Getmusicofficial wrote on 18/1/2012 2:51 PM (GMT+11:00) Report

For a pop-focused act such as Lady Gaga – especially one of such musical calibre and popularity – remixes act as something of a natural progression of the throbbing beats and synth lines that characterise the artist’s songs. Thus, Gaga’s second remix album serves as a welcome complement to Born This Way in its original form, which is given a new lease on life thanks to the new perspective offered.

A huge roster of names contributed remixes to the album. Many of these, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, come from a far more ‘indie’ spectre than that of the Lady herself: Wild Beasts, Metronomy and Two Door Cinema Club (among others) all contribute. That said, a number of more ‘poppy’ names also reinterpret tracks, with Goldfrapp and Hurts both lending their distinctive sounds to Gaga’s melodies. Each of these remixes hold strong ties to the remixer’s own distinctive sound; Foster The People’s take on ‘The Edge Of Glory’, for example, incorporates the sense of frenetic energy, and the intense yet also somewhat chilled vibe that characterises their own tracks. Similarly, Wild Beast’s take on ‘You And I’ crafts a soundscape filled with a glorious piano motif; it manages to relinquish the knowing cheesiness of the original to create something that feels newly expansive and fresh. However, while some tracks are a complete departure from the original track’s sounds, others stay true to (and further extrapolate) Gaga’s original vision. The incredible LG Guena Club Remix of Scheiße, for example, takes the original’s thumping beats and bombastic energy to a new level, creating an anthemic romp that at times almost feels like a demonic Euro-anthem, courtesy of military beats and the original’s feminist chants.

The album is ideal both for hardcore Gaga fans (or Little Monsters, as they have famously been dubbed by their Mother Monster), or more casual listeners; the tracklist focuses heavily on the Born This Way project’s singles, with the title track, ‘The Edge Of Glory,’, ‘You And I’ and ‘Judas’ all receiving multiple remixes here. Some may argue that the tracks don’t need remixing – that they are already complete in their primary incarnations – and while this is perhaps true, they have new life breathed into them by this package.

Reviewed by: John Rowley