Glee: The Music, The Rocky Horror Glee Show

2 Ratings: 3.5

The third album by the cast of the musical television series Glee, released on October 19, 2010.

Glee: The Music, The Rocky Horror Glee Show is the third extended play (EP) by the cast of the musical television series Glee, released on October 19, 2010. It contains seven songs and accompanies the episode "The Rocky Horror Glee Show", airing … see full wiki

Tags: Music, Tv Shows, Albums, Glee, The Rocky Horror Glee Show, Rocky Horror Picture Show

1 review about Glee: The Music, The Rocky Horror Glee Show

Showing 1-1 of 1

Sort by:

Album Review: "The Rocky Horror Glee Show"

Oct 20, 2010

by Decaptain
posted in Music Matters

Rating:

We're still at the start of the second season of "Glee" and already have a second tribute episode. This album contains seven full tracks of music taken from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" that will be featured in the October 26 episode. Since these seven tracks are taking on some pretty well-known territory, comparisons are unavoidable. What some will notice and complain about is that the tracks' lyrics are somewhat changed or cleaned up to make them more suitable for network television. That being said, there are still some touchy, suggestive lyrics that should keep you pretty happy including "Sweet Transvestite" and the blush-worthy "Touch A Touch A Touch A Touch Me." Still, while some may feel this is nothing more than karaoke, I feel there's a lot of good in these seven tracks.

The Good: Since these are songs from a cult favorite and well known musical film, I think it'd been pretty difficult for "Glee" to get away with completely having their way with the music. One track that feels completely new and unique to "Glee" is "Sweet Transvestite" featuring the vocals of Amber Riley. When I found out this track was going to be included in the episode I, like many, thought it'd be a Kurt (Chris Colfer) number but was surprised to find it was actually a Mercedes number instead. She completely puts her own stamp on the song with big vocals that truly blew me away. It was fun hearing "There's a Light (Over at Frankenstein Place)" done with the signature "Glee" harmonies of Lea Michele and Cory Monteith. It's one of those under appreciated tracks from the Rocky Horror film and doesn't feel completely overdone and thus works well on the soundtrack. John Stamos' singing on "Whatever Happened To Saturday Night?" was fun and made what was always a dull track and moment in the film actually enjoyable. "Touch A Touch A Touch A Touch Me" is sung by Jayma Mays who plays the uptight obsessive compulsive Emma Pillsbury and considering her character's history on the show felt like a really big moment and highlight for Emma and the show. In all, most of the tracks felt pretty well done. Vocally, there are few surprises but I didn't feel like any of the songs were butchered.

The Bad: Having watched "Rocky Horror Picture Show" countless times and listened to the soundtrack, it's hard not to compare the "Glee" versions of the songs to the originals. Naya Rivera's (Santana) singing on "Science Fiction Double Feature" felt a bit weak and I wish she or the arranger of the song had chosen to really hit and enunciated certain lyrics or words as the original song did. "Time Warp" has been done so much that I wish they'd actually been bold and chosen to do something unique and different with the track. It's pretty hard not to notice what "Rocky Horror" tracks didn't make it into this episode including "I Can Make You A Man", "Rose Tint My World", "I'm Going Home" and "Super Heroes". Price wise, I'm glad they've lowered the price considerably since there are so few tracks and the release is coming out an entire week before the actual episode airs (which in turn sort of kills the fun of watching the episode spoiler free (musically and show/plot wise). I also wondered why the producers chose to release this as the cast's first album from season 2 but they didn't choose a special release of the music from the Britney Spears tribute episode. To me, this would have been a great "double feature" opportunity to include tracks from both the Britney and Rocky Horror episodes since both are being promoted as tribute and special occasions.

In all, a fun release with good music. It's one of the few soundtracks I'm able to listen to non-stop and repeatedly without it feeling old. There are a few flaws, as mentioned above but overall "Glee" seems to have musically honored "Rocky Horror Picture Show" in a great way.

Listen to These: "Sweet Transvesite", "There's a Light (Over At Frankenstein Place)," "Damn It, Janet"