Glee: The Music - Journey to Regionals

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...Read more

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...Read more