Cheek to Cheek

Their respective styles are occasionally at odds, but to amusing effect.

The match between Bennett and Gaga winds up quite differently from the one between the master and k.d. lang in 2002. Those two created a more sober and mature affair. By contrast, the duets with Gaga give Bennett a whole new hold on youth.

It’s Gaga who will benefit most from this album, which has the pair finding joyous common ground as they swing through 11 standards.

Ultimately, Cheek to Cheek is pleasant through and through. It’s not the greatest standards duets album ever recorded, but nor is it a dud.

Cheek to Cheek is a record where the music and even the songs take a backseat to the personalities.

If you take this album in the spirit of throwaway fun in which it seems to have been concocted, it is harmlessly engaging, although all of these tracks have been delivered more persuasively before.

She sometimes blasts away at these songs rather than relaxing into them. But on challenges like the subtle Billy Strayhorn ballad "Lush Life," the queen of the little monsters more than proves she can be a sophisticated lady too.

On Cheek to Cheek, Gaga justifies his [Tony Bennett's] faith--sometimes a bit too forcibly. Whereas Bennett is a master of restraint--a guy whose best performances play like melodic chat sessions--Gaga thrives on spectacle.

Their voices complement each other and mesh together almost seamlessly, and on tracks like the big-sounding “I Won’t Dance”, it’s hard not to smile at the perfectly executed harmony. Covers of slower tunes like “Nature Boy” don’t really offer much that’s different or new, but they’re beautiful and engaging nonetheless.

Gaga comes off more as a dilettante than an aficionado on Cheek to Cheek.... Bennett doesn't fare a whole lot better, his otherwise charming performances strained throughout. The pair's solo efforts, particularly Gaga's clumsy interpretation of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" and Bennett's surprisingly pitchy rendition of Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady," only serve to spotlight their shortcomings.