Album Review

The deluxe edition of Lady Gaga's The Fame was issued as a two-CD set titled The Fame Monster. It included both the full-length album and an eight-song EP (which was also released separately). The new material acts as a nice bridge from the debut to a forthcoming full-length. Everything on the Fame Monster EP 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 that 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 that she’s not just a fleeting pop phenomenon. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi