Lady Gaga began 2011 with her much-anticipated sophomore set,
Born This Way, and she ends the year with
Born This Way: The Remix, a 14-track collection of revisions and remixes of some, but not all, of the songs on the album. There are some marquee names here -- whether perennials like
Goldfrapp or 2011 sensations
Foster the People,
Twin Shadow, and the Weeknd -- and some remixes take considerable liberty, ditching verses or hooks, whatever catches their fancy. So, it’s a remix album not for fairweather travelers but rather the hardcore Little Monsters, the kind who love every gesture grand or small from
Gaga, but it also displays enough imagination to appeal to those listeners who fall into neither camp and are only looking for some darkly elastic dance. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine