Glee Sings the Beatles

Glee Sings the Beatles is the fifteenth soundtrack album by the cast of the American musical television show Glee. It was made available for pre-order on iTunes on September 10, 2013, with the expected to be released date on September 24, 2013, two days before the fifth season premiere.[1] The album features fourteen songs recorded for the first two episodes of the season: "Love Love Love" and "Tina in the Sky with Diamonds".[2]

Glee Sings the Beatles
Soundtrack album by Glee Cast
Released	September 24, 2013
Recorded	2013
Genre	Pop rock
Label	Columbia / 20th Century Fox TV
Producer	Dante Di Loreto (exec.), Brad Falchuk (exec.), Adam Anders, Peer Åström, Ryan Gillmor, Ryan Murphy
Glee Cast chronology
Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album Volume 3 (2012) Glee Sings the Beatles (2013) The Quarterback (Music From the TV Series) (2013)

Background

This is not the first time the cast of Glee pays tribute to famous artists. Recurring guest star Demi Lovato is also featured in one of the tracks of the album. Back on August 3, 2010, Paul McCartney, reportedly a fan of the show, sent a mixtape featuring his music to Glee creator Ryan Murphy in an attempt to convince Murphy to include some of the songs in the upcoming season. "I received some fantastic mixtapes from Paul McCartney a couple of weeks ago. I thought I was being punked!" Murphy said at 2010's Television Critics Association panel in Los Angeles.[3] However, The Beatles' tribute episode was never planned to be aired on season two, three or four of the show.

The two-part premiere episodes of the tribute featured glee club director Will Schuester, portrayed by actor Matthew Morrison, assigning the students in the club to sing songs by the early Beatles (on "Love Love Love") and by the late Beatles (on "Tina in the Sky with Diamonds").

Glee has covered Beatles' songs before like "Hello Goodbye", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "Blackbird" and "In My Life".[4] However, these songs were not part of this album.

Reception

Critical response

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[5]
PopCrush	[6]

The album has received generally positive reviews from professional critics. Heather Phares of Allmusic wrote: "The July 2013 death of Cory Monteith, cast a pall on the beginning of Glee's fifth season," adding that two of the album's songs, "Yesterday" and "Let It Be (song)" were "bookended versions of the Fab Four's cheerier fare with subdued renditions of two of the band's most poignant songs". Phares also commented positively on how "[the album] could have left the cast's women stuck on the sidelines as screaming Beatlemaniacs, [but instead] it had the ladies front and center [on songs] like the sweet rendition of "Here Comes the Sun" and the playful take on "A Hard Day's Night". In other words the Allmusic review calls the album as "a promising start to season five's music".[7]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 38 on the US Billboard 200.[8]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Lennon–McCartney, except tracks 10 & 11, which were written by George Harrison.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Yesterday"	2:33
2.	"Drive My Car"	2:32
3.	"Got to Get You into My Life"	2:29
4.	"You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"	2:43
5.	"Help"	2:18
6.	"A Hard Day's Night"	2:27
7.	"I Saw Her Standing There"	2:40
8.	"All You Need Is Love"	3:16
9.	"Get Back"	2:26
10.	"Here Comes the Sun" (featuring Demi Lovato)	3:00
11.	"Something"	3:01
12.	"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"	1:54
13.	"Hey Jude"	4:51
14.	"Let It Be"	4:03

Japanese bonus tracks[9]

No.	Title	Length
15.	"Hello, Goodbye"	3:29
16.	"I Want to Hold Your Hand"	2:38
17.	"Blackbird"	2:20
18.	"In My Life"	2:24

Personnel

Adam Anders – arranger, engineer, producer, soundtrack producer, vocals Jacob Artist – vocals Melissa Benoist – vocals Chris Colfer – vocals Darren Criss – vocals Peer Åström – engineer, mixing, producer Geoff Bywater – executive in charge of music Dante Di Loreto – executive producer Brad Falchuk – executive producer George Harrison – composer Blake Jenner – vocals

John Lennon – composer Demi Lovato – vocals Paul McCartney – composer Kevin McHale – vocals Lea Michele – vocals Ryan Murphy – producer, soundtrack producer Alex Newell – vocals Chord Overstreet – vocals Ryan Peterson – engineer Naya Rivera – vocals Becca Tobin – vocals Jenna Ushkowitz – vocals

Charts

Chart (2013) Peak position Australian Albums Chart[10] 48 Irish Albums Chart[11] 92 UK Albums Chart[12] 89 US Billboard 200[13] 38 US Billboard Soundtracks[14] 2 Release history Region Release date Label Format United Kingdom[15] September 23, 2013 Twentieth Century Fox Digital download Canada[16] Sony Music Canada Inc.[17] CD, digital download Ireland[18] Twentieth Century Fox Taiwan[19] Italy[20] Sweden[21] Thailand[22] United States[23] September 24, 2013 Australia[24] October 4, 2013 New Zealand[25] United Kingdom[26] October 7, 2013 Music Division CD See also List of songs in Glee (season 5) References Cerasaro, Pat (September 10, 2013). "GLEE SINGS THE BEATLES Now Available For Pre-Order, Out 9/24". Broadway World. Retrieved September 12, 2013. Richenthal, Matt (September 5, 2013). "Glee Sings the Beatles: Track List Revealed!". TV Fanatic. Retrieved September 12, 2013. Keps, Daniel (August 3, 2010). "'Glee' Fan Paul McCartney Offers Tunes to Show". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 30, 2013. Votta, Rae (September 27, 2013). "'Glee' Recap: New Beginnings Abound In Beatles Tribute". Billboard. Retrieved September 30, 2013. Phares, Heather. "Glee Sings the Beatles Album". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved September 30, 2013. Sciaretto, Amy. "'GLEE SINGS THE BEATLES' – ALBUM REVIEW". PopCrush. Retrieved September 30, 2013. Phares, Heather. "Glee Sings the Beatles". Allmusic. Retrieved September 30, 2013. Williams, Paul (October 3, 2013). "US charts: Elton hits 37-year high". Music Week. Retrieved October 24, 2013. "Glee Sings the Beatles – TV Original Soundtrack". CDJapan. Retrieved October 18, 2019. "Soundtrack / Glee Cast – Glee Sings the Beatles". Retrieved October 15, 2013. "Glee Cast discography irishcharts.com". Irish Albums Chart. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. "Official Albums Chart UK Top 100 – 19th October 2013". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on February 23, 2014. "October 12, 2013 Billboard 200". Archived from the original on September 30, 2013. "Soundtracks October 12, 2013 Chart". "Glee Sings the Beatles". iTunes United Kingdom. Retrieved September 30, 2013. "Glee Sings the Beatles". iTunes Canada. Retrieved September 30, 2013. "Glee Sings The Beatles: Glee Cast". Amazon.ca. Retrieved October 24, 2013. "Glee Sings the Beatles". iTunes Ireland. Retrieved September 30, 2013. "Glee Sings the Beatles". iTunes Taiwan. Retrieved September 30, 2013. "Glee Sings the Beatles". iTunes Italy. Retrieved September 30, 2013. "Glee Sings the Beatles". iTunes Sweden. Retrieved September 30, 2013. "Glee Sings the Beatles". iTunes Thailand. Retrieved September 30, 2013. "GLEE SINGS THE BEATLES Album Out Today". Broadway World. Retrieved September 30, 2013. "Glee Sings the Beatles". iTunes Australia. Retrieved September 30, 2013. "Glee Sings the Beatles". iTunes New Zealand. Retrieved September 30, 2013. "Glee Sings the Beatles". Amazon UK. Retrieved October 4, 2013.