A spellbinding departure from her last let down, pop diva Lady Gaga may have needed a grandfather figure to reinvent herself. Whereas that release, ARTPOP, was something of an aesthetic disappointment, (though, to be fair, it charted significantly well), her latest collaboration with Tony Bennett proves that even without the pop artifice, Gaga and Bennett are a pair that can fool just about anyone.
When news of Cheek to Cheek dropped, the consensus wasn't all too inviting. Again, the mistress of the meat dress had not achieved the same sort of success with ARTPOP that she had with her previous LPs. Having failed to strike the same chord with her listeners, it was unclear what was to come next.
The duo's video for "The Lady is a Tramp" hit the YouTube circuit and took off, nurturing a new side of the diva that not many had seen. Gaga was making it clear, however, that she'd been accustomed to jazz from an early age.
At 88, there are no such reservations with Bennett's claim to sophistication. And this album duly notes that Gaga haters can push that book somewhere else; it doesn't seem like anyone's going to buy her lack of sincerity, or fluency within the idiom, here.
Tunes like "Nature Boy" meander through a washed out jazz concerto that sounds, itself, like the color blue. With splashy cymbal rides, violins churning in the distance and a dash of winds blowing from the aisle, the song, as Billboard nailed it, has a "smoldering vibrato" (with a special contribution from flutist Paul Horn).
For the litters of lushes that line the bars at 2 a.m. and beyond, the number "Lush Life" demonstrates Gaga's accessible crooning over Billy Strayhorn's classic. It's almost like a long lament that never seems to fully find a way to cry. Instead, the tears are found in the trepidation of Gaga's careful rendering.
Historical context aside, "They All Laughed" is a kind of feel-good ballad. Lyrics like "They all laughed when Edison recorded sound" and even "they all laughed at Christopher Columbus when he said the world was round," ring in a catchiness far from the likes of any popular artist today. It's just the right amount of cliché thats blended for proper assimilation (not unlike Ella Fitzgerald's storied rendition).
A new take on the standard "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing" is exactly the kind of high-energy wrap-up needed to conclude the Cheek party. Bennett and Gaga doo wopping back and forth revives both tracklist and soul. And at the end, like a New Year's Eve party still to come, the disc ends with a loosened tie, heels-kicked-to-the-side vibe.
Other standout tracks range from the Gaga/Bennett swirl include "Firefly," where the erstwhile Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta shows her knack for vocal theater. "Sophisticated Lady" allows Bennett to talk directly to Gaga, and, no, it is not "meta" at all. Perhaps the narrative follows her having lost a sense of chic identity, but Bennett finds a way to take a step back and sing like he's echoing history.
Hardly a bad romance in the studio, the pair haven't missed a step in their swing. Bennett can't be stopped. And Gaga doesn't need any of the wishy-washy stage antics to keep her contributions interesting or relevant. Moreover, the cleverness and charisma that come care of "Let's Face the Music and Dance" bring a new culture to a lost world of musicianship.
Ultimately, there's no mistaking the value Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett add to the Great American Songbook. Cole Porter and Irving Berlin were once staples of early-century American song sculpture, and it's indeed a treat to hear them again here.
Cheek to Cheek is out now, and as Ms. Gaga said to B98.5, a slew of jazz albums could be set to release once a year for, well, forever.
I, for one, certainly hope so.
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