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Full disclosure: I was not in any clubs or on any teams in high school. I was not a football player, did not cheer or sing, and definitely did not have much glee at all. But an undisclosed number of years later, I like many millions of TV watchers out there found Glee. And yes, I consider myself a Gleek.

Just in case you don’t know about this season’s breakout TV hit, Glee, the show is set in the small northwestern city of Lima, Ohio. (If you haven’t been to Ohio, it’s the sort of place that could use a little, well, glee.) Lying somewhere between High School Musical, Election and Freaks and Geeks, it’s a program that encourages people to be true to themselves and well, emote in the form of song, if need be. It also paints a somewhat accurate picture of high school: the geeks join glee club, the jocks play football and the popular girls lead cheers. But thanks to one chipper teacher named Will Schuester, the three cliques unite and kill their adaptations of tunes like Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Avril Lavigne’s “Keep Holding On,” and er, Young MC’s “Bust A Move.”

And now, Glee is an album.

Like Flight Of The Conchords, I thought the music of Glee would suffer from the absence of seeing the kids perform the songs. But the greatness of Glee: The Music, Volume 1 as an album is in how the songs have been arranged to encourage the sing-along. A true example of this is Jazmine Sullivan’s “Bust Your Windows,” which is sung by the diva-in-training, Amber “Mercedes” Riley. Did I know this song before Glee? Not at all. But now, I feel empowered just like Jazamine did originally belting out a line like, “You know I did it ‘cause I left my mark.” Yeah!

Where I think Glee is at its best though it breathing new life into the oldies. The aforementioned spin on “Don’t Stop Believin’” became a huge hit for the show when it was released on iTunes. Splitting the vocals between Cory “Finn” Monteith and Lea “Rachel” Michele allows the couple to tell the boy-girl story as well as their duet on Chris Brown/Jordin Sparks’ “No Air” (which despite Brown’s thuggery I still think is a captivating tune).

I suppose the real testament to the appeal of Glee is in how they can even pull of the cheesy white-boy rap on “Bust A Move” and “Gold Digger” spat no less by Matthew Morrison, who rings with a certain “that’s better than I can karaoke” charm.

Unfortunately, the belligerent cheer coach Sue Sylvester is completely absent but word on the street is that we could hear her belt those tasteless slurs before the end of the first season.

Glee you’ve done the impossible and made me regret being such a cynical d-bag in high school.

You can buy the album on CD here or digitally here.

- Cam Lindsay

Tags: Don’t Stop Believin', Glee, Glee: The Music Volume 1

Posted on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 4:59 pm by Cam and is filed under Blog, Just For Fun.

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