Tag: Glee

Music Review >> Glee Cast – “New York”

Included in the last batch of Glee tracks which could be heard in last week’s season two finale “New York” were four new original songs, Matthew Morrison’s latest single, and one of the best duets from the entire season.

It wouldn’t truly be Glee without one final mash-up of the season. The mash-up of Madonna’s “I Love New York” with On The Town’s “New York, New York” is interesting. Glee definitely sped up the tempo from the original Madonna song, which gave it more of a pop feel and kind of took away the song’s edge. I did like Cory Monteith (Finn) and Naya Rivera (Santana) on lead vocals together. It’s nice to mix up the Lea Michele/Monteith leads every so often. I like that Glee kind of put in the effort this season to let Rivera shine a little more.

I couldn’t help, but crack up a little at Mark Salling (Puck), Chord Overstreet (Sam), and Kevin McHale’s (Artie) “Bella Notte,” which is from Disney’s Lady and The Tramp. It’s one of those songs that you don’t expect to hear on Glee, but it’s still just oh-so charming. The song is sung well by all three guys. I like that it’s not overtly cheesy, and would fit nicely alongside other tracks on your Glee playlist.

Matt Morrison (Will) took a turn in the spotlight with “Still Got Tonight,” which was co-written by American Idol season eight winner, Kris Allen. The song is Morrison’s current single off of his recently released debut album. Crossover promotion at it’s finest! I really like this song. I think it’s a great mid-tempo pop track that I hope does well for Morrison.

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Concert Review >> Glee Live! in San Jose, CA 05.25.2011

Last Wednesday, I got my Gleek on with the best of ‘em at the HP Pavillion in San Jose for Glee Live!

Tickets to the show are a bit on the pricey side, especially if you’re making it a family outing. However, as soon as the curtain rises and Cory Monteith (Finn) and Lea Michele (Rachel) kick off Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” as part of the five original members of Glee’s New Directions, you’ll be happy that that you got to witness this spectacle live.

The stage is set up in such a way that there’s a main stage with a cat walk that leads out to another stage area, which leads into the first few rows of the crowd. Also, about three-fourths the way towards the back of the arena, there’s another small stage set up, which featured a couple of the night’s best performances.

The Glee concert set list highlights fan-favorite group numbers like “Born This Way,” “Loser Like Me,” and “Somebody To Love,” as well as wonderful solo numbers from some the main players.

Mark Salling (Puck), Chord Overstreet (Sam), Kevin McHale (Artie), Harry Shum Jr. (Mike), and Darren Criss (Blaine) come together during the show to perform an acoustic version of the Rebecca Black song “Friday.” With both Salling and Overstreet on acoustic guitar, the guys really carved out quite the moment for themselves.

Continue reading Concert Review >> Glee Live! in San Jose, CA 05.25.2011

DVD Review >> ‘Glee Encore’

Last month the latest Glee DVD hit store shelves called, Glee Encore. The DVD is right around 77 minutes of back-to-back Glee performances from season one. I absolutely love the idea of releasing a DVD like this, because there have been plenty of times when I’m watching Glee where I’ve been so excited to see the performances that I wished I could skip ahead to them.

The way the DVD is set up you can either watch the performances one  episode at a time, play them all at once, or you can click “Shuffle” on the menu screen and the performances will play in random order, which I think is a pretty cool feature.

As a fan of Glee, there are performances that I was looking forward to watching on Glee Encore, yet they were nowhere to be found. In particular, the performances I am surprised are not included on the DVD is the mash-up of “Halo”/ “Walkin’ on Sunshine,” the Regionals version of “Don’t Stop Believin’,” and Vocal Adrenaline’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

To me it only makes sense to showcase both mash-ups from the “Vitamin D” episode, not just “It’s My Life”/ “Confessions Part II,” because both of the mash-ups were what made that episode stand out.

I feel like “Don’t Stop Believin’” from the “Journey to Regionals” episode should have made the cut for this DVD. The New Directions’ full set list from that episode was “Faithfully,” “Any Way You Want It”/ “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’” and “Don’t Stop Believin’.” To leave off the full circle moment of the season just doesn’t make any sense.

And lastly, the absence of Vocal Adrenaline’s performance of “Bohemian Rhapsody” also from the “Journey to Regionals” episode is just disappointing. That was Glee guest star, Jonathan Groff’s shining moment on the show, and was also one of the best performances of the entire first season.

If you can get past the handful of performances that should have been highlighted on the DVD, Glee Encore is actually pretty fun to watch and sing-a-long to. It’s fun to kick back and relive moments from a show that add some “Glee” so to speak to fan’s lives.

Glee Encore is available now on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Originally posted on Blogcritics.

Behind the ‘Glee’ >> “New York”

Season two of Glee comes to a close tomorrow night with it’s finale entitled, “New York.” Check out what Chris Colfer and Cory Monteith had to say about filming in New York!

Also, Michael Ausiello over at TV|Line just posted a sneak preview of the “I Love New York”/”New York, New York” mash-up performance from tomorrow night’s episode!

Who’s excited for tomorrow night’s episode?

Music Review >> Glee Cast – “Funeral”

The music from the Glee episode “Funeral” highlighted the cream of the crop from the Glee Cast. The songs from this past week’s episode were in my opinion some of the best technically sung songs out of the entire season.

Amber Riley (Mercedes) took on Otis Redding’s “Try A Little Tenderness.” Riley really got the opportunity to showcase her range, as the beginning of the song calls for a more vulnerable quality that we don’t hear too often from the singer. The song builds and builds to where Riley launches into her full voice and just rocks the song out. Riley’s vocals just shine throughout the entire song.

Chris Colfer (Kurt) steps into the spotlight with “Some People” from Gypsy. Colfer injects so much personality into his pitch perfect vocal performance, which makes this song just a joy to listen to. I am so happy that his character is back with New Directions, because Colfer’s fantastic vocal chops finally get their due.

For the second time this season, Naya Rivera (Santana) steps into Amy Winehouse’s shoes. This past episode, she took on “Back To Black.” Rivera really has the perfect vocal tone and inflection to carry out this song. Her greatest strength in her singing is the ability to express emotion in a way that you believe the words she’s singing.

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Jonathan Groff on MTV’s ‘The Seven’

Earlier today Glee’s current guest star, Jonathan Groff swung by MTV’s The Seven to talk about his return to the show, Lea Michele, and working on his fitness!

Check out Jonathan’s interview below!

Jonathan Groff Interview with ‘Good Day New York’

Earlier this morning, current Glee guest star Jonathan Groff sat down for an interview with Good Day New York.

They discuss his role of Jesse St. James  Glee, whether or not he knows if he’s returning for season three, and about his recent trip home to Lancaster, PA!

Watch the interview below!

Music Review >> Glee Cast – “Prom Queen”

The latest tracks from Glee’s most recent episode “Prom Queen” are quite the eclectic mix. They are also some of the best produced tracks of the season.

Last week’s tracks included the return of Jonathan Groff (Jesse St. James), who alongside Lea Michele (Rachel Berry) sang Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” as a duet. After the second listen, I realized that Glee had chosen the John Legend arrangement of the song, which in context of the episode works. And it goes without saying that both Groff and Michele sound phenomenal singing together.

For me, this track was kind of a letdown. I had imagined Glee playing up the drama in the song by adding more of a rock vibe to the arrangement. I was really taken aback when I first heard the track, because it’s nothing like I imagined. I never thought that Glee would do such a blatant cover of a cover, because that just shows a lack of creativity on their end.

Kevin McHale (Artie) brings the soft and subtle vibe with Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely.” I love how the song starts out a capella. From the first note, the song makes you take notice of it, because there’s nothing else to distract from McHale’s voice.

When some light acoustic guitar strumming and drumming kick in during the second verse, it’s just the perfect accent to the song. McHale’s voice isn’t overpowered at all. I definitely think Glee showed some creativity with the arrangement on this one.

You know, prior to listening to this week’s Glee tracks, I had never bothered to listen to Rebecca Black’s “Friday,” because I had read the lyrics, and that was enough for me. So having no clue about what the original song sounds like, I think the Glee version isn’t half bad. Actually, I woke up last Friday morning with it stuck in my head. Fun, fun, fun!

Mark Salling (Puck), McHale, and Chord Overstreet (Sam) voices blend quite nicely together. They could be the Glee version of the 90’s boyband LFO. (Not to be totally off-topic, but how fun would a boyband-themed Glee episode be?)

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