Lady Gaga - Born This Way: The Collection CD

Born This Way: The Collection CD music Adele's 2009 debut album, 19, was a Grammy-winning smash hit that revealed the British singer/songwriter's knack for bittersweet soul and folk-infused love songs that brought to mind an infectious mix of Dusty Springfield and Terry Callier. The album earned her a ton of fans, and interest was high for the inevitable follow-up. In many ways, her sophomore album, the similarly age-appropriate-titled 21, is a continuation of the sounds and themes Adele was working with on 19. She is still the bluesy pop diva with a singer/songwriter's soul and seemingly bottomless capacity for heartbreak. The best thing the album does is to showcase Adele's titanic vocal ability, which -- more than a few times on 21 -- is simply spine-tingling. Last time around we got the gauzy, Callier-esque folk-soul ballad "Daydreamer" to slowly draw us into the album; here, Adele immediately injects us with the propulsive gospel fever-blues anthem "Rolling in the Deep." While the track certainly owes a heavy debt to the punk-blues of Beth Ditto and the Gossip, it is also ridiculously sexy and one of the best singles of any decade. Elsewhere, we get tracks like the blues-inflected Ryan Tedder co-write "Rumour Has It" and the old-school-style soul cut "He Won't Go," which are terrifically catchy, booty-shaking numbers and exactly the kind of songs you want and expect from Adele. Similarly enthralling is the centerpiece of the album, the mega-ballad showstopper "Take It All." Co-written by her "Chasing Pavements" partner Francis White, the song begins with Adele proclaiming "Didn't I give it all?" Delivered starkly at first with Adele set against simple piano accompaniment and later backed by a gospel choir, it's an instant-classic sort of song in the tradition of "The Rose," "And I Am Telling You I Am Not Going," and "All by Myself" that could stand over the years as a career landmark for the singer and a cathartic moment for fans who identify with their idol's Pyrrhic lovelorn persona. Ultimately, Adele does give us her all on 21, and for now that is enough. ~ Matt Collar Editor: Dana Nielsen. Photographer: Lauren Dukoff. Personnel: Adele (vocals). Recording information: AirStudios, London, England; Angel Studios, London, England; Eastcote Studios, London, England; Harmony Studios, West Hollywood, CA; metropolis Studios, London, England; Myaudiotonic Studios, London, England; Patriot Studios, Denver, CO; Serenity Sound, Hollywood, CA; Shangri La Studios, Malibu, CA; Sphere Studios, London, England; Wendyhouse Productions, London, ...

Born This Way: The Collection buy CD music The times were crying out for a pop star like Lady GaGa -- a self-styled, self-made shooting star, one who mocked the tabloid digital age while still wanting to wallow in it -- and one who's smart enough to pull it all off, too. That self-awareness and satire were absent in the pop of the new millennium, where even the best of the lot operated only on one level, which may be why Lady GaGa turned into such a sensation in 2009: everybody was thirsty for music like this, music for and about their lives, both real and virtual. To a certain extent, the reaction to The Fame may have been a little too enthusiastic, with GaGa turning inescapable sometime in the summer of 2009, when she appeared on countless magazine covers while both Weezer and DAUGHTRY covered "Pokerface," the rush to attention suggesting that she was the second coming of Madonna, a comparison GaGa cheerfully courts and one that's accurate if perhaps overextended. Like the marvelous Madge, Lady GaGa ushers the underground into the mainstream -- chiefly, a dose of diluted Peaches delivered via a burbling cauldron of electro-disco -- by taming it just enough so it's given the form of pop yet remains titillating. Sure, GaGa sings of disco sticks, bluffin' with her muffin, and rough sex, but her provocation doesn't derive solely from her words: this is music that sounds thickly sexy with its stainless steel synths and dark disco rhythms. Where GaGa excels, and why she crossed over, is how she doesn't leave all this as a collection of hooks and rhythms, she shapes them into full-blown pop songs, taking the time to let the album breathe with chillout ballads and percolating new wave, like the title track that echoes Gwen Stefani in dance diva mode. But where Gwen simply celebrates celeb consumer culture, GaGa bites, her litany of runway models, pornographic girls, and body plastic delivered with an undercurrent of disdain, even as she loves all the glitz. This dichotomy propels much of The Fame, particularly on the clever "Paparazzi," where she casts herself as the photographic parasite chasing after her crush, but none of this meta text would work if the songs didn't click, functioning simultaneously as glorious pop trash and a wicked parody of it. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine Personnel: Lady Gaga (vocals, keyboards, synthesizer); Colby O'Donis (vocals); Flo Rida, Space Cowboy (rap vocals); Red One (various instruments, programming); Tom Kafafian (guitar); Calvin Gaines (bass guitar, programming); Victor Bailey (bass guitar); Joe Tomino (drums).

Born This Way: The Collection songs Initially planned solely as a standard double-disc reissue in the wake of the blockbuster success of The Fame, Lady Gaga decided to release the new material as a separate EP called The Fame Monster in addition to the standard two-CD set, where it's tacked onto a now standardized version of her debut. It's a nice move for fans, plus it helps emphasize the new material, which does act as a bridge from the debut to a forthcoming full-length. Everything on The Fame Monster bears a galvanized Eurotrash finish, as evident on the heavy steel synths of "Bad Romance" and the updated ABBA revision "Alejandro," as it is on the rock & roll ballad "Speechless" -- its big guitars lifted from Noel Gallagher -- and the wonderful, perverse march "Teeth." Even the stuttering splices on "Telephone," a duet with Beyoncé, leans to the other side of the Atlantic, which just emphasizes the otherness that's become Gaga's calling card. And even as she's becoming omnipresent, with her songs mingling with those who co-opt her on the radio, she is still slightly skewed, willing to go so far over the top she goes beyond camp, yet still channeling it through songs that are written, not just hooks. The Fame Monster builds upon those strengths exhibited on The Fame, offering a credible expansion of the debut and suggesting she's not just a fleeting pop phenomenon. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine Additional Tracks; Deluxe Edition Recording information: 150 Studios, Parsippany, NJ; 2nd Floor Studios, Los Angeles, CA; 333 Studios, New York, NY; Chalice, Los Angeles, CA; Cherrytree Recording Studios; Darkchild Studios, Los Angeles; Dojo Studios, New York, NY; FC Walvisch, Amsterdam; Metropolis, London, UK; Poe Boy Studios, Miami, FL; Record Plant, Los Angeles. Photographer: Hedi Slimane. Personnel: Lady Gaga (vocals, piano, keyboards, synthesizer); Colby O'Donis (vocals); Tom Kafafian (guitar); Joe Tomino (drums); RedOne, Calvin Gaines (programming); Flo Rida, Space Cowboy, Victor Bailey. Audio Mixer: Robert Orton.