Lively Ladies Of Pop

Lady Gaga really exasperates me.  I am all for pious message, but I just feel she always has to have a message in everything she does, and unlike Madonna, she doesn't seem to be having fun in anything. There's a lot of trimming there, but no there there.  I got bored by her Thanksgiving Special, frankly, and four song EP, " A Very Gaga Holiday" didn't do much better for me.  She sings "White Christmas" and complains that it only has one verse (that Irving Berlin is such a hack!) so she makes a second one. Um, she changes the tone and the mood of the piece for the worse. Stick to your day job, Gaga. Her "Oange Colored Sky" is okay, I guess but again I think she tries too hard, too much forced energy, like she is trying to convince us of...something.  And lastly, doesn't her styling on the EP cover remind you of Streisand's Stoney End period?

Thank God for Adele who can surely take the bad Gaga taste in my mouth. On "Adele Live At The Royal Albert Hall," Adele just does the best thing she does: sing. No distractions, no costumes, just that voice. Funny,  some people have said that her songs sound the same, but for me there's so much texture in her singing that they always feel genuine and real,  removing whatever "sameness" there are there. And I think there is enough variety in her repertoire.  There really is no wall-to-wall ballad here. I know that her whole album was "inspired" by her breakup, but I hope she surprises us more with her next album. And for my money, and as evidenced here, she makes one of the most compelling cases for "I Can't Make You Love Me" outside of George Michael's, because strangely enough, Bonnie Raitt's version bores me. I got a little excited when I saw "Right As Rain" on the set list, thinking it was the Arlen song, but, alas no.  And even though I have heard "Someone Like You" more times than humanly possible by now, my heart still skips a beat when I hear that piano intro.