Customer Reviews

Glee: The Music - Journey to Regionals

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The smash-hit musical TV series "Glee" releases its fifth musical compilation, "Journey to Regionals", which is the second of the five albums to focus solely on the music of a single episode (the previous being volume three, all from "The Power of Madonna"). And indeed, if any single episode of the series were to deserve that honour, I don't think any would merit it more than the first season finale, "Journey", which sends the Glee cast to their Regional championship and features a set of six excellent numbers.

New Directions delivers a full set of three new numbers here, all by the classic rock band Journey (hence, the episode title; they're subtle, these writers). The collection opens with a rendition of "Faithfully" (originally from the 1983 album "Frontiers"), with series stars Lea Michele (Rachel) and Cory Monteith (Finn) singing the duet (everybody else on backing, which really isn't the sort of thing you'd sing in a show choir competition, but whatever, that's not important here). Michele is the powerhouse of the series; Monteith started out rather weak, but he's grown by leaps and bounds over the last year, and he acquits himself well. The two just have chemistry, and it comes through in their song (if you're invested in Finn and Rachel as a couple, that helps too).

Next up, a mash-up of "Any Way You Want It" (1980's album "Departure") and "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" (1979's "Evolution") performed by the whole group, again with Finn and Rachel singing the lead. "Glee" has always done group mash-ups well (the gold standard being "Halo"/"Walking On Sunshine", in my opinion), and this one continues that trend. It's the most purely fun number in the collection, and one of the best the show has done on that score as well.

New Directions closes out its bid for the title with a new version of "Don't Stop Believin'" (1981's "Escape"). This is a bit of a risky move for the series in some ways; they covered it already in the pilot, and it's probably the show's defining song. Here, instead of Michele and Monteith dueting again, the producers mix in several other singers from the group (only Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina) and Dianna Agron (Quinn) are omitted). The results are frankly terrific. I don't know which version of the song I like more as yet, but they're both great; especially great is Naya Rivera (Santana), who has rapidly become one of my favourite voices on the show.

Then there is the big showstopper by New Directions' main competition, Vocal Adrenaline, who deliver an excellent cover of Queen's classic "Bohemian Rhapsody" (1975's "A Night at the Opera"). Now, this will never be anything other than a Queen song, with talent like Freddie Mercury involved, but Broadway star Jonathan Groff gives it his best go, and it's a very admirable one at that. The non-competition numbers that follow are quieter: a rendition of "To Sir, With Love" (from the 1967 film of the same name, and most famously recorded by Lulu) featuring most of the group's female vocalists and Chris Colfer (Kurt) (again omitting Agron) is nicely handled. Then Matthew Morrison (Mr. Schuester) and Mark Salling (Puck) deliver a charming rendition of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" (based on the 1993 ukulele version by Hawaiian artist Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, not the 1939 Judy Garland one) to send us off until next season.

All in all, it's a very strong collection of songs, and if you're a fan of "Glee"'s music, this is the album to buy.

I agree this collection may not carry the same weight for those unfamiliar with the "Glee" phenom as it does for Gleeks like myself, but even a casual listener can appreciate the justice the cast does for the material presented. The cast shines on each track, particularly the acappella strains of "Bohemian Rhapsody." However, this is worth it alone just for the brilliant version Lulu's "To Sir With Love."

A few weeks ago, Fox released Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers (Deluxe). My first question with that release was if Fox had spoiled the end of the season by releasing tracks that would appear in the finale. Luckily, that wasn't the case because Fox held off and saved the songs featured in the finale for its own release. Glee: The Music - Journey to Sectionals features (perhaps) all of the musical numbers featured in the season 1 finale. If you want to be surprised, buy the music but don't listen to it until after you've seen the episode. Some of the tracks may either leave your mind racing as you're bound to read into the lyrics and song choices to figure out where the tracks will fit into the finale. Or, you may not want to listen to the music simply because the finale is going to be the biggest musical moment (plot wise) of the second half of the season and hearing the music will make what you're going to watch on television a tad bit less exciting.

The Good: Listening to the music definitely gives the first season a "full circle" feel. The show started, and caught the attention of many, with the cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'". Now, the first season is ending with an ode and love fest to Journey by covering a few songs from Journey's catalog. You should know that the finale's titled 'Journey' so in a way, this feels like the producers thanking Journey for catapulting the show and its stars into its fame by covering more of the group's songs. The opening track, "Faithfully" is definitely catchy and a duet between Lea Michelle and Corey Monteith. From there we have a mash-up of "Any Way You Want It" and "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'" and though I have to admit I haven't been a big fan or long-time listener of Journey, the two tracks work well together to the point where you can hardly tell it's a combination of two different tracks. Then there's a new version of "Don't Stop Believin'" that definitely feels finale worthy as it was the first big song from the show's first episode and with this regional version we get to hear more of the cast be included and get solo moments in the song. Also included is "Bohemina Rhapsody" which (in my opinion) sounds pretty close to the original and isn't as thrilling, an acoustic/laid back version of "Over the Rainbow" and the most left-field track, a cover of Lulu's "To Sir, With Love". In all, while heavy on Journey songs, there are some tracks from other artists featured.

The Bad: There isn't much to complain about considering this review is coming before having seen the finale. I hope, unlike the past releases, this one includes all of the music from the final episode and there isn't one or two tracks reserved for digital-only release. If I do have a complaint, it was noted that there were more than a few tracks left off the third volume that (for now) have only been released digitally. Since this only have 6 tracks, it'd been nice if some of those unreleased tracks from this season had been included so that fans could have had more of the music from the first season on actual CD. But, for the Amazon.com price of $4.99, I'm glad the songs from the final episode did get released, period, and weren't saved for some future release or box set.

In all, it's a fun release but I feel like it's mainly for the hardcore "Glee" fans or those really into Journey. For me, there wasn't much variety and a six-track release felt like a ploy to make money. Why not hold back the last volume of music, released a few weeks ago, to coincide with the finale and release vol. 3 as an expanded two disc with the finale songs and the songs that were left off? Anyways, the only track that really made me cringe and feel was nothing more than well-performed karaoke was "Bohemian Rhapsody", but the safe cover of the track may actually play into the events of the episode.

Listen to These: "Anyway You Want It / Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'", "Faithfully", "To Sir, With Love"

Objectively this is a great cd. Songs are awesome but I was let down that all these songs were from my other glee cds. made this cd not too special besides it taking all these songs and putting them together so you don't have to change discs.

I am often disappointed by things I buy. But this CD was not one of them. I love it so much I call it my happy CD.

This album of songs from just one episode (the finale) of the TV series Glee has nothing but wonderful music performed very well. There isn't a bad track in the lot--period. These people are true professionals; they never let go of superfluous notes and their sense of timing is excellent--and their excellent diction enhances their singing all the more. In addition, the quality of the sound is excellent. You may also notice that the first three tracks are music by the rock band Journey, a subtle reference to the band right in the title of the album.

"Faithfully" starts off the EP with an auspicious number; the music fits with the vocals sung by Lea Michele (Rachel) and Cory Monteith (Finn) very well! Lea and Cory perform this straight from the heart and just one listen proves it! There's also a mash-up of "Any Way You Want It" and "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin';" this is another strong number and they really show off their talent as a group on this one although Lea Michele (Rachel) and Cory Monteith (Finn) sing the lead vocals. "Don't Stop Believin'" is another solid number; they sing this with panache and I'm very impressed. "Bohemian Rhapsody" gets a fine treatment from Jonathan Groff who does justice to this tune by Queen with Freddie Mercury. Freddie would be proud--it's a fine rendition. "To Sir with Love," a song I first heard sung by Lulu, shines bright in their capable hands; and the EP ends with Matthew Morrison (who plays Mr. Schuester) and Mark Salling (who plays Puck) doing a beautiful, sensitive acoustic cover of "Over the Rainbow" based on the same style as Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's version. Of course, even though "Over the Rainbow" is based on Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's version, there's no doubt in my mind that Judy Garland would have loved it!

Although the album is all too brief, I think I can understand since these songs all come from one episode and I guess they simply wanted to have these songs separate on just one CD. This is a must-have for any fan of Glee; and people who enjoy high quality control pop music will not be disappointed.

I love this CD! Excellent covers of Journey's music by the cast of Glee. I would recommend this to any Glee fan!

Exactly what I wanted at a great price! I loooove glee and this was the only CD I didn't have!

I had no intention of spending my time reviewing this purchase until my jaw literally dropped at how poorly one of the tracks was mixed. Say what you will about the updated covers, but a review of each mix is in order. For reference I listen to music on what is considered high-end equipment, I also popped the disk into a multi-sub/10 speaker high end car stereo, and some cheapish klipsch earbuds for comparison. I hope this review will help someone esp. if they're trying to decide between the cd vs. mp3's purchase. This will be a technical review of the tracks and when I say `mix' I'm solely referring to the sound quality, not the structure, tempo, ect. to the songs vs. their originals -

1) Faithfully - Good mix on vocals and instruments. A bit bass heavy.

2) Any way / Lovin - Great levels on vocals, background instruments have some loss of fidelity in some areas specifically on the high end.

3) Don't Stop Believin' - Incredible mix. This is the song most probably buy the cd for so I'm glad it received the most attention. Highest quality, best equipment available was used. Definitely not an mp3 buy if you have good equipment.

It should be obvious that these first songs were where the money went. Incidentally they were all mixed by the same publisher. Now onto the rest ->

4) Bohemian Rhapsody - Terrible mix! First thing I noticed right off was the low pass filter on the singers (Jesse) voice. At first I thought something was wrong with my stereo it was so noticeable when his vocals came in. Maybe they tried to cover for his weak voice, but that doesn't excuse the second half of the song when the `heavy' part hits - When the song is supposed to hit it's peak at about 4 minutes, you're slammed with compression and over-drive distortion! Totally inexcusable! It sounds like a garage band recording! Please, pop in an old recording of your friends garage band and prove me wrong!

The song does sound passable with earbuds, but only because they don't have the extreme fidelity to hear the problems. But if you listen closely even on your earbuds, you'll find that they've over-driven the sound so much that it begins to distort even at low volume! This song wasn't finished, it's the motivation for this review, and it simply shouldn't have been included.

5) To Sir, with Love - I had never heard this song before, and thought maybe they were trying for an old style sound. A low pass filter was applied over the whole song, or they cranked the bass track way too high.

6) Over the Rainbow - Decent, but that's not saying much considering the song consists of some light singing and an acoustic guitar. At least they didn't destroy it like the other two.

There you have it! For those curious; the publishers of the first three (good) songs were `Weed High Nightmare Music' and `Lacey Boulevard Music'. I think it's worth checking the other Glee cd's for these publishers for future purchases.

From the very moment I saw just the preview for this episode, I had goosebumps from hearing Lea's voice on Faithfully. I've always loved Journey's (The band.) songs, but more for their song writing prowess than for their vocals. Don't get me wrong, they always sound great... But as Ryan Murphy said of Lea Michele, 'She has a once in a generation voice'. Some of the songs on this EP are my all time favorites on the show, and now I share my opinion of them with you...

1). A++ - Lea Michele (Rachel Berry) and Cory Monteith (Finn) - Faithfully - This is probably my all time favorite ballad on the show. The power of the backing Glee cast, and Lea's soaring vocal acrobatics, they all combine to make something that almost breaks my heart every time. One of the best and most powerful songs, emotionally speaking, that Glee has ever done.

2). A+ - Lea Michele (Rachel Berry), Amber Riley (Mercedes), Cory Monteith (Finn), Mark Salling (Puck), and Glee Cast - Any Way You Want It/Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' - Another of my all time favorite Glee performances, and a Mash-Up no less! Vocally, it's as amazing as almost anything I've ever heard. And you should see them do it live!

3). A+ - Lea Michele (Rachel Berry), Amber Riley (Mercedes), Cory Monteith (Finn), Naya Rivera (Santana), Mark Salling (Puck), Chris Colfer (Kurt), and Glee Cast - I'd have guessed that nothing would ever quite top the magic that hearing Glee's version of Don't Stop Believin' for the very time evoked. And when I read that they were, within the same year even, redoing it for Regionals, I was a little disappointed. And then Naya sang. And not long after that, Amber Riley caused the entire audience to go deaf with that ending crescendo. LOL You MUST look up this song on YouTube, specifically their performance of it on X-Factor over in England. It's EPIC.

4). A - Jonathan Groff (Jesse) and Vocal Adrenaline - Bohemian Rhapsody - This song is one of the most amazing pieces of work that Glee has ever done. The song itself, just listening to it, is great. They do honor to a true classic. But the real power of the Rhapsody comes from watching the performance on the show. It was Vocal Adrenaline, so come on... we KNEW they were gonna bring it. LOL And bring it they did. The dance number that goes with the song is masterwork choreography that you have to see to believe. YouTube it...

5). A - Lea Michele (Rachel Berry), Amber Riley (Mercedes), Chris Colfer (Kurt), Kevin McHale (Artie), Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina), Naya Rivera (Santana), and Glee Cast - To Sir, With Love - The best thing about Glee is that almost every single song is incorporated into the plot, and has meaning or makes a point, or, more often than not, is used to crush us emotionally. LOL This is one such song. I couldn't keep a dry eye when the kids were all singing this song to Mr. Shue.

6). B+ - Matthew Morrison (Mr. Shue) and Mark Salling (Puck) - Over The Rainbow - This is my least favorite song on the EP, and it STILL gets a B+... I'm actually of Hawaiin descent, so imagine what a nice surprise it was to see a Ukulele used in such a unique and creative way.

So okay, that was my two cents worth on the all too short but also INCREDIBLY powerful EP that is Glee: The Music, Journey To Regionals. I give this EP, EASILY, a grade of 5 stars and above. They don't have anything past that, so all I can say is 10.5 out of 11, or A++! There was only one song that wasn't an easy A grade, but the rest of the songs easily make up for that fact. If you're a first time listener who just happened to catch a song or two here and there, then you're in for a treat. If you liked the original of ANY of these songs, there's a good chance you will enjoy the same songs with the 'Glee Treatment'. Give it a try folks, along with the other Volumes as well. (Glee: The Music, Volume 1 Glee: The Music, Volume 2 Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers (Deluxe) Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna) They are truly great albums, and I don't think you'll be disappointed with this one, or any of those either.

Thanks for your time folks.

Sincerely, R.A. McDowell