So the album is leaked, though I haven't heard it, and the word comes down from the rock critics on high high and here it is: A Three star, a B+, ok, really pretty good, but not all that.
I have heard what you've heard and I think it is a disappointment but it would be. Those who have heard it think… well, here is what Darryl Sterdan of Canada's QMI Agency had to say: "a fuzzy disco thump-thump anthems sprinkled with absurd button-pushing lyrics and blatant nods to artists like Madonna, Queen, Def Leppard, Elton John and even Bruce Springsteen." And my bet is that will be about right.
Lady Gaga's problem here is as follows: there is no "Bad Romance" or "Telephone", there is nothing to really carry the album and nothing to make the truth to claim that THIS IS THE ONE.
There is a disconnect between what I'm listening to and what I'm being told I'm listening to. I love disco and have zero problems with an album filled with "Hair" and "The Edge of Glory". Saving the world with a pop album is an ORGANIC enterprise: you can't wish it in Surely, it is enough even for an insufferable egotist like Stefani. Appearances notwithstanding, Like A Virgin was not the self-conscious pop stroke it appeared to be. Much less so The Fame.
More once I hear the sucker. But PS I love the horns on "The Edge Of Glory".