DVD Review >> ‘Glee: The Concert’

Glee: The Concert on DVD includes performances not included in the theatrical release and additional features.

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Music Review >> Glee Cast – ‘Glee: The 3D Concert Movie (Motion Picture Soundtrack)’

What’s better than listening to your favorite Glee hits? Listening to live performances of your favorite Glee hits, of course!

Earlier this week the Glee: The 3D Concert Movie (Motion Picture Soundtrack) was released, and the album contains 23 tracks from the upcoming Glee: The 3D Concert Movie, which is out this Friday, August 12.

I like that Glee released the live tracks from the movie, because it gives the fans a chance to not only sing along to their favorite songs, but also appreciate the cast of Glee for their tremendous live vocals.

Lea Michele (Rachel) is the star of this collection by far. From her chill-inducing duet with Chris Colfer (Kurt) on the classic “Happy Days Are Here Again”/“Get Happy” and her standout solo of “Don’t Rain On My Parade” to the bubbly “Loser Like Me,” Michele proves she has the vocal capability of singing just about anything.

And speaking of Chris Colfer, his live rendition of “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” is simply moving. His performance of the song during the “Grilled Cheesus” episode of Glee was very touching, and hearing the performance live, you truly get a sense of the emotion he’s projecting.

I have to give props to Cory Monteith (Finn). I feel that his vocal ability is often underrated, which is unfortunate, because he truly has a great natural voice. Singing his solo number “Jessie’s Girl” along with his lead verses on “Don’t Stop Believin’” and “Loser Like Me,” Monteith’s soft, raspy-yet-quality pop vocals add to the unique blend of voices that make up the cast of Glee. Even live, he and Michele’s voice complement each other perfectly.

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Video: Gwyneth Paltrow Performs “Forget You” at Glee! Live!

Holy cow, this is awesome! Gwyneth Paltrow joined the Glee cast last night to perform “Forget You” during their tour stop in East Rutherford, NJ. Check out the video from the show below!

I thought Gwyneth sounded great! I love that she made a guest appearance, since “Forget You” was such a huge hit during season two.

How do y’all think Gwyneth did? And what other Glee guest star or even regular cast member (Matthew Morrison, I’m talking to you!) would you like to see pop up on the Glee! Live! tour before it wraps up in the states?

Music Review >> Glee Cast – “A Night of Neglect”

Last week Glee returned with four new tracks to try and make us forget that the show had been on hiatus for a month. The new tracks also marked the return of guest star, Charice.

Charice (Sunshine Corazon) took on the Eric Carmen power balled, “All By Myself.” At the beginning of the season I was wasn’t initially blown away by any means by Charice’s voice, but after listening to the full studio track of “All By Myself,” I now understand why this girl is kind of big deal.

Charice’s vocals on this track are absolutely flawless. Her voice really embraces that feeling loneliness and desperation of the lyrics. Seriously, the girl’s voice gave me chills. If there’s one song from “A Night of Neglect” that is a must-download, it is definitely “All By Myself.”

Gwyneth Paltrow (Holly Holiday) also lent her voice to the music from Glee last week, and took on Adele’s “Turning Tables.” I think we can all agree that this wasn’t an ideal song choice for Paltrow. Adele’s latest album 21 is probably the best thing to come out of the music world so far this year. Having said that, I knew at some point Glee would try to tackle one of her songs.

I think Paltrow gave the song a good old fashioned try, but came up short because she simply doesn’t have the chops to pull this song off. I thought her voice sounded really good in the verses and as it slowly builds up into the chorus. It was her singing in the chorus itself that made the song kind of unbearable to listen to. Paltrow’s falsetto is not one of her strongest vocal features, and I wish that the Glee music producers had adjusted the key in the song that would have been more complimentary to Paltrow’s voice and not as grating on my ears.

I was thrilled to see a track sung by Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina) in last week’s bundle of Glee music. Ushkowitz took on Lykke Li’s “I Follow Rivers.” It is seriously such a shame that Ushkowitz’s voice is not utilized more on this show. She has a fantastic tone to her voice that really is the balance between Lea Michele’s (Rachel) stellar vocals and Dianna Agron’s (Quinn) somewhat lackluster vocals.

I really thought that “I Follow Rivers” really fit Ushkowitz’s voice nicely. I am not familiar with Lykke Li’s catalogue of music, so I can’t really make any kind of comparison, but my ears were in favor of what they heard while I was listening to the track.

The last track to come out of last week’s episode of Glee was Aretha Franklin’s “Ain’t No Way,” which was sung by Amber Riley (Mercedes). This was my other favorite track of the week. I really thought Riley sounds just fabulous on this song. It’s a little dialed back at parts, which I liked. We all know that Riley is capable of hitting some big notes, but it’s nice to hear her have a really nice vocal without as many embellishments upstaging her talent.

The songs from Glee’s “A Night of Neglect” were an interesting mix of songs. After being on hiatus for so long, I guess I expected a song that would really stand out of the pack, and the closest they came to delivering that was with Charice’s “All By Myself.”

Glee airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. on FOX.

Originally posted on Blogcritics.

Music Review >> Glee Cast – “Sexy”

You know that phrase, “catching lightning in a bottle”? I think that is what Glee accomplished the first time with guest star, Gwyneth Paltrow (Holly Holiday). Her rendition of Cee-Lo’s “Forget You” is one of season two’s better tracks. Paltrow even went on to perform the hit with alongside Cee-Lo at this year’s Grammy Awards.

This time around, I felt like the magic was mostly missing from the three tracks Paltrow is featured on this week. That could be because she is not one of those singers that can sing the phone book. She’s good, but she’s not Lea Michele.

To kick things off on a positive note, Paltrow’s take on the Joan Jett song, “Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)” is pretty good. I think Paltrow sounds best when she’s able to infuse some personality into the songs she’s singing. I think that is part of why “Forget You” became fairly popular, that she sounded pretty sassy while she was singing it. This was my favorite of the three Paltrow-dominated tracks this week.

Dalton Academy’s Warblers took on Neon Tree’s hit, “Animal,” this week. I would just like to say that it’s about time that Chris Colfer (Kurt) is featured on a Warblers’ track. Although, both his and Darren Criss’(Blaine) vocals were slightly attacked by the monster known as auto-tune. Colfer and Criss have fantastic singing voices, I don’t completely understand the need to overdo it with the studio magic. Shout out to Tuft University’s Beelzebubs for another job well done with the backing vocals.
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Best of ‘Glee’ Music in 2010

After reviewing the music from Glee for a good part of the year, I have compiled what I believe to be the 10 best tracks recorded by the Glee cast in 2010.

10. “Faithfully”

The duet between Lea Michele and Cory Monteith of Journey’s “Faithfully” was New Directions lead in song during Regionals. I am a huge fan of both of their singing voices. Michele and Monteith seem to compliment each other very well. This song is what I thought to be their shining moment singing together during the last part of season one.

9. “Beautiful”

Amber Riley has had some amazing vocal performances this year, but it was her rendition of Christina Aguilera’s huge hit song, “Beautiful” that really blew me away. The song allowed for Riley to show off multiple facets of her vocal range, as well as sing a powerful message.

8. “Stop! In The Name of Love/Free Your Mind”

This mash-up from season two features all the Glee guys from New Directions. I really enjoyed this track, and the guys sounded great. I have to add that Chord Overstreet sounds really charming during his verse. I thought the track was well-produced, and who would have ever thought that Diana Ross and EnVogue would meld well together into one song?

7. “Toxic”

It was a toss-up decision between this and “Me Against the Music,’ which I thought was another great track from the Britney Spears themed episode at the beginning of season two. I picked this track, because I really liked what they did with using the harmonies in place of instruments. Plus, it was nice to hear Matthew Morrison singing with the rest of the cast.

6. “Bad Romance”

The Glee ladies, along with Chris Colfer really nailed the essence of this song on the head. This track is infused with a lot of personality, which is what makes it just as much fun to listen to as the original Lady Gaga version.

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