iiiThe Glee people must be very confident in their popularity to release a seven-track EP of covers of one artist's songs. Then again, given the number of awards and fans it's won, perhaps that's justified. Glee The Music: The Power of Madonna celebrates the Queen of Pop, with songs from the recent episode dedicated to Ms Ciccone.
The disc opens with female empowerment anthem Express Yourself. While the soloists are as strong as ever, the arrangement comes off as trying too hard - we know they're meant to be high school students, but as listeners, we don't want them actually to sound that way.
The cover of 4 Minutes, Madonna's duet with Justin Timberlake, is an improvement on the original, with vocals by Mercedes and Kurt (Amber Riley and Chris Colfer) over an actual school marching band. Riley's voice is far more soulful than Madge's, making this enjoyable as an actual song, rather than a novelty dance track.
Vogue features cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) on the famous rap, which is hilarious.
Like A Prayer features a full gospel choir and some soaring solos; but it's What It Feels Like For a Girl that is truly novel, sung as it is by the male character as an important lesson in equality.
Great fun - but only for established Glee fans.