[Mess] "Lady Gaga carries fading Tony Bennett on unmemorable collaboration"

[Jan 219]

This guy is 8 months late   

Why now?   

 

 

http://oxfordstudent.com/2015/05/13/lady-gaga-and-tony-bennett-dont-mean-a-thing/

By Benjamin Huston on 13/05/2015

I’m not a fan of Lady Gaga or Tony Bennett. What’s more, I’m inherently sceptical about any big album release of swing standards by superstar singers. It’s too easy these days to default to sycophantic vocal mush half-disguised by generic arrangements for an underutilised big band (yes, Michael Bublé, I’m thinking of you). Regardless, I promise to keep an open mind.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, this album plays it safe. There are 11 songs but the total playing time is just over half an hour and five of the tracks are under three minutes long. Many of the performances are padded out with instrumental solos, all of which add colour to the overall offering, but I would have preferred a bolder use of the band as a whole in shout sections and there is certainly time for them to have done so. The best number is definitely the last: It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing). Unlike most of the others, there is a sense of a true progression with the arrangement which increasingly involves the band in an exciting crescendo to the end. On the whole, the arrangements might have tried a great deal more: phrases in the upper register for the trumpet section, more loosely enforced rhythms and improvised instrumental fills.

However, at a basic level, the only criteria that truly matters in this genre is the impression of how much of a good time the singers and musicians seem to be having. Unfortunately, this album sounds like a collection of well-rehearsed impressions of jazz standards rather than originals. There isn’t the sense that anyone has a true connection to the music or takes any risks in their performance. The instrumental solos all sound roughly the same and there is little or no room for improvisation in the accompanying sections. In essence, this is a charmless offering: easy to listen to but mechanical.

And then there is the question of the vocalists. I’m slightly surprised to have to say that Lady Gaga completely carries Tony Bennett. His vocals are too often flat, strained and with little or no colour or expression, which are all the signs of a singer near retirement. Lady Gaga’s performance is pretty much the polar opposite: pitch perfect, flexible and expressive. Firefly demonstrates this perfectly. Bennett’s opening vocals border on painfully out of tune, but as soon as Lady Gaga takes over the piece is somewhat redeemed – she handles the acrobatic rhythms and difficult intervals with style and the band comes alive behind her. Her solo effort for Lush Life also deserves considerable praise and shows the versatility of her voice on all the important levels of jazz singing. Her command of the open tempo and sparse texture is really very nuanced, her voice at points fragile and lilting and at others rich with powerful vibrato. However, in some of the musical numbers she attempts too much and her vocal interpretation isn’t consistent throughout. In the first number, Anything Goes, she begins with a relaxed and open characterisation which suddenly turns harsh and nasal. Having said that, I’d rather try too much than default to Bennett’s uninteresting drawl.

In all, this is an enjoyable album with some good moments, particularly from Lady Gaga. However, if you want to get into the genre of swing, jazz and musical vocal classics, you’re better off going to the old masters: Ella Fitzgerald, Fred Astaire, Billie Holiday or Ol’ Blue Eyes (Frank Sinatra) himself.

[Coop 15,145]

tl;dr 

But slay (I hope it's a positive review) 

[Dolev 866]

too l8 they won a grammy

 

[Jan 219]

tl;dr 

But slay (I hope it's a positive review) 

​It is not :air:

[Coop 15,145]

​It is not :air:

 

[Jan 219]

 

​Actually I just read it and it's surprisingly positive toward Gaga though.

[Gagadisiak 535]

Poor Tony :( 

[1986 629]

[MonsterMum 2,532]

He did Tony so wrong 

[Henry 2,374]

"His vocals are too often flat, strained and with little or no colour or expression, which are all the signs of a singer near retirement."

"Bennett’s opening vocals border on painfully out of tune"

Mess. Leave Tony ALONE 

[Bad Bromance 5,809]

First of all, this guy is 8 months late.  Second of all, how could he be so scathing towards Tony???!!!  Tony did an amazing job on this album, as did Gaga.

It's his opinion, I guess.  At the end of the day, Gaga and Tony won a Grammy for their collaboration along with endless praise.  

[Wild 1,296]

I agree with nearly everything the article says especially in regards to Gaga vocally outshining Tony. 

[kevinthesheep 2,947]

I think people forget that tony bennett is 88 years old? He is a legend and this review is a disgrace 

[Yves 1,891]

Not them scalping Tony.  

[Battle 4 Ur Life 6,096]

1st he actually praises Gaga.

but he drags the album in a way only a bored frustrated-because-I-don't-get-as-much-sleep-as-I-should oxfordstudent .com would do. this guy is anything but a critic.