Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster review

2 comments | Published by Rach Read |

Can someone tell us how Lady Gaga has managed to pull off a re-release that is as good as, if not better, than the original album? As you can gather from that sentence, The Fame Monster is a total triumph. At a tight eight tracks, we lose the less convincing moments that propped up The Fame (dullard stab at R n’ B Paper Gangsta, one honky-tonk ballad too many in Again, Again) and instead get pure, unadulterated Gaga displaying her total mastery of the pop genre whilst her voice turns tricks to cover every synonym for singing (belt, warble, snarl, wail – they’re all here!). Track-by-track review below.

Bad Romance – full review here (and the song’s still fantastic a few weeks on).

Alejandro – having cleared up the Great Gaga Accent Debate of 09, you can read our full thoughts here (and the song’s still fantastic a few weeks on).

Monster – unusually, the best part about this song is not the chorus (a slightly repetitive, if addictive, ‘that boy’s a monster x4). Instead that honour falls to both the deliriously good stop-starts of the verses, an appetite-whetting bridge, background growls of ‘Wanna talk to her, she’s hot as hell’ and a middle eight so great that it should have been promoted to chorus – ‘We French-kissed on a subway train, he tore my clothes right off, he ate my heart and then he ate my brain!’ A recommendation for staying away from bad boys (or just ones with big cocks ‘I’ve never seen one like that before’ Gaga gasps at the beginning) if ever there was one.

Speechless – Gaga sweeps away all worries that she wasn’t capable of doing ballads by recording a track that comprises the best bits of all her previous attempts (i.e. Brown Eyes, Let Love Down, Wonderful) with an extra dusting of magic dust too. A mountainous number complete with Queen-style guitar solos, Gaga channelling both strength and vulnerability with a voice set to stun and a beautiful stripped-down middle eight (‘…I’ll never write a song/Won’t even sing along…’) – not forgetting that Gaga staple, a catchy chorus. Brilliantly epic. Just watch her performance on Ellen for God’s sake.

Dance In The Dark – amazing crunchy stutter-y synthy dance track. Electro-robot verses segue into a melodic soar of a chorus (‘Baby loves to dance in the dark ‘cos when he’s looking she falls apart’) before the crowning glory of a Vogue-style middle eight rap that name-checks Marilyn Monroe, Sylvia Plath, Liberace and Princess Di (how modern).

Telephone – what tracks aren’t bettered by an unhinged Beyonce rap? Well, it’s some marker of Telephone’s quality to tell you that it would be sublime even without Beyonce screaming that she’s not gonna get her coat any faster if you keep calling. Romping away at ridiculous-beats-per-minute, Telephone is a complete structural hot mess that sounds like it was composed by someone souped-up on Red Bull. Instantly infectious, gloriously unpredictable, manages the seemingly impossible feat of cramming in more ‘eh-eh’s than Gaga’s old song Eh Eh, Nothing I Can Say. My favourite bit is the after-chorus, ‘Can call all you want but there’s no-one home, yeah you’re not gonna reach my telephone’, which is just a delightful ear explosion. Darkchild should be put on Gaga’s speed-dial if he can produce more like this for her next album. Originally meant for Britney (her loss), Gaga’s favour back from Beyonce was Video Phone. …Ummm yeah, thanks for that…

So Happy I Could Die – the weakest track but still quite good. A bit trance-y, lots of ehhhing and yay-ahhing but becomes better once you side-step the attention-grabbing lyrics about masturbation and lesbo crushes and instead notice the Fear of Alcohol Monster lurking which makes the title a whole lot more sinister (check out the interesting MTV videos for more).

Teeth – a stomping military chant with a touch of Broadway about it that whilst being good, never quite reaches the next level. In fact, you could say it lacks a bit of bite. (Ho, ho, ho).

So basically, Gaga’s done the impossible. She’s turned a re-release into prize meat. She’ll be walking on water next… in-between writing amazing songs we hope. The next decade could be hers.

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