My Amazon Reviews: Glee The Music "Volume 6, Season 2"

C'Mon, Bite The Big Apple
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Glee has become a reliable and predictable machine in the pop music productivity factory, which also means that the music tends to be reliably decent. I'm glad that the Nationals edition of the series has taken another turn towards Broadway, one of thew show's aspects I've found endearing. Along with three originals written for the cast, Volume 6 is the most diverse disc of the second season's offerings.

This disc encompasses the Fleetwood Mac episode, with ""Dreams," "Don't Stop," "Go Your Own Way" and "Songbird." (It also propelled the classic Rumours album to rechart at #11...how cool was that?) Gwyneth Paltrow, Christine Chenweth and Charice take their guest appearances and make standout appearances on Adele's "Turning Tables," Mac's "Dreams" and the new song (and the best of the three originals) "As Long As Your There," respectively. Speaking of Adele, Jonathan Groff (who was wasted in this season with an inconsequential part) does a dynamic return, pairing up with Rachel (Lea Michelle) for "Rolling In The Deep." While it doesn't out-do the original, it was a great pairing. The same can be said for Lady Gaga's "Born This Way," which is as perfect a pop song as you'll hear this year. The gang gets it right, because the song's message and exuberance would be near impossible to botch.

Still, it is the Broadway/Movie music that fairs the best. Curt (Chris Colfer) lets loose on "As If We Never Said Goodbye" (from "Sunset Blvd), Rachel lets her Streisand out with "My Man" and a light-hearted "Bella Note" (from Disney's "Lady And The Tramp") now makes me wonder if a Disney tribute would be outside the show's realm of episode probabilities. Lastly, it was the New Directions' covering "Pure Imagination" that was this season's bona fide tearjerker. Along with Kenny Loggins' cover, the Glee version now is my favorite recording of that song.