Glee Takes on the Beatles

Written by Kyle Slagley

This week marked an important week for all the Gleeks out there, as the new album Glee Sings the Beatles hit shelves on Tuesday. It takes quite a bit of gall to take arguably the most sacred band in rock n’ roll history and pop-ify their work, but that’s exactly what the kids at William McKinley High School did. Judging by how well the album is selling, fans aren’t exactly complaining either.

After listening to the entire album, the Glee renditions I enjoyed most were “Drive My Car,” “Here Comes the Sun” which features Demi Lovato, and “I Saw Her Standing There.” Strangely enough, Glee has covered Beatles songs in the past, and my favorite of their covers, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” – sung by Chris Colfer, who plays Kurt, and which originally appears on Volume 4 – was not included on this album.

Glee is far from the first group to cover the Fab Four, nor will they be the last. Though many of your patrons will be far too young to remember, or even know of the performance, you cannot mention Beatles covers without mentioning Joe Cocker’s rendition of “With a Little Help From My Friends” at Woodstock in ’69 or Neil Young’s version of “Imagine” at the 9/11 TV tribute concert. More recently, Mumford and Sons have been known to cover “Hey Jude” during their concerts, and one of my favorite obscure cover finds (if you can get past the crowd noise on the recording) on YouTube is Alice Cooper, Steven Tyler, and Weird Al Yankovic singing “Come Together” at a New Year’s Eve party in 2012.

When it comes to entire albums of Beatles cover songs, my absolute favorite would be the Across the Universe Soundtrack. The film came out in 2007 and was another instance where the story was structured around the music. It received mediocre reviews, but the soundtrack is still one of my favorite soundtracks of all time.

For some, the first cover soundtrack to come to mind will be the one that went with the first Beatles-oriented film, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The film, starring Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees, was loosely based on the Beatles album of the same name, but with a 15% on Rotten Tomatoes, I think I can safely say the film was a total bomb. It is worth mentioning, though, that in later years, after memories of the film had faded, affection for ‘70s nostalgia and kitsch brought the soundtrack back into the light.

The fact is that there are too many different covers of the Fab Four to mention in just one column, and they span all different styles: from Beatallica (who plays Beatles tunes in the style of Metallica), Roberta Flack (who puts her R&B spin on the songs), to even Sesame Street and the Chipmunks. Check out our collection of Beatles cover albums Midwest Tape offers, and don’t forget to remind your younger patrons about the original band too!

Speeches, Gleeks, and Globes: Golden Globe Nominees Announced

Ah, the three famous gifts of the season: frankincense, myrrh, and Golden Globes—er, gold.

The Christmas season traditionally brings the Golden Globe nominations with it, and this year’s Globe hopefuls were announced early Tuesday morning by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Unsurprisingly, The King’s Speech (seven nominations), The Social Network (six nominations), and The Fighter (six nominations) ruled the motion picture side of the ballot while Glee’s unfathomable popularity put it on top of the television side.

The Best Dramatic Motion Picture category, the closest thing to “top prize” for the Golden Globes, is a crowded field this year. Based on the amount of love that surfaced for Inception upon its arrival, I would have to consider it to be the favorite—but don’t count out any of the other candidates. The King’s Speech’s multiple nominations, Black Swan’s immense buzz, The Social Network’s timely subject matter, and The Fighter’s freshness in voters’ minds could all tip the scales one way or another.

While critics and bloggers alike expected these films to nab nominations, the Best Musical or Comedy Motion Picture category was far more unpredictable and caused some significant head scratching.

It’s not the happenstance of a children’s film (Alice in Wonderland) finding itself in the same category as a movie about burlesque dancers (Burlesque, which didn’t exactly receive award-worthy reviews) that’s boggling, It’s how The Tourist, a thriller about a couple on the lam in Italy, winds up nominated for this award. This film was clearly neither a comedy nor a musical, yet it finds itself nominated as such. Were the Globes really that much in need of more Johnny Depp?

While the Globes can’t seem to get enough Depp, television viewers’ bizarre need for more Glee led to its five nominations (don’t get me wrong, I like the show—but let’s be honest, if someone would have told you two years ago that a musical show about the exploits of a high school glee club set in Lima, Ohio would be the top show of 2010, you probably would have thrown a slushie in their face), including Best Comedy or Musical Television Series. It faces some stiff competition in this category though, as 30 Rock, The Big C, Modern Family, Nurse Jackie, and my personal favorite, The Big Bang Theory, are all in the running.

To view the complete list of nominations, click here, and to shop this year’s nominees, click the collection panel below:


Did the Globes get it right? Who was snubbed? What was nominated that shouldn’t have been? Is The Tourist really a comedy or musical? Let us know your thoughts below!

Gleek your Library with Midwest Tape

Fox’s musical comedy sensation Glee is only in its second season but it is already a driving force in television. As a newly minted pop culture phenomenon, there is a high demand for all things Glee.

The Show
Glee follows high school teacher Will Schuester as he tries to resurrect McKinley High School’s less than favorable glee club, New Directions. Armed with funny one-liners and high school melodrama, the show delivers a story of hope as the group—comprised of socially and ethnically diverse students—prepares for and competes in choir competitions in the hopes of making it to Nationals.

While the major draw of the show has been its innovative catalog of Top 40, country, R&B, hip-hop, and Broadway tunes coupled with intricate dance numbers that smoothly fit into the context of the show, the breakthrough hit is more than just singing and dancing. Interspersed between the theatrical routines, Glee slyly tackles tough topics like teen pregnancy, bullying, sexuality, and religion.

Glee’s directors bypassed traditional casting calls, instead culling cast members straight from Broadway and saving guest spots from comedians, pop sensations, and Broadway stars for one-time appearances. The show has also dedicated entire episodes to singing inspirations like Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Madonna, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show among others.

Accolades
Despite early critical skepticism, (a show featuring singing and dancing was unheard of during a time when hard-hitting dramas and established comedies dominated primetime television) Glee quickly proved itself a success.

In its first season, Glee was nominated for 19 Emmy Awards, four Golden Globes (winning the award for Best Television Series—Musical or Comedy), and six Satellite Awards.¹ The Glee cast has two certified gold albums (Glee: The Music, Volume 2 and Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers), one certified platinum album (Glee: The Music, Volume 1) and has racked up more than 10 million song downloads.² Currently, Glee continues to rank as the number one entertainment program among adults aged 18–49 for the first six weeks of the 2010-2011 season.³

Glee has also become a commercial success thanks to dedicated fans who have coined themselves as “Gleeks”. The increasing popularity of the show has spawned a national tour, a young adult book series, an iPad application, a karaoke video game, stationery, greeting cards, apparel, jewelry and even the Glee Project--a reality series focused on finding the next Glee cast member through open casting calls

Midwest Tape is Here to Gleek Your Collection
Midwest Tape has created a collection of CDs featuring music from the show. We update the collection every Wednesday morning with CDs from original artists whose songs were featured on the previous night’s episode.

To find the collection Glee – The Music & More, click browse in the toolbar on the Midwest Tape website.

Select CD and browse by collection and then scroll through the collections to find Glee – The Music & More.

A feature panel on the Midwest Tape website will also redirect you to the collection. Click Next to flip through the panels until you find the one featured below.

Has your library experienced a large request for Glee related materials? What other pop culture materials are in high-demand at your library?

¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glee_%28TV_series%29
² http://www.fox.com/glee/about/
³ http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2010/11/15/live-7-update-week-6-and-season-to-date-glee-remains-this-seasons-no-1-entertainment-program/72087