Lady Gaga
The Fame
Ever since Madonna used video to make her presence felt in the pop music scene, there has been the performer’s option of taking her route to attention and probably success. The music is secondary to the skills of the costumiers, the film editors, the locations, the images. It’s almost a bonus if the music itself has any quality.
Taking your stage name from one of pop’s dumbest, oafish ‘anthems’ and adopting the peroxide and burlesque makeup of Madonna doesn’t really bode well, does it, dear readers ? If we really NEED another Madonna, did anyone ask us first ? First impression of Lady Gaga’s creations are that machines make up most of the sound and fast video editing is trying to make up for lack of content. Stepping back, why shouldn’t the dance clubbers have acts they like ? No crime has been committed, a grudging admission from a man who would have locked up the Jive Bunny crew….
I remember this New York girl as a brunette who played keyboards and dressed like a refugee from a B-52s tribute act ; now she appears as a posing blonde and apparent darling of the dance scene, so the best of luck to her. Here in England, lead track ‘Just Dance’ has been a huge hit and soundtracked Saturday night out preparation for its target audience. This summer you will certainly see hundreds of Gaga wannabees in every shopping mall, the younger sisters of the Amy Winelodge imitators with their comic-book tattooed arms and legs and sallow faces.
The strange thing is that although her image shouts hidden shallows, Lady Gaga can actually sing really well, as evidenced by a recent live tv show appearance. If you’re looking for lyrics on important social issues or deep relationship assessments, this just isn’t your stop ? more attention seems to be paid to the striking garments Lady Gaga (almost) wears than anything else and certainly more than to the subject matter of the tunes.
Gaga is not the first pop star to love being the centre of attention more than anything else, she won’t be the last and while she shifts units and gathers acres of newsprint, she will surely be indulged.
‘LoveGame’ is plain annoying, though well-sung. She’s great at selecting comfortable keys which cannot be said for all artists. ‘Paparazzi’ does swing but those buzzy synths kill it as a listenable song and the lyric seems to celebrate the vulture snappers. The piano on ‘Paper Gangsta’ comes as a relief after the flatulent synths. ‘Brown Eyes’ is a gentle piece and shows what might have been, the electro trappings kept at bay and a dirty guitar cruising through the number. ‘Summerboy’ is a decent closer and closer to Sam Sparro who works in this field but has much more going for him and cracking band as well. A tuneful Gaga vocal and a much more musical arrangement.
Promo videos are out there for other cuts ie ‘Poker Face’ and ‘Eh Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)’ and in these she poses by a swimming pool and in Italy..it’s a tough life. Title track ‘The Fame’ and other songs like ‘Starstruck’, ‘Money Honey’ and ‘Beautiful, Dirty, Rich’ underline the subject matter of the compositions ? Lady Gaga, her friends and what Lady Gaga wants. Producer Vincent Herbert keeps the electro-pop snappy arrangements tapping along and whilst the album doesn’t sound cheap per se, there are no moments where the listener feels musical adventurousness has been on the agenda. In that respect the album is on a par with recent Britney product..the accompaniment to drinking in bars.
To be this focused at age 22 shows a worldliness few of us could match. She does look great, interviews well if in a guarded fashion and this is her moment, after a few years of mixed fortunes. As she says ?If you’re interested in making a life in art, you’d better be ready for the struggle ? there’s a lot of it.?
Notice she refers to ‘art’ and not ‘entertainment’ ? SO New York
Pete Sargeant www.fairhearing.co.uk
