Glee Sings the Beatles

''Glee Sings the Beatles'' is the fifteenth soundtrack album by the cast of the American musical television show ''Glee''. It was made available for pre-order on iTunes on September 10, 2013, with the expected to be released date on September 24, 2013, two days before the fifth season premiere. The album features fourteen songs recorded for the first two episodes of the season: " Love Love Love" and "Tina in the Sky with Diamonds".

Background

This is not the first time the cast of ''Glee'' pays tribute to famous artists. Recurring guest star Demi Lovato is also featured in one of the tracks of the album. Back on August 3, 2010, Paul McCartney, reportedly a fan of the show, sent a mixtape featuring his music to Glee creator Ryan Murphy in an attempt to convince Murphy to include some of the songs in the upcoming season. "I received some fantastic mixtapes from Paul McCartney a couple of weeks ago. I thought I was being punked!" Murphy said at 2010's Television Critics Association panel in Los Angeles. However, The Beatles' tribute episode was never planned to be aired on season two, three or four of the show.

The two-part premiere episodes of the tribute featured glee club director Will Schuester, portrayed by actor Matthew Morrison, assigning the students in the club to sing songs by the early Beatles (on " Love Love Love") and by the late Beatles (on "Tina in the Sky with Diamonds").

Glee has covered Beatles' songs before like "Hello Goodbye", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", " Blackbird" and "In My Life". However, these songs were not part of this album.

Reception

Critical response

The album has received generally positive reviews from professional critics. Heather Phares of Allmusic wrote: "The July 2013 death of Cory Monteith, cast a pall on the beginning of Glee's fifth season," adding that two of the album's songs, " Yesterday" and " Let It Be" were "bookended versions of the Fab Four's cheerier fare with subdued renditions of two of the band's most poignant songs". Phares also commented positively on how "he albumcould have left the cast's women stuck on the sidelines as screaming Beatlemaniacs, ut insteadit had the ladies front and center n songslike the sweet rendition of "Here Comes the Sun" and the playful take on " A Hard Day's Night". In other words the Allmusic review calls the album as "a promising start to season five's music".

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 38 on the US ''Billboard'' 200.

Track listing

Personnel

*Adam Anders – arranger, engineer, producer, soundtrack producer, vocals
*Jacob Artist – vocals
*Melissa Benoist – vocals
*Chris Colfer – vocals
*Darren Criss – vocals
*Peer Åström – engineer, mixing, producer
*Geoff Bywater – executive in charge of music
*Dante Di Loreto – executive producer
*Brad Falchuk – executive producer
* George Harrison – composer
*Blake Jenner – vocals

*John Lennon – composer
* Demi Lovato – vocals
*Paul McCartney – composer
* Kevin McHale – vocals
* Lea Michele – vocals
* Ryan Murphy – producer, soundtrack producer
* Alex Newell – vocals
* Chord Overstreet – vocals
*Ryan Peterson – engineer
*Naya Rivera – vocals
*Becca Tobin – vocals
* Jenna Ushkowitz – vocals

Charts

Release history

See also

* List of songs in Glee (season 5)

References

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2013 soundtrack albums
Columbia Records soundtracks
Glee (TV series) albums
The Beatles tribute albums