Opting for something classic for Christmas,
Lady Gaga trades in a bit of old-school show biz schmaltz for the four-track EP
A Very Gaga Holiday, singing "White Christmas" and "Orange Colored Sky" with a swinging Vegas-studded small group, offering up some tongue-in-cheek patter, then spinning "You and I" in the same way before retreating alone to the piano for "The Edge of Glory." Artifice is Gaga's authenticity, yet she may push her affectations a little bit too hard with spoken word here, but that is a mere blemish on an otherwise very attractive holiday bauble. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine