The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
CD Reviews  |  Classical  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features
Nominate-best-2010

Lady Gaga | The Fame

Interscope (2008)
By DANIEL BROCKMAN  |  October 22, 2008
3.0 3.0 Stars
ladygagaINSIDE.jpg
It seems so long ago now, that brief time in the late ’90s when virginal Britneys and Xtinas uttered chaste vows to members of high-profile boy bands in a Garden of Eden littered with Catholic school-girl outfits and Grammy nominations. And it’s high time we acknowledged that we are now living after the fall: if the newest crop of aspiring pop divas is any indication, the gloves are off and promiscuity is back. Stefania Gabriella Germanotta a/k/a Lady GaGa (like the Queen ’80s hit “Radio GaGa” — she cites Freddie Mercury as a key influence) has a similar backstory to those Mouseketeers mentioned above: a precocious childhood filled with high-profile gigs and early involvement from major-label heavies. “Let’s have some fun, this beat is sick/I want to take a ride on your disco stick” (from “Love Game”) might be the trashiest-yet-awesomest refrain I’ve heard on a major-label record this year. With production help from DJ Space Cowboy, the mastermind behind Nadia Oh’s criminally ignored smut-diva magnum opus Hot like Wow, GaGa ups the ante in terms of catchy songwriting and sheer high-in-the-club-banging-to-the-beat abandon. “I’m not loose, I like to party/Let’s get lost in your Ferrari” from “Boys Boys Boys” seems like an inversion of Mötley Crüe, and so do the descending pianos of “Brown Eyes,” the song’s “Home Sweet Home” vibe being completed with its glam guitar dénouement. 
Related: Review: Lady Gaga at the Wang, Girl gone wild, The Big Hurt: Brand new Dio; same old Yoko; auguries of Creed, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Entertainment, Music, Nadia Oh,  More more >
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • RSS feed
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article
HTML Prohibited
Add Comment

[ 02/09 ]   "Haitian Relief Concert"  @ Hard Rock Café
[ 02/09 ]   Triplefunk Trio  @ Alchemist Lounge
[ 02/09 ]   Marc Ryser  @ Williams Hall at New England Conservatory
[ 02/09 ]   Callithumpian Consort  @ Jordan Hall
[ 02/09 ]   "Evolution Tuesdays"  @ Rumor
ARTICLES BY DANIEL BROCKMAN
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   JAPANIMAYHEM  |  February 09, 2010
    Japanese acts attempting to interface with Western audiences often do so from behind a veil of inscrutability. Never mind that Japanese artists emerge from an alternate J-rock history that seldom intersects with ours. Tokyo's enduring Polysics have bridged this gap by expressing themselves as plainly as possible: with screaming, bouncing, eyeball-popping pogo pop so spastic that it breaks the language barrier.
  •   REVIEW: LA ROUX AT THE PARADISE  |  February 03, 2010
    "I could have been singing this at the Grammys — but I'm here with you tonight," declared Elly Jackson, the public face of La Roux, with a detectable dash of annoyance folded into several dollops of playful sarcasm.
  •   FOUR TET | THERE IS LOVE IN YOU  |  February 02, 2010
    In the five years since Kieran Hebden a/k/a Four Tet last dropped a full-length, the playing field has been seriously leveled for sample-based electronic music.
  •   CHOIR POWER  |  February 02, 2010
    The Romantic notion of artistic merit is that one must plumb the depths of despair to emerge with great work — and that the finest triumphs are often born of the direst misery.
  •   BLACKSHAW'S GOOD VIBRATIONS  |  January 26, 2010
    Blackshaw's low-key career has evolved as organically as one of his songs: at 28, the Londoner has amassed a body of instrumental guitar music that defies tidy categorization. What he does isn't really folk, jazz, or new age — and it's far too accessible to be mistaken for avant-garde.

 See all articles by: DANIEL BROCKMAN

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2010 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group