some of the musical complexity that she’s really capable of.
First, of all, thank you for doing a review on Gaga. Gold star for you :) I agree that it is almost strange that she has such a huge following with only one and a half albums to her name, but clearly it's not just the music people are interested in. They love her for her fearless and crazy fashion, her love and outspoken views of the gay community, and her ability to put on a kick-ass show.
ReplyDeleteI saw her in Boston last December and again at the Garden in July. I will also be going to her next show on March 8th. Have you ever been to one of her concerts? They are amazing. She gets everyone into each song and speaks to the audience as if she actually knows each and every one of them. She tells you to free your mind and get lost in the music, and it is really just a crazy feeling. I can't wait for 'Born This Way,' which I believe will be released in early 2011.
As for 'The Fame Monster,' I found it both similar and different from 'The Fame.' Bad Romance has a great video, but is completely played out by now. Alejandro's video channels Madonna, but is nonetheless catchy. Telephone's video is fucking awesome, and I remember waiting for it to premiere on E! a few months ago. My blog is named after a lyric from 'So Happy I Could Die,' "stars in our eyes cuz we're havin a good time."
Monster, Speechless, and Teeth are my favorite tracks on the record. Monster and Speechless have great and surprising lyrics- "he ate my heart and then he ate my brain," "raise a glass to mend all the broken hearts of all my wrecked up friends," and cannot simply be listened to once. Teeth...I don't even know. Something about it is just so awesome to me. At her concerts she SCREAMS at the audience to show her their teeth, and I just love the pounding drums in the background, not to mention the lyric, "my religion is you."
Great review, Denny! Paws up :)
Lady Gaga, always a hit.
ReplyDeleteStef, thank you so much! I think that Ms Stefani Germanotta has both a very stupid stage name and a lot of potential contributions to be made yet. I don't like her constant use of synth, and -everybody's- constant use of synth. Listen to the old ABBA stuff, Bee Gees, Village People et cetera, they used guitar, piano, violin, horns, proper drums, and freakishly tight four-part harmonies to make their music, not computers and Pro Tools presets. That 'acoustic' version of Paparazzi that was played on an electric piano is some of her more interesting work, because she's got to get the full scope of the highly produced album track from one instrument, and it actually displays her talent as a performance musician, and not as a composer/studio wizard.
ReplyDeleteAs for her show in March, I'm almost certainly not going because 1 - I'm not going to a show like that unless I'm in the pit which 2 - costs way too much and 3 - unless I get a really good deal on stub hub, that's not going to be a ticked I'm willing to pay for. I'm sure it's a fantastic show, and I take comfort in the fact that I was dead-fucking-front and dead-fucking-center for Muse at the Garden last March. THAT was a hell of a show. Laser orgy in my eyes for two hours...