Missing Something: 'Glee: The Music, Season 1, Volume 1'

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IT SEEMS LIKE a no-brainer to say that if you like the music on the Fox TV show "Glee," then you'll like the CD of music from the show, "Glee: the Music, Season 1, Volume 1."

The first edition of Season One's music (Volume 2 is due out in December) collects 17 songs from the show in all their melodramatic, campy glory.

The only problem is that outside the context of the show, these songs lose some of the perspective that makes them so charming on screen.

For one thing, due to the show-choir nature of the glee club, many of these songs are phrased as duets. On record, though, you just really just want to hear one lead take on the iconic "Don't Stop Believin'" or "Alone" (which, considering its title, is even more egregious as a duet).

There are still a good number of single-lead tracks here (thankfully, "You Keep Me Hangin' On" remains a girl-group number, albeit a bit too polished). But the goal of show choir is to showcase its many talented leads — and so Queen's "Somebody to Love" is no longer the anguished cry of one lovelorn soul; instead, it's an ensemble piece of kids singing to each other about their love problems. Complete with dancing and matching outfits, the song works — but stripped of visuals, it really loses its punch.

The glee club style is a lot of what makes this soundtrack so overwhelming: songs from far-reaching eras and genres all get funneled into the Glee Machine and come out sounding all the same. These aren't just cover songs, they're Broadway-ified covers, and the contemporary songs suffer the most. Rihanna's "Take a Bow" becomes a nasal whine, and without Avril Lavigne's sullen growl, the over-glossed "Keep Holding On" quickly deteriorates into corny fluff.

All this is not to say that "Glee: the Music" isn't fun — it is. These songs are campy and theatrical and excessive and overblown, just the way the TV show is. But a consistency of style and vocal approach makes it all a bit monotonous after a while (surprising how something can be both 'theatrical' and 'monotonous' at the same time), which may send you reaching for the fast-forward button to skip to a handful of your favorite tracks.

Written by Express contributor Catherine Lewis
Photos courtesy Fox