Gonna Take a Ride on The Disco Schtick
5 Out of 5 Stars
When one makes machine-pop, where every song is made by the same batch of producers and writers, it is a mighty feat to make yourself stand above the crowd. Lady Gaga, who follows the long tradition of everyone from Yma Sumac to Madonna, elevates herself over the mundanities of popular music by sheer force of personality. Add that she's a prodigy and an expert musician, and you get a sense that "The Fame" is more than just a run-of-the-mill pop album.
It took me a considerable amount of time to warm up the Lady Gaga. The songs on the fame are all state of the moment dance music, and her flamboyance often overshadows just how good these songs are. As co-writer of all the songs here, Gaga is also a step up the creative ladder. She knows a good ear-worm when she pens one, which is why tricky lines in "Pokerface" or "Lovegame" just don't leave your head. Gaga also knows that titillation is just as good as the best hook, so a touch of naughty is as infallible as the best hook. That may be the best lesson she copped from Madonna, but "The Fame" holds its own musically after repeat listens.
She also has enough change-ups to knock aside thoughts that Gaga is nothing but a dance-diva. "Brown Eyes" is the kind of song Gwen Stefani wishes she could still write, and "Eh Eh, Nothing else I can Say" is genial pop. It's clear that Gaga is concerned about the craft of her work, but she also loves the spotlight. It's tough not to invoke Elton John or David Bowie, performers who reinvented their daily life as wild, over the top characters, but Gaga does so repeatedly in her music (of course, in her shows as well). She wants it all, both the fame and the cred, even as she approaches it from the outside in. "The Fame" is, like her or not, the birth of the decade's first serious pop-diva.
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