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"Review of "Glee: The Music, Volume 2""
a community of gleeks.
Miscellaneous, Pop, and Soundtracks album by Glee Cast
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'Glee: The Music, Vol. 2' features 17 more songs from the first season. These are in addition to those released on Glee: The Music, Volume 1. One point of criticism right off hand; the songs featured on vol. 2 aren't as catchy and varied as those on the first volume of music. While volume 1 had songs that were very pop and upbeat, vol. 2 is heavy on songs that are a bit less pop and more on the melodramatic/slightly depressing side. As with the first volume, this doesn't include all of the songs from the 2nd quarter of the season. Missing are the tracks performed by the non-'Glee' cast, like 'Bootylicious', or the acoustic version of 'Papa Don't Preach', or the 'Hair / Crazy in Love' mash-up. While the songs on volume 2 are definitely good and are performed well above the typical cover/karaoke standard, the songs selected for this release are good but a bit similar and tame.
+1
The Good: There are a few stand-out performances that I'm glad made it onto the release. "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" performed by Amber Riley is truly one of the stand-out songs of the season this far. Riley always comes through with a big voice that one would not expect from her. While she may not get many scenes or episodes where the spotlight is on her, her voice is probably one of the best among the cast. Some of the best tracks are those that actually feature the entire cast rather than solo or duet performances (after all, the whole concept of a glee club is a group making music, right?). "Jump" and "Lean On Me" stand out as some of the best group performances, while "Endless Love" and "Smile (Charlie Chaplin Cover)" stand out as the best duets/smaller group performances. If anything, I felt volume 2 was a bit more balanced than the first volume that was heavy on Lea Michele's performances.
The Bad: Some of the songs were better within the context of the show. Stand alone, or perhaps without having seen the episode and situation that prompted the song, makes some of these songs have less of an impact. "I'll Stand By You" and "(You're) Having My Baby" are good examples of this; these are all parts of big arcs and ongoing plots in the show and are much more than just a cover of these big classics. "Proud Mary" is good, but it was a big number that came after an episode focusing on wheel-chair bound Artie (another underdeveloped character of the show along with Mercedes). As stated earlier, these songs reflect the serious nature and plots of the second quarter of the season and so they're a little less pop and upbeat and more rooted in the Glee club not fully accepting or embracing their status in the school (the subject of the two "Smile" songs), or teenage pregnancy ("(You're) Having My Baby", "I'll Stand By You") or the humorous plot involving a student crush on her teacher ("Don't Stand So Close To Me/Young Girl", "Endless Love", "Crush"). I wish it had been a tad bit more expansive to include some of the performances like "Bootylicious" to add some upbeat/fun moments, but that's a minor critique.
In all, a good release. Yes, a lot of these songs are 'cover' versions of popular artists' music but unlike all of these reality shows featuring horrid, lackluster karaoke performances, Glee really steps it up on most of their music to do justice to the music. If you're a fan of the show and haven't been downloading the tracks as they've been released each week by FOX, this is a great opportunity to get a majority of the performances all collected in a set. Check out Glee:The Music, vol. 1 as well for even more great music from the show.
Listen To These: "I'll Stand By You", "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going", "Lean On Me", "Smile (Cover of Charlie Chaplin Song)"
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More Glee: The Music, Volume 2 reviews
Glee continues to capitalize on its popularity with its second soundtrack volume released less than a month after the first volume came out. The selection on volume 2 has more older songs than volume 1. The only recent selection is Kelly Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You”. There are a couple of cliché selections like “Proud Mary”, “Lean on Me”, and “Imagine”. Although I felt that the renditions of “Proud … more
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Great songs, includes my favorite, My Life Would Suck Without You!
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There wasn't enough room on one album to contain the music renderings from the cast of GLEE and just weeks before the show's midseason hiatus, GLEE: THE MUSIC VOLUME 2 was released. Being somewhat of a Gleek, I really don't enjoy saying this, but VOLUME 2 isn't as good an overall album as VOLUME 1. The songs on the album are from the 2nd quarter of the 1st season of GLEE. The tunes include: 1. Proud Mary 2. Endless Love 3. I'll Stand By You 4. … more
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Antoine D. Reid (Decaptain)
Antoine Reid is an innovative graphic designer with over five years experience in print design specializing in promotion and publication design, illustration, and creating dynamic content for the Web. … more
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There's no such thing as too much Glee! Featuring 17 more songs from the hit FOX show including "Imagine", "Jump" and "My Life Would Suck Without You"
Track Listing:1. Proud Mary
2. Endless Love
3. I'll Stand By You
4. Don't Stand So Close To Me/Young Girl
5. Crush
6. (You're) Having My Baby
7. Lean On Me
8. Don't Make Me Over
9. Imagine
10. True Colors
11. Jump
12. Smile (Cover of Lily Allen Song)
13. Smile (Cover of Charlie Chaplin Song)
14. And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going
15. Don't Rain On My Parade
16. You Can't Always Get What You Want
17. My Life Would Suck Without You
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