Tag: Naya Rivera

Music Review >> Glee Cast – ‘Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album’

I love Christmas music. I love Glee. The combination of the two results in an album filled with a great mix of classic and contemporary Christmas songs.

Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album goes above and beyond any possible expectations I had before I took my first listen. “Deck The Rooftop,” which is a mash-up of “Deck The Halls” and “Up On The Rooftop,” was completely unexpected. Glee definitely manged to put their twist on two popular holiday songs, and made it into an extremely catchy sing-a-long.

One of the tracks that is already getting a lot of buzz is “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” which is sung by Chris Colfer (Kurt) and Darren Criss (Blaine). It’s a very sweet duet between the two, and their vocals are superb.

“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” sung by the Glee ladies, is one of my favorites. The harmonizing is on point, and they seem to be reining in the glory notes a bit, which gives the song a sense of vulnerability, and allows the lyrics to stand in the spotlight.

I really liked Glee’s interpretation on “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch.” The song features Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester) and K.D. Lang. I still watch The Grinch Who Stole Christmas every year, so I really appreciated this song being on the album. Morrison and Lang really capture its spirit.

I have to make mention of Amber Riley (Mercedes), who sings “Angels We Have Heard On High.” On this song, she has a voice to be reckoned with. The arrangement for me left something to be desired, but Riley’s voice makes the song a success.

I have to say that the group harmonizing on this album is fantastic. The Glee cast really have never sounded better. There’s something about Christmas music that really brings the best out of singers.

Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album really exceeded my expectations. The album has a great combined energy of Glee and Christmas spirit.

Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album is available now. The Glee Christmas special airs December 7 on FOX at 8 p.m.

Originally posted on BlogCritics.

Music Review >> Music From ‘Glee,’ Episode 2 x 04 “Duets”

The music recordings for Glee’s episode “Duets” is probably the best batch of music from the season so far. The vocals from the cast members are fantastic.

Kicking off this week’s bundle of music is Lea Michele (Rachel) and Cory Monteith (Finn) singing “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” by Elton John and Kiki Dee. These two always sound fantastic together, especially on the more upbeat songs. You get a sense from the recordings that they were having fun singing. Monteith is definitely coming into his own as a singer, and Michele’s voice compliments his voice very much.

Chris Colfer (Kurt) sings “Le Jazz Hot” from Victor Victoria. This is hands down the best Colfer has ever sounded while on the show. The last note during this song is phenomenal.

Newcomer Chord Overstreet (Sam) and Dianna Agron (Quinn) sing the popular Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat track, “Lucky.” This is a really sweet duet between the two, their voices sound well together. Agron is pretty limited vocally compared to the other female Glee cast mates, but pop songs like this she pulls off quite nicely. Overstreet is definitely poised to give the rest of the Glee guys a run for their money, as he has one of the strongest male voices on the show.

The best duet from this week came from Michele and Colfer, who sing “Happy Days Are Here/Get Happy” by Barbara Streisand and Judy Garland. Glee pretty much struck gold, when they decided to pair these two up for a duet. They both have excellent vocal control, that allowed for a vulnerable, yet stunning duet.

As much as it was wonderful that we got to here from Harry Shum Jr. (Mike) on his a Chorus Line duet “Sing!” with Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina), it was definitely the weakest duet of this week’s recording. Shum isn’t even singing, he’s rapping, which is fine, because it allowed for Ushkowitz to shine that much more in their duet.

Naya Rivera (Santana) and Amber Riley (Mercedes) paired up for Ike and Tina Turner’s “River Deep, Mountain High.” Rivera really is no match for Riley’s vocal, she’s easily overpowered. Riley really just brings it, and once again contributes a fantastic vocal to the week’s recordings.

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

Originally posted on BlogCritics.

Review >> Music From ‘Glee,’ Episode 2×03 “Grilled Cheesus”

In this week’s bundle of Glee music from “Grilled Cheesus,” the audience gets to hear the first solos of the season from Glee’s most beloved characters who are not Rachel Berry.

Mark Salling (Puck) has his first big solo of the season with “Only The Good Die Young” by Billy Joel.

It’s great to hear from Salling so early in the season. However, the Glee vocal coaches should work with him on his vocal vibrato while holding longer notes and try to smooth them out.

Amber Riley (Mercedes) sounds absolutely beautiful singing Whitney Houston’s “I Look To You.” If any of the Glee cast can pull off Whitney, it’s Amber.

Her vocal runs at times felt unnecessary, but overall it’s a very strong vocal from Riley. This song is so much better than anything she sang during season one.

Lea Michele (Rachel) contributes this this week’s recordings with “Papa, Can You Hear Me” from Yentl.

What really can be said about Michele’s voice that hasn’t already been said? This is an absolute stellar recording. Michele has a voice to be reckoned with.

Chris Colfer (Kurt) sings “I Want To Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles in this week’s recordings.

I absolutely love how Glee chose to rearrange this song. It had such a dramatic feel that really captured the emotions that Colfer’s character was feeling.

Colfer has a really great vocal. I really hope he is featured more this season.

R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion” was a great song choice for Cory Monteith (Finn). However, what was not great was having him record it as an attempt to sound like Michael Stipe. Monteith has a great voice, there was no need for the sound-a-like vocal phrasing.

I loved that Amber Riley had two solos this week, but there was so much auto-tune used in her rendition of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” I couldn’t tell if it was Riley or Naya Rivera (Santana) singing the song at first.

The big group number of the week was a rendition of Joan Osbourne’s “One Of Us.”

Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina), Monteith, Michele and Colfer are the featured vocals on this track. I was really surprised that Salling was not featured on this track, because the song would have fit his voice perfectly.

The cast of Glee sound great altogether. It seems like every week their group numbers are getting better and better.

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

Originally posted at BlogCritics.

Music Review >> Music From ‘Glee,’ Episode 2×02 “Britney/Brittany”

The highly anticipated Britney Spears episode of Glee aired this past week. The cast took on five of the singer’s popular hits, as well as a current hit from the band Paramore.

For the first time on Glee, we got to hear Heather Morris (Brittany) sing. She’s actually pretty good. Who knew?

Morris’s vocals were featured on three of the five Britney songs in this past week’s episode: “I’m A Slave 4 U,” “Me Against The Music,” and “Toxic.”

On “I’m A Slave 4 U,” Morris injected sultriness into her vocal, which gave it the just the right tone and attitude for the song. Her version is just as sexy-sounding as Britney’s original recording.

One of the highlights from this week’s recorded tracks was “Me Against The Music,” a duet between Morris and Naya Rivera (Santana). The ladies have terrific vocal chemistry, making this one of the most enjoyable tracks of the week to listen to.

“Toxic” was definitely one of the strongest tracks from this week’s episode. The song featured Morris, Lea Michele (Rachel) and Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester) on lead vocals.

I like the subtle changes to the song, especially how in the first verse the vocals build up to this absolute stunning chorus. Vocally, I believe this was the best track of the week. Morris and Michele sound fantastic singing together, and it’s nice to hear Morrison on a track with the Glee Club kids. His vocal really added a smooth quality to the track.

Elsewhere, Kevin McHale (Artie) tackled the Britney track “Stronger” with no problem. McHale’s voice is a great fit for the song due to Britney’s original recording of it in her mid to lower register. The song also ties in well with McHale’s character’s current storyline.

“Baby One More Time,” which was performed by Michele, is the weakest of the tracks out this week. The song is an awkward listen because her voice really isn’t suited for this type of pop song. I would sooner listen to the original Britney track.

Michele really redeems herself with her second solo track (and the only non-Britney track) in this week’s recordings with Paramore’s “The Only Exception.”

Her voice sounds fantastic on this ballad. She shows vocal vulnerability, which allows the audience to connect emotionally with the song, as well as her character.

Even though this song went along well with Michele’s character’s storyline in the episode, I do think another Britney track could have been used in its place to round out the tribute episode.

That said, I think the cast of Glee did a great job with their musical tribute to Britney Spears. They really captured the essence of each song and gave some of her hits a second life to be enjoyed all over again.

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

Originally posted at BlogCritics.