Gary is back with his review of the month! This week he looks at Born To Die by Lana Del Rey...

So, the waiting is over and one of the most eagerly anticipated new releases of 2012 so far is here. The campaign to get Lana Del Rey on the radar, or should that be reydar, started towards the end of last year and has been gathering pace ever since, becoming relentless at times. Was it all worth it?

Well, yes and no. Quite simply if you loved Video Games and Born To Die then you will savour the other nine compositions on this collection. If the singles were a little too quirky for you, you’ll find nothing here to change your point of view.
At least you can say she’s distinctive with nothing else quite like this around. It’s also great marketing to release an album when there’s precious little other new music to divert the attention.

The singles, much played on Magic over the last few months, ‘Video Games’ and ‘Born To Die’ kick off this set, and the two tracks that immediately follow sound very much like their predecessors, the latter ‘Radio’ benefitting from a particularly strong hook. ‘Diet Mountain Dew’ is a bit of a stomper, whereas ‘Without You’ and ‘Dark Paradise’ seem a tad pedestrian. ‘Blue Jeans’ raises the bar again, but my favourite cut on the whole CD is ‘This Is What Makes Us Girls’ reminiscent of Madonna at her mid-tempo best during the nineties. The lovely swaying ballad ‘Million Dollar Man’ wraps up the proceedings and would make a great third single.

Was the hype worth it? On balance I’d say yes, though future releases would have to contain a bit more variety for Lana Del Rey to be considered a long-term proposition – though by then her modelling career may have taken off to such a degree that the music world could be left wondering what might have been.

Gary’s verdict: I give this album 4 out of 5