I’ve said since the third episode of Glee’s first season that the show’s weakest quality was the filler in between the songs. The writing is embarrassingly inconsistent in tone, the characters are prone to erratic shifts in emotion and motivation, and from one week to the next the show’s threads never really connected. The music though, the music was pretty damn good. The song choices, the mash-ups, and the new arrangements on old classics were and remain little nuggets of gold that the Glee fan has to dig out of each episode. Well stop sifting. Glee Encore singles out the big musical numbers and lets you play them back to back, shuffled, or on an individual basis. It's like the "Glee Jukebox" feature on later Glee season releases but it has them all on one disc, not separated across 3 or 4. From here on out, every season DVD release for Glee needs to either include this (all on one disc) or have its own version of this disc released on the same day.
Originally I was somewhat iffy on the release as its wording of “most sensational music numbers” leaves a lot of room for personal interpretation of which songs should be on the disc and which shouldn’t. But here’s a translation of that little fragment “90% of the musical numbers that feature at least 60% of the song being rearranged or that have a large amount of choreography associated with it.” As the second season has become increasingly song-based with less reliance on all the soap opera hand-wringing in between, perhaps someday Glee will only be musical numbers that contain loose plotpoints told within. Listen up, Ryan Murphy and co.
That said, this is genuinely the way to watch Glee. Cut out the fat, and enjoy Glee Encore’s 77-minute compilation of pretty much all the musical moments of Glee’s first season.
Here’s the full songlist with the song name, the original singer, and the in-show singer:
- “On My Own” – Les Miserables – Rachel (Lea Michele)
- “Don’t Stop Believin’” – Journey – Glee Cast
- “Gold Digger” – Kanye West – Will (Matthew Morrison)
- “I Say a Little Prayer” – Aretha Franklin – Quinn (Dianna Agron), Santana (Naya Rivera), Brittany (Heather Morris)
- “Alone” – Heart – Will & April (Kristin Chenoweth)
- “Somebody to Love” – Queen – Glee Cast
- “It’s My Life”/”Confessions Part II” Mash-up – Bon Jovi/Usher – Finn (Cory Monteith) & Artie (Kevin McHale)
- “No Air” – Jordin Sparks – Rachel & Finn
- “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” – The Supremes – Quinn
- “Defying Gravity” – Wicked – Kurt (Chris Colfer) & Rachel
- “I’ll Stand By You” – The Pretenders – Finn
- “Don’t Stand So Close to Me/Young Girl” Mash-up – Sting/Gary Puckett – Will Schuester
- “Lean On Me” – The Temptations – Glee Cast
- “Imagine” – John Lennon – Glee Cast
- “True Colors” – Cyndi Lauper –
- “Smile” – Lily Allen – Rachel & Finn
- “Don’t Rain on My Parade” – Barbra Streisand – Rachel
- “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” – The Rolling Stones – Glee Cast
- “Gives You Hell” – The All-American Rejects - Rachel
- “Hello” – Lionel Richie – Rachel & Jesse (Jonathan Groff)
- “Vogue” – Madonna – Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch)
- “Like a Virgin” – Madonna – Rachel, Jesse, Finn, Santana, Will, & Emma (Jayma Mays)
- “Like a Prayer” – Madonna – Glee Cast
- “Fire” – Pointer Sisters – Will & April (Kristin Chenoweth)
- “One Less Bell to Answer/A House is Not A Home” Medley – Barbra Streisand – Will & April
- “I Am Beautiful” – Christina Aguilera – Mercedes (Amber Riley)
- “Run Joey Run” – David Geddes – Rachel, Puck (Mark Salling), Jesse, Finn
- “Total Eclipse of the Heart” – Bonnie Tyler – Rachel & Jesse
- “Jessie’s Girl” – Rick Springfield – Finn
- “Rose’s Turn” – Bette Midler – Kurt
- “Bad Romance” – Lady Gaga – Glee Cast
- “Beth” – KISS – Puck, Finn, Mike Chang (Harry Shum Jr.), & Matt (Dijon Talton)
- “Faithfully” – Journey – Finn & Rachel
- “Any Way You Want It (That’s the Way You Need It)”/”Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’” Mash-up – Journey – Glee Cast
Again, it’s hard for me to stress anymore how this is really the best way to watch Glee. Eschew all the poorly written drama and just go for the music.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
None.
"Glee Encore" is on sale April 19, 2011 and is not rated. Comedy, Drama, Musical. Directed by Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy. Written by Ian Brennan, Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy. Starring Amber Riley, Chris Colfer, Cory Monteith, Dianna Agron, Heather Morris, Jane Lynch, Jayma Mays, Jenna Ushkowitz, Jonathan Groff, Kevin Mchale, Lea Michele, Mark Salling, Matthew Morrison, Naya Rivera.
