Lady Gaga
"Joanne"
(Interscope (ASTERISK)(ASTERISK))
Everything with Lady Gaga seems like a piquant gesture rather than a moment of truth or an inner artistic voice. Crooning with Tony Bennett, rhapsodizing about performance artist Marina Abramovic, acting for Ryan Murphy's "American Horror Story" TV series, wearing a pink hat on the cover of her new album _ it's all the same: a bold business decision to portray her in a certain light rather than building an aesthetic from the soul. Though the brilliant "Born This Way" still sounds uniquely driven by demons and divas within, its "Artpop" follow-up was such a mess that "Born" felt accidental.
"Joanne" doesn't quell that sorry sensation, even if its mix of soft Americana, folksy electro, and clarion-clear schmaltz-rock distracts the listener with its oddness. Yes, there's a Madonna manque in "Perfect Illusion," and a Prince tribute in "Hey Girl" (with Florence Welch), but they're forgettable. When she howls of heartbreak on "Sinner's Prayer" (co-penned with Father John Misty), the cowboy-haunted "John Wayne," and the awkward folksy "Angel Down" ("I confess I am lost in the age of the social" ... really?), the album nearly screams its announcement that this Manhattan lass once owned a Gram Parsons album _ or at least one by Shania Twain. What saves "Joanne" is the fact that Gaga can still write the catchiest hooks on the planet (e.g. the heated, honky-tonk "A-Yo") and sing them with power and nuance. Period.
_A.D. Amorosi
