A pretty awesome, well-balanced Christmas album featuring the Glee Cast! Recommended for the holidays!
ARTISTS: Glee Cast
ALBUM: Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album
LABEL: Columbia
DURATION: 38:44
RELEASE DATE: November 16, 2010
- We Need a Little Christmas (Glee Cast Version)
- Deck the Rooftop (Glee Cast Version)
- Merry Christmas Darling (Glee Cast Version)
- Baby, It’s Cold Outside (Kurt and Blain)
- The Most Wonderful Day of the Year(Glee Cast Version)
- Last Christmas (Rachelle and Finn)
- God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Glee Cast Version)
- O Christmas Tree (Glee Cast Version)
- Jingle Bells (Glee Cast Version)
- You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch (Glee Cast Version featuring K.D. Lang)
- Angels We Have Heard On High (Glee Cast Version)
- O Holy Night (Glee Cast Version)
With the holiday season here, it doesn’t surprise me that there is a Christmas album featuring the cast of one of America’s top television shows… “Glee”.
Although “Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album” came out two weeks before their “Glee: The Music: Volume 4” compilation album, I have been listening to this Christmas album despite not knowing the context of how the music was used on the TV series. With the recent airing of “A Very Glee Christmas”, it was great to finally watch the Christmas episode and hear how the songs were used. But even without watching the episode, listening to this album for several weeks now, I have to say that this was a pretty awesome, well-balanced Christmas album.
The album kicks off “We Need a Little Christmas” sung by the Glee Cast and is a fun, upbeat Christmas song. On the TV series, the song featured the group singing the song to their fellow classmates who were not so thrilled about the group performing the song in their class.
The second track features “Deck the Rooftop” using a similar beat to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” but an upbeat cover featuring the Glee cast.
The third track “Merry Christmas Darling” featuring Rachel singing the Carpenter’s classic. Lea Michele’s vocals are absolutely wonderful for this track and in the context of the show, she sings this song when her ex-boyfriend Finn is unwilling to forgive her (for messing around).
The fourth track “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” features Kurt and Blaine singing the popular Frank Loesser holiday song.
The fifth track “The Most Wonderful Day of the Year” features the Glee Cast singing the popular holiday classic. The song was used to open “A Very Glee Christmas” as the group decorates a Christmas Tree inside their music room.
The sixth track is “Last Christmas”, the popular Wham Christmas classic sung by Rachel and Finn. A pretty awesome duet by both Lea Michele and Corey Monteith. The scene features Rachel and Finn at a Christmas tree lot and talking about what they dreamed of last Christmas with Rachel hoping to be with Finn and now this year, hoping for it again.
The seventh track is “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman” featuring Rachel, Mercedes, Santana and Tina. The eighth track “O Christmas Tree” features a cool solo by Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) and the ninth track features “Jingle Bells” sung by Finn, Puck & Artie.
The tenth track “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” features K.D. Lang and Will. The scene in the series features Sue Sylvester stealing all the Christmas presents and dressed as the Grinch. A good song but surprisingly K.D. Lang was never even featured in the episode. So, it was a bit puzzling that Jane Lynch didn’t sing the song with Will.
The eleventh track “Angels We Have Heard On High” featuring an solo by Mercedes (Amber Riley) and the soundtrack is completed by the 12th song featuring Rachel (Lea Michele) with a solo performance of “O Holy Night”.
“Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album” is a pretty awesome Christmas album, especially for those who enjoy the TV series. If there is one song that I’m surprised that is not on the album is the group singing the Dr. Seuss Christmas song “Welcome Christmas” (the scene from the episode features the Glee characters performing in front of the teachers for charity donations) since it was one of the most memorable performances performed the group on the episode.
But there are songs that weren’t performed on the series that really showoff the vocals of Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison and Amber Riley. Michele’s performance of “Merry Christmas Darling” and “O Holy Night” were fantastic, especially her duet with Cory Monteith for “Last Christmas”.
Overall, “Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album” is a wonderful Christmas album feature great vocals and a good balance of Christmas tracks that Gleeks will definitely enjoy! Recommended!
