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"Review of 'Volume 3, Showstoppers'"
a community of gleeks.
Broadway & Vocalists, Miscellaneous, and Soundtracks album by Glee Cast
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Rating:
The third volume of music from 'Glee' features some of the best numbers from the first season of the show. While the first two volumes' music ranged from just 'all right' to 'good', I feel there are definitely stronger, better performances on this deluxe edition of the third volume. As with the other releases from 'Glee', there are still some missing numbers but in all, the 19 tracks included in the deluxe edition are pretty good and there are only a few tracks that I'd skip or would have left off.
+3
The Good: What I like about this volume is that there are tracks and performances included from more of the cast. The first two releases felt like nothing more than a promotional vehicle for Lea Michele and her Rachel character. With this release, there are definitely tracks that show off more of the cast. You have Amber Riley's stand-out moment this year (both in song and in terms of acting) with her cover of Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful"; Mark Salling taking on "Lady Is A Tramp"; Chris Colfer with "A House Is Not a Home" and "Rose's Turn". You also have some of the second half of the season's guest stars' performances including Kristin Chenoweth's awesome take on "Home" from 'The Wiz'; Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester) and Olivia Newton-John's re-interpretation of "Physical"; Idina Menzel with 'I Dreamed A Dream'. There are also some great cast/group numbers including the Glee-take on Lady GaGa's "Bad Romance", U2's "One" and Bonnie Taylor's '80s hit "Total Eclipse of the Heart". My overall complaint with the past two volumes is that there wasn't enough variety and too many numbers seemed to feature Lea Michele while the other cast membership were reduced to back-up. This volume represents a shift in the series' second volume (or second part of the first season) by having more of the cast step-up with numbers. With new voices, sounds and styles, I have to say this is by far the superior of the volumes of music released so-far from the show. Some may also complain that this release is missing the songs from the big Madonna episode but all of those songs were released already on CD so I figure the producers chose not to repeat themselves by adding any of those tracks (even if they would qualify as 'showstoppers').
In all, a pretty solid release with minor flaws. I'm glad there was a deluxe version released with more tracks rather than having just one standard edition as with the past two volumes with only a handful tracks. I felt a lot of these tracks were better produced and performed than the first two volumes of music that felt a bit too close to karaoke (but good karaoke). If you're a fan of the show and haven't been purchasing the tracks each week as they've been released digitally, this is definitely for you.
The Bad: This being a deluxe edition of volume 3, I was hoping there would be fewer numbers left off. However, it seems the powers-that-be still chose to overlook some of the better performances in an effort to either mix it up or save on royalties (who knows). Some numbers I wish had made it onto the actual CD were "Fire" performed by Kristin Chenoweth and Matthew Morrison, "Ice Ice Baby" or "U Can't Touch This" (only one of these 'bad' numbers seemed necessary but neither are included), "The Boy Is Mine" and "Jessie's Girls". Considering this is coming out before the show even wraps the season, I'm sure there will be other minor numbers that come with the last few episodes that get released digitally but don't make it onto this release. Another complaint I have is the timing of the release. Would it have been hard to hold off a week or two in releasing this? The best part of 'Glee' is in fact the music and never knowing until the day of the show what numbers and songs are going to end up on the show. Yet, here we are 'spoiled' by having 8 tracks that have yet to appear on the show on this release, including (for the most part) what order they'll appear in the season. If the last two tracks end up being the big numbers in the final episode, that's going to take away a bit from the surprise or enjoyment of the finale because we'd have been exposed to the music for more than a few weeks. Sure, 'Glee' is as much about the performance than it is the songs but in some cases, one ends up being better than the other.
Listen To These: "Loser", "One Less Bell To Answer/A House Is Not a Home", "Physical", "Total Eclipse of the Heart", "Safety Dance", "Bad Romance"
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More Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Show... reviews
I really enjoyed GLEE: THE MUSIC, VOL. 1. It had some great numbers on it and though it seemed more focused on a few of the cast members, the tunes were great. There were a few songs that weren't included, but plans were announced for another album so one could assumed that some of the missing songs would be included on that album. Except when GLEE: THE MUSIC, VOL. 2 rolled out those songs weren't included. That album isn't as strong or as powerful as Vol. 1 and there were a greater … 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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Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers features 20 brand new songs from the hit TV show. The deluxe version features fan favorites like "Gives You Hell," "Beautiful," "Total Eclipse of the Heart," and "Bad Romance," plus 6 exclusive deluxe edition tracks like "House is Not a Home," "Home," "Rose's Turn," "Beth," "Loser," and "Poker Face."
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