My Amazon Reviews: Glee Cast "Glee Sings The Beatles"

Guaranteed to Raise a Smile
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Glee hasn't shied away from The Beatles before, including some very deft covers, like Chris/Kurt doing "Blackbird." This time, though, for "Glee Sings The Beatles." they are tackling the Fab Four across two of the TV episodes and one full CD. Much like the attempts to do Madonna, Rocky Horror, or Grease, they're going all in. If you're a true purist who couldn't even tolerate the soundtrack to "I Am Sam" or "Across The Universe," you might have issues. Surprisingly, however, Glee takes on a handful of fairly obvious Beatles classics and treats them with respect.

I can't imagine what was going through the hearts and minds of the cast as they were taking on some of the more emotional heft of some of the songs here, so close to the passing of Cory Montieth/Finn. But when Lea Michelle opens up on "Yesterday," you can hear the emotion pouring out. Easily the best performance of the album, even if any other circumstances surrounded it. For the most part, the arrangements are kept close to the originals, with the exception of "Got To Get You Into My Life," where 'Klaine' mix it up with a marching band. On the TV episode, they even went as far as making a mock-up of the Ed Sullivan set for "When I Saw Her Standing There."

The CD does do a split between early and later Beatles, saving the music from the older period for the second episode. "Get Back" is stripped to just a piano version, and frankly, it's almost impossible to screw up "Let It Be," hay Jude" or "Here Comes The Sun" while you're staying faithful to the arrangements. With "Something" being one of my top ten personal favorite Beatles songs, I'd take it as blasphemy to try and mess with the original. In fact, the only stumble on this disc is performing "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and then NOT following through with "A Little Help From My Friends."

When Glee started, this was the kind of music I was expecting from the show. The first two seasons did a lot to mix in classic pop, modern songs abd show tunes in equal measure, to the point where I thought the "Presents The Warblers" was one of the best of the batch. For "Glee Sings The Beatles," the do a service to some of these records that inching towards their 60th Birthday, and that is bringing them to a whole new group of listeners. That's something I'm all for happening.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Glee Cast "Season 4 Volume 1"

Glee 2.0
3 Out Of 5 Stars

With most of the cast of Glee 'graduating' at the end of last season, it's up to a batch of newcomers to pick up the slack and help out old favorites. The new members seem to be cloning the old (Mallory is Rachel, Kitty is the new Quinn, etc), so it's a bit tough to make distinctions in the musical presentation. It helps that old hands Blaine, Artie, and yes, Rachel and Kurt are still here to add support. It's just not enough, though.

There are highlights, like the group sung version of Coldplay's "The Scientist," and Marley and Rachel's duet on "New York State of Mind." Talking David Bowie's was an adventurous choice (even more so was Sam and Britney doing "Celebrity Skin," which is not included here). Kitty and Marley do a nice job resurrecting Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out For a Hero" (from "Footloose"). Minus points are given for "Gangnam Style," this years most annoying one hit wonder.

Missing are the songs from outside the pop spectrum. I'd have much rather had "Let's have a Kiki/Turkey Lurkey" here than a few of these songs, along with Kurt's version of "Being Alive" from the musical "Company." I miss the variety; I guess the "Glease" CD was supposed to satisfy that segment of the musical audience. Overall, "Glee: Season 4 Vol 1" is not a total dud, but the series seems close to jumping the shark.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Original Cast "The Book of Mormon"

I Can't Believe Jesus Just Called me a D**k!
5 Out of 5 Stars

I recently saw an article that asked a hypothetical question: Given the choice between two new musicals, one written by two of the world's biggest rock stars about one of the most beloved Marvel Comic characters, and and the other a satirical look at religion as viewed through two dim-witted Mormons written by the creators of the potty-mouthed Comedy Central hit South Park, which would you have bet on to succeed? As history has proven, the U2 penned mega-bucks "Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark" is fighting for its life, while Trey Parker and Matt Stone with Andrew Lopez of "Avenue Q" fame, "The Book of Mormon" has emerged as the phenomenon.

A lot has to do with the gently and honestly affectionate take on musicals along with the hilarious, brutally honest and viscous pounding it gives to organized religion. There are nods and direct parodies of musicals from "The Lion King," "The Music Man," "Hair," "Rent" (a previous Parker/Stone target in "Team America") and Disney Movies. Once Elder Price (Andrew Rannells) and Elder Cunningham (Josh Gad) find themselves cast off to Uganda, they soon find themselves over their heads with Warlords, a population ravaged in famine and AIDS, and a beautiful village woman (Tony winner Nikki M. James). It's crass, offensive, takes no prisoners and will likely offend everyone at least once during the course of the 16 songs. Yet there are times when "The Book of Mormon" is sweetly fun (James' "Sal Tlay Ka Siti") or heroic "I Believe" (Rannels' show-stopping ballad) or even gut-bustingly hysterical ("Baptize Me").

While some say it is affectionate to religion, frankly, that is one thing I don't get from it. "The Book of Mormon" wastes no effort at hammering at religious hypocrisy, especially the climactic "Joseph Smith American Moses." On the other hand, where else could you hear Jesus, Yoda, Hobbits, Holy Frogs, Star Wars and The Lion King all boiled down to this kins of syrup? I predict that a million other parodic and scatological musicals will now attempt to launch, but none will be anywhere near as glorious as "The Book of Mormon."